ANOTHER Adventure in Autism (4/15) A Taste of What's to Come...

[MRYPPNS]

Yippe Skippy !! You'll have a wonderful time. Think how fun it will be to go with someone new and that you can impress with all your Disney knowledge.

 

[jcc0621]

That's great Kathy! You will have a wonderful time and what a great way to "thank" your sister

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow... a lot has happened since I last checked in. Here's some pixie dust anyway... Hoping everything works out with you sister. I'm jealous - that sounds like so much fun!!

 

[whgrn]

Jeez, one day away from the computer and all heck breaks loose!!!

Kathy, I'm so sorry about your August trip, but I do understand major renovations, moving out for several months, and all that fun--we did it 4 years ago. You are gonna need that!!!

As far as the winter trip, I was going to second Jordan's suggestion, and lo and behold you took my advice before I even gave it!! I am so glad you are going with Eileen. I would LOVE to do Disney (or any vacation) with just me and my DSis. That would be a guaranteed fabulous trip! I hope you both have a wonderful time, and I cannot wait to read that TR!!!

Speaking of TRs, now that you've got the future trip settled, lets hear more about November!!!



Wendy in NJ
Check out my trip report at www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638072

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

There was no one in line at the concierge desk and Ed gave the kids a few more pennies so they could make wishes by throwing them into the little bubbling spring

LOL!! That Ed's a big spender!

Boy, you've been up and down on your future trips. Here's a good idea... come on down by yourself next October and hang out with Clan Mills. We'll take care of you.

Keep 'em coming.

 

[KathyRN137]

Chaper Eleven: A Fine Line at the Prime Time



The latter end of joy is woe.
-GEOFFREY CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales


Sunday, 11/4:


I chose to spend our rest time fiddling around on our new laptop. Yes, I said laptop. We’ve only had a desktop computer for many moons. Ed had gone out a few days earlier and purchased one, ostensibly so the kids could use it for homework, but I knew he really wanted me to have one with us so I could keep up on the DIS and perhaps even post a few live reports.


Unfortunately, we didn’t have the version of AOL that was current or strong enough. Well, that’s what I figured, anyway. But remember, you must take that with a whole shaker full of salt because I am a technophobe. Anyway, I was able to get on the DIS to read, but for some reason it wouldn’t let me log in so I could post. Oh well.


So, I spent the next hour or so happily catching up on some of the trip reports I had been following while Ed slept and the kids amused themselves with TV and books. Aunt Rae sort of dozed off and on, sometimes getting up to putter around and do I don’t know what. Soon the time came for us to start getting ready for our 5:10 dinner ADR at the Fifties Prime Time Café. Knowing how long it took us to eat dinner lately, I was anxious to get there early so we would have enough time to get decent seats for Fantasmic. You may recall from last year’s report that Fantasmic had been closed for refurb, so Aunt Rae had never seen it. We had actually skipped it the year before that, so it had been awhile since the rest of us had seen it.


I began by rousing everyone from their interests and prodding them to get dressed for the evening. Everyone but Billy was sluggish. Billy ran to put on his sneakers and began chanting, “Fantasmic! The nighttime spectacular!” over and over again. Then he began to recite the various attractions he wanted to do at the Studios. “First, Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, then Star Tours, then MuppetVision 3D, and then Fantasmic! The nighttime spectacular!” Uh-Oh. I had planned our viewing of Fantasmic based upon when I had anticipated the lowest crowds. I hadn’t anticipated that Billy would not understand that we were going to the Studios tonight for dinner and the show only. Time for a social story.


A social story is a communication tool that sometimes helps him to understand concepts that he is having difficulty learning or accepting. Basically, you break down the coming events into little pieces and repeat the sequence over and over. It helps if you have a visual aid, but time was short so I just tried to do it verbally.


“Billy, first comes dinner, then Fantasmic. Then comes three sleeps. Then we go to the Studios for Playhouse Disney, Star Tours, and MuppetVision 3D.” We went over the game plan several times, but I could see that he was really fixated on doing all that other stuff tonight.


I went into the bedroom to wake Ed. He was pretty groggy. “Why don’t we just bag the whole thing and stay here,” he asked. I froze. “Why do we have to eat at Prime Time, we can just grab something to eat here and see Fantasmic another time,” he grumbled.


“Well, because I have our itinerary all planned out…” I stammered. “This is really the only day that we’re doing two resorts in one day…we won’t have another evening to see Fantasmic!”


Now, I realize that he wasn’t feeling too hot. Perhaps having a tooth pulled the day before leaving for vacation had not been the smartest thing to do, but he really hadn’t had much choice in the matter. What was done was done.


But, this was the Operational Plan we were talking about here! The plan I had labored on for months! I expect a certain amount of flexibility, but this was only our second night here and he was talking about tossing out the plan completely. I could put on my big girl pants and deal with it if I had to, but I knew that Aunt Rae was looking forward to eating at PTC again – she had only been talking about it all year – and Billy, at least, was totally focused on seeing Fantasmic. Tonight.


Ed got up and, with some unpleasant mutterings about rigid schedules and never being able to relax on vacation, he got himself ready to go. Good thing, too, because it was already 4:30. Somehow I herded everyone out the door and we made it out to the bus stop and proceeded to wait about 15 minutes for the Studios bus. Tricia insisted that Ed and I pose for a picture with our “granddaughter”:

(See the homemade lanyard Tricia made for her!)



It was exactly 5pm when the bus pulled into the Studios lot. I tapped my toes to the peppy version of “Hooray for Hollywood” playing on the soundtrack, but I was also tapping out of nervousness. We were cutting it close.


We got through bag check and a CM, seeing our matching “Jersey” shirts…..well, I never did find mine, so I just had a plain red one on…..began to ask us questions about, doh, where we were from (!) and how many times we had visited WDW, etc. Ed gave him the info quickly and I began to make excuses to leave when, suddenly, he offered us front of the line access to Tower of Terror! A mini-dream, and darn, we couldn’t use it! We thanked him, but explained that we were already late for our ADR at PTC. He seemed as disappointed as we were! But, we explained to him that, in addition, we had the GAC for Billy and that we were thankful enough for the ability to use it on the big attractions. We shook hands and trotted off toward the PTC.


How beautiful Hollywood Boulevard looked! Signs of Christmas were beginning to appear everywhere and the garlands with the bright stars looked so festive! I said to Tricia, “See how a lot of the decorations are made of tinsel? And how they use the stars? That’s because Tinsel Town is full of stars, get it?” She did not. Oh well, we (ahem) older people did!

We checked in at the PTC podium and I asked the seater if Chris, our funny waiter from last year, was working that night. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. I asked them for a server who liked to “play” and was given a pager. We all went into one of the “living room” areas, but there was no place to sit. That didn’t seem to bother Billy….there were TVs in there! He tried to sit down next to some other guests on the couch and was upset when Ed grabbed him and told him to stand by him. I took out our camera to begin taking pix of the kitschy décor. “Will you put that camera away,” Ed barked. “Enough with all the pictures for that darn* report!”


Ugh! Toothache or no, his grumpiness was really starting to bother me. I put the camera back in my bag. “Yes, oh lord and master, whatever you say!” I snapped. He gave me a dirty look and walked outside.


*Sigh* Well, I’m not going to sugar-coat my report. That’s the way it was.

Our pager went off and everyone looked at me. “Well, let’s go eat,” I said, and we presented ourselves to the hostess and were shown to our table. “Is Dad coming back?” Tricia asked. I had no idea. Perhaps he went back to the resort; perhaps he was just outside getting some air. In any case, the gang was hungry, we were here, so I just decided to let the chips fall where they may.


Our server was “Cousin” Robert. He wasn’t quite as fun as Chris had been, but he was okay. He did the schtick as best as he could, but he was quite busy. He took our drink orders and left us to peruse the menu. The place was packed and we perused for quite some time. Thankfully, Billy was focused on the black and white TV screens and wasn’t fidgeting too badly.


“Is Dad coming back,” Tricia asked again. I could see she was upset. I really didn’t want to, but I took out my cell phone and called his. I got his voicemail. Our beverages arrived and so did Ed. He sat down and picked up the menu like nothing had happened.


Robert took our order and we all opted for the yummy pot roast. Billy wanted mac ‘n cheese again. I wasn’t sure…he had been off dairy for so long, but his speech was doing well and I figured it was as good a time as any to see if going back on dairy would affect it or not. (He never had any digestive problems, we just decided to go casein free because it seemed to help his speech when he was little.) So, mac ‘n cheese it was. Boy, everybody was going off his diet this trip! I mentioned to Robert that we were planning to go to Fantasmic and asked that he expedite the meal if he could. He threw down some straws (part of the schtick) and said he would see what he could do


For appetizers, Aunt Rae had the chicken noodle soup, which was very good, and Ed and I had shrimp cocktail. Tricia had a salad. Jessica the doll was watching her figure, so she chose to just nibble from Tricia’s plate. Our entrees arrived and, oh, I would have loved to take some food pix, but I didn’t want to push it with Ed. We all dove into our plates…it was delicious!


Sometime during the meal, Ed struck up a conversation with a man at the next table. What happened next was a classic case of Its a Small World, After All! It seems that the family was originally from Elizabeth, NJ, where Ed and Aunt Rae grew up. And they knew lots of the same people! Ed went to school with the man’s cousin! He was so excited, he called his cousin and had him “guess who” he was sitting next to at WDW! Name after name was mentioned, and either Ed or Aunt Rae knew them or at least someone in their family. They just couldn’t get over it.


I was just thankful that the whole thing seemed to improve Ed’s sour mood. I was seated at the far end of the table, so I mostly just sipped on my Electric Lemonade and enjoyed my food while Ed and AR chatted it up with our new friends. The other table got up to leave and I checked my watch. Holy Smoke…it was 6:35! Cousin Robert came by to take our dessert order and Aunt Rae asked for a milkshake. “How about we all get milkshakes, that way we can take them to go?” I suggested, and everyone agreed. We settled up and I thanked Robert for getting us out in time (I hoped) for the show. We grabbed our things and, balancing our gigantic milkshakes to go, we went outside and headed off toward the sunset, er, the Sunset Boulevard.


Next Up: You glow, girl!



Kathy

 

[Hedy]

Glad everything turned out ok.
And I'm very impressed with Jessica's lanyard, and, erm, new hairstyle.

 

[AGPrincess]

Tricia insisted that Ed and I pose for a picture with our “granddaughter”:

Love it! And Jessica's lanyard is SO fun too! What an ULTRA-fabulous update -- can't wait for more!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I think our amazing abilities to create schedules is why we have been blessed with the children we have!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Then he began to recite the various attractions he wanted to do at the Studios. “First, Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, then Star Tours, then MuppetVision 3D, and then Fantasmic! The nighttime spectacular!”

For some strange reason, this sounds vaguely familiar .

I went into the bedroom to wake Ed. He was pretty groggy. “Why don’t we just bag the whole thing and stay here,” he asked. I froze. “Why do we have to eat at Prime Time, we can just grab something to eat here and see Fantasmic another time,” he grumbled.

I have been guilty of saying what Ed said "stay here" and of what you said “Well, because I have our itinerary all planned out…” I have wars within myself. Poor Ed, he must not have been feeling well and poor Kathy, I know how very hard you work to make sure these trips run smoothly for your family, especially Billy.

Tricia insisted that Ed and I pose for a picture with our “granddaughter”:

Great picture!!

(See the homemade lanyard Tricia made for her!)

Thank you so much for posting this picture. Someone (BILL) thought I was silly for even suggesting I make a lanyard for Pal Mickey. Guess who is getting a lanyard before your next trip .

It was exactly 5pm when the bus pulled into the Studios lot. I tapped my toes to the peppy version of “Hooray for Hollywood” playing on the soundtrack, but I was also tapping out of nervousness. We were cutting it close.

Kathy, I love the way you write. That brought me right back to pulling into MGM and hearing that music.

Ed gave him the info quickly and I began to make excuses to leave when, suddenly, he offered us front of the line access to Tower of Terror! A mini-dream, and darn, we couldn’t use it! We thanked him, but explained that we were already late for our ADR at PTC. He seemed as disappointed as we were! But, we explained to him that, in addition, we had the GAC for Billy and that we were thankful enough for the ability to use it on the big attractions. We shook hands and trotted off toward the PTC.

Oh no, a mini-dream turndown. You had your priorities straight . I hope more good things happened during the trip!!

I said to Tricia, “See how a lot of the decorations are made of tinsel? And how they use the stars? That’s because Tinsel Town is full of stars, get it?” She did not. Oh well, we (ahem) older people did!

I got it!!

“Will you put that camera away,” Ed barked. “Enough with all the pictures for that darn* report!”

Hmmm, seems like Bill channeled Ed a couple of times during the trip. Do they not understand we HAVE to take the pictures ?? It is necessary for a good trip report.

Ugh! Toothache or no, his grumpiness was really starting to bother me. I put the camera back in my bag. “Yes, oh lord and master, whatever you say!” I snapped. He gave me a dirty look and walked outside.

Your both human, Bill and I did this grumpy exchange more than once on our trip .


Thanks for another great installment. Also, thanks for the tip about the electric blue lemonade . It was quite good. Can't wait to read more .

 

[jcc0621]

Great update Kathy! Glad Ed got over his grumpies

That is funny about the people sitting next to you growing up near Ed. Let's all say it together....It's a small world after all....

My mother was working last week and seated people and the girls mother was orginially from our old neighborhood. Turns out that her aunt went to the prom with my uncle (My uncle died in 1965 and was 35 then so that gives you an idea how long ago this was

 

[jordanyosh]

Great update.....

You and I have chatted in great detail the ups and downs of being who we are (OTP). I think what others don't understand is that we are not planning for ourselves, but we are actually planning for them to maximize their fun AND relaxation.

Kathy, you and I, will learn to be flexible together......

Who am I kidding...keep on OTPing..........

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

Kathy, thanks for being so candid in your report. Poor Ed, he must have been miserable. Trey does the same thing in restaurants... just sits wherever and has even picked food off other's plates! PTC sound like a good place for our clan. The T.V.'s would keep Trey busy.

With all the go-go scheduling, it's easy to see where some people get cranky. We've done our trips so many times that my clan is used to me cracking the whip.

Tell Ed that Buzz is disappointed as I wanted to see pictures of the inside but he bullied you into putting the camera away.

Another good installment.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Good evening Kathy. You do NOT belong on page two, so bumpity bump. Can't wait to read another great installment .

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

I LOVE the pic of you and Ed with your granddaughter!

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter Twelve: You Glow, Girl!!


Night hath a thousand eyes.
-JOHN LYLY



When I last left off, we were quick-walking it to the Hollywood Hills Ampitheater with our PTC milkshakes in hand. Well, perhaps we weren’t so quick, but we were getting there as fast as we could without making Aunt Rae get out of breath! Because last night was the end of Daylight Savings Time, it was now fairly dark at 6:45. Good. We would get to see the “nighttime spectacular” and still get back to the resort fairly early. (I hoped.)


Because there was an incline, it took us about ten minutes to traverse that long, winding path that led to the theater. Aunt Rae was fretting and trying to walk too fast. Ed and I had to insist several times that she slow down and she was obviously anxious that we would be “late” because of her. “Just one more reason why the ECV would come in handy,” I offered, hoping she would take the hint. But, she chose to ignore me. Hmm. I wonder where Ed gets his stubbornness? Could it be from his mother’s side of the family??


“Kathy, something in your purse is on,” Ed said suddenly. I looked down at my Baggallini and saw that some of the glow necklaces I had packed had already cracked and were partially glowing! As if the lime green color wasn’t enough of an eye-catcher! We made it to the stands and paused to scan the crowd. Yikes! Looked like a pretty full house. Well, doh, Ms. OTP, of course it was….the show was going to start in only a few minutes! I approached a CM and presented Billy’s GAC and asked to be seated in a handicapped-viewing area. They are all the way in the back and further from the loud noise and pyrotechnics that I was afraid might frighten him. The CM began to take us around the theater, but none of the HCV areas seemed to have room for five. About ¾ of the way around, however, we found a nice open spot in the regular seating, about three rows down from the top. Perfect!


We settled in and I took off my hoodie. Whew! I needed to cool off a bit. It felt like the temperature was slowly cooling off from the daytime seventies into, perhaps, the mid-sixties. I took a sip of my milkshake…that ought to cool me off a bit, right? Wrong! It was so thick, I could hardly get anything up through the straw! Tricia complained that she couldn’t get much out of her straw, either! We would just have to wait for them to melt a bit.


Ed started to work the earplugs into Billy’s ears as I turned my attention to the glow necklaces and bracelets, cracking and bending them so they would light. Naturally, I chose the lime lime green for myself…a necklace and a lime green bracelet on each wrist! Tricia wanted pink and purple; AR took blue and orange. Ed declined any glowing ornamentation, but he chuckled at my glowing green-ness. Billy wore his necklace briefly, but when he began to chew on it I decided to take it off. Oh well, one more for me!


I had read on the TR boards that many DISers had lots of fun spreading a bit of magic by passing out glow jewelry at nighttime parades and shows, so I had bought our glow-stuff in bulk! I knew exactly who was going to get the first one…the little boy sitting in front of me.


“No, I am not going to tell you again,” his mother said, wearily. “I am not going to get you one of those spinny things!” The boy, about five or six years old, persisted in his quest. After all, it seemed like “all the other kids” had the (outrageously overpriced) light-up toys. Even with the stadium lit, it looked like there were thousands of fireflies fluttering among the crowd. The boy pouted. The mother sighed. I leaned in. “Would you like a glow necklace?” I asked. We both looked at his mother and, let me tell you, the grateful look on her face was more than worth the effort. “Thank you,” she mouthed quietly, rolling her eyes to the heavens as her son put the necklace on. Every parent knows how tenacious kids can be when they want something! I felt so good. On the other side of her, his two older sisters smiled. I passed some down to them and they thanked me politely. Nice family. From Jersey, of course! I had a friendly little chat with the mom and dad while Tricia and I passed out the remaining glow necklaces and bracelets to the kids sitting nearby. We had plenty, so I even wound up giving Jersey Boy another necklace. There was no more whining about getting the spinny toy!


Billy was really psyched. “Fantasmic, the nighttime spectacular!” he chanted. At first, he balked when Ed went to put the earplugs in, but then Ed reminded him about the fireworks and he finally let them be. Let’s see, I think he was only five or six when we last saw this. He might not even remember that there was actual fire involved. (He is deathly afraid of flames.) I just said a quick little prayer that he wouldn’t be traumatized and have to leave. Before I could worry about it more, the show began.


Wow, it was even better than I remembered! (Sorry, I didn’t take pix because I was fairly sure they wouldn’t come out.) Not to mention that I kept looking at Billy, who was seated next to me, to make sure he was okay. He did get a little frightened when the lake went up in flames, and covered his eyes with his hands, but I think the combination of the ear plugs, plus being seated so far up really helped. We all enjoyed the show, and our milkshakes, finally! When it was done, we sat for a few minutes to let the bulk of the crowd go on ahead. I knew it would be a slow walk for us back to the bus stop, so it didn’t really pay to rush on out of the theater.


We picked up our cups and slowly inched our way out toward one of the exits. I felt so sorry for the CMs who were sweeping up and cleaning the stands after the show. Ed made a comment that echoed my own thoughts: how could people just get up and leave so much trash behind? You can’t walk twenty paces in WDW without passing a trashcan! We tsk-tsked our way out of the theater and down the long path to Sunset Boulevard. “Going downhill is so much easier than going up,” quipped Aunt Rae. Ed and I exchanged looks as we gave her two half-hearted laughs. “I hope she gets a wheelchair tomorrow,” Ed whispered. “I don’t like the way she’s breathing.” “Neither do I,” I replied, “But we can’t force her; you know how sensitive she is!”



Now, while we had been waiting for the Fantasmic crowd to thin, I had been fussing about trying to zip over to Tatoonie Traders. We had a DIS-meet scheduled the day after next with mrsksomeday and YodaK, and I really wanted to pick up a little something that was Star Wars-related. Finally, Ed told me to take Tricia and go while he would walk with Billy and AR toward the main exit. Tricia and I took off in a trot…naturally, she soon began to get too far ahead of me for comfort, and I called to her to slow down. Usually the stores are open a little past the official closing time, but we had to cross practically the entire park. The further we got from Echo Lake, the darker and less populated it became. It felt a little creepy, actually!


We made it over to the themed gift shop and, luckily, they were still open. Several guests browsed the store, but I knew exactly what I wanted…pins! Happily, I found what I was looking for… Mickey as Luke Skywalker and Minnie as Princess Leia. We had only two people ahead of us in line, so we managed to procure our loot quickly and we were off to join the others.


The park seemed deserted until we looped around back onto Hollywood Blvd. There we found lots of last-minute shoppers among the glittering stores. Tempting, but we would be back later in the week. (Puh-leez! Billy would not rest until he saw his faves!) We met up with the rest at the Crossroads of the World and the females in the group, having all consumed gigantic milkshakes during Fantasmic, made a much-needed pitstop before we left the park. When we emerged we found Ed and Billy looking at the pins so, naturally, we just had to join them! Tricia saw a pin she wanted, but she was still holding out for Downtown Disney! I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I when I purchased a pin for myself, I bought her a pin, too! We strolled out to the bus stop and Jessica must have been tired, because Tricia had to give her a ride on her shoulders:

I marveled that we were already done with our first full day! A short wait later, we were rumbling our way back to the Wilderness Lodge.


Once we were back in our villa, I ran the whirlpool bath for Billy. He loves the deep pressure of the jets and, hey, what kid doesn’t love bubbles in the bath? When Tricia saw what I was doing, she ran to put on her bathing suit so she could join him. The two had a grand time playing in the bubbles while Jessica, who didn’t want to get her hair wet, played lifeguard/cabana girl:

Ed decompressed a bit by watching TV and AR was off in the other bathroom taking her evening shower. Other than wiping up the mini-flood the kids made on the floor, I can’t remember anything particular that I did, so I must have just been relaxing, too. I got Billy ready for bed and tucked both him and his sister into their respective sofa beds.


“I need Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, and Star Tours, and MuppetVision 3D, please, Mommy!” said Billy. “Yes, after two sleeps,” I began. “Tomorrow, we go to Epcot and…”

“I need Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, and Star Tours…..”

Tricia piped up from the next room, “Don’t forget Rock N Roller Coaster, Billy!”

“I need Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, and Star Tours, and MuppetVision 3D, and Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, please, Mommy!”

“Thanks a lot, Trish!” I called out. “Your welcome!” she giggled. Smartypants!


So, after a few repetitions of the plans for tomorrow, I eventually got a lukewarm level of acceptance from Billy and I turned out the light. He lay there awhile and chuckled and sang to himself. It was so, so good to have a separate bedroom….it could take quite a while for him to sing himself to sleep! After a few minutes of watching TV in the bedroom with Ed, however, I tiptoed in to check on him and he was out like a light. Sweet Disney Dreams, my special boy.




Next Up: Future World is in our Future!


Kathy

 

[blue_river]

Congrats on the new laptop

Too bad about the mini-dream for ToT

Sorry to hear Ed wasn't feeling well and kinda put a damper on your dinner and picture taking

The whole vacation thing really isn't a vacation at WDW because of all the running around we do and it's tiring. People are bound to get testy now and then. At least you both were able to move on and get over it quickly

 

[blue_river]

OH! Another update!! We must have crossed-posts.

I'm glad Billy was able to enjoy the show

Way to spread the pixie dust with the glow-bracelets

I hope Aunt Rae finally gives in and uses a wheelchair

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great update Kathy! I'm glad you made it to Fantasmic in time!! Sounds like it worked out perfectly - you didn't have to wait too long for the show to start! That's another thing we missed this time around... but I loved the show last time we were there.

 

[KathyRN137]

Can't wait to hear more
Can't wait to go back to 50's PTC
Can't wait to go back to Disney!!!!!!




Tricia was here!!!!!