Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

[tigger1963]

Okay, we've all been there...plans are made...plans get changed...
I'm getting ready to go to WDW with 15 people during one of the busiest weeks of the year (over Easter)...no chance of anything going wrong, right??? It's all in how you look at it.
How about some insiration from the optimists about how they make lemonade out of lemons. I'll start:

Lemons:

We were two hours off the plane on a week long WDW trip when my mother-in-law took a fall and spent the rest of the week in a wheel chair (fortunately just bruised, nothing too serious).

Lemonade:

1. We got front row seats to the parades!
2. We got on alot of rides fast!
3. My wife an I got a couple of nice evening out while granny watched the kids!
4. By pushing around the wheelchair, I was able to work off the calories from the all the food I ate that week!

 

[MAGGIED]

Glad to see you have such a positive outlook on things - for some grumpy folks that would have ruined their whole day!!!

 

[TXTink]

Great post and great outlook!

We have always told our DD's that something will go wrong on most every vacation, the trick is how you handle it! Our philosophy is, things that go wrong make the best stories! We have had many things not go as planned, we all laugh at them now! I'll admit that sometimes it is hard to laugh at first, but we do find a way eventually!

One of our favorite stories was on our first trip to WDW our youngest DD was 8 and oldest DD (10) insisted on seeing the Tiki Birds! Youngest DD cried the whole time! When we got out, and got her calmed down, we made a joke out of it. Now, every time we walk by it we get excited and tell the youngest DD "Look! It's your favorite ride...lets go!!". We all get a good laugh!

The first time we were going to get to see Fantasmic it got rained out....we went back to the hotel and oldest DD put on a light show with the hand held fiber light things they sell just before all the parades....she "sang" too! It was a really bad show! We loved it!!

There are many more...just as lame as these....

Nothing has happened to us as serious as a fall though, it's good you could turn it around!

 

[tigger1963]

Heck, if you're going to get stressed...you might as well be at work!!!

I can appreciate the Tiki Room story. Many, many, many years ago I had to have grownups on either side to protect me from the chanting masks. Now I'm the grownup, and I have to sit close to them...dang!!!

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

Last summer, driving to a Non-Disney vacation, we were stopped in traffic on the interstate for FOUR HOURS when a tractor-trailer went over a hill in Tennessee. It was mid July and very hot.

But my kids got to get out and play, right in the middle of the road, and met other kids from all over the country. We were going camping, and had a huge cooler of drinks and food to share with others.

We were surrounded by other trucks who radioed each other and gave us the info about the situation.

Not something I'd ever want to do again, but we still look back on that story and remember our 4-hour traffic jam.

 

[BethC1952]

Many, many, many years ago (late 70's or early 80's, but before Epcot opened) we were driving from NJ to WDW, with our station wagon loaded with our tent, our stuff, and our son (somewhere around 5 years old). We got stopped in traffic just outside Washington, DC, in a similar situation as the previous poster--hours of traffic because of some kind of accident. We finally decided to get out of our car at exactly the same moment as the gentleman in the car next to ours. After we determined that there was no damage to the door of his Rolls Royce, he introduced himself...the great basketball star Julius Irving. He was great...and just as stuck in the traffic as we were. My son thought this was the high point of his vacation! He still talks about that day (and he has since met many other great athletes, but for some reason, this meeting stayed with him).

Beth