Trip Report "Lets Begin By Taking a Smallish Nap or Two" - A May 2024 Trip Report *COMPLETED*

We got back from our vacation May 18th and I'm still trying to mentally process this trip I debated whether to even do a trip report but decided to do a quick one since it's not like I'll ever be able to forget it LOL. For those of you who don't know, this trip had been postponed many times because of my elderly dog Pippy. We weren't sure whether we would be able to take the May trip but I had to make the difficult decision to euthanize a couple weeks before we were scheduled to leave. He was my soul mate dog and I still feel his absence every day. His loss is incredibly painful and something that I still can't talk about without ugly crying. The change of scenery at Disney helped a little but it didn't last long. If any of you have followed my previous trip reports, you wouldn't be surprised to know that drama usually follows us to WDW and this trip was no exception - but not how I could've predicted. It wasn't family this time!!!!!

When: May 10-18, 2024
Why: originally longest anniversary, then changed to my bday, then our wedding anniversary, then my husband's bday, then a just because
Where: Coronado Springs Resort
Who: Me (L) and the husband (R)

Despite all my careful planning, we couldn't have predicted the unusually hot May weather (one local news station called it "historic") and what was to follow. We hated the effects of Genie+ on the parks. This trip, even my normally oblivious husband noticed the negative changes and commented on it. We still love WDW but it's not the same as it used to be and that breaks my Disney loving heart. This trip was full of firsts, full of surprises, full of tears, and definitely full of memories We didn't have a theme song this trip but a quote I saw on a pin when trading summed up this trip pretty dang well LOL - "Let's begin by taking a smallish nap or two" ~ Winnie the Pooh

 

[meggo819]

Ugh that sounds like a horrible experience! My sister has POTS and your symptoms definitely sound like some of hers. Thankfully, she’s found some good resources and communities and has been able to avoid her triggers and get back to a mostly normal life.

 

[LeighM]

That sounds like a terrible experience.The food looked good at 3 Bridges though. While I haven't had a totally patronizing male doctor, I know there are some out there. My podiatrist when I first met him was Mr. Ego and I wondered if he was that way to just women. Then I talked to a male teacher I work with and he had all the same complaints about the Dr. so it was nice to know he just had a doctor ego. I ended up going back to that doctor this spring because of another foot issue and I had forgotten about his ego so the first visit I left feeling upset and rushed, my second visit I went in armed with more questions about my foot and when he answered one of my questions with "well in my 20 years of experience...." I just said "yes, experience is good but this is what is happening with my foot" and then asked my question. I may have rolled my eyes a bit too. But when I had my list of question I think he took me more seriously and didn't rush me like he had before. Before I left for that second appointment, my husband told me to remember that the doctor works for me and not to leave until I was satisfied. But doctors shouldn't treat anyone in a condescending way or rush people through appointments.

My doctor was actually very furious about it because he's the type of doctor who makes women question themselves when something is wrong because they are worried about not being taken seriously. So they delay getting treatment. And they suffer for it. I believe she called it an epidemic within the field of medicine.

 

[LeighM]

Ugh that sounds like a horrible experience! My sister has POTS and your symptoms definitely sound like some of hers. Thankfully, she’s found some good resources and communities and has been able to avoid her triggers and get back to a mostly normal life.

She said it was a high likelihood because I do have other auto immune disorders. I had never heard of it before until I was texting with a friend. Her SIL was diagnosed and she told me that the symptoms I was having sounded just like POTS. Then my doctor mentioned it as a possibility so I looked into it more. And a lot of the issues I was having aligned with it. I never have passed out but while I was in Epcot, I would get so lightheaded whenever I stood up to use the rest room. It was very scary to experience away from home.

 

[LeighM]

Thursday - March 16th - Animal Kingdom Attempt

Animal Kingdom was opening at 7:30AM for resort guests and the plans were to be there. However, an adrenaline spike in the middle of the night affected my sleep for a couple of hours and we ended up sleeping through my alarm. We got to the park sometime between 8-8:30AM and we came to regret our accidental sleeping in. R had really wanted to purchase the Memory Maker because we don't often have pictures just the two of us except for our Disney trips. And we haven't had any good ones of us since 2019. So our priorities today were gift shops, PhotoPass, Pandora, the Safari, the animal trails and It's Tough to Be a Bug before it closes.

This was the best photo I could get of it because the crowds were insane. We never did get our picture in front of the tree because of the long lines for the time we were there.

So we enter Animal Kingdom with no wait and have to stop and see the animals around The Oasis, which is think might be my favorite part of this park.

Where did its head go?

We walked around and saw this little celebrity from the Disney+ show on AK....

I took a picture of this sign but I can't find the picture I took of the actual animal LOL. I know I did take one though - it must be hiding with all of my many screenshots to document the weather and the ride times

We found a lonely PhotoPass photographer in this section of the park so we got some pictures taken together

We made our way to Pandora, where the wait for Flight of Passage was already 2 hours at 9AM. The wait time for Navi said 25 minute and we thought there was no way it was actually going to be that long. But it was. And then there was a non-English speaking group that was of a larger size who didn't understand the concept for space that squeezed into the ride vehicle. They didn't understand the CM meant for their party of 4 to take the next boat. It made an unpleasant and uncomfortable ride but by the time we got off the ride, the wait was up to over 45 minutes and there was no way we were going to wait that long. Flight of Passage was almost 3 hours by this time so we skipped it until later and focused on the pictures.

 

[LeighM]

Have I said lately how insane the crowds were??? I don't know if it's because a lot of people came the week we were there to avoid the crowds of Memorial Day, if we just picked the wrong park each day, or if it was an effect of Genie+. Whatever the reason, we did NOT like it.

This was one of the few spots, I could get pictures without people in it.

Almost every photographer had us do this pose and then the one where we were supposed to stare into each other's eyes. The PhotoPass person in MK got a pic of me giving her an annoyed side eye because she started giggling at it. And, no, I will not be sharing that one

See, we do actually like each other. It's been almost 22 years together (later this year) so we've learned to tolerate a lot LOL.

Me taking the backseat role to R's hat, which is always the real star on our AK days. In case you don't know, he started wearing a hat to AK after a bird pooped on his head walking through the aviary years ago LOL.

The heat was becoming unbearable and it wasn't even 10AM. We knew we had to change up all of our plans and I was so thankful that I had changed my Boma ADR to the beginning of the trip. Lesson reinforced this trip? Always listen to your gut instincts!!! We started walking towards Africa to ride the Safari since it was listed as a 20 minute wait. On the way there, we stumbled across an impromptu animal encounter.

As crowded as Pandora was, this path was still near empty. And this is one of my favorite photo spots in all of AK.

The flowers were blooming gorgeously!

We got to Africa and R was starting to get hungry. Due to his hunger, he forgot to take a picture of his breakfast biscuit from Tamu Tamu refreshments. I just had multiple cups of their free ice water, which was much needed! Then my snack was one of the cold pickles from the food cart. Which must've been what my body was needing in that moment because I had never had a pickle taste so good LOL.

 

[LeighM]

We were going to ride the Safari but the standby was 50 minutes at 11AM. The wait for Flight of Passage was 105, Navi was 65, and the character meets were all long, as well. After the wait time for Navi was correct for us earlier, we didn't want to risk waiting in the Safari line for that long with my unpredictable health issue so we decided to go back later when the rides were less. We decided to go on the nearby animal trail, which we always love to see.

With both of our heads protected by a hat, we entered the aviary. So many babies!!!!

We got some cute video of these babies exploring the are. There was one little duckling (?) that liked to ride the water slide down the rock. Got video of that too.

I took way too many photos of this little birdie but he was just so joyful that I couldn't take my eyes from him.

Impossible to walk by this tank without taking a picture, this one courtesy of R

I wish I was able to get better pictures of these little creatures but they never want to cooperate with me!

We never could get close enough to see these gorillas but I did manage to get a quick video of the baby gorilla playing.

I feel you old man, I was feeling much the same way!

It was around this time that the heat started playing havoc with me and my bladder again so I told R to enjoy the rest of the trail while I made my way to the women's restroom. And can I just say how ridiculous it is that they need female CM in the women's room to direct the traffic to both sides of the bathroom and to let those waiting in line know how many stalls are opening. Honestly, WTH?!

After meeting up with R we decided to go to the other animal trail in Asia. On the way over, I tried taking a picture of the Tree of Life in my favorite area but the crowds were preventing me bc others kept getting into my pictures. No awareness of anything around them at all.

 

[LeighM]

Before I forget, here is the picture of the baby gorillas that R was able to capture

We get to Asia and I see the wait for Kali River but R doesn't want to ride it. And we get distracted by this shaved ice. I can't remember the flavor but I'm sure it's something tropical.

And then I promptly forgot why I had stopped in that area - the animal trail LOL. The heat was soooo bad today and the foliage at AK always makes the humidity worse. I was not thinking straight at all!! But we did stop to get some photos together.

I was burning up and no fan or AC was cooling me off.

The photographer told us to act like we were cold and I responded that I wasn't that good of an actress!

By this point, we knew that we had to leave before I got sick again. My core was quickly overheating and bladder was on the fritz. I don't even think it was noon yet and the heat index had it close to 99. We decided to go back to the resort where I had the AC set to 66, cool down, and go back around 4PM to finish the animal trail, Safari, and ITTBAB.

However, when it was time for us to catch the bus at 3:30, R started to feel nauseous and sick to his stomach. See, this is why I moved Boma to the first two days because that man ALWAYS felt sick on the day I had Boma scheduled LOL. We were originally supposed to go on this day after AK but it was a last minute change. Listen to your gut!!! We stayed at the resort longer and soon the park had closed. We only had 4 or so hours in the park. I told R to stay in bed while I went to the lobby to talk about our last remaining day ticket. The lady at the front desk was so nice. When I was telling her what the manager the day before told me about our tickets, I just couldn't hold the tears in when she asked me if I was feeling better. By this point, I was just emotionally raw. I told her that I would love to be able to go to a park on Friday, if my body allowed, but I didn't know what I could actually tolerate anymore. She told me to wait while she went in the back to talk to her manager. She fought hard for me and in the end they agreed to give us each two 1 day tickets to be used within 2 years. It's not the non-expiring tickets I was told over the phone, or the park hopper tickets he told he would agree too, but more than I was expecting due to using one of remaining day tickets. I didn't say anything except thank you for what they did. I wasn't expecting anything so I was very thankful and appreciative. It made me feel less horrible about affecting R's vacation as much as I had.

I went back to the room to check on R and we discussed what to do for dinner. We decided to make an ADR for Olivia's. My pictures from Old Key West are also missing, which I'm not happy about and now I have to go hunt them all down. We hopped on a bus with our resort mugs in hand to Disney Springs so we could get to Old Key West. I think this might've been the day we saw a huge alligator sunbathing next to one of the lakes at CSR near the parking lot. Huge! This was nothing like the baby one we saw in the main lake years ago. Once at Disney Springs, I had to go say hello to Jo (still no luck finding a perfume that lasted on me) before switching buses. It was disappointing that the boats weren't running but totally understandable because of the water situation.

We walked around the main part of OKW and thought it was cute. I wasn't really feeling the vibe but then again it was an inferno out there and my brain was cooking. We got checked into Olivia's and didn't have a long wait.

I ordered the vegetable tofu curry. It was good but eventually the flavor got to be one note. Not sure I would get it again.

But what really brought us here was the fried chicken that R kept hearing so much about. I'm from the south and have had good fried chicken all my life and, like I said, I'm known for my smooth, creamy, and buttery mashed potatoes. I even used to make some darn good gravy - mostly for my Mom because the husband doesn't like gravy all that much.

I had bites of all of it. Was it good? Yes! Was it the best I've ever had? No. However, the star of that dish is actually the gravy!!! Not even joking a little. I don't play about gravy Would I go out of my way to have it again? Probably lol. It was very enjoyable and I liked this chicken better than the fried chicken I had at Homecomin, however, both are great. We were both stuffed and didn't want dessert. We enjoyed the 10% Disney Visa discount. We were hoping to catch a bus to POFQ to get beignets but the bus from the OKW lobby to DS took over 30 minutes just to leave the resort. The AC on this bus was actually working too well and we were all freezing. By the time we arrived to DS, the line for Riverside was outside their enclosed area and I knew there was no way we could catch a bus there with enough time to get beignets and make it back to DS to transfer to CSR. So we decided it would be best to just go to CSR and call it a night.

We had no idea what we were going to do on Friday with one remaining park ticket. We talked about having a redo at Epcot, go to HS which we haven't done once this trip, try AK again. We would figure it out in the morning. The only thing written in stone was Ohana early dinner at 3:30.

Up next - our last full day at WDW

 

[Swissmiss]

I was going to write “oh don’t tell me we were in the same park on Friday” … and then I remembered that we decided not to go to any parks on Friday but instead decided to rest that day and use our last ticket on Saturday doing the rides that hadn’t yet had time to do. It was a good call because we needed a rest, but a bad call because Saturday’s weather was unbearably hot!

 

[LeighM]

I was going to write “oh don’t tell me we were in the same park on Friday” … and then I remembered that we decided not to go to any parks on Friday but instead decided to rest that day and use our last ticket on Saturday doing the rides that hadn’t yet had time to do. It was a good call because we needed a rest, but a bad call because Saturday’s weather was unbearably hot!

Was Saturday's heat and humidity worse than Friday's? Most of our time on Saturday was spent indoors and I have no memory of the weather except wishing the seats for Mears at CSR had more shade LOL.

 

[LeighM]

Friday, May 17th - Magic Kingdom and Ohana

Yep, you read that correctly - we went back to Magic Kingdom. We discussed all options but settled on ending our vacation at MK. We knew we would not be able to tour the park the way we always have in the past so our intention this day was to end our vacation on the best of notes, make the best of it, and just enjoy whatever time we could be there. Thanks to Disney for giving us for 2 free tickets, we would able to not stress about the money that would be wasted by only spending a few hours in the park.

I think this is the day we woke up to rain so we just slept in. R took the covered path I took earlier to the food court so he could get a quick breakfast while I got ready. I think we got to the parks around 11AM and the rain that morning had not stopped the crowds and the wait times for most rides had be widening my eyes in shock. These are definitely NOT the same parks as in years past.

We took some pictures while being blinded from the scorching sun hiding behind the clouds.

Now that we took some without sunglasses, we quickly reached for them for the rest of the photos LOL

I was starting to get hungry by this time and I wanted the spring rolls again. But I refused to wait in the line that had formed for them and I had completely forgotten that one of the things I wanted to eat this trip was one of their funnel cakes. Ooops. But I had NOT forgotten that I wanted to coconut soft serve! So on to Adventureland.

We found covered seating in shade and enjoyed our sweet treat. R ended up helping me because he couldn't resist the lure of this coconut goodness. The Sweet Frog in our town used to have this in their daily selection but they removed it some time ago. Bad, horrible decision LOL.

The wait time for Pirates was listed for 15 minutes so we got into line but it didn't take that long. And the AC was nice and cold. But the queue for this ride was a reminder to ALWAYS wear deodorant in Florida because some of the people around us were less than fresh.

Jack Sparrow was having a meet and greet but R didn't want to wait in the short line. But we DID remember to go get these treasure maps so we could finally experience this free thing to do.

But then we forgot to actually play LOL. The heat this trip was making me so absent minded We made our way to New Fantasyland.

 

[LeighM]

We found a PP photographer that had no line and we ended up having a great conversation with her.

One of the things I wanted to see what the new Scentsy displays at the Big Top so we went and got a map.

This was so cute and makes a great free momento and I think would make a cute artwork in a Disney themed room, if framed.

It's easy enough for kids to do but still nice for the kids at heart. This is the reward for finishing.

New display next to the train station. Have I mentioned I also kept forgetting to take the train?!

We were getting overheated and it was approaching our Ohana reservation so we decided to leave the park early and go wait at the Poly, check out some of the gift shops and do more pin trading.

On the way out, we stopped by some of my fav Main Street shops in case we didn't make it back.

Why have I never noticed these historical displays??? Have they always been there?

 

[Swissmiss]

Was Saturday's heat and humidity worse than Friday's? Most of our time on Saturday was spent indoors and I have no memory of the weather except wishing the seats for Mears at CSR had more shade LOL.

It rained most of the afternoon in the Disney Springs area on Friday; it may have been humid but there was not the added scorching sunshine. On Saturday by shortly after 2 pm we couldn’t hack it anymore and left and we were moving over to a Universal hotel so we went back to pick up our bags and take a Lyft to Universal. As we left MK I noticed dark clouds in the distance. An hour later there was a torrential downpour as we neared Universal.

 

[LeighM]

It rained most of the afternoon in the Disney Springs area on Friday; it may have been humid but there was not the added scorching sunshine. On Saturday by shortly after 2 pm we couldn’t hack it anymore and left and we were moving over to a Universal hotel so we went back to pick up our bags and take a Lyft to Universal. As we left MK I noticed dark clouds in the distance. An hour later there was a torrential downpour as we neared Universal.

That must've been the storm that affected our departure

 

[LeighM]

Luckily, we didn't have a long wait for a boat to the Poly because the sun was brutal. This was the first time we've seen the construction on the new Poly DVC tower and I can't say that I'm a fan. The proximity to the Grand Floridian isn't something I like. It doesn't fit the area, IMHO.

We explored all the gift shops and saw a pin that gave me the title of this trip report. We checked in for the ADR. And we were the first people called in to be seated I wish it had given us a better table with a view but at least we got a table that wasn't close to others. I wanted a pina colava but I told our server I would need to eat some food first so that I didn't have another Lapu Lapu fail.

I was good and only ate a slice or two of the bread. I was surprised that they brought us two instead of one to share. The salad was fantastic and we both loved the salad dressing. I behaved and didn't eat as much of the noodles as I wanted to but I figured I was already having enough issues as it was and I didn't need to add celiac bone pain to the mix so I acted like the mature adult I am and only have a small serving or two. However, I may have eaten more of the pot stickers than I should have LOL. We asked for more and they brought out an entire skillet, which was even better than the first round.

R finished up the wings while I ate the veggies. I do wish they gave as many veggies as they used to. Soon they were bringing the steak, chicken, and shrimp.

While eating, we enjoyed some music by the man who sets the tone here. I will be so sad when he retires because he's always the highlight of the dinner, for me at least.

Not the best pictures I've taken but I was hungry. The shrimp were perfectly cooked but a little under seasoned for my preferences. The chicken was by far better than what we had in 2021. The char on the chicken was perfect and it wasn't dry at all. The steak was better than last time too although the cut is still a little chewy. We finished up the shrimp and the chicken and most of the steak. At this point our meal was almost over and the server hadn't been back to take my drank order so I never did get to try it. The dessert was brought to us and we forgot to take a picture of it in all its glory but this is what was remaining.

I'm glad I didn't eat many noodles because I had no restraint when it came to this dessert. It's not the same recipe as it used to be during past trips. But it's worlds better than what we had in 2021. I actually prefer this iteration but R still liked the original more. This had a lot more pineapple in it, which I liked better. We used the $200 gift card Disney gave us for the DVC tour for this dinner.

I also wanted to experience Trader Sam's this trip after our dinner but guess what? I forgot. After Ohana, we waddled to the monorail to see Grand Floridian for the first time this trip. And the scent machine wasn't working!! Where was that memorable lobby smell? I'm not going to lie, it was more than a little disappointing. We wandered about into the gift shops, sprayed myself with a Guerlain perfume to test, and decided to catch a bus back to CSR from MK. It was too hot and we had waaay too much food.

We got back to CSR and took a much needed gluttony nap. We planned on going back to MK in the evening to attempt to see Happily Ever After.

 

[LeighM]

I can't remember what time we got back to MK but I think it was around 7PM. So of course, we needed to get pictures.

It was at this time that I recognized I was matching Tomorrowland LOL. The heat and humidity had gotten worse instead of better so we just took it slow. I wanted to experience the Treehouse since we've never been on it. I have vertigo so this was out of my comfort zone. And I think I would've been fine if it wasn't for a rowdy family that kept running and crowding around me. I kept trying to let them pass but they always ended up behind me. R took this picture for me at the top.

We went to Columbia Harbor House to get some free ice water. I know we did Philharmagic and we got to see the new to us scenes they added. Highly enjoyed it. R was trying to navigate us through the parks, which was a new to us experience. Usually, I direct us through the parks because he can't remember the layout, so this was a fun experience. I showed him the path from Dumbo to Tron to avoid the highly congested main path. He had decided he wanted a Tron pin to commemorate the ride.

Then we saw another PP without a wait so I made R get pictures in front of Tron

We went into the gift shop to buy the Tron pin and decided to get the astronaut ice cream. As children, both of us always wanted to try this but our mothers always said no because of the expense. But we're adults now and can buy it if we wanted! So we bought it.

It was shockingly not as bad as we were expecting. Soon it was time for fireworks so we made our way to Main Street. But first, more PP pictures

Now I'm matching the castle with my ears LOL. None of this was planned, by the way.

There were no more spots at the train station but we found a good viewing spot right in front. It was close to the AC shops and the bathroom.

 

[LeighM]

This is our first time seeing the fireworks since they added the effects to Main Street. And I was so excited to be seeing Happily Ever After again. It was a great way to end our trip and I was glad that we went to MK. We didn't spend much time there on Friday but the time spend was memorable (in a great way LOL).

We had a great view! This is a fireworks photo heavy entry.

The photo above shows how humid the air was this night. It was so hazy. I had to take a couple of breaks for AC because the air was not moving. Not even a breeze and the crowds of people were making it worse. A lot of us were feeling it.

The fireworks were making a hidden Mickey.

After the show was over, we decided to just go back to the resort and end the day on this note instead of staying later. The humidity had not improved and we didn't want to chance getting sick. And because we were so close to the entrance, we had no problem beating most of the crowds when leaving. We didn't have to wait at all for a bus and in no time we were at CSR. We stopped by the room to get our mugs and went to the food court for a refill before they locked up.

Came across these little buddies

Once we got back to the room, we started packing and R reading more of his book.

Up next - travel day and final thoughts

 

[LeighM]

Saturday, May 18th - Travel Day

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:11PM and Mears was going to pick us up at 11:25AM. The timing worked perfectly with Disney's check out so as a surprise to no one, we slept in We had breakfast at the food court but I guess I didn't take any pictures. He had the same egg platter as before but I wasn't all that hungry and had their berry overnight oats. It was fine but I still couldn't eat it all. After eating and filling up our refillable mugs for the last time, we headed to the lobby to wait until our scheduled pick up time. We got to the bus stop about 15 minutes early just because I was nervous about the bus getting there early and then leaving without us. I'm always a bundle of nerves on travel day because I'm always thinking about the worst case scenario LOL.

The bus gets there early but lets us know he's only there to drop off and another bus will be there shortly. He gets back on the bus to leave and then he gets the orders that he's supposed to pick up at our resort to take us to MCO. Which means we are the first bus stop. Yay!!! We get loaded up and then have to go to AKL Jambo and Kidani. Those were the only stops so we had an easy drive back to the airport. And, just like the worker had told us when we arrived, the buses drop off at Terminal C first. The security check point was a total walk through and the TSA agent told us we came during the perfect window when crowds are very low. The couple behind us was funny when the woman's husband tried carrying in a huge bottle of water and was told it wasn't allowed. We talked about that for a bit.

We finally find our way to the lobby area and spend more time checking out the stores. We went into the WDW Store, which was really nice and then went to the Universal Studios store. I waited downstairs with our luggage while R went upstairs to look at the Harry Potter area. I wish he had taken pictures for me because it looked really neat.

I don't know what you call this kind of screen, but I'll call it a "moving wall" LOL. It was pretty so I had to take a picture but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

I was starting to get hungry, but I can't really eat much the day of flying because I'm always too nervous. So I asked R if he could split something with me. We decided on Wine Bar George, since we didn't get a chance to go during our week there.

We split the meatball hoagie. It was tasty but definitely not worth the $20.

The person working there made it seem like it was larger than what it actually was. Guess we have a different definition of big

After eating, we made our way to our gate. Which was at the very, very end of the hallway.

And this is looking towards the bathrooms. Can yall see the sign for it??? LOL.

Guess who we saw waiting for the same plane? The couple who were behind us at TSA pre-check

At least I had something to entertain me while I was nervously waiting.

We were delayed boarding and no announcement was given. Which was odd considering our plane was there.

We didn't have the early boarding or extra space seats on the return trip home but I had checked in early enough to get into boarding group C. The attendants were very active so I suspected something was happening behind the scenes. After 20 minutes or so after our scheduled boarding time, they began the process. I heard them call C but R told me I was wrong. Until we heard them call group D so I was annoyed. Why is that man always questioning me????? Unfortunately, we didn't get our row to ourselves because a woman made a last minute travel change and picked that seat. Fortunately, she was really nice and actually lived in the same town as us.

We all get seated and the announcement is made that we were still waiting for one very important passenger. The pilot! Turns out his flight had been delayed. The attendant said that he was scheduled to land shortly and they would be busing him over. He came running onto the plane with a raised fist and some people started clapping. Once the pilot got settled, he made a funny announcement. Then he shared the news that due to a storm on the other side of the airport, we had to change runways and flight plan.

This was the picture of the change that I remembered to take once we were in the air.

We landed back in Richmond around 6PM with no issue and the trip was officially over Despite this being our longest stay at WDW, it felt like it was over in a blink. And we barely got to do anything. R was happy because he felt well rested, which was something we don't usually feel after a WDW trip. We had an hour drive home and I had my fingers crossed that the bad neighbors would be quiet and not have another late night gathering. And I'm happy to report that they stayed quiet that whole weekend so we had a nice transition period to being back.

 

[LeighM]

Final Thoughts

While I was doing laundry the day we returned (I may be a little OCD), R decided to sort our pin collection. These were the purchases and trades we made this trip:

The pin from Cars 2 is one ours we took to trade but we didn't see any good enough to trade for it. Next trip! The Disney Depression really hit us hard this trip, which is why I think R got so into the pins. He usually just leaves it for me to do lol.

R had finished the book while on the plane so I had to document the novel that was so important to him this trip

This trip definitely didn't turn out how I expected it to. And it definitely was NOT the trip I wanted. But we still made the most of it, had fun, and enjoyed each other's company. Because of those 2 free tickets, we took advantage of the bounce back offer and scheduled a return trip for the week after Thanksgiving, since we had to reschedule that trip last year. We're still bouncing ideas before we get plane tickets. We might make a separate room reservation when room discounts are released and leave on Thanksgiving, to give us more time. Or we might extend our stay and go to Universal Studios at the end of the trip since an Orlando Informer Meet-up is scheduled that weekend. Or we might do a surf and turf and attempt a Disney cruise. We've been going back home often on the weekends with our house hunting but we haven't had any luck because of the lack of inventory. We considered making an offer on a house that has been on the market for months but the weekend we discussed it with our realtor, the sellers decided to actually raise their asking price, which let me saying "oh heck no!" So now we're back to brainstorming all possibilities and wondering if we could actually make moving to Florida work. But our concerns would be the difficulty in trying to buy back home when we're ready to leave. We've lost out on good properties just being 2 hours away. We have real estate accounting questions so now we have to find someone to help us with that.

Since being back, I've been busy with doing everything I needed to do to be reimbursed for medical expenses with the travel insurance company (check was just received this week!), insurance companies (never fun!!), and doctor's appointments. There's been more neighbor issues. And we've been helping one of our (few) good neighbor's with watching her dog for part of the day she's at work. He's a very smart and good dog but he's not mine. And it confirmed it will be a while before I'm ready to have another dog again.

R added up our mileage this trip and it's so lacking compared to previous trips LOL.

Saturday - 7.08 miles
Sunday - 6.17 miles
Monday - 7.37 miles
Tuesday - 10.06 miles
Wednesday - 4.76 miles
Thursday - 6.92 miles
Friday - 7.84 miles

I also added up the money saved this trip using the Disney Visa and Magical Extras Card. I can say that the workers at the gift shop at Coronado were not very consistent with applying the Visa discount. And, I think I forgot to mention it, during the report, but the manager I talked to said she didn't think that Disney would ever bring back the service of delivering your park purchases back to the resort. She said that the shops at Disney Springs stopped their free shipping service to your home but Disney still offered it, for the time being. If you have a Disney receipt with the scan code, they can ship the items to your home for free if the total purchased is over a certain amount. But she said she expects that to change at any time.

Disney Visa - $66.04
Magical Extras - $5.55 (I forgot I had it)
Free Disney Gift Card - $200

And it was when I was totaling these figures that I realized I had forgotten I had $80 on the Disney Visa Redemption Card I wanted to use (oops). I had purchased a thank you present for our good next door present on our last Disney Springs day - a Mickey bar of soap and holder from Basin and a wax melt from Bowe's. They had watched our house for us and checked every day for the Amazon package that had gotten lost week's prior and was scheduled to be delivered while we were gone.

Our lessons learned this trip?

1. May is now just too hot for us. Never again
2. We're too old to stay at a resort with cheerleaders because they are just too dang loud for us
3. No more late park nights followed by an early morning park day. We're too old and can't hang
4. Rest days are fantastic!!!
5. R now wants Polite Pig multiple times each trip
6. It was great traveling without checked luggage and very convenient
7. Always find the time for the 30 DVC spiel if they are offering the $200 gift card!
8. Getting Amazon delivery was easy and convenient so we will definitely use that again in the future for liquids, etc.
9. If your eyes think you can eat 3 Gideon cookies, just get 2. They are bigger than they appear in the case.
10. I must remember to bring my old, fav Levi's to Disney Springs to get fixed while they are still there.

Also, (weighted) Lotso found his way home When I got home, I checked the Disney Store app and he was 40% off and even more than that with the 10% Disney Visa. So I saved more money by waiting to buy him after I got home. I am now the proud owner of my first ever emotional support bear LOL.

 

[cgersic]

So glad everything worked out that you still had a great time! And thank you for sharing your stories with us - the good and the bad - I think sometimes we can forget that not everything is perfect in the World. Can't wait for the next one!

 

[LeighM]

So glad everything worked out that you still had a great time! And thank you for sharing your stories with us - the good and the bad - I think sometimes we can forget that not everything is perfect in the World. Can't wait for the next one!

This trip definitely gave us some stories LOL. We discussed whether Genie+ would've helped us and I don't think so. It's hard to predict how your body will react to certain conditions like the heat, standing, or sitting and I think Genie+ would've been a HUGE waste of money for us this trip. I was so thankful that we didn't get it! Fingers crossed that December is MUCH cooler