"It all started with a whopping price error ” 10/24 The Perfect Storm of Opportunity

[Becx N Gav]

Hi I just wanted to say I am really enjying yout TR so far You had me on the edge of my seat worrying the travel agents would demand their money back or cancel your booking It's so nice when they make mistakes like this

Looking forward to reading more, I hope going with others didn't affect your vacation too much

 

[A&Bmama]

Why didn't I want to go to Hollywod Studios? This park ROCKS!!


We wake on time. Today it the day I had so much trouble planning. It is to be our only day at Hollywood Studios. In truth. I only planned a ½ day, I have us scheduled to arrive at rope drop and leave at 2pm. I can’t quite put my finger on what bothers me about this park. Is it that it is too heavy on shows, too light on rides? Is it that that the wait for Toy Story mania could seriously impact our whole day? Is it that all of the quick service dining options poorly rated? Is it all of the above? I don’t know the answer.

As for dining today. I planned for us to eat a real breakfast at the Mara, a snack at Starring Rolls, and an early supper at Wolfgang Puck Express, followed by a trip to Goofy's Candy Shop.

We all get ready and head to the Mara, DS and DD decide that they would like to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, DH and I decide to have the breakfast platters. We get our food and head to a table to enjoy our meal. DS and DD don’t seem to like their cinnamon buns as much as they thought they would. DD asks if she can have the mini mickey waffle that comes with my breakfast. I give it to her. She asks if she can have half of the biscuit. I give it to her. DS asks DH if he can have his mini waffle. DH gives it to him. DS asks if he can have some of my eggs hash browns and bacon. I scoop almost half onto his plate. I eat the 1/3 of my breakfast that I still have left. It was delicious and although I can’t say that I am hungry I’m not fully satisfied either.

We head to the lobby to meet the others. Once everyone is assembled we proceed to the park and miss rope drop by about 20 minutes or so.

We decide to go to toy story mania to get fastpasses. Jason doesn’t know this park very well and we have a little trouble finding it. Once we get there we find that the line is incredible! The DIS didn’t lie about the stampede for TSMM, they are all in line ahead of us! I can’t remember what is showing for fastpass return time but I believe it was sometime in the afternoon and the line was still a mile long to get them. I planned on leaving by mid afternoon… We debate the merits of getting the fastpass vs. getting in the standby line which I think was about 75 minutes at that point. A lady in the standby line heard us and told us that she would be worried the fastpasses would be gone by the time we got them since the park closed early (6 or 7 pm I think.) and she thinks we should do standby if TSMM is important to us. We decide that it would be a good idea to take her advice and thank her. Jason heads out to get fastpasses for Rockin Roller Coaster while we get in line.

It leaves lots of time for pictures:

DD with Mr. Potato Head

Me pretending to be a weather girl

DD taking a picture of her favorite subject. Herself!! LOL

A family portrait. (DS didn't want to do this, but did at least turn his face toward the camera)



TSMM is a fun ride but it seems that it took me half of the ride to figure it out and get into it. Once I did it was almost over. I would like to ride again but I don’t think that is going to happen for us this trip.

We decide to head over to Rockin Roller to pick-up fastpasses before getting a seat for Beauty and the Beast. DS is not thrilled that we are going to see this. I expect him to grumble, sigh, roll eyes etc. all the way through it. I am surprised that he watches the show without complaint. I am sure it didn’t make his Top Ten list but am surprised and grateful that there was no displeasure expressed. I think he is more mature than I sometimes give him credit for.

After the show is over we head over to TOT to ride with the first set of fastpasses. We have 11 fastpasses and we send the test riders out who were Bob, Jason, DH, DS, DD, friend. We sit around waiting for them and I think sometime while we are waiting our FP window opens up so Sue and I pick-up another round of FPs for the end of the day.

We all enjoy the sunshine while we wait. It has gotten really warm today, low 80’s if I remember correctly. Tomorrow we are going to Animal Kingdom and it is forecasted to be even hotter then. Sue and Dorothy have been talking about maybe going to Aquatica for the day since it is supposed to be hot. Their girls had gone to Aquatica on their last trip and wanted to go again. They ask if we would be interested in going. I tell them no but that if they want to go they should not worry about staying with us. It is their vacation too. They decide that they will go to Aquatica. Honestly I am looking forward to having one day to go at our own pace and do our own thing.

The riders arrive back and a positively giddy about the ride. DH tells me that ride is really smooth, no side to side motion that might aggravate my wonky shoulder. He wants me to ride. I decide that I will try it once. We debate who will ride with the remaining FPs and I think it was myself, DH, DD, Bob. BFF. I think Jason decide he would ride single rider line, but my memory is sketchy.

I was nervous in the preshow area but not nearly as nervous as BFF. BFF decided she would ride when the other girls got off and told her how much fun they had but it looked like she was having second thoughts. She is telling her father Bob that she needs to pee and that they should leave. This is of course after they have already given their fastpasses to the CM. Bob is telling BFF that it wont take long for them to get through the line. BFF is almost getting hysterical, tears are running down her face and is saying “Please Daddy I need to pee really realllly bad. Please Daddy. Please.” I know from talking to Sue before the trip that when BFF has second thoughts about a ride she tells little white lies about needing to pee. They take her out of line and to the bathroom where BFF may or may not be able to squeeze out a few drops. Then she will decide to try the ride again, they get back in line and there is a 50/50 chance of whether she will ride this time or plead for another chance at the bathroom.

I feel so bad for her, she is so insistent that I think she might be telling the truth this time. It is only a few minutes before we are ready to ride and I am thinking of telling Bob about the chicken exit. I am thinking of offering to take BFF myself but decide he probably already knows and wants his daughter to face her fear.

We ride and I must say as soon as the doors close I am thinking it is going to start dropping. DH tells me he will let me know when it is time. We go through the ride and I can’t really pay attention or enjoy it because I am too nervous about the drops. We get to the critical moment and we are freefalling for a moment. When I feel how smoothly it comes to a stop at the bottom of the drop I relax. Then we are on our way up again! Freefalling again! Up again. Falling again. So much fun. I am really happy that I am able to experience a thrill ride. I would love to do this again.

We exit the ride. BFF is much more relaxed, she loved the ride but insists that Sue take her to the bathroom immediately. Sue confides later that BFF sat there for the longest time and was not able to pass so much as a single drop. She still insists to this day that she wasn’t scared she just needed to go to the bathroom badly.

I think after this is when we went to the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular. We all really enjoyed the show.

It is about 2 now and the others decide they would like to have some lunch. Since we are not leaving as early as I thought and we are all hot and tired it seems like a good idea. We are close to the ABC Commissary so we decide to go there. I would like to tell you that I enjoyed the food but I didn’t. I had fish and chips which were horrible. I ate enough to keep me going for awhile, but not so much that I wouldn’t enjoy my supper tonight. DH ate his lunch then finished what I didn’t eat so he is about to burst. He then declares that he is not eating supper tonight. Excuse me. Not eating supper? I have what will probably be the best meal of our whole trip scheduled and you decide to gorge on crappy food to the point that you can’t eat for the rest of the day!

I let it go for now. DH says these things sometimes and then later when the time comes he is ready to eat again. I marvel about where he puts it all because it doesn’t show up on his waistline darn it.

After lunch we wander around for awhile. We (not me) decide to go to muppet vision 3D, use our fastpasses at rockin rollercoaster then leave.

DD favorite movie is Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. She has watched it many times and has told me that when she sees it it makes her feel like she is magical. So she really wanted to see this attraction. I decide this time I am putting my foot down and insisting that DD and I go to this. If others want to follow, fine. If not, fine but there is no way I am letting DD miss out on this. The adults understand and say they will go with us. The other girls are not happy about this and are not hiding it.

I know a lot of people do not care for this attraction. Unless you have seen and love the movie I can see how this would be a real yawner. If I am being truthful I didn’t enjoy the attraction, but watching DDs pleasure was more thrilling than any attraction could ever be. DD and I linger in the room that has the props. She is in awe that she is seeing the White Witches Wand in real life. We look at all the costumes and props and as the CM a few questions. The other girls did not seen the movie and couldn’t wait to get out so they left immediately with their respective adults. We linger awhile longer and then rejoin the group. DD asks BFF if she liked the attraction. I am sure that she thought that BFF would like the attraction and would want to see the movie now. BFF spits out “I HATED IT” it is apparent from the look on her face that she means it. I pull DD aside out of sight of the group so she can shed a few of the hot tears burning in her eyes in private. Just writing this brings fresh tears to my eyes. When we were a little better composed we rejoined the group.

In defense of BFF she is just a little girl who was made to give up doing something she was mildly interested in in favour of doing something she had no interest in at all. And at 10 years old she just didn’t (nor should she) have the maturity to edit her displeasure to spare her friends feelings. I don’t blame her at all but I felt terrible that DDs joy euphoria was shattered.

We head over to rockin roller coaster to use our fastpasses. I believe we had 2 rounds of fastpasses for this but I don’t recall when we picked up the second round. Probably Jason went for them by himself at some point.

So it is back to sitting on a bench for me. The thrill riders ride a couple of times while the non thrill riders hang out with Sue in the smoking area.

I am suddenly feeling a bit like I am sitting out of the whole trip. It seems that I am spending too much time on benches while others ride, that I am spending too much time trying to make sure that everyone else is having a good time, has enough to eat, wears their sunscreen, has their ticket, has their fastpass, has someone to wait for them at the bathroom that I am missing out on having fun myself. In that moment I resolve to not sit on the benches anymore. I am going to ride rockin rollercoater. The next time the riders come out I tell them I am going next. Jaws drop. So DH, DD, DS and I head out. I decide that I will ride with DS and DD and DH will ride together. I am a little nervous and while we are waiting for our limo to blast off I tell DS he might have to hold my hand. This makes DS giggle in spite of himself. It is the best sound in the whole world. I know that I made the right decision to experience this with them. Soon enough we are blasting off and I can’t stop laughing and screaming. I yell to DS “this is freakin awesome”. DS is laughing, again, such a wonderful sound, such a beautiful moment. We exit the ride, I am positively exhilarated.

Our day at Hollywood studios is done and it is about 5:30 PM. I think this has been our favorite park. I can’t believe I didn’t want to come here. The day after tomorrow is DS actual birthday. We were planning to go to Epcot in the morning where DS would pick the birthday fastpass for his gift. I ask DS if he thinks he might like to come here for on his birthday instead. He decides he would so we stop at guest services on the way out to get the details of the birthday fastpasses.

I can’t remember why the group decides to split up for the evening but we are heading directly to Downtown Disney to pick-up some treats at Goofys. Since I am now starving, I also want to have dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s.

Here is where I didn’t do enough research. We get to Downtown Disney but I have no idea where Goofy’s and Wolfgang Pucks are. We park at one end and begin to walk around looking for them. The sun is going down and it is getting rather chilly. We keep walking and we can’t find it. Everyone is getting cold and cranky now. Dh stops and asks for directions. This is when we find out that we parked at the wrong end. I want to go back to the car and drive to the other end. DH says no, we are almost halfway there now and there is a boat that will take us back. I can’t remember what I said about dinner but DH say he is not having dinner he is still too stuffed, the kids don’t want anything either. I think they had a snack in the afternoon, anyway they aren’t hungry. Well here I am, starving again. I am getting really cranky now. I have been talking about how much I was looking forward to this meal and now I wasn’t going to get it. It seems like I might never get to eat in any of the restaurants I wanted to.

We keep walking in the freezing cold, no one is speaking to each other. Finally we get to Goofy’s and get our snacks. We wait for about 15 minutes for the boat to get back. Once it gets there and we are on the open water we get even colder if that is possible. DD and I are shaking and our teeth are chattering. I hold DD on my lap and hug her hoping it will keep us both a little warmer. DH puts his arms around both of us to help keep us warm. I am so upset with him for ruining the meal I was looking forward to I want to tell him not to touch me. I decide against it because DD and I need the heat. I don’t speak to him.

Finally we are in the car headed back to AKL. I am almost faint from hunger and am debating whether to take a warm shower before going to the Mara or just throwing some sweaters on myself and DD, grabbing my mug so I can fill it with hot tea and getting a hot meal to bring to the room. We arrive at AKL and I very nearly run to our rooms.

In one split second as I walked through the door all thoughts of warm clothes and hot meals were suddenly erased.

I won’t pretend to understand how I knew something was wrong. I just did. I didn’t consciously think about what I was feeling. It can’t be described. If I had to try I would describe it as a visceral feeling of anxiety or dread.

I didn’t think about what I was doing. I didn’t pause. I didn’t miss a step. Was something guiding me? I think so. Call it what you will; a higher power, animal instinct or a psychic moment. Something compelled me to go to the telephone.


The message light was lit.



UP Next: The Call

 

[Normangirls]

Seriously?

How on earth am I supposed to go back to my work when you leave a cliff hanger like that?

Not that I was getting any work done anyway, since I was obviously reading this, but still, you know what I mean.

Loving your TR -- please keep it coming!

 

[rosedolph]

Oh my word - You can't do this to us!
WHAT HAPPENS!

(But really - I hope it is nothing bad. Great trip report! )

 

[mla1977]

Oh please don't make us wait too long to find out what happened!

 

[MadiMouse]

Such a great report. I cannot do big group trips. More to you!!! I cannot wait to hear more.

 

[tinytreasures]

don't leaved me hanging here

 

[A MK Family]

Great report...can't wait to hear about the call...

 

[Amg120499]

OMG - What the heck happened????

I am really enjoying your tr. I hope everything works out ok.

 

[mekay1012]

You've got me hooked now!

 

[miprender]

Yikes what happens?????

 

[njtinkmom]

Oh come on.... That's not right - I catch up on this great trip report and left hanging Now I will have not choice to subb (which I already did) and keep waiting for email of an update!! Hurry up we are ALL waiting not so patiently for the next update!!

 

[thechesters420]

I love your TR so far!!

 

[ccgirl]

This is the best TR I have ever read! But talk about cliff hanger. What was the call about??

 

[Sneezie]

O - M - G!!!!!

I can not believe you left people with a cliffhanger like that!!!!!

I just found your report today and have read it from beginning to now. I was so excited because I thought surely, I wouldn't have to wait for what "The Call" was about, but I was wrong.

Wonderful report!!! Can't wait to hear the rest.

Also, I have taken big groups to Disney before but it is stated beforehand and reiterated throughout the trip that this is MY vacation too. I am not the tour guide, you may follow if you want but I am not waiting for you. It works well that way.

 

[amyngary]

and. I. want. to. know. now.

Really, what was the message??????

 

[Paula22]

Great trip report!
Don't make us wait much longer!

 

[Jasperann]

Great TR! So what was the call????

 

[MHTeacher]

What happened? (I hope it wasn't anything bad...)

BTW, with that cliffhanger, I almost forgot to tell you how glad I am that you rode ToT and RnRC ---They are two of my family's top faves!

 

[smithpack]

Alright, I was mad at my email at first because I never got a notice that you had an update on your TR. Then I happen to just get on and check and you had an update. Now I must say that I am no longer mad that I missed it on Monday because I would hate to have read it then and still be waiting for the next post. Hopefully you will post the next installment soon. What the heck happened? I am really scared. I am not sure if I want to hear it or not.

Anyway, I am bummed that you missed out on Wolfgang Puck. We ate there this last trip, and it was awesome. You need to sit your skinny butt down and start typing. I am curious if you ever got to eat or not. My favorite part of going to Disney is the food!!

Also glad that you got to experience RNRC!! I love that ride. I am glad DD got to do Narnia since she loves it so much! Sorry her BFF made her feel bad. I probably would have cried too. Got to love that mother instinct that makes us mad when anything happens to our kids. I also just want to say that you make a lovely weather girl. You should look into that as a career.