Nemo14 vs. Gravity - a "trip" report

So, let me preface this report with our original plans. DH and I flew down to Orlando on Saturday, 2/14, for our annual winter break. Incidentally, SW airlines gives free cocktails on Valentine's Day flights and free beer on St. Patrick's Day. Anyway, the original plan was that we were renting a condo in Kissimmee, spending Sunday and Monday with family down there, then basically Disneying the rest of the week. So the story begins....

Sunday - We had planned to go visit my soon-to-be 89 year old mother in Groveland, and take her to Silver Springs park. The weather was calling for thunderstorms though, so we decided to take her down to Sarasota to visit my sister and see her new home. That went OK - the area is beautiful, her house is nice, etc etc, and we came back late that night. Monday we spent a delightful day in Silver Springs in Ocala. The park is very low key - just right for mom, and the weather was perfect.It's very much the "real" Florida that existed long before Walt changed the face of central Florida.
A few pics:

On board the glass bottom boats:

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Tutles in the crystal clear water:

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A 5 foot "visitor" resting in the woods. He is an outsider who frequents the waters there. We saw lots of gators on the river trip.

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Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday - Segway Day!!!

I had given DH reservations for the Fort Wilderness segway tour for the 2 of us for Christmas. He had loved the Epcot one a few years ago, so we were both pretty excited to do this one. We started out by the old entrance to River Country for a few practice runs, and we both felt pretty comfortable with the Segways, so off we went with our little group.

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The tour was great and our guides were wonderful. We went around one of the campsite loops, down the wooded trails and over to Wilderness Lodge. On the way they shared a lot of Disney trivia with us, which was really interesting too. The one thing that put a damper on this for me was.....


gravity. :o

I was backing up and apparently turned my body around, and soon found myself on the ground with everyone asking if I was OK. I was sooooo embarrassed. Anyway, I got up and finished the tour, not suspecting that anything was wrong at that time.....
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
After the tour, DH and I walked around Fort Wilderness and decided we'd eat lunch/breakfast at Trail's End. It was very good, and the service was excellent.

Our server was an older gentleman who really knew a lot about Disney, so he and DH had a great conversation about River Country and other things of the past. He suggested we take the ferry over to the Contemorary to see what's left of RC from the water. We hadn't planned to do any parks that day, so we didn't think we could ride the boats, but he told us that we could, so we took him up on it. It was sad to see the state of RC now - even worse than the last time we saw it, 2 years ago.

Anyway, the new BLT from the boat:
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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
So we got off at the Contemporary,and decided to take the monorail over to the TTC the catch a bus back to FW. Once we got to the TTC though we decided to take the other monorail over to Epcot and just catch a bus there. Got to get a Disney fix you know!

Looking out the new "ballooned "windows:

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*sigh*

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Even the busses are getting "ballooned"!

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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
We seriously waited for the bus for at least a half hour, and the longer we waited, the more and more pain I felt in my knee. Up until then, I really had not felt anything from the fall at all, and we had done considerable walking since then, but now, seemingly from standing all that time, I was in some serious pain. :(

By the time we got back to FW I could barely walk, and getting into the rental car (a minivan) was excruciating. We had planned to go to Mouse Surplus that afternoon, then begin our park days on Wednesday. Instead we ended up at CVS buying ibupropen, an ace bandage, and some half-price Valentine chocolate (hey, chocolate cures all ills, doesn't it?). We scrapped the plans for Mouse Surplus and just went back to the condo to R & R.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Wednesday - Park Day????

After following some helpful advise from some of my Magic friends (ice not heat!), it was feeling a bit better in the morning, except for bending. I knew that doing any of the parks, with all those people, was just not going to work, so we reluctantly decided to forego our Disney plans for that day, and just take it easy for a while. We knew Mouse Surplus wouldn't be busy, so we decided to give that a shot. I hobbled around through there, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as it had been last year.

A few pics:

Who could forget these?

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An Elvis sighting....

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No little green soldiers, but here's their van....

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and the Horizons vehicle is still there - it can be yours for $10,000!

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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
So DH had this great plan to surprise me with a late lunch here.

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What he didn't take into account was how tiny the place is inside, which for a person with a leg that doesn't easily bend, can be a problem. So we sat out at the outdoor tables, hoping we could bring our food out there. Apparently you can't, but they told us that we could get food from Hurricane Hannah's and eat it there - that it was exactly the same food there.

Well, exactly, isn't quite corrrect. It does have a resemblance, but in a word, it was awful. DH felt so bad, and I felt so guilty for not being able to sit inside - let's just say it wasn't our best day!

We left and went back to the condo to ice the knee again.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Thursday morning we had an early morning reservation for a final breakfast at Boatwright's. We wouldn't have missed this for the world. The food was superior, our waitress was wonderful, and we lingered there a long time, not wanting to see it end. We had once again decided that doing the parks was just not going to work for us this visit, and we were fine with that. We have another trip coming up in May (a Christmas gift from our kids), so it's no biggie really.

We went outlet shopping for a while, grabbed some lunch, then headed back to the condo to try out the pool at the clubhouse. The water was great, but it bothered my knee, so I sat out while DH relaxed in the pool. In a way I was enjoying this slower pace I had been forced into....


After dinner, Dh asked me if I felt like going back to WDW, so of course I said YES!!! We went to the Poly for a drink, then watched the fireworks and water pageant from the beach. It was really fun.

My pictures didn't come out too great, but here's a taste:

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Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
Friday was our last full day in FL, and we had made plans to get together with some friends from Jacksonville for shopping and dining. They are an older couple, originally from Scotland, and we always look forward to seeing them. They hadn't done much at WDW, so DH was more than happy to show them around DTD and the resorts. We had such a great time, and although my knee was still bothersome, we were able to do quite a lot with them. We walked into the Poly just as the torch lighting ceremony was going on, so we stayed for that, had a drink there, then monorailed over to the Conremporary food court for a bite to eat.

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The food was OK, but the service was wonderful. I'm not a big fan of the Contemporary, but I'd go back there again for lunch there anyway.

Our friends had a great time and can't wait for us to come back and show them more of WDW!
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
So Saturday was pack up and leave day. We went back up to my mom's and took her out for lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, then headed back to the airport, kicking and screaming all the way....

It wasn't the vacation we had planned, but it was OK. The knee seems to be improving, and it was wonderful to not have to see snow for a whole week!

One last pic - we saw this guy on the side of the road and just got a chuckle out of him!

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PotteryGal

PotteryGal

Active Member
Loving the report, Fishy! You're a good sport about your knee - it would've driven me nuts to not go into any park while down there. :lol: I hope it's starting to feel better. :kiss:
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
PotteryGal said:
Loving the report, Fishy! You're a good sport about your knee - it would've driven me nuts to not go into any park while down there. :lol: I hope it's starting to feel better. :kiss:
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It wouldn't have been my first choice when planning the trip, but after seeing the pics that others have posted about how busy the parks were last week, I know we did the right thing. We'll be back in a couple of months anyway, so it's OK.
 
tigsmom

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
It might not have been the best trip, but at least you guys got away for awhile. ((HUGS)) hope the knee is felling better quickly.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

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Original Poster
tigsmom said:
It might not have been the best trip, but at least you guys got away for awhile. ((HUGS)) hope the knee is felling better quickly.
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Thanks Mad. At least we didn't have to look at any snow!

mpoppins76 said:
Great report, Betty!!
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Thanks Steph!

joanna71985 said:
I'm sorry you got hurt on vacation Betty. I hope your knee is feeling better! :)
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Thanks Jo. it's doing better today, but this cold rainy weather we're having today isn't helping.
 

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