Surviving Fay Disney Style

adisneymama

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
1,848
Hey everybody! We made it back. We survived Fay and had a great time. So here goes a trip report of sorts, hopefully with a lot of pictures. Here is the cast:

Me - I am the trip planner, the leader of the pack so to speak. I live for our Disney vacations and am very blessed that we get to go often.

DH - Loves golf and Disney. Goes with the flow and lets me do all the planning. Pretty much just shows up when and where I tell him to.

DD - Aubrey 6 yo princess all the way. Loves all the thrill rides the scarier the better.

DS - Ashton 18 mos. Loves Mickey and his Mama. Actually he is just our little lover dover.

Now for just a little bit of background info:

Last year DD was diagnosed with Epilepsy. She does not have convulsive seizures and should outgrow them by the time she reaches puberty. We had some issues with the first two medications she was placed on but so far the third one is the charm. She is doing much better, but still has seizures on a daily basis. The seizures cause balance issues as well as stamina issues as well. We went to Disney Dec 2007 and it was a very difficult trip for us. We had a good time, but it was trying to say the least. She just wasn't able to handle the waits and all the walking etc.

So I did some research here on the Dis and found out about the GAC and the ability to use the stroller as a wheelchair. Let me just tell you it made a world of difference. This trip was night and day from the December trip. Of course there were those that snubbed their noses and whispered things as we went past them, simply because dd doesn't have an outwardly noticable disability. Most people however, were all smiles and the majority of the CM's were great and really made us feel like royalty rather than embarrased for using the GAC.

So there you have it. All caught up and ready to go.

Up next Day 1...Planes, trains and automobiles!
 
Woohoo finally it is time to go to Disney!!! We wake the kids, dh loads the van up and we feed the kids breakfast before we leave. The main reason we did this is to get Aubrey's seizure meds in before we hit the airport. They are sprinkles that we place in her food which really helps to get the medicine in easily. Ok, everyone is all set and off we go..

The drive wasn't overly exiting, as soon as the van was started "Alice" (our navigation system) announced to the kids that it was time to go to Disney!:banana: Then we began playing the High School Musical soundtrack which ironically had been qued up to play "What Time is It?":rolleyes: LOL can't figure out how that happened. So we listened to the cd and Aubrey and I were singing along when dh started with the "I forgots". The conversation went something like:

dh: I forgot to pack tylenol.
Me: I packed it.
Dh: I forgot to pack chapstick.
Me: I packed it.
DH: I forgot to pack..
Me: I packed it. Aren't you glad you're married to me?:rotfl:

By now we have made it to the offsite parking lot and loaded onto the shuttle bus. About 5 mins later we were being dropped off at the terminal. We checked our bags and headed thru security. When all of a sudden I couldn't find the ginormous ziplock bag of all our prescriptions!:scared1: It had been in the diaper bag I was using as my personal item. We thought maybe it fell out on the shuttle bus, so we stopped and called the lot. They checked with the driver who said no it wasn't on the bus. That meant it could only be in the van. So they sent the shuttle back to pick up dh. I armed him with his boarding pass and his passport (Yes, I know we didn't have to have passports but it is faster thru security and yes, I do keep control of his boarding pass as well. LOL) So dh checked the van and sure enough the bag had fallen out in the van. WHEW!:worship:

In the meantime, I took the carryon bag, both kids and their backpacks, my bag and the stroller for the longest flippin walk in history to our gate. Dh finally made it back with the ziplock in tow to which I replied...."Aren't you glad you are married to me?":lmao: :rotfl: :rotfl:

We got a bite for ourselves, Aubrey and I made a bathroom stop and we boarded the plane headed to Orlando!:cool1: :cool1: Only to go no where!:confused: For some reason we sat on the runway for almost 45 mins! Ok so anyone who has flown with small children knows I'm not kidding when I say this is what we looked like when we finally took off!:scared:

We finally took off and the pilot made up for a little bit of the lost time. We jumped off the plane, grabbed the stroller and headed straight to the ME bus via the fake monorail to get us to the terminal. We were on our way to POR in no time. So for a recap, we have driven our van, rode a bus, flew on a plane, rode a train and then another bus just to get to our hotel. And then things really went downhill.

Here are a few pics of the kids in the Orlando airport as we waited for the stroller to be delivered.
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I'm In:cool1:


Really sounds like the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles:rotfl:


I am glad your discovered the GAC Card and were able to have a better trip than last year:thumbsup2



Now what is next? popcorn::
 
Up next is our nightmare check in experience. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm still on eastern time and I'm wiped! Thanks for reading and welcome aboard!
 

Up next is our nightmare check in experience. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm still on eastern time and I'm wiped! Thanks for reading and welcome aboard!

That is right you are an hour behind me and your system needs time to adjust for sure.


Thanks....I will look forward to more tomorrow:goodvibes


Good Night
 
Great start...I can't wait to hear how Fay treated you! I had to chuckle when you referred to your Nav system in the car as "Alice"! We call ours SAL, because DH thinks she sounds like the female version of HAL from the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey!!!! :lmao:
 
Glad you made it back safely!! Can't wait to hear the rest of the story. So far it is hilarious.:rotfl: :rotfl: It couldn't have been that bad an experience. Remember, a bad day at Disney is always better than a great day at home/work.:dance3:
 
What is a GAC Card?

The GAC stands for Guest Assistance Card. It is designed so that you can get the extra assistance you may need while visiting Disney. Things like waiting in a shady area, stopping the moving platform on rides like PP if necessary. I'll go into more details as the report goes on. HTH


I'll try to get an update later today. Need to finish unpacking first and I have to get all of Aubrey's things ready for the 1st day of school tomorrow. Welcome to everyone that has joined.

John you have no idea....don't get me wrong we didn't let it get to us!
 
I'm here for the ride!

Happy to hear the GAC helped you have a wonderful trip!
 
Are you up? Are you Up? Canadians are up and ready to hear all of the excitement.
 
The GAC stands for Guest Assistance Card. It is designed so that you can get the extra assistance you may need while visiting Disney. Things like waiting in a shady area, stopping the moving platform on rides like PP if necessary. I'll go into more details as the report goes on. HTH


I'll try to get an update later today. Need to finish unpacking first and I have to get all of Aubrey's things ready for the 1st day of school tomorrow. Welcome to everyone that has joined.

John you have no idea....don't get me wrong we didn't let it get to us!
Yeah, after reading this I did more research on it. I may have to look into getting one for John. I'm glad that Fay didn't spoil your trip. Now that you guys are home, I can't wait to hear how Aubrey liked the new Toy Story ride. Joey and John are in Memphis and Arkansas with their grandparents until late tomorrow, so I'll have to let them know on Tuesday.
 
Hi everybody and Welcome to all our new guests! I'm working on the next installment now, should be up shortly.:goodvibes
 
We didn't arrive at the resort until 4 pm. We first made stops at OKW which looked gorgeous! and then SSR I wasn't as impressed with this one for some reason. Finally we made it to POR. The check in line was a bit long, so dh took the kids over to the TV while I waited in line. When I booked the reservation I explained to the CM our medical issues and that I would be alone with the kids for a few of the days while dh was playing golf. She notated everything on our reservation and requested that we be placed as close to the main building and bus stop as possible. Ok, so it is finally my turn at the counter and the very friendly CM tells me.....

Sorry but your room isn't ready yet.:confused3 By now it is almost 4:30. I asked him when it would be and he said not for at least another hour. He said we would be in building 34. Although this was close to a bus stop it was about as far away from the main building as you could be. I asked if there was another room available that would be any closer to the main building. He noticed the medical notations at this point and said let me make a call for you. He gets on the phone and is told that no room changes are being allowed. He tries to explain the situation and is still told no.:headache: Ok, so there is nothing I can do at this point and as I said it is almost 4:30 and we have ADR's for 5:10 at 1900 PF. So we have our bags stored and grab a bus to MK. Once we get to MK we hit the boat over to GF. We just make our ADR but at least we made it. So we get out the autograph book and I realize the pen is in the carry on at the resort. I had forgotten to get it out when I threw Aubrey's dress on her in the lobby. So we ask the waitress if we could borrow one of hers. She gives us a pen and asks if we want her to call and find out if our room is ready. We told her that would be great! Ok, so off to a bad start but we are here and this is one of our favorite character dinners.

The characters were a huge hit again. Completely hysterical. Here are a few pics from the evening.
Aubrey with Prince Charming
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Aubrey with Cinderella
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Lady Tremaine
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Anastasia
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Ashton!
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Aubrey singing Nightingale with Anastasia
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Aubrey singing A whole new world with Drizella
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Our room was finally ready around 7 pm. Ok, now I find this a little more than unacceptable. We had a delivery scheduled with Garden Grocer. When they couldn't reach us at the resort, they held the order until 6:30 when they finally delivered it to Bell services. We decided that since we were already at MK we would handle getting the GAC and the stroller pass as well as activate our AP's and hit a few rides before heading to the resort. Once we had taken care of all the business at Guest Relations we headed into MK.
 
slow far slow good. i see you are teasing us with the report.:lmao: but i love it so far. are you still on the "DISNEY" high? when if at all will you be posting any video? thanks fer da update!!
 
We asked Aubrey what she wanted to ride first and she said Pooh because Ashton would like it.:love: We walked over to Pooh and showed the GAC and the stroller tag and asked "How do we use this?":rotfl2: and the CM led us into the handicap access line. It was that easy! LOL Ok, so after Pooh Aubrey wanted to ride Dumbo. This by far would be our longest wait at around 5 mins. (Not complaining at all!) After flying in our elephants we headed over to PP but it was broken so we headed over to BTMRR. Aubrey loved it as usual. We told her we would ride one more ride but then we had to go to our room for the night. She wanted to try PP again but it was still broken so we just headed on back to the room. All would be good once we could settle in and get some sleep right? Or would it?:rolleyes1


We finally get to our room to find it is on the second floor!:mad: Now normally this would not be a problem, but when there are no elevators and you have to manage 2 kids (keeping in mindy one of them has balance issues and beiging on the stairs or anything that she could easily fall if she has a siezure is a big no no)and a stroller by yourself it aint so easy folks. So dh calls the front desk and explains the situation once again. They ask us if we can make do for the night and they will put us on a first floor room the next day. But we have to be out of that room by 10 and the new room will not be ready until 3. So we get up early the next morning and have Bell Services haul all of our stuff back to storage including the groceries and head out for the day.

Up next..Hey JoJo whatdaya say....HS here we come!
 
I have a little video that I am going to try to post. I have to get it off the camcorder first onto a dvd then I can upload it to photobucket. We still have the old 8mm camcorder so it will take a bit.
 












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