Even more magik for the MagiKitty!

[whgrn]

oooh, kitty, an ER trip on vacation is NOT a fun thing!!! Glad he's doing better now!

 

[Shmu]

So sorry you had to go to the ER on your vacation. Glad they were nice and efficient. Several years ago I ended up in the ER on a Florida vacation. Very bad Urinary Tract infection. Nurses and doctors were very kind. Guess they feel sorry for people having to spend part of their vacation at the hospital.

Enjoy your upcoming trip. Can't wait to hear about that one too.

 

[marsh0013]

that stinks about having to go to the ER! no fun at all, especially on vacation. glad everything worked out in the end anyway. have a great vacation and can't wait to hear more when you get back!

 

[magsnden]

what a bummer to have to go to the hospital, but even worse that jeremy was in so much pain. please tell us he felt better for the rest of the trip.

i see you didn't go on the hulk ride. that is an amazing roller coaster. we haven't been to IOA since before we had the kids, but that was too cool. but i have to say the best ride at all of IOA was spiderman! it has all kinds of technology going on, and i think it appeals to all the senses. i hope when my kids get older they'll like the coasters, although by then i'll be too scared to go on them.

hope you're having a great time!

 

[magsnden]

what a bummer to have to go to the hospital, but even worse that jeremy was in so much pain. please tell us he felt better for the rest of the trip.

i see you didn't go on the hulk ride. that is an amazing roller coaster. we haven't been to IOA since before we had the kids, but that was too cool. but i have to say the best ride at all of IOA was spiderman! it has all kinds of technology going on, and i think it appeals to all the senses. i hope when my kids get older they'll like the coasters, although by then i'll be too scared to go on them.

hope you're having a great time!

 

[magsnden]

i don't know how that happened. sorry!

 

[M&N]

I'm finally catching up and looked for your report. You're such a clever writer. I can picture that Commander stuck on a speed bump. The first time I had to use my Liberty's flashers was for a funeral. I had to sit in the lot as they were lining up and read my owner's book to find where they were. Your pictures are great. You need to take pictures of your food too. Sounds like your research paid off.

 

[MagiKitty]

My in-progress status of this trip report has been keeping me up (during the day; sorry I'm still jetlagged). I wanted to finish this TR because it is a testament to the wonderful people on the Dis. Naturally a skeptical suspicious NYer, I never dreamed I could find so many kind souls on a website started by a mouse.

Jeremy and I awoke on Wednesday determined to make up for the ER incident the day before. I kept teasing him that he really knew how to kiss his 20's goodbye! Wednesday was Jeremy's 30th birthday. Last year, we had celebrated my "26th" birthday at EPCOT (my fave park) so I wanted to make his birthday super special this time around.

We decided that we would go to Sea World. I had gotten crazy cheap tickets and we both hadn't been there in eons. We also figured there wouldn't be much getting in and out of the wheelchair, which would only benefit Jeremy's bottom. (I bet he's be appalled how many people know about his "issue"). I knew that Sea World was somewhere on I-Drive, and that there was an exit of I-4, but aside from that, we were pretty much going in without an plans.

Heading out to I-4, we stopped at McDonald's to get my humungous vat of sweet tea and some munchies for the ride. The Commander managed to corner pretty well and I didn't take out any signs driving around the building. I did however, jump the curb heading back onto the main road. Well worth it for my sweet tea though. Jeremy was feeling guilty about our time at the hospital, so he didn't tease me about my lack of driving skills.

Sea World was easily found and I appreciated that the handicapped parking truly was convenient to the park entrance. The park itself wasn't too crowded and we quickly entered and got a schedule of the day's shows. Strangely, each show overlaps, so in order to catch the next scheduled show, you either had to leave the first show early, or try to catch the next show after it had already begun. We decided to randomly wander, we knew we wanted to catch the Shamu show called Believe, but either than that, we were just going to wing it.

The nearest scheduled show was something called Blue Horizon. We didn't really know what to expect. The arena required that all strollers be left outside, so that created chaos in the waiting area. Handicapped seating was way up on top, reached via a series of steep ramps. Good thing I had that sweet tea to power me up! The show itself was very Cirque-like--performers on trapeeze swings, diving and beautiful music. With sea animals, of course.

Wandered into the penguin caves, the shark tanks, and the animals of the Pacific Northwest. I was pleased to see so many kids enjoying the animals and learning. There's an enthusiasm to children that is just infectious. I'm sure there were plenty of budding scientists there.

We made the 3pm Believe show. I remember watching Shamu as a teenager, but I did not expect how the show had changed in the years since. It was beautiful! This time the handicapped seating was located just above the splash zone, which was lots of fun. The sheer size and power of these animals were awesome. They were so beautiful.

After the show, we slowly made our way toward exiting the park. We stumbled upon the stingray tank which ended up being our favorite part! An enormous, shallow pool, visitors just reach in, or tap on the surface of the water and the stingrays swim up close! I didn' know what to expect from these grey flat creatures, but surprisingly, they weren't slimy, but soft! And remarkably friendly. Nearby there was the dolphin cove, with a similar experience. The dolphins surprisingly weren't as friendly as the stingrays, but we did get to pet them a few times!

It was nearing 4pm, and Jeremy and I had an appointment to meet: our Photopass shoot at the Grand Floridian! Neither one of us had every seen the hotel, but I had seen the famed Gingerbread house on the Food Network, so I was excited to go. Thanks to my Dis friends, I had found out that valet parking is free for handicapped visitors to the hotels--which made it so much easier for Jeremy. The lobby was gorgeous, airy and so classically beautiful. We made it to the second floor where we were met by our Photopass person, a lovely woman named Jen. She walked us through the hotel, snapping photos. Since Jeremy and I usually travel alone, usually the pictures are of one or the other, so this was our time to get pics as a couple! The entire experience took about 45 minutes and was so much fun. We were supermodels for an hour!

From the Grand Floridian, we then proceeded to the Fort Wilderness Lodge. My present to Jeremy for his birthday was really a treat for both of us: a Wishes cruise! I was so excited for this. If we couldn't visit the Disney parks, we could at least get a little Disney magic some other way! I asked the concierge where the boat landings were and we proceeded through the lobby, past the swimming pools, down the path to the dock. We found a bench and waited to meet the others on our Wishes cruise.

We waited and waited, and Jeremy and I began to bicker about being left behind. He wondered if we had been taken for fools, I wondered if we were at the wrong meeting place. Stupidly, I had left the phone number of the family we were to meet in the Commander. It was nearing 7pm, the cruise would leave soon. Just as I began to entire full panic mode, I heard "are you by any chance waiting for a Wishes cruise?" from a woman standing at the end of the dock. I shouted, "Yes, are you Debbie?" "Yes I am! We were looking for you! We're at the other dock! You've been waiting at the wrong place!"

Oops. As fast as I could shuffle Jeremy we hustled to meet Debbie and follow her around the lakefront to THE OTHER DOCK, where we met up with our fellow cruisers. I felt so bad for messing up and having them wait for us. But everyone was very kind and in good spirits and we boarded for our magical evening cruise.

Next up: our own Dream comes true!

 

[Shmu]

Love Sea World.
I could stay at the dolphin site all day.
You look GREAT in the color red.
Fantastic pictures of the both of you.
I just found out a few weeks ago about the GF photo shoot. Thinking about adding it to my itinerary for Sept.
Glad you didn't miss the cruise.

 

[DL55]

Loved the pictures of the both of you.
Seaworld seemed to be more relaxed.
I'm glad you didn't miss the cruise.

 

[MagiKitty]

Thanks for reading you guys! Seems I'm not receiving email notifications again, so I didn't see your posts until I came here to update.

Yes, Sea World was a pleasant surprise. We needed a slow day to get back into the groove of things and it was perfect! I'd recommend squeezing a day at Sea World to anyone heading down to Orlando. Its completely worth it. I loved the hands on exhibits.

Thanks for compliments! When I made the reservation for the GF shoot, they recommended we wear the same vibrant color. I had forgotten about it until the day before, so we made a quick late night trip to Walmart and got the shirts. We kinda felt like dorks in matching shirts, but I think it was a good idea, especially with the red and the holiday decor of the gingy house. If you have the extra in your budget, I think you should try to get the GF shoot done. We even showed up nearly an hour early and were accomodated; I was afraid we'd take extra long getting around the hotel. The Photopass people were super helpful and what can I say? The pictures are priceless. I know that if you're more able bodied, they will take more pics on the beach, but we didn't want to risk it.

 

[MagiKitty]

Our cruise was for ten people, included piped in music, food and drink, and birthday decor. The family we were joining was celebrating four birthdays in their group, Jeremy was celebrating his, and one other person onboard was also! Unfortunately, since we had made everyone late, there was little time for introductions and exchanged pleasantries. We hurried on the boat and took our seats.

Now, I am not the best sailor. Small boats make things a little more complicated. Small boats in dark water make things downright terrifying for me. Jeremy and I were seated on the front right bench (is that called starboard?) with Deb, facing Deb's husband, sister, and daughter. We launched from the dock with a kindly captain who shared his multitude of corny Disney-inspired jokes. We puttered past the Lodge, past the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian and the Contemporary. We went over the only river bridge, where cars on their way to the Magic Kingdom drove UNDERNEATH the river, something I had never noticed before. We went past these little islands, presumably uninhabited save some toothy reptile friends.

We eventually pulled up in the lagoon facing the Magic Kingdom. Drinks and birthday cake were passed around. Ordinarily uncomfortable with strangers, Deb and her family made us both instantly at ease and we exchanged stories and small talk. I found out that their family were leaving in the morning, after spending two weeks around the Orlando area. They shared stories of taking the Segway tour, riding on Soarin, and watching the Osbourne lights. They asked what we had done at Disney, and I embarrassingly admitted the this was our Disney experience, that we couldn't afford tickets to the parks on this trip. We did have tickets for MVMCP the next evening and hoped to get most of Magic Kingdom done. But we shared that we had gone to the outlets, to Universal, and to Sea World and were thoroughly enjoying what I had called our "pan-Orlando trip".

DISCLAIMER: morals and ethics may get fuzzy here for some.

Finally, our music queued up and the fireworks began against the backdrop of Cinderella's castle in the distance. I leaned in to Jeremy and wished him a happy birthday. The cruise was far beyond what I had expected and I was so glad I was able to share it with such wonderful people. Deb leaned over to her own husband and I felt bad that they were separated during the wonderful evening. She then leaned over to me and placed something in my hand. Initially, I thought it was a bill for our share of the cruise, which I had already prepared in my own envelope, along with a small gift of thanks in a form of a picture frame for her. I told her that the bag between us contained our portion but she smiled and shook her head.

She said, "we're leaving tomorrow morning and there's still two days left on our passes. We want you to have them. Go see Disney." I looked at her incredibly, my eyes welling with tears. How could I be so blessed to meet such kindhearted souls? I asked if she was sure, didn't she want to extend the passes to non-expiration and use them on their next trip? What about the fingertip scans?

She said the passes were from Shades of Green and that they finger scans hadn't worked since day one. They still had days on them and they would go to waste otherwise. She had asked her husband what he thought and he agreed to give them to us. I quickly leaned over to Deb and gave her the biggest hug possible. I couldn't beleive what a birthday gift this was going to be for Jeremy. I couldn't believe what was sitting in my hand.

The fireworks ended and Jeremy couldn't beleive how moved I was by the fireworks. He knows that I'm rather emotional about everything and just squeezed my hand. We docked back the the Lodge and disembarked. There were leftover snacks and drinks and Deb insisted we take them with us also. My small gift seemed so insignificant. I hugged everyone and promised to keep in touch. I thanked them again and again as we parted ways.

I was bursting with excitement as we approached the lobby. Earlier in the evening, I had intended to go to the Conceirge and tell them that they had mistakenly directed me to the wrong dock and nearly cost me my cruise. Instead, I just smiled and waved to him as we passed. We went to valet and awaited the Commander to return. We started to drive off the property when I pulled to the side, in view of entrance gates. Jeremy thought there was something wrong with the car. Instead I started grinning and screaming, which further scared him. I told him that Deb had given us her tickets and we were going to try to go to Disney for our last two days in Orlando. I felt bad about our Universal tickets, but we were going to try to see if the Disney tickets would work.

Trying to get to sleep later, we were like little kids on Christmas eve. We plotted which parks to go to and where we wanted to eat, what to see. We had two days and we wanted to do so much! Ultimately, it occurred to us that even if the tickets didn't work in the morning, we were on cloud nine just hoping, feeling so lucky and blessed. We were so happy that we had gotten to experience so much together. I was glad to have shares such a wonderful birthday with him. But we had to go to sleep first if we wanted to get to the EPCOT rope drop in the morning....

 

[mrsksomeday]

I swore I responded to your last installment, I must be imagining things. The pictures from Sea World were great!! I didn't know that about the stingrays. I have a question, you said you could touch them and the dolphins, do you think Bill could reach them from his wheelchair? I am trying to talk him into taking one day for Sea World on one of our trips, I think it would be so much fun.

Those pictures of you two together are so wonderful!! You are such a beautiful couple.

She said, "we're leaving tomorrow morning and there's still two days left on our passes. We want you to have them. Go see Disney." I looked at her incredibly, my eyes welling with tears. How could I be so blessed to meet such kindhearted souls?

That was so kind of her . I would have been crying too. YAY you get to spend more time in WDW . I can't wait to hear more about your adventures .

 

[MagiKitty]

Hey there Tracy! I was just heading over to your TR to play catch up!

If I remember correctly, Bill has a motorized chair? If you park it parallel to the tanks he'd definitely be able to reach over the side and the stingrays would come over, especially if you pat the water's surface! It would be better for him if he could pull himself up a little bit just to see it happen. You get kinda nervous seeing the stingray approach and they they're under your fingertips and its just amazing! I found the stingrays much more friendly than the dolphins, but just watchig the dolphins were amazing. I think the top edge came up a little less than waist high. Little kids were able to see into the tank if they got on their tippy toes.

I didn't do much research before heading to Sea World but I'm sure that there
are resources that could offer better advice. I did see a lot of other persons with different kinds of chairs there enjoying the exhibits. And you must do the shark tunnel! I didn't know if we could go on the moving walkway with the chair, but I did it anyway and no one yelled at me. It was super cool!

There's a shark in there somewhere. I took this on the moving walkway from below the shark tank.

 

[DL55]

Oh how wonderful! There was in the air.

 

[M&N]

Definitely a magical time. I can smell the gingerbread.

 

[magsnden]

hey magikitty!! great trip report!

i just wanted to say thanks for sharing about the stingray tank. we went there when i was a kid (13 or 14 years old), and i had almost forgotten about that tank. we had rented a video recorder (how funny right? you should've seen the thing. it was HUGE. it was probably 1985) and we taped ourselves at the tank. my mom was really nervous about us touching them, like she just kept saying, "i don't think its a good idea." so we go up to the tank, i put my hand in and up comes a stingray. then i pretend like it bit me! my mom was freaking out!! my dad, brother and sister were cracking up.

so thanks for reminding me of a fun memory!

next, how wonderful for you and jeremy to get the tickets! i know you told us on the killers thread, but to read it and how it all happened was just so great. i really had tears in my eyes - even though i knew!

keep up the great work on you tr, and can NOT wait for more!!

 

[DL55]

hey magikitty!! great trip report!

i just wanted to say thanks for sharing about the stingray tank. we went there when i was a kid (13 or 14 years old), and i had almost forgotten about that tank. we had rented a video recorder (how funny right? you should've seen the thing. it was HUGE. it was probably 1985) and we taped ourselves at the tank. my mom was really nervous about us touching them, like she just kept saying, "i don't think its a good idea." so we go up to the tank, i put my hand in and up comes a stingray. then i pretend like it bit me! my mom was freaking out!! my dad, brother and sister were cracking up.

so thanks for reminding me of a fun memory!

next, how wonderful for you and jeremy to get the tickets! i know you told us on the killers thread, but to read it and how it all happened was just so great. i really had tears in my eyes - even though i knew!

keep up the great work on you tr, and can NOT wait for more!!

 

[MagiKitty]

The night seemed to extend forever. Before leaving the night before, we had stopped by the front desk and picked up the informational literature about the parks. We had determined the EPCOT would open at eight, and we would be there to see it open.

Grabbed a "breakfast" of leftover chips and drinks, and headed out to the Commander. Checked and double checked that I had both set of tickets: the park passes and those for MVMCP. Packed sweatshirts in case it got cold later in the night. Camera, sunglasses, money, way too much excitement.

Liki Tiki was about two miles from the Disney World welcome gates, but that was the longest two miles ever! We approached the parking gates with glee, happily handed over our money and headed to EPCOT. We were so early that we got the primo handicapped spot: the very first one, right under the monorail, practically in the park. Planning ahead, I still grabbed a complimentary wheelchair from the lot. I figured we had a long day ahead of us (hopefully) and we need to conserve Jeremy's energy.

Rolling up to the ticket gates, we joined the others waiting on line. Now we began to get nervous. We already knew the tickets wouldn't let us pass automatically, and there weren't any names on them. We decided to just play it cool, and to call my sister if we needed someone to bail us out of Disney jail.

The crowds grew larger and more restless as 8am approached. Pal Mickey started shaking, quite similar to my own body. Our first time at the park with him, we realized we had to do something for PM to talk. We shook him, we hugged him, we squeezed every appendage. Eventually he started talking, about the park and how it was going to open. We know Mickey, we know!

Finally they started to allow guests into the park. Now real excitement and panic started to set in. We came up to a kindly looking older gentleman, who before I could even attempt to swipe our cards told us that we couldn't enter. Huh? Did we already look guilty? Was there a poster somewhere with our faces on it telling the CM "don't let THOSE people in!"? I began to sweat.

The roar in my ears drowned out the fact that we couldn't enter the park WITH THE WHEELCHAIR. It was only supposed to be used to and from the parking lot. Jeremy would have to get up and make his way to the rental station to the right of the entrance. I handed the gentleman our tickets and turned to help Jeremy out of the chair, always cumbersome. The chair has to be locked, the foot pedals lifter and his crutches placed on his arms. Then he has to push himself up and I have to unlock the chair and move it from behind. Once accomplished, we turned to place our fingertips on the scanner.

The guy just waved Jeremy through. He recognized that it would be difficult for Jeremy to balance and place his finger on the scanner. Jeremy just went through the gate, as he can't get through the turnstile. One in.

In my head, I imagined Jeremy spending a wonderful day at EPCOT while I waited for him outside the gate. There was no way I was going get away with this. My fingerscan didn't go through. We tried again, still no go. Tried the other ticket. Nope. I told him that it had been doing this all week. The crowd behind me was growing impatient. I was turning red.

The guy said "the must have gotten deactivated. Have a nice day." He waved me through. I passed through the golden turnstile and met Jeremy on the other side. We made sure to keep it cool umtil we were out of eyeshot. Then we started grinning and laughing. We were on Disney property!

I had saved our Photopass from the Grand Floridian and we quickly set out to document our EPCOT admission. Now it felt official!

I left Jeremy sitting by the topiaries and went to get his chair for the day. We then headed to guest relations, because we just had to push our luck as much as possible. I got Jeremy at birthday pin and I had our tickets scanned to see if they were good for tomorrow. They were!

Feeling a bit guilty, Jeremy and I vowed to give Disney all our money in the next few days. If that meant buying souvenirs and eating our way around the World, so be it. But all that would commence after we rode Soarin'!

 

[M&N]

They didn't loose any money letting you in. The tickets were still good. I'm glad Pal Mickey kept his mouth shut about it. He wanted to go too!