Trip Report When Emotions Are As Unpredictable As The Weather

Welp, we have been back from our trip for almost two weeks, so I guess it's about time I start this report!

You can read about the details leading up to our trip here, but I'll give you the quick lowdown.

When: June 11-18
Where: Disney's Art of Animation Resort (Little Mermaid section)
Who: Our crazy family of 4
Me (Kelli), husband (Tim), SJ (4), H (2...going on 13 )

Why: Mainly because I can't stay away from my happy place, and also because we wanted to take advantage of one of our kids still being free.

Before I start the trip report, I have two "stories" to tell that are more pre-trip (but didn't make it into that report) that will help provide a little bit of context. Sorry for the following as it is going to be text heavy!

1. A couple of weeks before our trip, SJ had an autism assessment. This would be the second one that he has had (the first one was done when he was two and came back as "not autistic / not on the spectrum"). SJ is nonverbal (for the most part) with global developmental delays. Every test that he has had in his life has come back with no results and no answers as to what is causing these delays. His pediatrician wanted to do one more autism assessment just to rule it out before figuring out next steps.

When we went to WDW last year, we had a very difficult time with him when it came to transitions and waiting in line. My thought was that I would try the disability pass if he had autism. His assessment came back negative for autism with no new diagnosis. I didn't think he would qualify for the disability pass without autism, so we didn't even think to consider it. Looking back, I wish we would have thought about pursuing it a bit more. I'm not sure it would have helped us anymore than how we managed without it, but I'm curious to know if he would have had an easier time with it.

2. A week and a half before we were supposed to leave, I got a phone call from my dad. When he calls, it usually isn't good. It wasn't. My grandpa was not doing well, and they thought he had a few strokes in his sleep at some point. They were putting him on hospice and said he could last a few hours, days, weeks, even months. My dad told me that him and my mom had already talked about how they didn't want this to ruin our trip. If he were to pass away right before or while we were on vacation, they didn't want us to change our plans to attend the visitations and funeral. This was so hard for Tim and I to even think about because we were both so close with him. He ended up passing away the next day and we were able to be there with my family.

I was very close with my grandpa growing up, and this one hit me so hard. I'm so thankful that he did not have to suffer for long, but it has been difficult to hold it together at times. This trip could not have come at a better time as I just needed to get away from reality for a bit.

On that note, let's get this thing started!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Hi Kelly: Following along. Sorry to hear of your sad time before your trip. That is never easy.
I wanted to tell you about my granddaughter who was nonverbal up until over age 3 y/o. We were all worried about her and thought she should be checked out for the cause. She finally began talking on her own. When I asked her why she wouldn't talk, she just shrugged, and said, "I didn't want to". No lie, that's why she wouldn't talk. I am not trivializing your problem, but wanted to give you another viewpoint. I know that you are worried about his delayed development, but the tests all come back negative?
I hope that this recent trip went okay and that you got a DAS for him.
Disney is our happy place too, even thought our "kids" are all grown with kids of their own Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

June 10:

The trip didn't start until the 11th, but Tim and I both took this day off of work as a vacation before the vacation. He dropped the kids off at daycare in the morning, and it was so nice to be able to sit and drink our coffee together in silence. We intended on already being packed so we could go golfing, but that didn't happen. The day was crazy! We still enjoyed our time together, but it definitely wasn't what we had wanted it to be.

My parents were taking us to the airport the next day, so once the boys were home, we quick ate dinner and then had to bring our luggage to their house. They were watching our dog too, so she wouldn't have fit in the car with our luggage in the morning when we dropped her off.

This was the first time we were flying with Allegiant. We usually fly Southwest who has a 50 pound weight limit for bags, and I didn't realize that Allegiant was a 40 pound limit until about 2 days before we left. Thank God for Amazon Prime! I bought a luggage scale and that was seriously the best $8 I ever spent! It ended up saving us A LOT of money! We were overweight in one bag, so we had to shift a lot of things around and ended up leaving a few things home. Tim almost didn't think the snack bags I packed for the boys each day would fit, but they did. Those things were my saving grace! Plus, I can't even begin to think how much extra money we would have spent if we didn't have them.

June 11:

FINALLY!!! After what seemed like forever ago that we booked this trip, we were finally here!! Our flight was scheduled to leave around 12:45pm, so our plan was to be at my parents no later than 10:00am. I think we made it there on time. We quickly packed up the car seats and luggage and we were on our way. My parents drove separate from us to the airport and the boys literally cried almost the whole way because they weren't with Grandma and Grandpa. I was getting a little nervous that once we got to the airport and said our goodbyes that it would be worse. Thankfully, they did really well with the transition! Before we knew it, our bags were checked and we breezed through security.

At this time, we still had about an hour before our flight boarded. There is a lot of construction going on at our airport, so this was a nice way to keep the boys entertained.

"I see excavator!"

Our flight did end up getting delayed, but not by much. While we were waiting, we also got some bagels to eat for lunch (sorry, no pictures). They were actually pretty good, but I could have done with half the amount of cream cheese that was on them. SJ started getting antsy, so I took him for a walk to the other terminal and back. When we got back, he was making friends with anyone that looked like a grandparent. This is one of the other things that we are having a hard time getting through to him. He loves grandparents, and will hug anyone that looks like they might have grand kids! We are constantly apologizing for this, and usually people love it, but every once in a while we get someone who wants their space.

Soon enough we got our boarding call and we were ready to go! I sat with H and Tim sat with SJ. I was hoping that they would both fall asleep on the flight, but one out of two isn't bad.

H was enjoying himself!

"I see sky!" (there were a lot of "I see...." comments from him on this trip)

Someone woke up!

The flight was smooth and the boys did good for the most part. H threw a major fit when the seat belt sign came back on. This was something that ended up being new for him on the trip...we were starting to see the terrible twos. I'm so glad he chose our trip to WDW to start this.

Once we landed, we had to pick up our luggage seeing how there was no DME. I was sad about this part, but in the end, I would 100% fly into Orlando-Sanford again! It is so much smaller and less busy compared to MCO. We went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. There is a red helicopter in the middle of the baggage carousel. I kid you not, H almost climbed up the carousel to get to that helicopter. He is the sweetest little boy, but very defiant. Please send thoughts and prayers our way for the upcoming years.

We got our luggage and headed for the Avis rental car counter. If we fly into Orlando-Sanford again and rent a car, I will not rent from Avis. Not because it was a bad experience (it was actually pretty quick), but because it is in a separate building than the other car rental companies and like a mile walk from the airport. Or, at least it felt like a mile because we had two suitcases, two toddlers and two car seats to manage in 90 degree heat. I rented through Costco (so much cheaper than everywhere else I looked). Tim kept complaining that I got a smaller SUV and was asking if I would pay more to upgrade. I told him no. He asked when we walked outside to get the car, and the guy told us we could pick from the mid-size row. See, this is why I said no to paying for an upgrade!

Our ride for the week

This was actually a really nice car! I drive an SUV, but a smaller one, and this seemed to have so much more space. Tim was then trying to convince me that we needed to buy a bigger car. All I kept thinking was, do you know how much money this trip cost?? Let's talk big purchases when we get home.

Next up: driving through Orlando and Disney's Art of Animation Resort

 

[Rista1313]

Can't wait to hear all about the rest of your trip.

My niece didn't talk until she was 3, and then when she did she was difficult to understand and she ended up going to speech therapy.

 

[LeighM]

I've very sorry for the loss of your grandfather! One of my friends has a child who is nonverbal and had major developmental delays. After years of no answers, her son was diagnosed with a chromosome deletion called STXBP1. They are still finding out more information on it and more families are being diagnosed.

 

[riverside]

You're boys are getting so big!! Cute as always!!
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm glad you were able to be there.
Looking forward to more!!

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I am not trivializing your problem, but wanted to give you another viewpoint. I know that you are worried about his delayed development, but the tests all come back negative?

My niece didn't talk until she was 3, and then when she did she was difficult to understand and she ended up going to speech therapy.

One of my friends has a child who is nonverbal and had major developmental delays. After years of no answers, her son was diagnosed with a chromosome deletion called STXBP1. They are still finding out more information on it and more families are being diagnosed.

Thank you everyone for the responses! It does make it easier knowing that so many people have gone through something similar. We are constantly praying and crossing our fingers for the wake up one day and talk situation.

I should clarify, he does have a diagnosis of Apraxia of Speech which basically means that his brain knows what it wants to say but doesn't work right with his mouth to say the words. This diagnosis was given to him more to get him the speech therapy then a "yes, this is exactly what he has". Our insurance doesn't cover the amount of speech (and other therapies) that he needs, so that is the frustrating part. He would highly benefit from all the therapy that a child with autism gets, which is another reason why we were doing one more assessment. We have done some genetic testing and that came back normal. They wanted to do more, but insurance wouldn't cover it, so decided that we would rather spend the money out-of-pocket on more speech therapy then maybe getting answers from genetics. We might pursue that in the future again if we continue to not see much progress with therapy.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

You're boys are getting so big!! Cute as always!!
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm glad you were able to be there.
Looking forward to more!!

Thank you!! They are lucky they are cute because sometimes they are pretty naughty!

 

[Spash007]

I'm very sorry for your loss, nothing can prepare you for it.

I've been following along since you were thinking of driving, as that has always been a thought in my mind to consider. And now I can absolutely relate to the title (I feel like with our 4 yo "why are you crying?" or "please calm down!" are my two most recited phrases. And our 3 mo - well, he goes from giggling to screaming, but there's nothing to do about that haha.) I really enjoy now reading TRs with two kids, knowing that will be in our future at some point too.

And to also chime in - my sisters' twins just turned 5, and were nonverbal until fairly recently. She's a Speech Therapist herself, and while the therapy helped, she actually found a chiropractor and using different essential oils ended up really helping a lot too. I don't understand all of it, but over the last 6 months we have noticed a big difference in their communication.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Thank you everyone for the responses! It does make it easier knowing that so many people have gone through something similar. We are constantly praying and crossing our fingers for the wake up one day and talk situation.

I should clarify, he does have a diagnosis of Apraxia of Speech which basically means that his brain knows what it wants to say but doesn't work right with his mouth to say the words. This diagnosis was given to him more to get him the speech therapy then a "yes, this is exactly what he has". Our insurance doesn't cover the amount of speech (and other therapies) that he needs, so that is the frustrating part. He would highly benefit from all the therapy that a child with autism gets, which is another reason why we were doing one more assessment. We have done some genetic testing and that came back normal. They wanted to do more, but insurance wouldn't cover it, so decided that we would rather spend the money out-of-pocket on more speech therapy then maybe getting answers from genetics. We might pursue that in the future again if we continue to not see much progress with therapy.

I don't know where you live, but, have you tried the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Mn? I had the wrong diagnosis for a few years before I went to the Mayo and go a definite diagnosis in ONE DAY. I had spent years going from specialist to specialist. I vowed that if I ever went through that again, I would head to the Mayo first. I know there is one in Arizona, but not familiar with that one. My sisterinlaw lives in Arizona and said it has a bad reputation, but I don't know for sure about it. I hope you get some help with this. Don't give up hope.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I'm very sorry for your loss, nothing can prepare you for it.

I've been following along since you were thinking of driving, as that has always been a thought in my mind to consider. And now I can absolutely relate to the title (I feel like with our 4 yo "why are you crying?" or "please calm down!" are my two most recited phrases. And our 3 mo - well, he goes from giggling to screaming, but there's nothing to do about that haha.) I really enjoy now reading TRs with two kids, knowing that will be in our future at some point too.

And to also chime in - my sisters' twins just turned 5, and were nonverbal until fairly recently. She's a Speech Therapist herself, and while the therapy helped, she actually found a chiropractor and using different essential oils ended up really helping a lot too. I don't understand all of it, but over the last 6 months we have noticed a big difference in their communication.

Thank you for following along! Now that we have done two trips with two kids, it's not that bad.

Thanks for sharing the story about the twins. I haven't even considered that chiropractic would be something that could help, but now that I have googled it, there are so many success stories! Adding that to my to-do list!!

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

I don't know where you live, but, have you tried the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Mn? I had the wrong diagnosis for a few years before I went to the Mayo and go a definite diagnosis in ONE DAY. I had spent years going from specialist to specialist. I vowed that if I ever went through that again, I would head to the Mayo first. I know there is one in Arizona, but not familiar with that one. My sisterinlaw lives in Arizona and said it has a bad reputation, but I don't know for sure about it. I hope you get some help with this. Don't give up hope.

We are in Michigan, so Rochester is probably like a 6 hour drive (maybe?). There have been so many times where I go back and forth about going to Mayo for a second opinion. I have a friend that used to work there as a nurse and she had so many good things to say about it. That is definitely where we would go if we get to that point!

 

[Rista1313]

We are in Michigan, so Rochester is probably like a 6 hour drive (maybe?). There have been so many times where I go back and forth about going to Mayo for a second opinion. I have a friend that used to work there as a nurse and she had so many good things to say about it. That is definitely where we would go if we get to that point!

It's a 9.5 hour drive from Grand Rapids. I go there ever year for a knitting convention.. was just there two weeks ago.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

June 11 (cont):

We packed up the car and headed out of the rental car lot. The worker stopped as at the window and checked over our paperwork. I had just noticed that they entered the wrong state on our information (Missouri instead of Michigan), so I was hoping this wasn't going to be an issue. The worker noticed where we were from and proceeded to talk with us about how he used to live there and moved to Florida, but his aunt or someone still lives there and blah, blah, blah. Tim continued the conversation with him for at least 10 minutes! He couldn't take the hint that I was ready to get to the bubble! Soon enough, we pulled out and made our way to Art of Animation. The GPS estimated that the drive would be about an hour, but it did not feel that long at all. H ended up falling asleep on the way, but SJ was wide awake the entire ride.

Getting close

My happy place!!

We're home!

This was our first time staying here, so I was really excited to try something new. We typically stay at Pop Century, so I was curious to see if this would be any different.

We had already received our room ready text, but I wasn't sure if I still needed to check in to let them know that we had a car. Tim stayed in the car with the boys while I did that because H was still sleeping.

My brother is a graphic designer and very into Pixar and Disney animation, so I had to send this to him when I entered the lobby.

While waiting, I also noticed this:

I completely forgot about AoA being a dog-friendly resort. We did not have any issues with this change. Yes, we are dog lovers, but I don't think we heard a dog bark once while we were there.

When it was my turn to talk with the cast member, he noticed there was something wrong with my magic band. I don't know what the issue was, but he fixed it. While I was in line, Tim also strolled through with the boys. I met up with him after I was done and we decided to explore this side of the resort before heading over to the Little Mermaid section.

The Finding Nemo pool area was very cool, but also super crowded (though, it doesn't look like it in this picture). Also, things took a turn for the worse when SJ realized this was a pool. He LOVES the water, so we quickly learned that we were going to have to avoid walking near pools unless we were planning to swim.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

June 11 (cont):

Next, we had to visit the Cars section because H is obsessed with Lightning McQueen. I thought the design of this area was so cool. I really felt like I was in Radiator Springs!

Doc Hudson

Ramone

Flo

We saw Mater after this, but I only have a video. H did not want to take a picture with him for whatever reason. After that we were supposed to see Lightning McQueen, but SJ was not having it at this point, so we turned around to head back to the car. I felt bad that H didn't get to see McQueen, but I don't think he knew any different. I intended to make it back over to the Cars section at some point during our trip, but that never happened.

On our way back to the car, I had to stop at the Bell Services desk to pick up our stroller rental for the week. Small tangent: last year, we rented from Kingdom Strollers and had an awesome experience / quality stroller. This time, I had a coupon for Magic Stroller and decided to try it. I had read plenty of good reviews, and it was recommended by Mouse Savers (I think). The process of reserving was fine, and we chose the same stroller as last year. However, the quality of the stroller was not near as good as Kingdom. Now, we may have gotten lucky last year with a brand new one, but this one was worn out and the rain guard did not keep it dry. The coupon only saved me like $5-$10, so I would not rent from them again. End tangent.

Once I picked up the stroller, Tim and H took the car to the Little Mermaid section and I walked with SJ. I was hoping that the walk would help calm him down, but we had to walk past the bus stops which only made it worse. There weren't any buses, but he must have remembered what they look like from last year. I'm glad he at least still had the memory!

By the time we made it to the car, he was calmed down. We gathered our things and headed to building 7. Thankfully, the elevators were right before you walk by the pool, so we didn't have to deal with a meltdown every time we left our room.

View from outside our room

Our home for the next 7 days

The room was nice, but it was your typical value room. I think we have already made the decision that the next time we go to WDW we will either save longer for a moderate resort, or rent DVC.

My friend is a travel agent for Travelmation, and she helped book our vacation. There was a cute little gift bag full of snacks when we walked in. It was such a nice little surprise, and hooray for more snacks!

We watched some Stacy while we got our things situated. I actually unpacked my clothes and used the dresser this time around. So much better then rummaging through a suit case for a week! I also had to call the front desk to request a pack and play because H didn't want to sleep in the bed, and they were at our door within 5 minutes of the phone call.

I think it was close to 5pm at this point. We decided to go swimming in the Little Mermaid pool (I think it's called the Flippin' Fins pool?) for a little bit seeing how the boys (all 3) needed to get some energy out.

After swimming, we planned to clean up and head to Disney Springs for dinner. This would be our first time visiting it since it became DS, although, I still think of it as DTD.

Next up: a new experience for the entire family

 

[oliviosis]

Following along! I have a 7 year old with Down syndrome so I understand a lot of what you've shared so far. To be honest, I'm sometimes grateful that our son's disability is obvious because it feels like there is automatically a different understanding from strangers (he's a random people hugger too!). Anyway, FWIW, you don't have to have a specific diagnosis for the disability pass. You basically just tell them what prevents your child from being able to navigate the park the way other kids do and tell them you want the pass. I've never gotten past the "My child has Down syndrome and.." before they know what's coming but again, probably a very familiar diagnosis for a lot of people. Obviously, I don't know what kind of issues you encountered but based on your report so far and description, I think it would be a totally different trip for your family with the pass. It 100% is the reason we're able to vacation at Disney, and also the reason that we continue to come back.

 

[mdcpr]

Thank you everyone for the responses! It does make it easier knowing that so many people have gone through something similar. We are constantly praying and crossing our fingers for the wake up one day and talk situation.

I should clarify, he does have a diagnosis of Apraxia of Speech which basically means that his brain knows what it wants to say but doesn't work right with his mouth to say the words. This diagnosis was given to him more to get him the speech therapy then a "yes, this is exactly what he has". Our insurance doesn't cover the amount of speech (and other therapies) that he needs, so that is the frustrating part. He would highly benefit from all the therapy that a child with autism gets, which is another reason why we were doing one more assessment. We have done some genetic testing and that came back normal. They wanted to do more, but insurance wouldn't cover it, so decided that we would rather spend the money out-of-pocket on more speech therapy then maybe getting answers from genetics. We might pursue that in the future again if we continue to not see much progress with therapy.

You are welcome to IM me on this. Happy to share some knowledge.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Following along! I have a 7 year old with Down syndrome so I understand a lot of what you've shared so far. To be honest, I'm sometimes grateful that our son's disability is obvious because it feels like there is automatically a different understanding from strangers (he's a random people hugger too!). Anyway, FWIW, you don't have to have a specific diagnosis for the disability pass. You basically just tell them what prevents your child from being able to navigate the park the way other kids do and tell them you want the pass. I've never gotten past the "My child has Down syndrome and.." before they know what's coming but again, probably a very familiar diagnosis for a lot of people. Obviously, I don't know what kind of issues you encountered but based on your report so far and description, I think it would be a totally different trip for your family with the pass. It 100% is the reason we're able to vacation at Disney, and also the reason that we continue to come back.

Thank you for sharing! It is so awesome that they accommodate to all disability types. Sometimes I feel like we miss out on a lot of "normal" kid activities because he isn't like other kids his age.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

You are welcome to IM me on this. Happy to share some knowledge.

I tried sending you a DM but it won't go through.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

June 11 - Disney Springs:

During our trip last year, we did not have any extra time to spend at Disney Springs. This year, I was so excited that we were able to get an earlier flight so that we could spend the evening there.

On our way, we caught a glimpse of the Skyliner. I think this will be a great addition to hopefully make transportation easier in the bubble.

We parked in the Grapefruit garage (I think)...it was the one to the left near the Coca-Cola Store. I liked the fact that there were signs telling you how many spots were available in each row. That should be a new requirement in every parking garage! We still had not eaten since our bagels in the airport, so we were all getting a little hangry. My original plan was to eat at Chicken Guy, but it was packed! Every other place around that area also seemed busy, so I hopped on the MDE app to see where we should go. I saw that D-Luxe Burger had mobile order, so we decided to try that. I was a little hesitant as I had heard mixed reviews, but it was pretty much our only option. Boy, am I glad we ate here. It was one of the best meals we had our entire trip!

Tim got the Barbecue Burger (signature blend beef patty topped with a fried onion ring, smoked gouda, bacon, barbecue sauce, grilled onion and lettuce), I got the Bacon & Blue Salad (which is on the Mobile Order Secret Menu), and the boys shared the Chicken Nuggets Meal (also on the Mobile Order Secret Menu). I can't even begin to tell you how good everything tasted. The salad was huge (and only $4.99)! The chicken nuggets had something in the batter that was sweet, and Tim and I are still trying to figure out what it is. We are thinking it is cornmeal maybe, so if you know, please share! Tim really liked his burger too. It ended up being so much food that we had some to take back to the resort.

After dinner, we FaceTimed my parents and hung out on the bridge right by the restaurant. It was the perfect night, and I was just soaking in the fact that we were finally here!

We hung out for a little while longer and then made our way to the car. The plan was to quick stop at Publix (stop 1 of 3 during our trip ) and grab some breakfast food for the boys to have in the room every morning, along with some water and sunscreen. We forgot to get the water, so there would be a later trip to Publix in a couple days. From there, we headed back to the resort and settled into bed. We needed our rest for our first full Disney day!