Survived Wilma Trip to WDW - Day 1

[Stitches12]

Cast of characters:
Me - the mom, the planner, the reservation agent, the insistant we go one
DH - the dad, the one that will ride anything, the one that says honey you plan and we will follow
DS8 - great kid, imagination on overdrive, celebrating his birthday

We left Syracuse, NY on Sunday the 23rd at 8:20 am. We knew Wilma was licking our heels but were determined to get to WDW. After all, I had planned for 8 months, specifically picked this time thinking hurricane season would be over (silly me). Delta flights were great. All on time, as a matter of fact, they were moving people along quickly that day due to the impending hurricane. Got us down to WDW right on time (2:30).

Magical Express - can I just say how great it was to leave our luggage with the bell staff at the beginning of our trip and never have to touch it again. Who invented this idea - he's a genius. ME worked perfectly. We were in the airport, through the check out desk, onto the bus and to WDW all in 50 minutes. At this point, I'm definitely thinking the force is with us.

Got off the ME bus as OKW and the sun was still shining - although barely. Couldn't believe we actually made it. Had visions of us all sleeping on chairs at the Atlanta airport but it never happened. It's the obsessive worrier in me. Sometimes I just think I HAVE to have something to worry about or I simply don't know what to do with myself !

Check in at OKW was a bit less than flawless. Must be everyone from all of Florida picked that very moment to check in. The line was through the lobby to the front door. Took us an hour - mostly because everyone that was being checked in felt it necessary to just stand there and talk to the staff after they were done. Okay already - move on now please it's MY turn !! The staff was very accommodating when they asked us if it was okay if we had a smoking room I put on my saddest face and let them know that my DS8 has asthma and the smoke would likely trigger an asthma attack. There was a call to the manager and at one point I heard the magic words "upgrade" muttered - could it be ??? Nope, but at least it was a non-smoking room which we really needed. The clerk noticed that it was my son's birthday and went out back and came out with an envelope for him (turned out to be a birthday card signed by the staff).

We were put in room 2320. Studio right on the end of a building very near the Hospitality House. Right on the road, pretty noise but what the heck we were at Disney - nothing was gonna spoil this vacation. Through the week the noise did get a bit annoying but we endured. Unfortunately, when I went into the room and went to go to the bathroom there was poop on the toilet seat. Oh boy - here we go. You know, I could have called the front desk and probably should have but I was just so glad to be there and have a non-smoking room in the location that we did, I just got out the Lysol (which I never travel without, my husband laughs at me but it came in handy this time, didn't it honey ?) and cleaned it up. The rest of the room was clean, believe me I checked !!

Ate at Olivia's - good food, great service, a little bit overpriced if you ask me. I had the conch fritters which were mostly fritter and not much conch and another thing I can't remember, DH had a grilled chicken salad which was good. DS8, of course, had chicken fingers.

Since the sun was still out a bit and we knew it was going to be a wash out tomorrow because of Wilma, we decided to do a bit of Epcot. Just a couple of hours - did Soarin (my absolute favorite ride) and when we got out it was pouring. Decided to take a walk in the rain because it was still warm out even though it was wet. Remember, we're from Upstate NY and when it rains here it's ALWAYS cold so this was a new experience to us. We were drenched by the time we got to the bus but were still havin fun. Wilma was on her way, that was clear. It was just unclear where she would make landfall at this point or when.

Got back to our room and 3 balloons and a birthday card had magically appeared for my DS8. No, I'm not that good of a planner - Disney is. It was a surprise to all of us but I gotta say it made my son feel like this was a pretty magical place. It set the tone for the whole week because he really believed in some of the things he saw !! It was truly a magical vacation. Even my husband commented at one point of how magical it was - he said "I can just feel Disney sucking that money right out of my pocket." Glad he thinks it's Disney and not me -- that was Disney's hand in your pocket dear, certainly not mine

We went to sleep wondering what kind of day tomorrow would be. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to a blinking phone. Disney even has magical phones. They can have messages on them and not even ring - really. I dialed 37 and got the message and it said that due to Wilma the parks would be closed tomorrow. Boo hoo, but the truth of it was I was so darned tired I just fell back asleep.

Day 2 tomorrow. Right now, I've gotta get some sleep. Just got back today and we're pretty bushed. Plane rides take a lot out of you. See ya tomorrow

 

[rosiejo]

Lot's of people have had this problem (including me) apparently you can fix it by clearing your cookies - or better still just edit your post in this thread and use it to put your trip reports in :0)

 

[pumba]

thanks so much for a great start to your vacation......HEY disney and wilma is better then upstate NY and snow........well for me it is........thanks for your report and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUR SON

 

[Stitches12]

Pumba -
You're right on the weather comment about Upstate NY. They had snow while we were gone.

Could there be something wrong with this thread. I'm having trouble posting to it and I've noticed no one else has been able to post to it either. I originally had trouble putting it in here. Can you check it out ??

Thanks

 

[Del]

Hey Stitches....what's soarin at Epcot? Del

 

[pumba]

Del.....Soaring is an absolutely FANTASTIC RIDE .....its in Epcot and opened this past April. We were there for the test runs (because we were AP holders we were on first)....it is like the soaring over california in Disneyland ......Like Imax and you are lifted up and it is unreal.......its like you are flying over all these places......the mts the rivers the ocean.......

 

[Del]

sounds very cool....new since our last trip in Dec. Thanks.


Del

 

[Goofy4]

Yeah -- what was up with that "Who didn't like soarin' thread?". Didn't read any of it, just can't figure out what there isn't to like. Nothing better then getting a kick from the remnants of Wilma as you walk into The Land, then Soarin'!

 

[Merriwind]

Hey Stitches!

We survived Wilma at WDW too! And we lived outside Syracuse until this past summer. Can't wait to read more of your report!

 

[cdpa4d]

Hello from another WDW Wilma survivor. We were there Monday morning. After the storm cleared the weather was spectacular all week. The parks were closed in the morning, but the MK and EPCOT opened up for the afternoon and evening. MGM and AK stayed closed. The MK was opened until 12 Midnight and we closed the park on top of BTMRR. We got stuck at the top of the second hill. CMs had to come up to comfort and evacuate us once maintenance arrived. My DD5 was with us and she was a real trooper. We were on top of the hill for about 35 minutes.

We walked down the steps next to the lift hill. We were taken under the ride were the mechanical equipment was. I've never seen that before.

The CMs and maintenance folks felt bad for us. They told us to go to City Hall at the front of the park to receive a free one day hopper pass. How magical is that. They were all so nice. They even passed out Halloween candy to us while were at the top of the hill.

The park was pretty empty most of the day so we were able to ride most of what we wanted. What a great and magical trip.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Great report, can't wait to read about your WILMA day...

 

[FayeW]

Another Wilma survivor here! We flew from Syracuse on Thursday, Oct 20th. We were also at Epcot Sunday night, it started pouring about 5 mins after we walked through the gate. We did Spaceship Earth, and then Soarin'. Maybe we were in line together!