Trip Report 6/1-6/11..Celebration Hospital and Typhoon Lagoon...post #8

[lilherm]

I have never done a trip report before so here it goes...wish me luck!!
Cast Members:
Me (35) - the obsessive/compulsive vacation planner. Started planning this trip 10 months ago and now I have no idea what I am going to do. Guess I have to plan another trip somewhere.
DH (36) - lets me plan all vacations but doesn't like to hear the "hey honey, on the disboards today I learned about......". He just smiles and nods.
DD (10) - she is a mini me. She likes my vacation binder and has one of her own. A girl after my own heart.
DD (7) - goes with the flow and puts a smile on everyone's face.
Also with us were our neighbors who have two children ages 4 and 8. They have never been to Disney World before. We took our children two years ago on the Disney Cruise and then stayed at Disney World at the Beach Club for 4 nights.

Departure/Arrival
We had a flight out of SFO at 9:50pm on Delta. We had originally booked our flight through Song but with all the troubles with Delta, our straight flight got turned into a stopover in Atlanta. Oh well, at least they settled their issues and we got to fly out on Delta. I was worried for a while but everything turned out okay. We got to the airport way too early (this is the only thing DH is obsessive/compulsive about) and killed time imagining all the fun we would have once we arrived in Orlando. We couldn't wait.
Our flight took off and landed as scheduled with no problems. Of course we were all a little tired when we landed but our excitement carried us through.

I had booked an eight passenger van through Alamo and kept having dreams that there would only be a seven passenger van when we arrived and none of our luggage would fit. I had visions of luggage being piled on our laps and stuffed in places luggage should never see. I walked up the the counter at Alamo with no wait, walked into the parking garage, couldn't find the 8 passenger van section, got help, found the van and loaded up with no problems. I was shocked at how easily it went. I had read other nightmare stories about Alamo's long lines, charging your wrong etc...

Wow this trip seems to be going so smoothly.....I always anticipate that something is going to go wrong (black cloud) so I keep waiting and waiting and still nothing goes wrong. Did all my planning pay off? Now it is off to the condo at Windsor Hills......

We find the condo easily. It was fabulous!! It was a three bedroom two bath that accomodated the eight of us easily. The pool area was wonderful, the condo was furnished beautifully, easy drive to the parks taking Sherbeth road. What more could I ask for? I will say that after driving around all the resorts, I did miss staying onsite. We were going for the more bang for our buck philosophy, but next time we will probably stay onsite. We had visions of cooking meals in the condo, taking breaks everyday and eating lunch by the pool. Did any of that happen? If you count one dinner of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese as a meal, then yes it happened once. We did eat breakfast every morning before leaving for the parks. So my planning in that area fell apart. Maybe we should have stayed onsite? It does seem more magical. The condo was great, but how do you survivie without cute Mickey soap, Mickey wake up calls and just the overall atmosphere? At least I will have something new to plan for next time!!

After we unpacked, we went to Publix and got all the food we were going to eat (yeah right!!), came back and took naps since we were very tired by that time.

Next up Epcot....just how much can you squeeze in in three hours?

 

[masterslacker]

Thanks...waiting for the MK portion

 

[OhMari]

What time did you actually get to Orlando?

 

[lilherm]

OhMari - we arrived in Orlando at 8:20am.

Okay....where did I leave off...oh yes, we took about a four hour nap and decided that we would head to Epcot because Tour Guide Mike said that Friday (6/2) would be a great choice for that.

The kids were bouncing off the walls because they were so excited to finally be going into the "World". We enter the park somewhat quickly (I don't really get the insert ticket, press fingers here thing. I understand what they are trying to do with this, but it really makes the line go a lot slower. I know for a fact that my daughter and I switched tickets countless times and it still let us use that ticket. Anyway...I just had to put my two cents in on that). The kids faces light up when they see the "golf ball". There is no line so that is our first stop of the day. They had a blast although I'm not sure why exactly. Then we headed to Test Track and walked on that. I love the end of that ride. It just makes me laugh with happiness . I was too chicken to go on Mission Space two years ago. I am not a fan of spinning rides so I was pleased that they had a more mild version this time around. We all enjoyed the ride (walked right on this ride as well) and the best part was that DH wasn't sick this time around afterwards. My DD10 had been begging him to go on it with her like he did last time, but he kept telling her no that he didn't want to get sick. She was happy that we were all able to enjoy the ride as a family without the spinning part.

We walked around some more and just enjoyed the Flower Festival and ate dinner at the walk up Mexican food place. Sorry I can't remember the name. While we were eating we had a great spot for Illuminatins so we just stayed where we were. We all enjoyed the show. We took our time leaving so we wouldn't get stampeded. Although it was a short day at Epcot, it was one we really enjoyed. We took our time to enjoy the sites and rides we went on. We were still exhausted so it was an early to bed night because tomorrow was breakfast at Whispering Canyon at 7:40am and then off to Blizzard Beach for some fun in the sun!!

Part three will be later.......I am off to taking the girls to cheerleading practice.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[lilherm]

On Saturday we were off and running for our ADR's at the Whispering Canyon at WL. We love the interaction of that restaurant and find it very entertaining. All the kids got to ride the stick horse, and ketchup was moving everywhere!! The all you can eat breakfast was the way to go for us. After our tummies were full we headed off to Blizzard Beach.

I had never been to this park before. We did Typhoon Lagoon two years ago and thought it was awesome. I now have to say that I prefer Blizzard Beach. I think the slides were a lot better here; especially the family raft ride. We had an awesome spot that allowed my DH to be in the shade (he hates the sun and burns easily) and a spot where the rest of us could sit in the sun, relax, and easily see the kids. We bought the refillable mug and used it throughout the day. We definitely thought this was worth the expense. We stayed from open to close and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We then headed back to the condo for our money saving dinner of hot dogs, taquitos, macaroni and cheese, chips, watermelon, etc..

It was good that we planned this day to be a somewhat early one because we were still a little tired and it allowed the children (okay...and the adults) to get to bed early for a good night sleep. My DD7 was very excited about Animal Kingdom the next day. The last time we went we only did 1/2 the park because it was so humid and hot and we were all miserable.

Sunday - June 4th
Tour Guide Mike said that this was a green day for Animal Kingdom and he was right. We had our fast pass runners (my best friend and I) and a plan in place. My DH and his friend took the kids to the Safari while us ladies walked quickly to EE. My legs were killing me by the time we got our FP's. But we were excited that we got them but they did tell us the EE wasn't working yet. I stayed positive that everything would work out and it did. The boys and the kids rode the Safari and us ladies were 3 jeeps behind them. After this we were hot so we headed to the rapids. We walked right on with no problem and got drenched. I am not going to use rain ponchos in the middle of the hot Florida sun. The more drenched I am the better!! I will say that I prefer the rapid ride at California Adventure much better. The one at AK seemed really short to me. It does accomplish its goal of getting you wet, but it should have been a little longer.
Our FP's for EE were still not up yet so we headed over to Dinoland and rode the Primeval Whirl which made me very dizzy. By the time we finished in Dinoland we could get our FP's for Dinosaur. After getting the new FP's we headed to EE. We had a blast on that ride. It was well worth it. Even our littlest member in our group had a great time on it. For being 4, he was a total trooper.
We headed over to Dinosaur and all rode that. If I was a little kid, I would have been scared out of my pants. My DD7 just pulled her hat over her eyes and took peeks at times. I think that is one of the scariest rides I have been on in the parks. After this we let the children play in the Boneyard and decided to eat at the Flametree BBQ for lunch. The ribs were excellent!! After eating we headed to the Festival of the Lion King. What a great show!! My DD7 is a HUGE Lion King fan. She sat with a smile on her face the whole time. She got to sit in the front row with her best friend. They were both picked to lead the giraffe call, but my DD can be a little shy so she said no. I will definitely want to see this show when it comes to the Bay Area again. After this we decided that we accomplished everything we wanted to do and headed to DTD for a little shopping and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.
We hit a good size thunder storm and had to wait it out in DTD by jumping from store to store. We must have looked hilarious!

Next up....Epcot and a visit to First Aid.....

 

[lilherm]

June 5th - Epcot

My handy dandy vacation binder said that today was a perfect day for Epcot. I noticed that DD7 seemed a little under the weather so I gave her some medicine and hoped she would feel better soon. Am I a bad parent for doing that? She wanted to go to Epcot even though she wasn't feeling like her normal self. Anyway....off we went. We arrived about 30 minutes before the gates opened and had our plans in place. We had our fast past runners assigned for Test Track and the boys were taking the children to ride Soarin. Us ladies figured that we have gone on Soarin a dozer or so times in California so if we missed it it would be no big deal to us (unless it was different, but it wasn't so we were okay). After Soarin we road that vegetable ride on the boat. Sorry I don't remember the name. All I can say is it was the longest line I stood in all week for a ride about vegetables. My best friend loved it, but I probably could have skipped this one. We then grabbed some food and headed to Test Track. After Test Track I noticed that DD didn't look any better so we went to the first aid station and had them check her temperature. Sure enough it was 101. They gave her some more medicine and then we asked DD what she wanted to do. We could go back to the condo and rest and see how you feel later....no....we could stay here and see how you are feeling later....yes.

We then went to the World Showcase. My best friend ate dessert in every possible place she could find (okay I helped her out a little bit). Who can resist all those different pastries and cakes? When we got to Japan we decided that we would eat lunch at the cook in front of you place. We waited about 15 minutes for a table. DD fell asleep while we were waiting and didn't want to eat anything. We just keep forcing her to drink water since it was so hot. Lunch was good. DD didn't want to walk so we kicked her friend out of the stroller and let her ride her way around the world. Do you know how funny I felt pushing a 7 year old around in a stroller? I just don't think that you are suppose to do that, but what else were we going to do? DD fell asleep again so we did the rest of the worlds as quickly as we could so that when she woke up we would be ready to leave.

DD wakes up around Canada, looks pathetic, so we head to the car. We order pizza and pasta and eat at the condo. DD still won't eat. We decide that Tuesday will be our down day to give DD a chance to rest. What do you know DD10 starts complaining about her stomach hurting. Next thing I know she is running to the bathroom. She either had a slight case of the flu or food poisoning that lasted 6 long hours. Good thing Tuesday was a day of relaxtion for us.

Next up...Celebration Hospital....Typhoon Lagoon....MGM

 

[KathyRN137]

Oh no! Your poor kids!

We had something like that during our last visit. Were at the bus stop early the first am and DS(7), who hadn't eaten his breakfast, just suddenly got sick in the bushes. DH volunteered to stay behind with him (SSR-1BR Villa), while DD(9) and I went to EPCOT for the am. DS slept it off, but I was miserable/guilty to the point where DD and I just did a few essentials at FW and returned to the resort for lunch. He was OK after napping for 3 hours.

That's another reason why staying on-site is a plus.

Kids can get sick so quickly! Hope yours fared well!

 

[lilherm]

Okay so as I said we decided to take Tuesday June 6th off to let our DD's rest especially DD7. Our friends took the mini van to Magic Kingdom and kept checking in with us to make sure we were okay. At around 8:00pm I decided that DD really needed to go to the doctor. She still wasn't eating, still had a fever and all she wanted to do was sleep. So we call our friends back early and head to Celebration Hospital. We check in around 9pm, DD has a fever of 104!! We wait around for another three hours and get put in a room to see a doctor. Long story short, after two more hours we leave with a prescription for a sinus and throat infection. The good news...she's not contagious...the bad news...she is a sick little girl at Disney World. Since DD10 is feeling better DH tells me to take her to Typhoon Lagoon on Wednesday since he hates water parks anyway and DD7 went there a couple of years ago that way she won't feel like she is missing anything.

We head to Typhoon Lagoon and are there before 9am. Did I mention that I am running on 2 hours of sleep at this point?? But I take one for the team and make DD10 happy . The wave pool is a lot of fun once I get my courage up to go out further than my knees. (Yes, I am a big chicken). We hit all the slides within two hours and stay until 5pm. DH picks us up in the parking lot where DD7 just threw up what little food he got down her. She still wants to go to the Boardwalk and walk around and eat dinner at Cape May. We get into Cape May quickly thanks to the concierge at the Beach Club and have a great dinner (DD7 did not eat a thing). We get back early so everyone can get a good nights sleep so we can do MGM in the morning if DD7 is up to it.

Funny little story about DD7 taking her medicine. It is a good thing I can look back at it now and laugh because believe me I was in tears when it happened. DD7 decided that the medicine was gross and refused to take it. DH and I are telling her she has no option and we will hold her down if we have to. She tells us to put it in water, put it in fruit punch, etc... One tsp of medicine then becomes 4 tbs. Did I mention that she got the medicine in the flavor of her choice? After 70 minutes of "negotiating" with her, I am done. I go to hold her down and you would have thought that the world was coming to an end. Okay....one more chance, we will count to ten...one, two, three...DD7 says I am calming down I need more time....Okay...one more chance, I start to count again. Can you tell that we are still getting no where with this? I call the pharmacy to see if I can get pills for her to swallow. No deal, the strength of her medicine has to be in a liquid. She finally takes it after 95 minutes of...honey, you have to take this medicine it will make you feel better.... you don't want to get worse. Her reply, "I'll just take a time out and think about it until tomorrow." The girl was pushing my buttons. I felt like the worst parent in the world trying to make her take her medicine. After she takes it, I hold her and tell her how much I love her and how important it is for her to get better. She continues to do this for the rest of the week but the time gradually gets better each day. Thank goodness we are now done with that medicine!!

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