Keckster
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2018
I'm sure it has happened to the best of us. A well planned out park adventure falls apart and there's no one to blame but you and your family. My story to tell:
Our last park to visit was Epcot during Food & Wine Festival. We'd already checked off AK, HS, and MK in our 4 parks in 4 days adventure, so it's not surprising Day 4 would do us in. The first sign of trouble, everybody was slow getting up and going. Our first FP was for Frozen with a 9:50-10:50 window, so there should have been plenty of time, right? Three of the 4 of us are ready, but our young teen was glued to her phone and slow getting dressed, but we made it out of our room at Coronado Springs and started to the bus at 9:30. We were crossing the parking lot to the bus stop as we watched the EP bus pull up. Still a good 100-120 yards away we started to run (despite aching muscles from the past 3 days). Closing in on 20 yards shy and we watch the bus pull away. Okay, no problem it'll just be 20 minutes max to next bus. 45 minutes later we get on and it is now about 10:20. I'm watching the minutes tick away as we ride. We depart the bus at 10:45.
As we head to security we decide to split up, I and my oldest daughter will go through on ahead and try and get to Frozen by 10:50 (and I'm not sure for what, but I guess plead our case for FP leniency). So bagless we breeze through security and at a quick march on to our destination, but it is now 10:50. Unbeknownst to us, my wife's Magic Band isn't scanning properly and she is delayed with the younger daughter. Disney takes her picture and then lets her on through. Meanwhile, having never been to EP before, I am quickly discovering just how big it really is and long it takes to get from the front to the World Showcase entrance (much less the Norway pavilion). It's now 11:05 and we were just under the monorail track. I decide to stop the quest, pull out my cell phone to call my wife and tell her don't kill herself rushing. Unfortunately, no answer. Multiple repeated calls. No answer. At 11:15 she picks up and says "Where the #&$@ are you!" I respond, "Near the monorail track. Where are you?" "We're standing outside of the Frozen ride!" How my wife and daughter got past us I will never know to this day, but with the next sentence uttered and I knew I was in trouble. "I'm just going to have my heart attack right now." <click - dial tone>. I call back, but no answer.
It's now about 11:30 and eventually, she picks up and says "What do we do now?" My sheepish answer, "We need to head over to Mission Space as that FastPass window is 10:55-11:55." "What?!? (Long pause) I'm heading to the fountains, find us there," she says. By 11:45 we are reunited but no words were spoken. We all silently trudge over to Mission Space and in line with a couple of minutes to spare. Determined to put the previous events behind us we recover positive moods. We move on to Spaceship Earth and then to the Land pavilion for lunch and a relaxing ride through Living with the Land. However, the past three days and the late morning snafu have taken a too much a toll on my wife's feet and exacerbated a bone spur.
"I'm going to be a drag on all of you, in pain, and ultimately unhappy trying to go on," she says. We agree to head back to the EP entrance to send her off back to the resort to recover. After hugs and kisses and "it's for the best" condolences, my daughters and I pick up where we left off. We were somehow fortunate to score a 3 person same day FP for Soarin' and then a Frozen while waiting for to board Soarin'. I then ultimately dragged my girls around World Showcase to get a pressed penny from each pavilion for a DIY souvenir. By the time we got all the way around, they too were ready to call it done.
Today, my wife and I are soon to head back, without the kids, to enjoy Epcot and Festival of the Arts. The girls, who will stay with friends for the weekend, are all too happy to skip Epcot. Shhh... don't tell them we are spending one other day split between AK and MK too. A slower pace is in the works with no chance of repeating the story you just read.
So what's your story that's funny now, but not in the moment?
Our last park to visit was Epcot during Food & Wine Festival. We'd already checked off AK, HS, and MK in our 4 parks in 4 days adventure, so it's not surprising Day 4 would do us in. The first sign of trouble, everybody was slow getting up and going. Our first FP was for Frozen with a 9:50-10:50 window, so there should have been plenty of time, right? Three of the 4 of us are ready, but our young teen was glued to her phone and slow getting dressed, but we made it out of our room at Coronado Springs and started to the bus at 9:30. We were crossing the parking lot to the bus stop as we watched the EP bus pull up. Still a good 100-120 yards away we started to run (despite aching muscles from the past 3 days). Closing in on 20 yards shy and we watch the bus pull away. Okay, no problem it'll just be 20 minutes max to next bus. 45 minutes later we get on and it is now about 10:20. I'm watching the minutes tick away as we ride. We depart the bus at 10:45.
As we head to security we decide to split up, I and my oldest daughter will go through on ahead and try and get to Frozen by 10:50 (and I'm not sure for what, but I guess plead our case for FP leniency). So bagless we breeze through security and at a quick march on to our destination, but it is now 10:50. Unbeknownst to us, my wife's Magic Band isn't scanning properly and she is delayed with the younger daughter. Disney takes her picture and then lets her on through. Meanwhile, having never been to EP before, I am quickly discovering just how big it really is and long it takes to get from the front to the World Showcase entrance (much less the Norway pavilion). It's now 11:05 and we were just under the monorail track. I decide to stop the quest, pull out my cell phone to call my wife and tell her don't kill herself rushing. Unfortunately, no answer. Multiple repeated calls. No answer. At 11:15 she picks up and says "Where the #&$@ are you!" I respond, "Near the monorail track. Where are you?" "We're standing outside of the Frozen ride!" How my wife and daughter got past us I will never know to this day, but with the next sentence uttered and I knew I was in trouble. "I'm just going to have my heart attack right now." <click - dial tone>. I call back, but no answer.
It's now about 11:30 and eventually, she picks up and says "What do we do now?" My sheepish answer, "We need to head over to Mission Space as that FastPass window is 10:55-11:55." "What?!? (Long pause) I'm heading to the fountains, find us there," she says. By 11:45 we are reunited but no words were spoken. We all silently trudge over to Mission Space and in line with a couple of minutes to spare. Determined to put the previous events behind us we recover positive moods. We move on to Spaceship Earth and then to the Land pavilion for lunch and a relaxing ride through Living with the Land. However, the past three days and the late morning snafu have taken a too much a toll on my wife's feet and exacerbated a bone spur.
"I'm going to be a drag on all of you, in pain, and ultimately unhappy trying to go on," she says. We agree to head back to the EP entrance to send her off back to the resort to recover. After hugs and kisses and "it's for the best" condolences, my daughters and I pick up where we left off. We were somehow fortunate to score a 3 person same day FP for Soarin' and then a Frozen while waiting for to board Soarin'. I then ultimately dragged my girls around World Showcase to get a pressed penny from each pavilion for a DIY souvenir. By the time we got all the way around, they too were ready to call it done.
Today, my wife and I are soon to head back, without the kids, to enjoy Epcot and Festival of the Arts. The girls, who will stay with friends for the weekend, are all too happy to skip Epcot. Shhh... don't tell them we are spending one other day split between AK and MK too. A slower pace is in the works with no chance of repeating the story you just read.
So what's your story that's funny now, but not in the moment?