Alice28
DIS Veteran<br><font color=blue>I'm Doombah Fricki
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 9,583
Cast of characters:
Me AKA Robin- 31, 3rd trip to WDW
Mom- 56, 2nd trip to WDW
Staying at the Contemporary
Rise and Shine! We were kinda tired as we are used to a different time zone, but hey, we're at Disney World!! We have a simple breakfast of a granola bar and a banana, & fill up our refillable mugs with coffee for mom and Diet Coke for moi. We are off to Epcot and I gimp up and down the platforms at the TTC.
We arrive at the ticket counters at Epcot and wait in a line of 5-6 people. I am able to secure the military salute tickets- 5 day park hopper plus tickets for the unbelievable price of $99 each! (Regularly $279!) My husband is in the reserves and he supported me in taking this week off to spend with my Mom at my favorite place- he stayed back with our two boys and my mother in law- he made sure I had copies of his annual duty orders so I could get the pass. Thanks hon! 
Our first "mission" was to get a stinkin wheelchair for yours truly. I was not about to get an ECV- I just felt weird about being in one. Off we went to Mission:Space. I was expecting a line as it was now about 9:40. Nope, it was a walk-on! I was able to park my wheelchair and gimp along in the line as long as I could hold on to a rail. I had earlier decided my huge knee brace was too hot and I could flex my knee about 90 degrees so I wore my stretchy brace instead. Anyway, we walked right in to the preshow, which was a little intimidating- Mom had been fighting a headache for a few weeks and the doctors had detected a calcified mass in her brain. They didn't deem it anything serious, but it was still scary. She was leery at going on this ride, but we wanted to do it. So, she was assigned to be the pilot and I was the engineer. We had a mom and her 8-10 year old son with us too. The ride was, well, interesting. Definitely some serious G-Forces
and some life like effects, but I was so nervous about pushing my buttons at the right times and not getting sick that I can't say I enjoyed the ride. I wasn't bothered at all by the effects- Mom was a little woozy, but was fine after about 10 minutes. It is strange how it ends- we were successful in our mission on landing on Mars, and then ta-da it's over and you're done. No flight home, you're stuck on Mars forever and ever. We got FP's for TT, and backtracked to Ellen's Energy Adventure. I think Ellen is pretty darn funny, liked the Jeopardy parody, but other than that I doubt I will do this ride again....ever. It is long and annoying and LOUD!!
Mom was really feeling yucky after this ride- her headache came back with avengance, so we skipped TT and went on to the World Showcase, with a detour in Ice Station Cool. You know, the Israeli's really are our allies, because their lemon soda really calmed down Mom's wooziness after Ellen's Stupid Dinosaur Adventure...and the Beverly...well, still as gross as always. We gulped dow 2-3 cups of the lemon soda, and made our way out. Thank God for the wheelchair cause I was have slipped an fallen for sure on the way in.
Hola! We are in Mexico and we love going in the alternative wheelchair entrance. Anyone can go that way- before we had just walked up the steps and not noticed all of the great plants and flowers on the side- bee-you-tee-ful! We had a potty break and then went on Rio de Tiempo. Kind of a silly ride, but we liked it well enough. In Norway we saw a cute little band with some girls picked from the audience with viking helmets on cutting a rug. So cute! I think I took a picture of them. We enjoyed our journey in Norway, but skipped the movie. Since I was in the wheelchair, and it was quite hot, we definitely picked our destinations carefully- I didn't want to wear Mom out pushing me around- I'm not exactly petite- 5'9" and not thin. So, we skipped China & Germany as we had looked around in those countries quite extensively a few months before, and went into Italy. We caught the Masquerades show and were underwhelmed by it. Nice music, but basically 6 people dressed in elaborate costumes kind of do a pomp and circumstance type walk up and down their carpet, bow, and that's it....think of that episode of Amazing Race this summer if you saw it----those kind of costumes and masks. Then they had a photo op with the masked people, and we left. We didn't really look in Italy last time and it was what I remembered from my honeymoon in 95- basically just a little corner with a couple of shops and restaurants- nothing realy detailed like say Japan or Morocco or even the UK. Kinda blah. We skipped America for now, and went to lunch at the Yakitori House in Japan. I thought it was so-so- all of our meals I reviewed on the restaurant board. Decent enough, but I'm not dying to go back- the flavor was a bit "off" for me, and I eat quite a bit of teriyaki type food, so it's not as though I don't like that cuisine. I did LOVE Japan though
...very serene and peaceful. We bought some rice candy in the shop and watched some people pick their pearls and went back to America to watch the American Adventure. This is my first time seeing this show and I enjoyed it. We got to go in first and sat for a good 5-7 minutes with NO ONE else in the theater except one other wheelchair couple. Peaceful and yet slightly eerie. The show was good & I brushed a tear or two away at the end when they showed the twin towers in the back ground. We browsed through the shop and bought an American type pin with the fab four and a US flag on it for DH. In France we saw a cool balancing act where I guy went up on like 6 chairs just balanced on each other. The UK is our fav pavilion and we watched the British Invasion and chuckled at more dancing kids- so much fun to watch! Mom bought us the wonderful Almond and Apricot lotion that we wanted last time and didn't get, plus some chocolate "digestibles" AKA biscuit type cookies. We took a rest outside Canada and decided to change plans. We were going to see Fantasmic that night, but since it was the only night Spectro was showing, we decided to head to the MK instead. We made our way thru Mouse Gears (a fave shop!), went on a spin on Spaceship Earth, then back to the TTC and back to our hotel. We were given our new room, which, unfortunately was almost as far as the first room, and with a cruddy view. 
It did have two queen beds, so I guess that was good. I asked the CM at the check in desk how full was the hotel and she said 90% for the next few days and 100% from the 8th on. Yikes. We unpacked and rested for an hour or so.
We headed to the MK around 6:00- for some insane reason I wanted to walk and was dying by the time we got to the gate. What a stubborn dummy I can be . Got my wheelchair and we made our way down the middle of Main Street USA. We already were seeing people parked on the curb for Spectro so we decided to hoof it to Frontierland and get Pecos Bills for dinner and sit on the curb in Frontierland. We got two cheeseburger meals, one with carrots one with fries and noshed and people watched for 90 minutes. EY-YI-YI- what are some people thinking when they dress themselves for a day at Disney? Did they forget and think they were going to a fancy red carpet event in those strappy high heels? And what is up with those super flat- no support- flimsy flip-flops. My arches would be screaming after 5 minutes! Kudos to those that can wear them but I personally think you are nuts! We had to park my wheelchair across the way cause no strollers or WC's could be where we were at. This is where people's stupid behavior really shines- about 20 minutes before the parade is to begin.Squeezing into any nook or cranny they can, not caring about the people who have been sitting there for eons, not listening to the CM's directing traffic (So many people thought the crosswalk area the CM's rope off is the perfect place to stop and try and make it their spot to watch the parade---
), I just couldn't help but either make extremely snotty comments under my breath to mom or crack up at the insanity. My favorite parts were after the parade had started. First of all, the gal who had been sitting to my right, the way the parade was coming, decided to stand up, so I had a face full of her butt. If I looked straight ahead I could see the parade perfectly, but your natural inclination is to turn to where the music is coming from...she was from South America I would guess and I don't think she understood she was being a tad rude...I mean we were sitting on the curb so we could sit- everyone else was sitting and enjoying it- nothing was obstructing her view- I don't get it. And my second favorite part-----about halfway thru the parade a mom and her 2-3 kids were below us at the dining table at Pecos Bills- the Mom boosted her 5-7 year olds up on the 4 inch ledge (there is about a 3 foot drop to the sidewalk) so they could hang on the fence and see the parade. That's dumb enough in and of itself. But my favorite, FAVORITE part was when the 5 year old girl started SCREAMING in my ear- CINDERELLA!!!!!!! CINDERELLA!!!!!!!!! OVER HERE!!!!!!! SNOW WHITE!!!!!!!!!!! OH----PETER PANNN!! And she was Southern, so it was all the more powerful of an emphasis on some of the syllables--ey-yi-yi!!!!!! I finally had to turn around and say "You know hon, you're screaming right in my ear." She clamped her hand over her mouth and was embarrassed, but I kid you not, she started SCREAMING 8 seconds later for another character---all I could do was crack up it was sooooooo insane. I have kids and I love kids in general- I worked with school agers for 8 years and loved every minute, but at that moment I was ready to tape her mouth shut. We sat for a few minutes after the show was over (there was a second show at 10, so the park was still open) and then mom got my wheelchair. We stopped in Liberty Square for some popcorn and a water and watched the fireworks from there- good vantage point- hardly any people around! We went on Haunted Mansion, which we got to on the wheelchair entrance- fun to go in the back hallway- and had a good ride on that...I never noticed before that as you're going backwards in the graveyard you can see the corner of the mansion that you were just in- cool effect. We decided to go on Snow White, as we had skipped that one on our previous trip- better ride than DL's- more meat to the story. We were tired and decided we were done with the MK. We made our way down Main Street, got our Disney Dollar for turning in the wheelchair, and made our way to the hotel. I must say it is certainly different being in a crowded place while being in a wheelchair- a lot of people show very little courtesy and walk right in front of you, or stop- I'm surprised my Mom managed to stop the wheelchair in time so we didn't hurt anyone. Anyway, we had several tired giggle fits after we were tucked in bed- my mom and I find the strangest ways to make each other crack up.
Day 3- Animal Kingdom nightmares, Fantastical Fantasmic spot, and giggle-fits galore.
Me AKA Robin- 31, 3rd trip to WDW
Mom- 56, 2nd trip to WDW
Staying at the Contemporary
Rise and Shine! We were kinda tired as we are used to a different time zone, but hey, we're at Disney World!! We have a simple breakfast of a granola bar and a banana, & fill up our refillable mugs with coffee for mom and Diet Coke for moi. We are off to Epcot and I gimp up and down the platforms at the TTC.
We arrive at the ticket counters at Epcot and wait in a line of 5-6 people. I am able to secure the military salute tickets- 5 day park hopper plus tickets for the unbelievable price of $99 each! (Regularly $279!) My husband is in the reserves and he supported me in taking this week off to spend with my Mom at my favorite place- he stayed back with our two boys and my mother in law- he made sure I had copies of his annual duty orders so I could get the pass. Thanks hon! Our first "mission" was to get a stinkin wheelchair for yours truly. I was not about to get an ECV- I just felt weird about being in one. Off we went to Mission:Space. I was expecting a line as it was now about 9:40. Nope, it was a walk-on! I was able to park my wheelchair and gimp along in the line as long as I could hold on to a rail. I had earlier decided my huge knee brace was too hot and I could flex my knee about 90 degrees so I wore my stretchy brace instead. Anyway, we walked right in to the preshow, which was a little intimidating- Mom had been fighting a headache for a few weeks and the doctors had detected a calcified mass in her brain. They didn't deem it anything serious, but it was still scary. She was leery at going on this ride, but we wanted to do it. So, she was assigned to be the pilot and I was the engineer. We had a mom and her 8-10 year old son with us too. The ride was, well, interesting. Definitely some serious G-Forces and some life like effects, but I was so nervous about pushing my buttons at the right times and not getting sick that I can't say I enjoyed the ride. I wasn't bothered at all by the effects- Mom was a little woozy, but was fine after about 10 minutes. It is strange how it ends- we were successful in our mission on landing on Mars, and then ta-da it's over and you're done. No flight home, you're stuck on Mars forever and ever. We got FP's for TT, and backtracked to Ellen's Energy Adventure. I think Ellen is pretty darn funny, liked the Jeopardy parody, but other than that I doubt I will do this ride again....ever. It is long and annoying and LOUD!! Mom was really feeling yucky after this ride- her headache came back with avengance, so we skipped TT and went on to the World Showcase, with a detour in Ice Station Cool. You know, the Israeli's really are our allies, because their lemon soda really calmed down Mom's wooziness after Ellen's Stupid Dinosaur Adventure...and the Beverly...well, still as gross as always. We gulped dow 2-3 cups of the lemon soda, and made our way out. Thank God for the wheelchair cause I was have slipped an fallen for sure on the way in. Hola! We are in Mexico and we love going in the alternative wheelchair entrance. Anyone can go that way- before we had just walked up the steps and not noticed all of the great plants and flowers on the side- bee-you-tee-ful! We had a potty break and then went on Rio de Tiempo. Kind of a silly ride, but we liked it well enough. In Norway we saw a cute little band with some girls picked from the audience with viking helmets on cutting a rug. So cute! I think I took a picture of them. We enjoyed our journey in Norway, but skipped the movie. Since I was in the wheelchair, and it was quite hot, we definitely picked our destinations carefully- I didn't want to wear Mom out pushing me around- I'm not exactly petite- 5'9" and not thin. So, we skipped China & Germany as we had looked around in those countries quite extensively a few months before, and went into Italy. We caught the Masquerades show and were underwhelmed by it. Nice music, but basically 6 people dressed in elaborate costumes kind of do a pomp and circumstance type walk up and down their carpet, bow, and that's it....think of that episode of Amazing Race this summer if you saw it----those kind of costumes and masks. Then they had a photo op with the masked people, and we left. We didn't really look in Italy last time and it was what I remembered from my honeymoon in 95- basically just a little corner with a couple of shops and restaurants- nothing realy detailed like say Japan or Morocco or even the UK. Kinda blah. We skipped America for now, and went to lunch at the Yakitori House in Japan. I thought it was so-so- all of our meals I reviewed on the restaurant board. Decent enough, but I'm not dying to go back- the flavor was a bit "off" for me, and I eat quite a bit of teriyaki type food, so it's not as though I don't like that cuisine. I did LOVE Japan though
...very serene and peaceful. We bought some rice candy in the shop and watched some people pick their pearls and went back to America to watch the American Adventure. This is my first time seeing this show and I enjoyed it. We got to go in first and sat for a good 5-7 minutes with NO ONE else in the theater except one other wheelchair couple. Peaceful and yet slightly eerie. The show was good & I brushed a tear or two away at the end when they showed the twin towers in the back ground. We browsed through the shop and bought an American type pin with the fab four and a US flag on it for DH. In France we saw a cool balancing act where I guy went up on like 6 chairs just balanced on each other. The UK is our fav pavilion and we watched the British Invasion and chuckled at more dancing kids- so much fun to watch! Mom bought us the wonderful Almond and Apricot lotion that we wanted last time and didn't get, plus some chocolate "digestibles" AKA biscuit type cookies. We took a rest outside Canada and decided to change plans. We were going to see Fantasmic that night, but since it was the only night Spectro was showing, we decided to head to the MK instead. We made our way thru Mouse Gears (a fave shop!), went on a spin on Spaceship Earth, then back to the TTC and back to our hotel. We were given our new room, which, unfortunately was almost as far as the first room, and with a cruddy view. It did have two queen beds, so I guess that was good. I asked the CM at the check in desk how full was the hotel and she said 90% for the next few days and 100% from the 8th on. Yikes. We unpacked and rested for an hour or so.We headed to the MK around 6:00- for some insane reason I wanted to walk and was dying by the time we got to the gate. What a stubborn dummy I can be . Got my wheelchair and we made our way down the middle of Main Street USA. We already were seeing people parked on the curb for Spectro so we decided to hoof it to Frontierland and get Pecos Bills for dinner and sit on the curb in Frontierland. We got two cheeseburger meals, one with carrots one with fries and noshed and people watched for 90 minutes. EY-YI-YI- what are some people thinking when they dress themselves for a day at Disney? Did they forget and think they were going to a fancy red carpet event in those strappy high heels? And what is up with those super flat- no support- flimsy flip-flops. My arches would be screaming after 5 minutes! Kudos to those that can wear them but I personally think you are nuts! We had to park my wheelchair across the way cause no strollers or WC's could be where we were at. This is where people's stupid behavior really shines- about 20 minutes before the parade is to begin.Squeezing into any nook or cranny they can, not caring about the people who have been sitting there for eons, not listening to the CM's directing traffic (So many people thought the crosswalk area the CM's rope off is the perfect place to stop and try and make it their spot to watch the parade---
), I just couldn't help but either make extremely snotty comments under my breath to mom or crack up at the insanity. My favorite parts were after the parade had started. First of all, the gal who had been sitting to my right, the way the parade was coming, decided to stand up, so I had a face full of her butt. If I looked straight ahead I could see the parade perfectly, but your natural inclination is to turn to where the music is coming from...she was from South America I would guess and I don't think she understood she was being a tad rude...I mean we were sitting on the curb so we could sit- everyone else was sitting and enjoying it- nothing was obstructing her view- I don't get it. And my second favorite part-----about halfway thru the parade a mom and her 2-3 kids were below us at the dining table at Pecos Bills- the Mom boosted her 5-7 year olds up on the 4 inch ledge (there is about a 3 foot drop to the sidewalk) so they could hang on the fence and see the parade. That's dumb enough in and of itself. But my favorite, FAVORITE part was when the 5 year old girl started SCREAMING in my ear- CINDERELLA!!!!!!! CINDERELLA!!!!!!!!! OVER HERE!!!!!!! SNOW WHITE!!!!!!!!!!! OH----PETER PANNN!! And she was Southern, so it was all the more powerful of an emphasis on some of the syllables--ey-yi-yi!!!!!! I finally had to turn around and say "You know hon, you're screaming right in my ear." She clamped her hand over her mouth and was embarrassed, but I kid you not, she started SCREAMING 8 seconds later for another character---all I could do was crack up it was sooooooo insane. I have kids and I love kids in general- I worked with school agers for 8 years and loved every minute, but at that moment I was ready to tape her mouth shut. We sat for a few minutes after the show was over (there was a second show at 10, so the park was still open) and then mom got my wheelchair. We stopped in Liberty Square for some popcorn and a water and watched the fireworks from there- good vantage point- hardly any people around! We went on Haunted Mansion, which we got to on the wheelchair entrance- fun to go in the back hallway- and had a good ride on that...I never noticed before that as you're going backwards in the graveyard you can see the corner of the mansion that you were just in- cool effect. We decided to go on Snow White, as we had skipped that one on our previous trip- better ride than DL's- more meat to the story. We were tired and decided we were done with the MK. We made our way down Main Street, got our Disney Dollar for turning in the wheelchair, and made our way to the hotel. I must say it is certainly different being in a crowded place while being in a wheelchair- a lot of people show very little courtesy and walk right in front of you, or stop- I'm surprised my Mom managed to stop the wheelchair in time so we didn't hurt anyone. Anyway, we had several tired giggle fits after we were tucked in bed- my mom and I find the strangest ways to make each other crack up. Day 3- Animal Kingdom nightmares, Fantastical Fantasmic spot, and giggle-fits galore.
