Here is my little trip report:
Chuck, DH - 43
Me, 40
Jon - 6
Charlie - 5 (with severe autism)
Rachel - 16 months old
Rick - my oldest son, 20 who we left at home to hold down the fort and take care of the collies.
____________________________________________
We drove 5 hours to Pittsburgh and then flew out on USAIR. The airline flight went really well. I had been pretty nervous, especially because of Charlie, but he liked it and all three kids slept on the plane. We never did get our magical express tags before we left, so we checked our bags and claimed them ourselves before meeting up with the magical express guys. They herded us into seperate lines and gave us our instructions. We went onto a nice motor coach with AC - Thank Goodness! FLA heat was about 95 degrees with a humidity that was through the roof. But the surroundings were beautiful. It was 3:40pm when we landed and 6:00 pm on the nose when we opened our cabin door.
We were driven to Fort Wilderness and taken by a van to our cabin. Our first cabin would not open so they reassigned us. After getting unpacked we went to the bus stop to get some dinner at Trails End and decided right after dinner that we would rent a golf cart. The kids would not stay nicely with us at the bus stops and the baby was crying from the heat, so the next morning I hiked on over to the bike barn and rented one. Luckily I had made a "just in case" reservation, so we had one reserved. Out of a line of about 10 people, they had three carts and the people were told the number of days they could have the cart for -- so it was extremely limited. That cart was heavenly. The breeze was WONDERFUL!
The remainder of Day One we spent in the cabin - except for getting take out from Trails End. we didn't really get into the cabin until about 6 pm. The cabin was super nice with a great kitchen, I wish I could have one every year. The mousekeeping was nice too, they did "towel-igami", made animals out of our towels, peacocks and stuff and left our stuffed animals on the bed. We came "home" to them reading the TV guide with the Disney channel on TV. It made us wonder what they had been up to. We brought a suitcase with us with some foods, but purchased all of our other food from the Meadows Trading Post. Hint: Diapers are about $2.00 EACH! Everything else was reasonable.
Day Two: We went to the Magic Kingdom to get our pass for Charlie's autism. He had a serious meltdown due to the crowds and the office that issues the pass saw it. They gave us the ultimate "head of the line" pass. ALthough they told us it would not get us to the head of the line it did - and we got no flack from any of the line standers, although I am sure they could tell it was a necessity. We also purchased a 7 day double stroller rental card. Boy their strollers are FABULOUS!! You could push a double with one finger - cross my heart!
We left MK and went back to the cabin, it was just too hot and too crowded to stay. We knew it was a bad day based on TGM info, but went because we were told that guest services at the Magic Kingdom did the best for kids with disabilities.
So later that day we went to the Animal Kingdom, which was supposed to be the least crowded park that day. It was nice. But scorching sun. We rode the safari ride and had the kids play in the dinosaur park, we also rode the triceratops spin ride. So even though we had that "go to the front of the line" pass, we really only rode three rides, because that was all Charlie could tolerate. The noise level was about a million decibels and just blaring! He was literally in pain due to the noise, so we had to stay away from the main activity. The best part of that park was the hidden paths and the water fall area in the dinosaur park.
I loved the safari ride, The animals were amazing and so close to us. Hippos were in the water submerged like huge rocks. Giraffes so close you could almost touch them.
We got take-out dinner at the Trails End restaurant at the campground and ate at the cabin, we did that every night thereafter except for Sunday night, it was just easier (and cheaper!). Their pizza was wonderful and the strawberry shortcake was wonderful too.
Day Three we went back to the Magic Kingdom but much earler, we were there at the opening and it was very uncrowded. We were able to go on several rides that didn't bother Charlie much and we got fastpasses for the thrill rides for Jon and Chuck using all of our tickets, so they could do twice as many rides as with their tickets alone. You are only allowed one set of fastpasses at one time, but they were able to do twice as much because we had two sets of tickets.
They did the coasters, Jon liked them. Charlie and Rachel and I browsed and shopped. We kept meeting up like every 45 minutes. It was not as hot because Hurricane Arlene was coming up and the cloud cover was dense. Then it started to rain and we took the boat over to the campgound. Turns out Charlie is afraid of rain....we all bought raincoats.
We relaxed at the cabin and swam for the rest of the day.
Day four began with Charlie vomiting, probably because of the heat. But he got better and we did EPCOT. That stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired. Lots of walking, but it was my favorite park. The roses are beautiful and everything is just so perfect. We loved Germany, Norway, England, all of the different nations. There were no rides that we went on, we just walked. My legs are getting pretty strong! There was a lot of rain, but we went indoors and it never lasted long. We stayed several hours. Because the walks are so wide Charlie was not freaked out about it.
Day five we went to MGM studios. That was my least favorite, but the kids liked it. It is a small park and was very crowded and the humidity was very high, like 99 percent. It was oppressive. They had a good playground for the kids (Honey I shrunk the kids), and we mainly walked around while Chuck and Jon rode the coasters again. Jon rode the Tower of Terror once and said that he hated it because of the ghosts.
To tell the truth, I didn't get to ride a lot of rides, but I was content to just take in the surroudings.
On day Six we went back to the Magic Kingdom and about 10 minutes into it Charlie AND Rachel had meltdowns and I left Chuck and Jon to ride and took the kids back to the cabin and we swam all day. They and I were "parked-out". So we had a campground day. We tried the fireworks later that night, but the closest we could get was the beach show at the campground because Charlie was bothered by the noise, the beach show was nice though. And quiet.
On our last day we went to EPCOT again later in the day, at around 5 and had dinner. It was nice. Frankfurters and sauerkraut at Germany with Optimater beer. Good. We also had danish and cheese cake from The Norway bakery. Yummy! However, we tried to let Chuck and Jon ride Mission Space one more time, but it was closed - we didn't find out until later that it was because that child had died there. That is so incredibly sad.
We started to watch Illuminations from Germany, but Charlie was so scared. In his frame of mind it could have been the world ending, so we nearly ran out of EPCOT. There was no where you could go in that park to get away from the sound, it was so loud and for a kid with autism it was horrible. But for us, we kept looking back in awe. So stunning.
So that was about it. Now we are home and we are kind of resting today, Rick left me a lot of messes to clean and so I am doing that, plus a mountain of laundry. I don't know how much money we spent, but I know it was wayyy to much. We will be paying for this for a long time. Chuck says he wants to go back next year...this was the man that I had to drag to WDW for his virgin trip!
_____________________________
Jan
Chuck, DH - 43
Me, 40
Jon - 6
Charlie - 5 (with severe autism)
Rachel - 16 months old
Rick - my oldest son, 20 who we left at home to hold down the fort and take care of the collies.
____________________________________________
We drove 5 hours to Pittsburgh and then flew out on USAIR. The airline flight went really well. I had been pretty nervous, especially because of Charlie, but he liked it and all three kids slept on the plane. We never did get our magical express tags before we left, so we checked our bags and claimed them ourselves before meeting up with the magical express guys. They herded us into seperate lines and gave us our instructions. We went onto a nice motor coach with AC - Thank Goodness! FLA heat was about 95 degrees with a humidity that was through the roof. But the surroundings were beautiful. It was 3:40pm when we landed and 6:00 pm on the nose when we opened our cabin door.
We were driven to Fort Wilderness and taken by a van to our cabin. Our first cabin would not open so they reassigned us. After getting unpacked we went to the bus stop to get some dinner at Trails End and decided right after dinner that we would rent a golf cart. The kids would not stay nicely with us at the bus stops and the baby was crying from the heat, so the next morning I hiked on over to the bike barn and rented one. Luckily I had made a "just in case" reservation, so we had one reserved. Out of a line of about 10 people, they had three carts and the people were told the number of days they could have the cart for -- so it was extremely limited. That cart was heavenly. The breeze was WONDERFUL!
The remainder of Day One we spent in the cabin - except for getting take out from Trails End. we didn't really get into the cabin until about 6 pm. The cabin was super nice with a great kitchen, I wish I could have one every year. The mousekeeping was nice too, they did "towel-igami", made animals out of our towels, peacocks and stuff and left our stuffed animals on the bed. We came "home" to them reading the TV guide with the Disney channel on TV. It made us wonder what they had been up to. We brought a suitcase with us with some foods, but purchased all of our other food from the Meadows Trading Post. Hint: Diapers are about $2.00 EACH! Everything else was reasonable.
Day Two: We went to the Magic Kingdom to get our pass for Charlie's autism. He had a serious meltdown due to the crowds and the office that issues the pass saw it. They gave us the ultimate "head of the line" pass. ALthough they told us it would not get us to the head of the line it did - and we got no flack from any of the line standers, although I am sure they could tell it was a necessity. We also purchased a 7 day double stroller rental card. Boy their strollers are FABULOUS!! You could push a double with one finger - cross my heart!
We left MK and went back to the cabin, it was just too hot and too crowded to stay. We knew it was a bad day based on TGM info, but went because we were told that guest services at the Magic Kingdom did the best for kids with disabilities.
So later that day we went to the Animal Kingdom, which was supposed to be the least crowded park that day. It was nice. But scorching sun. We rode the safari ride and had the kids play in the dinosaur park, we also rode the triceratops spin ride. So even though we had that "go to the front of the line" pass, we really only rode three rides, because that was all Charlie could tolerate. The noise level was about a million decibels and just blaring! He was literally in pain due to the noise, so we had to stay away from the main activity. The best part of that park was the hidden paths and the water fall area in the dinosaur park.
I loved the safari ride, The animals were amazing and so close to us. Hippos were in the water submerged like huge rocks. Giraffes so close you could almost touch them.
We got take-out dinner at the Trails End restaurant at the campground and ate at the cabin, we did that every night thereafter except for Sunday night, it was just easier (and cheaper!). Their pizza was wonderful and the strawberry shortcake was wonderful too.
Day Three we went back to the Magic Kingdom but much earler, we were there at the opening and it was very uncrowded. We were able to go on several rides that didn't bother Charlie much and we got fastpasses for the thrill rides for Jon and Chuck using all of our tickets, so they could do twice as many rides as with their tickets alone. You are only allowed one set of fastpasses at one time, but they were able to do twice as much because we had two sets of tickets.
They did the coasters, Jon liked them. Charlie and Rachel and I browsed and shopped. We kept meeting up like every 45 minutes. It was not as hot because Hurricane Arlene was coming up and the cloud cover was dense. Then it started to rain and we took the boat over to the campgound. Turns out Charlie is afraid of rain....we all bought raincoats.
We relaxed at the cabin and swam for the rest of the day.
Day four began with Charlie vomiting, probably because of the heat. But he got better and we did EPCOT. That stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired. Lots of walking, but it was my favorite park. The roses are beautiful and everything is just so perfect. We loved Germany, Norway, England, all of the different nations. There were no rides that we went on, we just walked. My legs are getting pretty strong! There was a lot of rain, but we went indoors and it never lasted long. We stayed several hours. Because the walks are so wide Charlie was not freaked out about it.
Day five we went to MGM studios. That was my least favorite, but the kids liked it. It is a small park and was very crowded and the humidity was very high, like 99 percent. It was oppressive. They had a good playground for the kids (Honey I shrunk the kids), and we mainly walked around while Chuck and Jon rode the coasters again. Jon rode the Tower of Terror once and said that he hated it because of the ghosts.
To tell the truth, I didn't get to ride a lot of rides, but I was content to just take in the surroudings.
On day Six we went back to the Magic Kingdom and about 10 minutes into it Charlie AND Rachel had meltdowns and I left Chuck and Jon to ride and took the kids back to the cabin and we swam all day. They and I were "parked-out". So we had a campground day. We tried the fireworks later that night, but the closest we could get was the beach show at the campground because Charlie was bothered by the noise, the beach show was nice though. And quiet.
On our last day we went to EPCOT again later in the day, at around 5 and had dinner. It was nice. Frankfurters and sauerkraut at Germany with Optimater beer. Good. We also had danish and cheese cake from The Norway bakery. Yummy! However, we tried to let Chuck and Jon ride Mission Space one more time, but it was closed - we didn't find out until later that it was because that child had died there. That is so incredibly sad.
We started to watch Illuminations from Germany, but Charlie was so scared. In his frame of mind it could have been the world ending, so we nearly ran out of EPCOT. There was no where you could go in that park to get away from the sound, it was so loud and for a kid with autism it was horrible. But for us, we kept looking back in awe. So stunning.
So that was about it. Now we are home and we are kind of resting today, Rick left me a lot of messes to clean and so I am doing that, plus a mountain of laundry. I don't know how much money we spent, but I know it was wayyy to much. We will be paying for this for a long time. Chuck says he wants to go back next year...this was the man that I had to drag to WDW for his virgin trip!
_____________________________
Jan
.
