Liz
Make a miracle!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 4,909
Cast:
ME - 43, Author of this report, grew up in Florida, too many WDW trips to really count
PAUL - 50, my dear husband, several WDW trips under his belt
JEFF - 14, our dear son, this is about his 6th trip to WDW
LAURA - 13, our dear daughter, her 6th trip also. Will be participating in the U.S. Transplant Games in Orlando.
MY MOM - late 60's, been to WDW many times, last time 5 years ago
JUNE 26 - WEDNESDAY
Jeff & Laura got to sleep a little later while I went over to Disney's Wide World of Sports to register Laura for the Transplant Games. The Transplant Games were held at WDW two years ago and the registration process was nothing short of horrific. All these people had survived transplants and Disney just about killed them during registration! It was held then at the baseball stadium, outdoors in very high temps. They just a few people at a table registering thousands. Our family was in line 2 ½ hours then. Disney promised this time it would be different and I was crossing my fingers that they were right. I left the Dolphin about 8:15, got her registered and was back to the hotel by 9:30 so I'd say they definitely improved things! This time it was indoors and they had about 20 people ready to register everyone. Way to go Disney for hearing the complaints and doing something about it!
The plan for this morning was to go to one of the resorts and rent water mice. I've heard this is really fun, and my kids are the right age for being able to drive boats themselves, although I was really worried about Laura's ability to handle it. Mom chose to go down to Tubbis and have breakfast while we were gone.
Paul, the kids and I took a bus to MK then walked to the Contemporary. We went down to the marina and they confirmed 12 years & older could drive a boat alone. They said if you could drive a car you would have no problem driving the boat. Well that didn't help with my misgivings about Laura driving because she certainly can't drive a car! They said the younger kids just take a little longer to get used to it but they do fine. So we went for it. We could have had her ride with either me or her dad but I knew the whole weight thing with two people would probably make us go super slow.
The choices for the water mice were 30 minutes for $21, 45 minutes for $28 or an hour for $30. They said we paid when we returned the boats so we were free to stay out as long as we wanted. You have to mention the AP discount BEFORE renting the boats or they won't accept it. We did, but there was a little confusion because one guy helped us initially, we told him about the APs, he left to do something else and a lady finished up the paperwork. I asked her towards the end of the process if they needed to see our Annual Passes now and she said we should have mentioned it sooner. I told her we did mention it to the first guy who was helping us so she said it was fine. They didn't ask to see all our passes because she figured if one of us had an AP then we all did. This gave us 15% off. They keep a room key if you are staying onsite or a drivers license if you are staying offsite.
We were all fitted with life vests and shown our boats. The guy explained how they worked but Laura and I had to be shown again after we were in the boats. He was really nice and patient. The time didn't start till we got in the boats.
There are two huge lakes so even though there were quite a few boats out there, it didn't really feel crowded. There was a canal between the lakes where we had to go slow. The lake in front of the MK was much more crowded than the other one behind the Contemporary. It was sooooo much fun! At one point a bunch of water splashed over the front of my boat when I was going over someone's wake and it soaked my legs! We hadn't been wearing suntan lotion during our trip because it was always so cloudy & rainy. This morning it was real sunny and we had forgotten to put it on so I hoped we wouldn't all end up being burned.
Laura got the hang of the boat after a few minutes. The two of us stayed together and Paul & Jeff took off. I knew Jeff would want to go fast and not try to hang around with us slow girls so we let them go off. It was just super fun and I highly recommend it for a change of pace!
We stayed out an hour and with the discount it came to $108.77. I figure we saved about $17 with the discount.
After the boats we took the monorail back around to the MK (couldn't sit up front because someone else already was.) We then took the bus back to the Dolphin. It probably would have been much quicker to drive the car to the Contemporary directly if we did this again.
On the way back to the Dolphin on the bus a car ran a stop sign. There were only the 4 of us on the bus and one man. We all about got thrown to the floor because the bus had to slam on brakes. Better that than an accident though.
Back at the hotel we didn't find my mom in the room so we went downstairs. She was back at Tubbis eating lunch and figured we'd find her. She was getting so comfortable with the Dolphin I think she'd like to move in! I was so glad she was having a good time!
We got our lunch and joined her. Laura got fried chicken. Paul, Jeff and I got burgers. They were brought out and after taking one bite of mine I could see it was waaaaaayyyyyyy too rare. I cook stuff thoroughly at home, especially ground meats because of the risk of disease. I'm probably even more aware of it because of Laura's health, but she wasn't eating a burger. Paul & Jeff's burgers were just a little pink inside. They were what I would consider marginal but there was just no way I could eat mine. I am the type of person who NEVER sends food back. I mean NEVER. But I knew I would just have to throw this away and I wasn't willing to waste the money. I took it back to the counter and said I couldn't eat it because it was too rare. A lady (maybe a manager) was walking past and she apologized. She said all the meat is supposed to be cooked medium well. They brought me a new burger a little later (it was a cheeseburger this time, which was fine) and it was cooked to an acceptable level. I hope they didn't spit on it or something!! That's what I always think and one reason why I never send stuff back!!!
Back up at the room Jeff noticed we had a message! I listened to it and it was from DISer SideShowBob! I called him back and he answered!! We talked for a couple of minutes and arranged to meet downstairs by the fountain at 2:00! This would be my 2nd meeting of a DIS person! The first was Bet Snyder two years ago. I had been faithfully wearing my lime green ribbon but hadn't seen any other and hadn't been approached by anyone.
We went downstairs and waited a few minutes for our meeting. My mom was convinced he was probably off somewhere checking us out and making sure we didn't look too weird before showing himself!!! I recognized him immediately from his pictures and he is the NICEST man!!! It was so fun getting to say hi and talk to him!!! Thanks SSB for a special DIS meet!!!
Then we were off to Wide World of Sports for the Opening Ceremonies of the Transplant Games! They didn't start till 7:00 but Laura had to be there by 3:00 for pictures. We got her there in time and did some pin trading (team pins from the games). We realized we left a couple of things back in the room that we could use and knew we had plenty of time to go get them. My mom didn't want to walk all the way back to the car so she stayed with Jeff & Laura while Paul and I ran back. He waited in the car while I ran up to the room and grabbed a water bottle, applesauce so Laura could take her midday medicine, the Squeeze Breeze and a couple of other things. I brought two Squeeze Breeze fans from home and a ton of batteries so we could use them as much as we needed and this was the first time so far this trip we even unpacked them (it seemed to be getting a little warm when we left to go back to get them, but we never even turned it on.)
We didn't quite make it back to WWS before torrential rains began again. This was some of the worst rain we'd experienced the entire trip! Paul dropped me off as close as he could while he went to park and wait in the car till it let up a bit. I walked up to find my mom & the kids. It seemed like twice as long a walk in that horrible weather! Thunder was booming and lightning flashing close by. I don't think it was a very good decision on my part to walk in that. I should have stayed in the car till it improved too.
We had a long wait and were kind of trapped there outside the stadium, but at least there was shelter. We went over to the All Star Cafe to see if we could get a table and there was an hour & a half wait. The girl behind the counter noticed our Team Utah shirts and said she was from Utah too! She didn't even live that far from us! Paul said couldn't she get some fellow Utahns in sooner and she said no! LOL!
I took Laura to line up with her team. We found another team member for her to stay with. This little boy's parents were going to walk in with him so I asked if they would keep an eye out for Laura too. That made me feel better about leaving her.
The opening ceremonies started a little late because of the rain, but once they began the weather held for the rest of the evening. The different teams of the states are announced and enter the stadium like they do during the Olympics! The best part of the evening was seeing Laura walk in with Team Utah! She saw us and waved! She looked so pretty and happy!
The most emotional part was the tribute to donor families. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.
Some of the celebrity speakers during the games were Larry Hagman (liver transplant), Sean Elliott (kidney) and Chris Klug (liver). Their talks were good. The games were sponsored by pharmacutical companies and reps from all them had to speak. It went on too long and didn't end till almost 10:00 PM (it was supposed to be over at 8:30).
We ended the day by getting a very late dinner at the Dolphin Fountain. Laura had a BLT, I had a grilled cheese, Jeff had a banana split and Paul just had a cone. Jeff had eaten nachos and Paul had eaten at turkey leg at WWS so they weren't real hungry. The Fountain has good food but the grossest potato chips. Even my kids wouldn't eat them! Paul & Jeff finished their food pretty quick so they went up to the room to get ready for bed. By leaving early they missed a good "show"! At 11:00 when the Fountain closed the waitresses and one waiter played a song on the juke box and did a cute little dance! It was so fun to watch! I was thinking I probably wouldn't feel like dancing after being on my feet all day but they looked like they were having a ball!
Budget for the day:
$5 Maid tip
$109 Boat rental - 4 water mice
$26 Lunch - Tubbis with Disney club discount
$15 Snacks during opening ceremonies
$30 Dinner at Fountain with Disney club discount
ME - 43, Author of this report, grew up in Florida, too many WDW trips to really count
PAUL - 50, my dear husband, several WDW trips under his belt
JEFF - 14, our dear son, this is about his 6th trip to WDW
LAURA - 13, our dear daughter, her 6th trip also. Will be participating in the U.S. Transplant Games in Orlando.
MY MOM - late 60's, been to WDW many times, last time 5 years ago
JUNE 26 - WEDNESDAY
Jeff & Laura got to sleep a little later while I went over to Disney's Wide World of Sports to register Laura for the Transplant Games. The Transplant Games were held at WDW two years ago and the registration process was nothing short of horrific. All these people had survived transplants and Disney just about killed them during registration! It was held then at the baseball stadium, outdoors in very high temps. They just a few people at a table registering thousands. Our family was in line 2 ½ hours then. Disney promised this time it would be different and I was crossing my fingers that they were right. I left the Dolphin about 8:15, got her registered and was back to the hotel by 9:30 so I'd say they definitely improved things! This time it was indoors and they had about 20 people ready to register everyone. Way to go Disney for hearing the complaints and doing something about it!
The plan for this morning was to go to one of the resorts and rent water mice. I've heard this is really fun, and my kids are the right age for being able to drive boats themselves, although I was really worried about Laura's ability to handle it. Mom chose to go down to Tubbis and have breakfast while we were gone.
Paul, the kids and I took a bus to MK then walked to the Contemporary. We went down to the marina and they confirmed 12 years & older could drive a boat alone. They said if you could drive a car you would have no problem driving the boat. Well that didn't help with my misgivings about Laura driving because she certainly can't drive a car! They said the younger kids just take a little longer to get used to it but they do fine. So we went for it. We could have had her ride with either me or her dad but I knew the whole weight thing with two people would probably make us go super slow.
The choices for the water mice were 30 minutes for $21, 45 minutes for $28 or an hour for $30. They said we paid when we returned the boats so we were free to stay out as long as we wanted. You have to mention the AP discount BEFORE renting the boats or they won't accept it. We did, but there was a little confusion because one guy helped us initially, we told him about the APs, he left to do something else and a lady finished up the paperwork. I asked her towards the end of the process if they needed to see our Annual Passes now and she said we should have mentioned it sooner. I told her we did mention it to the first guy who was helping us so she said it was fine. They didn't ask to see all our passes because she figured if one of us had an AP then we all did. This gave us 15% off. They keep a room key if you are staying onsite or a drivers license if you are staying offsite.
We were all fitted with life vests and shown our boats. The guy explained how they worked but Laura and I had to be shown again after we were in the boats. He was really nice and patient. The time didn't start till we got in the boats.
There are two huge lakes so even though there were quite a few boats out there, it didn't really feel crowded. There was a canal between the lakes where we had to go slow. The lake in front of the MK was much more crowded than the other one behind the Contemporary. It was sooooo much fun! At one point a bunch of water splashed over the front of my boat when I was going over someone's wake and it soaked my legs! We hadn't been wearing suntan lotion during our trip because it was always so cloudy & rainy. This morning it was real sunny and we had forgotten to put it on so I hoped we wouldn't all end up being burned.
Laura got the hang of the boat after a few minutes. The two of us stayed together and Paul & Jeff took off. I knew Jeff would want to go fast and not try to hang around with us slow girls so we let them go off. It was just super fun and I highly recommend it for a change of pace!
We stayed out an hour and with the discount it came to $108.77. I figure we saved about $17 with the discount.
After the boats we took the monorail back around to the MK (couldn't sit up front because someone else already was.) We then took the bus back to the Dolphin. It probably would have been much quicker to drive the car to the Contemporary directly if we did this again.
On the way back to the Dolphin on the bus a car ran a stop sign. There were only the 4 of us on the bus and one man. We all about got thrown to the floor because the bus had to slam on brakes. Better that than an accident though.
Back at the hotel we didn't find my mom in the room so we went downstairs. She was back at Tubbis eating lunch and figured we'd find her. She was getting so comfortable with the Dolphin I think she'd like to move in! I was so glad she was having a good time!
We got our lunch and joined her. Laura got fried chicken. Paul, Jeff and I got burgers. They were brought out and after taking one bite of mine I could see it was waaaaaayyyyyyy too rare. I cook stuff thoroughly at home, especially ground meats because of the risk of disease. I'm probably even more aware of it because of Laura's health, but she wasn't eating a burger. Paul & Jeff's burgers were just a little pink inside. They were what I would consider marginal but there was just no way I could eat mine. I am the type of person who NEVER sends food back. I mean NEVER. But I knew I would just have to throw this away and I wasn't willing to waste the money. I took it back to the counter and said I couldn't eat it because it was too rare. A lady (maybe a manager) was walking past and she apologized. She said all the meat is supposed to be cooked medium well. They brought me a new burger a little later (it was a cheeseburger this time, which was fine) and it was cooked to an acceptable level. I hope they didn't spit on it or something!! That's what I always think and one reason why I never send stuff back!!!
Back up at the room Jeff noticed we had a message! I listened to it and it was from DISer SideShowBob! I called him back and he answered!! We talked for a couple of minutes and arranged to meet downstairs by the fountain at 2:00! This would be my 2nd meeting of a DIS person! The first was Bet Snyder two years ago. I had been faithfully wearing my lime green ribbon but hadn't seen any other and hadn't been approached by anyone.
We went downstairs and waited a few minutes for our meeting. My mom was convinced he was probably off somewhere checking us out and making sure we didn't look too weird before showing himself!!! I recognized him immediately from his pictures and he is the NICEST man!!! It was so fun getting to say hi and talk to him!!! Thanks SSB for a special DIS meet!!!
Then we were off to Wide World of Sports for the Opening Ceremonies of the Transplant Games! They didn't start till 7:00 but Laura had to be there by 3:00 for pictures. We got her there in time and did some pin trading (team pins from the games). We realized we left a couple of things back in the room that we could use and knew we had plenty of time to go get them. My mom didn't want to walk all the way back to the car so she stayed with Jeff & Laura while Paul and I ran back. He waited in the car while I ran up to the room and grabbed a water bottle, applesauce so Laura could take her midday medicine, the Squeeze Breeze and a couple of other things. I brought two Squeeze Breeze fans from home and a ton of batteries so we could use them as much as we needed and this was the first time so far this trip we even unpacked them (it seemed to be getting a little warm when we left to go back to get them, but we never even turned it on.)
We didn't quite make it back to WWS before torrential rains began again. This was some of the worst rain we'd experienced the entire trip! Paul dropped me off as close as he could while he went to park and wait in the car till it let up a bit. I walked up to find my mom & the kids. It seemed like twice as long a walk in that horrible weather! Thunder was booming and lightning flashing close by. I don't think it was a very good decision on my part to walk in that. I should have stayed in the car till it improved too.
We had a long wait and were kind of trapped there outside the stadium, but at least there was shelter. We went over to the All Star Cafe to see if we could get a table and there was an hour & a half wait. The girl behind the counter noticed our Team Utah shirts and said she was from Utah too! She didn't even live that far from us! Paul said couldn't she get some fellow Utahns in sooner and she said no! LOL!
I took Laura to line up with her team. We found another team member for her to stay with. This little boy's parents were going to walk in with him so I asked if they would keep an eye out for Laura too. That made me feel better about leaving her.
The opening ceremonies started a little late because of the rain, but once they began the weather held for the rest of the evening. The different teams of the states are announced and enter the stadium like they do during the Olympics! The best part of the evening was seeing Laura walk in with Team Utah! She saw us and waved! She looked so pretty and happy!
The most emotional part was the tribute to donor families. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.
Some of the celebrity speakers during the games were Larry Hagman (liver transplant), Sean Elliott (kidney) and Chris Klug (liver). Their talks were good. The games were sponsored by pharmacutical companies and reps from all them had to speak. It went on too long and didn't end till almost 10:00 PM (it was supposed to be over at 8:30).
We ended the day by getting a very late dinner at the Dolphin Fountain. Laura had a BLT, I had a grilled cheese, Jeff had a banana split and Paul just had a cone. Jeff had eaten nachos and Paul had eaten at turkey leg at WWS so they weren't real hungry. The Fountain has good food but the grossest potato chips. Even my kids wouldn't eat them! Paul & Jeff finished their food pretty quick so they went up to the room to get ready for bed. By leaving early they missed a good "show"! At 11:00 when the Fountain closed the waitresses and one waiter played a song on the juke box and did a cute little dance! It was so fun to watch! I was thinking I probably wouldn't feel like dancing after being on my feet all day but they looked like they were having a ball!
Budget for the day:
$5 Maid tip
$109 Boat rental - 4 water mice
$26 Lunch - Tubbis with Disney club discount
$15 Snacks during opening ceremonies
$30 Dinner at Fountain with Disney club discount
