This is NOT the vacation I signed up for!

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yeah, I just couldn't believe that they were going to cancel the reservation....I mean really??!!!

Welcome! I have NEVER had an experience such as this one! And I've made several trips!!

Oh Kimmy isn't it awful how the airlines have us at their mercy! I just hate that we missed our Epcot day. Good thing we have another trip planned. Can you imagine if this happened to a family that has this one and only trip planned??

Thanks for coming along on my trip report! I can honestly say that the days we were in Disney were good!

Yep, things did get better! How can a person be upset in Disney, right?! I was with my husband after all and that's the most important thing! I'm glad you are here reading along!

You'll just have to read on to see!

Oh believe me, I didn't go off on that cm. My daughter works for Spectrum Mobile call center, so I'm well aware those cm's do as much as they can. I bought that shirt at Torrid which is where larger girls like myself shop!

Hey fellow Mainer! Let's just say your hubby must be a very laid back and tolerant person to work in DHHS for 25 years!! Although, I really did enjoy my time there. Oh, I hope there are no more changes with your flights! I've flown Frontier once and it was ok, but that's my greatest fear --- the cancellation of flights. I figure I'm a pro at that now, right!!

Yep it is in fact a torrid shirt! Fellow plus size gal here!

 

[leebee]

HI, we live in Orono and fly on SW out of PWM, too! Last August DD and I were headed to WDW on the evening SW flight. Checked our suitcases, got upstairs and TSA sent us back to the gate and the flight had been canceled. SW put us on a 7am flight the next day. I had to push a bit, but they also put us up at Embassy Suites right there at the airport. There is no way I was driving home to Orono (2+hours) to get up at 2am to make it back the next morning! Went through the same hassle you did with getting Disney to hold the room overnight, compounded by the fact that I'd made the reservation through a TA... meaning she had to make the changes, not me. Couldn't get her, I was practically crying. I called Disney a second time and the nicest CM said "I can do this, hold on" and made sure that Disney held the room for us. It was an awful way to start our trip. DD and I are heading down from PWM again this August, and to say that I am getting anxious about the air travel would be an understatement! Looking forward to your next TR installment!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Magic Kingdom Day

Note to self ---- Early Morning Entry for Resort Guests only includes Tomorrowland and some Fantasyland attractions, but you must enter via Tomorrowland. Yeah, forgot this little tidbit, so we were there before park opening and wanted to go to Haunted Mansion first thing. Yep, so not happening. I was never a rope-drop person, so I didn’t even think about this. Grrrr. Oh, we could have walked over to Tomorrowland to get in but there was only 15 minutes left and quite honestly, I couldn’t walk any further than I had to.


(Did I mention I cannot wait for the doctors to find out what’s causing this pain and to fix it?!) Disney posts exactly what’s open during the early entry but didn’t I read it, Noooooooooooooooooooo. Very sad. It’s my fault for not reading up and remembering this. So, my goal of riding HM 6 times in a row just didn’t happen with how crowded it was. Peter and I have done this before and it’s so much fun to just keep going and going. Oh well. Maybe next time.

We interrupt this trip report to bring you the following news: I just heard back from my doctor and what I have is spinal stenosis in the lumbar region. You can google if you wish to, but in essence my lumbar region is narrowing which is causing the pain. Step number one will be to go see a physical therapist. I really don’t hold out much hope for that having any affect. As you can imagine I’m not in the best frame of mind right now, so bear with me. I also was told that my kidney function is at 23. If it gets below 20 it’s considered Kidney failure. Ugh! It’s not improving. Yes, I’m an insulin dependent diabetic and basically this just sucks. All they are doing right now is monitoring the kidneys, so no news is good news on that front. (not really, but there’s nothing more I can do). This just means I need to go to Disney as much as I can until I can’t anymore, right? Anyone want to join me? I do snore, so if you can deal with that, it’s all good! Would you believe all I can think about is how much of a pain it would be to have to use a scooter in Disney! I have to accept that this may be my future reality. Ugh!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled trip report…….

Of course HM was up first! I just love that ride. I didn’t get stuck this time (I love getting stuck in there! – weird, I know!) This was followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise. I miss the old Jungle Cruise before it became the “politically correct” one. I mean, who doesn’t miss Trader Sam and his heads, right? Seeing “the backside of water” does make up for it a little, though.

Up next was Princess Fairytale Hall meeting Rapunzel and Tiana. Rapunzel loved my Pascal Loungefly and pins. I basically waiting in the line (60 minutes) to prove to a coworker that yes, I really do wait to meet the princesses and have my picture taken with them! Said coworker thinks I’m nuts. Oh well. She’s the one missing the fun!

We travelled over to Tomorrowland for our ride on the People Mover. Ok, folks. There was NEVER a line for the People Mover and now there is. Oh granted it’s short enough, but still there’s a line! This was a first --- to get stuck on the People Mover and having the lights on. Interesting. We were in a boring section (I think just coming out of Space Mountain) but it was still kind of cool. Up next --- Carousel of Progress. A classic!

Our dinner time was for 5pm at the Crystal Palace and on the way there, we stopped for the classic out front of the castle picture. Aren’t we cute?!

Crystal Palace dinner is a buffet now with no characters. That’s fine with me as I don’t really care too much for Winnie the Pooh. I know, I know. That’s a crime, but hey, I can’t help it. The food was excellent and I really enjoyed it! Our server could have been more attentive (I drink a lot of soda and enjoy refills) but other than that it was wonderful!


After dinner it was time to head back to the resort. Again, due to the evening storms, no pool or hot tub time for us. Whaaaaa! It’s ok. It’s nice just hanging out with my husband without either of us having something to do. Very relaxing.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I’m so sorry to hear about your diagnosis! I was recently diagnosed with mild scoliosis (turns out that can be hereditary!) and while I’m relieved I have a diagnosis I just feel so drained and upset about it at times.


Loving this trip report!

 

[kateandy08096]

We ate an early dinner (5pm) at Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine. It’s cute. It’s still a character dinner and now finally the characters can get close to you again! The meal was good, although the menu is somewhat limited.

View attachment 674735
View attachment 674736View attachment 674737
We ate an early dinner (5pm) at Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine. It’s cute. It’s still a character dinner and now finally the characters can get close to you again! The meal was good, although the menu is somewhat limited. Has anyone noticed this? That the choices of meals aren’t as plentiful as they used to be? We used to love Sci Fi diner, but there’s no longer strip steak on the menu and there is nothing that Peter really likes on it either. Too bad as we loved the atmosphere. I did end up getting a little birthday cupcake after the dinner, so that was cute and it was good! After this, we headed back to the resort. As I mentioned, I was in a great deal of pain and we wanted to get back to the resort prior to the thunderstorms starting. Yes, typical Florida, there were storms every evening. Due to this, we never made it to the hot tub or pool. Very sad. I did have some new pins show up on my board, so that was cool!

View attachment 674738I also had been placing these little goodies around the park and resort. I hope they made people happy!
View attachment 674739

That is so sweet of you! My granddaughter would have freaked out if she found one. I love your idea of the pin board. I may try that on my upcoming July trip

 

[kateandy08096]

Magic Kingdom Day

Note to self ---- Early Morning Entry for Resort Guests only includes Tomorrowland and some Fantasyland attractions, but you must enter via Tomorrowland. Yeah, forgot this little tidbit, so we were there before park opening and wanted to go to Haunted Mansion first thing. Yep, so not happening. I was never a rope-drop person, so I didn’t even think about this. Grrrr. Oh, we could have walked over to Tomorrowland to get in but there was only 15 minutes left and quite honestly, I couldn’t walk any further than I had to.
View attachment 675325

(Did I mention I cannot wait for the doctors to find out what’s causing this pain and to fix it?!) Disney posts exactly what’s open during the early entry but didn’t I read it, Noooooooooooooooooooo. Very sad. It’s my fault for not reading up and remembering this. So, my goal of riding HM 6 times in a row just didn’t happen with how crowded it was. Peter and I have done this before and it’s so much fun to just keep going and going. Oh well. Maybe next time.
View attachment 675326
We interrupt this trip report to bring you the following news: I just heard back from my doctor and what I have is spinal stenosis in the lumbar region. You can google if you wish to, but in essence my lumbar region is narrowing which is causing the pain. Step number one will be to go see a physical therapist. I really don’t hold out much hope for that having any affect. As you can imagine I’m not in the best frame of mind right now, so bear with me. I also was told that my kidney function is at 23. If it gets below 20 it’s considered Kidney failure. Ugh! It’s not improving. Yes, I’m an insulin dependent diabetic and basically this just sucks. All they are doing right now is monitoring the kidneys, so no news is good news on that front. (not really, but there’s nothing more I can do). This just means I need to go to Disney as much as I can until I can’t anymore, right? Anyone want to join me? I do snore, so if you can deal with that, it’s all good! Would you believe all I can think about is how much of a pain it would be to have to use a scooter in Disney! I have to accept that this may be my future reality. Ugh!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled trip report…….

Of course HM was up first! I just love that ride. I didn’t get stuck this time (I love getting stuck in there! – weird, I know!) This was followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise. I miss the old Jungle Cruise before it became the “politically correct” one. I mean, who doesn’t miss Trader Sam and his heads, right? Seeing “the backside of water” does make up for it a little, though.
View attachment 675327
Up next was Princess Fairytale Hall meeting Rapunzel and Tiana. Rapunzel loved my Pascal Loungefly and pins. I basically waiting in the line (60 minutes) to prove to a coworker that yes, I really do wait to meet the princesses and have my picture taken with them! Said coworker thinks I’m nuts. Oh well. She’s the one missing the fun!
View attachment 675329
We travelled over to Tomorrowland for our ride on the People Mover. Ok, folks. There was NEVER a line for the People Mover and now there is. Oh granted it’s short enough, but still there’s a line! This was a first --- to get stuck on the People Mover and having the lights on. Interesting. We were in a boring section (I think just coming out of Space Mountain) but it was still kind of cool. Up next --- Carousel of Progress. A classic!
View attachment 675330
Our dinner time was for 5pm at the Crystal Palace and on the way there, we stopped for the classic out front of the castle picture. Aren’t we cute?!
View attachment 675331
Crystal Palace dinner is a buffet now with no characters. That’s fine with me as I don’t really care too much for Winnie the Pooh. I know, I know. That’s a crime, but hey, I can’t help it. The food was excellent and I really enjoyed it! Our server could have been more attentive (I drink a lot of soda and enjoy refills) but other than that it was wonderful!
View attachment 675333

After dinner it was time to head back to the resort. Again, due to the evening storms, no pool or hot tub time for us. Whaaaaa! It’s ok. It’s nice just hanging out with my husband without either of us having something to do. Very relaxing.

I'm not a fan of pooh either. Long story but when my daughter was 2 (24 now) we waited and waited in line to see pooh. She was next up to be seen and he had to take his break. I had to listen to a screaming 2 year old most of the day as pooh was done seeing guests at that time and never came back out so ever since then I hate that fat fluffy bear

 

[mickeystoontown]

I had no idea that you had started a report until I went to the Trip Report boards to post something in mine. I remember you posting on Facebook about all the stupid delays and cancellations of your flights. I'm sure you were so stressed out. I would have been. One of my clients had her flight canceled and I had to call Disney and figure out what they would do for her. It worked out in the end thankfully.

I am so sorry to hear of your health problems!

Looking forward to hear more!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Animal Kingdom Day

But first, breakfast at O’Hana. I didn’t realize this is no longer a character breakfast (again, my lack of research) I am 55 years old now and didn’t really need characters. The meal is a lot less expensive without the characters so it’s all good. Breakfast is no longer served in a large cast iron skillet – it comes in individual plastic skillets.




At least I think they were plastic. Lord knows it wasn’t cast iron! And is it me or does the Stich juice no longer tastes the same? I tried and tried to get a breakfast reservation for Tusker House but it just wasn’t meant to be. Unfortunately I didn’t do my reservations right at 60 days, so I missed out of some things. Hey, I had a lot of things going on in December! I’ll know better for this coming September’s trip! I can make ressies for that trip on July 10th. I’ll be right on the computer that morning, believe you me. I’m going to also try for Space 220. I probably won’t get in, but I’ll try.

Anyways, after breakfast, we hopped on the bus to go to AK. We were just in time to see the Parrot Fly over (Winged Encounters). I had never been there early enough to see this (or we were already usually eating breakfast at that time).



Up first --- Kilimanjaro Safaris! It was an 80 minute stand by wait. Yep, I’m definitely not used to these wait times.



I’ll be darned if I am going to use Lightning Lane. I figured I already paid to get in the park (Annual Passholder) and I shouldn’t have to pay for a particular ride to get through the line faster. And speaking of that, I’ve read stories online that the Lightning Lane has been as long as standby at times. No thank you. Just give me back the old fastpasses any day! Pay per ride? I might as well be at the State Fair! Nope, don’t like it at all.



We also went to see the bird show Feathered Friends in Flight. That’s always such a cute show! We especially like the chickens since we have chickens ourselves. Of course we had to get on Dinosaur as well. Hey, I just realized we didn’t get our picture downloaded. Grrrrr. We also got a surprise visit from Kevin!!

A thunderstorm was on the horizon, so we decided to head out for the day. It was a very angry looking sky!! Fortunately we were on the bus back to the resort when the skies opened up!



And here are this day’s pin trades. I was very excited to get the bride from Haunted Mansion!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

2nd Hollywood Studios Day

Of course this day also started with getting in line for the bus for Early Entry and then once there, getting in the Standby line for Rise of the Resistance. Oh, hello Kylo Ren...How you doin'? I love him!


We didn’t do a whole lot more in HS as I did want to try to get in a wee bit of Epcot since we missed it earlier. Disney allows park hopping at 2pm, so we took the boat from HS to the International Gateway.

I can tell you they are very strict with the 2pm time! So here it was, 2pm and our dinner reservation was at Cape May at the Beach Club at 5pm. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to get anything done, but we soldiered on to Figment and then the Land and was able to get a ride on Soarin and Living with the Land – two of our favorites.

Unfortunately these were the only rides we got in as we had to head back to the Gateway to catch the boat to the Beach Club.

Cape May buffet --- the absolute favorite meal for both of us! I’m a huge seafood lover (especially steamers) so I love it here. There is a difference from when we were here last --- the crab legs used to be included in the price of the buffet. Now they are an additional costs. That’s ok, as I don’t eat the crab legs, anyways. They also gave me a happy birthday cupcake. It was cute!

When we got back to the resort I had this note: OMG!!! That’s the sweetest thing! I really couldn’t believe it. And, as always, today’s pin trades and one I bought.


After dinner we headed back to the resort. Still no pool or hot tub time. Grrrr. I miss that! We went to bed early this night as tomorrow we will be packing and heading home….or so we thought!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

HI, we live in Orono and fly on SW out of PWM, too! Last August DD and I were headed to WDW on the evening SW flight. Checked our suitcases, got upstairs and TSA sent us back to the gate and the flight had been canceled. SW put us on a 7am flight the next day. I had to push a bit, but they also put us up at Embassy Suites right there at the airport. There is no way I was driving home to Orono (2+hours) to get up at 2am to make it back the next morning! Went through the same hassle you did with getting Disney to hold the room overnight, compounded by the fact that I'd made the reservation through a TA... meaning she had to make the changes, not me. Couldn't get her, I was practically crying. I called Disney a second time and the nicest CM said "I can do this, hold on" and made sure that Disney held the room for us. It was an awful way to start our trip. DD and I are heading down from PWM again this August, and to say that I am getting anxious about the air travel would be an understatement! Looking forward to your next TR installment!

Ugh!!! Hi Leebee. Oh, I can just imagine having to drive from Orono to Portland. Yuck! I'm sorry you went through that! I don't blame you or wanting them to put you up forf the night. If I would have had to drive that far, I would have too. When in August are you heading down?

I’m so sorry to hear about your diagnosis! I was recently diagnosed with mild scoliosis (turns out that can be hereditary!) and while I’m relieved I have a diagnosis I just feel so drained and upset about it at times.


Loving this trip report!

Yeah, there are days when I'm so upset that I don't want to get out of bed, but I do, work both jobs and keep going. Heck, I'm not disabled yet and I'm going to push as long as I can, Target is hard as I walk about 2.5 miles per shift. The doctor did prescribe mild pain killers, but honestly, I've found that if I take 2 Alieve prior to my Target shift, I am able to tolerate the pain. Oh, I feel it, but it's tolerable.

That is so sweet of you! My granddaughter would have freaked out if she found one. I love your idea of the pin board. I may try that on my upcoming July trip

Thank you Kate. I actually made up some for our anniversary trip in September. They are a little different this time but they still include minibrands (yeah, I bought a lot off of Ebay) and stickers! Again I will be putting up my pin board. It was so much fun!

I'm not a fan of pooh either. Long story but when my daughter was 2 (24 now) we waited and waited in line to see pooh. She was next up to be seen and he had to take his break. I had to listen to a screaming 2 year old most of the day as pooh was done seeing guests at that time and never came back out so ever since then I hate that fat fluffy bear

That mean ole bear!!! How dare he do that!

I had no idea that you had started a report until I went to the Trip Report boards to post something in mine. I remember you posting on Facebook about all the stupid delays and cancellations of your flights. I'm sure you were so stressed out. I would have been. One of my clients had her flight canceled and I had to call Disney and figure out what they would do for her. It worked out in the end thankfully.

I am so sorry to hear of your health problems!
Looking forward to hear more!

Hi Lisa! Yeah, the whole plane issue really soured the beginning on the trip. I really hope I don't run into that type of thing again..... but things happen.

Thanks for the comment on my health. Again, there are many people who ride scooters in the parks and I can't let this deter my trips to Disney! Some days the pain is not bad at all and tonight, after my Target shift, I will be hurting. But I think the Alieve are helping.

 

[shh]

enjoying your report - thank you.

 

[Corsetopia]

Loving your trip report, thanks for sharing! Leaving the cute little bags of goodies as "Pixie dust" is just adorable and I think I'm going to start doing the same on our future WDW trips! <3

 

[jrmint427]

He asked me how our day was and I laid out the whole story (poor man – but he asked!) he knew I had enough for today and actually gave us our refillable mugs for free! A $19.99 value per mug!

That was so nice!!

I did have some new pins show up on my board, so that was cool!

This was such a fun idea! You got some neat pins through the trades.

I also had been placing these little goodies around the park and resort. I hope they made people happy!

What a sweet idea! I'm sure you brought joy to other families.

When we got back to the resort I had this note: OMG!!! That’s the sweetest thing! I really couldn’t believe it.

How sweet! I bet they enjoyed watching other guests trade with your pins.

I'm enjoying your report!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Glad to hear Disney still has some Magic! It’s too bad you missed some things at the beginning, including the pot roast! But sounds like you had a good time once you got there.

 

[igrsod]

I made sure to hang up my “unofficial” pin trading board on our door this morning. I was excited to see what would be traded. Some people on the Disboards suggested it may get stolen, but if it does, it does. I trust people.

A couple of questions, as I love this idea.
How did you hang this on your door?
Were people mostly honest?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Well, this was our departure day -- May 22nd. Our original flight was supposed to depart at 4:25pm but about one week prior to the trip, it was changed to 4:55pm . That was no big deal and it really didn't matter one way or the other. Sunshine Flyer picked us up around 1:25pm to head to the airport. Boy, I definitely recommend Sunshine Flyers! What excellent customer service and the busses were clean and on time. I planned on eating lunch at the Silver Diner at the airport. The meal was really good.

We then went to our gate to wait for our flight. Just to "lighten our load" we decided to just check our carryons as we weren't going to need them anyways. I had my phone charger in my purse, so I was good. I just took the time to read on my phone and Peter played games. On the monitors we could see there was a line of strong storms headed to Baltimore --- exactly where we were flying in to. Really? Really? So, needless to say, our flight was delayed. For about 2 hours. Ok, I can deal with a delay, truly I can. We boarded and took off from Orlando. I was about 2 hours into the flight (the flight to Baltimore is about 2 hours, 15 minutes) and the lady beside me was looking at her phone, tracking the flight and said "look, we are just making a big circle". She was right and I'm like hmmmm. The announcement came over the speaker stating that we can't land in Baltimore and we are being deferred to Virginia. OMG!! Are you serious.?!!! Not only did we go back and land in Virginia, we spent 2 hours on the tarmac. Apparently there was no gate to park at so we waited. Finally we were able to arrive at a gate and get off the plane for about 1/2 hour and go to the bathroom, get snacks, whatever, but it was 10pm and the airport was pretty much closed up. It was clear to fly into Baltimore by then and so we were off. We did get to Baltimore and were told once we land that there were no flights flying out that night. Southwest did, however, make an additional flight for Monday evening. OH great! I had a job interview on Monday and now I would be stuck in Baltimore. Ugh. I got online and found a nearby hotel to stay at so we Uber'd over. Now remember the fact that we checked our carryons? Yeah, Peter didn't have his CPap and I didn't have any clothes nor toiletries. Most importantly, I didn't have my medication. I do keep my insulin pen in my purse, so at least there's that. Fortunately the desk was able to offer us toothbrushes and paste. Thank God! The hotel itself was clean and it had a bed, so it was fine. It was a Wyndham.


After a good night of sleep we headed back to the airport for the day. I must tell you that by now I was completely sick of airports. After a long day at the Baltimore airport, we were boarded on a flight and headed to Portland. No issues on the way, Thank God! Home sweet home!!!

That's it..that's all she wrote. I can definitely say it was quite an experience. I am looking forward to a much smoother go at it in September!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh my goodness! You had some major airport drama. But, at least your time in Disney was great and I think that's all that really matters.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Finally catching up and finishing up! What a crazy travel day back!

I enjoyed this trip report! And the one LL i would pay for is rise of the resistance!

I must get to Cape May Cafe one of these days!