When I left you last, I was hobbling through the Poly, trying desperately to find the monorail.
After how bad this walk was, I made a silent and angry vow to never stay at the Poly. Ever. It's not the Poly's fault; but I was exhausted and knew I had a long long day ahead of me. I was without a hotel room and my legs were like painful dead weights. I was lost in the giant maze of a tropical setting. None of the maps made sense to me. And I focused all of that irritation at the Poly.
I finally found the monorail building. I didn't see any elevators, so I dragged myself up the stairs. When I got to the second floor, I saw a monorail sitting at the station, and no line! But it didn't look like it would be staying there long. I gathered my backbone up and headed for it with a quick limping stride. With no line, I was sitting on the monorail with my feet up on the seat within a few minutes. MK, here I come!
MK, here I am!
I limped my way inside; I wanted to try and ride Splash, HM, POTC, and the Wedway one more time. Peter Pan or SWSA would be a nice bonus. So off I went.
I saw a nice photo op and took it:
Then I headed for:
Wow, there were crowds. Everyone had decided to come to MK this morning, since Obama was at MK yesterday and we had all been advised to avoid the MK. Now I was wishing I had just gone yesterday, as all the lines were long and people were EVERYWHERE. I heard that the lines were nonexistent during Obama's visit; it was my last day and I was wishing I had just made the trek here yesterday.
Everything had a line, and people were EVERYWHERE. I stopped here, and suddenly realized I was in bad trouble. I couldn't imagine walking back to the monorail; I couldn't imagine going any further with the pain I was feeling.
But what can you do? I knew I had to; and I knew I had to try and get on these rides one last time. So I headed for Splash. It had been down EVERY TIME I'd tried to ride it, my entire trip.
Oh man, seriously?
It's down again!
Looks like it was not meant to be.
HM had a line weaving out and back to the riverboat. I knew that my feet wouldn't hold me for that long. I decided to move into Fantasyland.
There were still walls up from Obama's visit.
It was only a little after noon, and my flight wasn't leaving for several hours. I was determined to make it through the day, but as I hobbled towards Tomorrowland I realized: not only was I completely done, but I needed first aid.
I went to First Aid and told the woman there what was going on. She could not have been more unhelpful. She gave me two ibuprofen and one (ONE?!) ice pack, and told me I could sit in the waiting area as long as I wanted. Oh, thanks. It was useless for me to stay in that little room, so I drug myself to a bench outside and people-watched for awhile while I alternated putting the ice pack on my legs, shins, thighs, and feet.
I realized at this point, my trip was over. I could hardly stand; who knew what additional damage I was doing to myself by continuing on this way. It was ridiculous. So I began a slow trek out of the park.
I stopped for a small snack and some water.
Then I slowly left the park and headed to the monorail. I needed to sit down.
I got back to the TTC.
I got on the tram; I knew I was the first stop, in Aladdin, so I consulted my phone to see where I had parked and hopped off when I saw my lot.
But I couldn't find my car.
I think I wandered up and down those long parking lot lines for about 20 minutes when I realized I was starting to cry. I called DBF, because I needed a familiar voice. But all I did was worry him, since he was back home and I was all alone in a parking lot in Florida. So I hung up with him, made my way to the end of a lane, and sat down in tears.
Fortunately, I documented it all in pictures, so you could share in my misery.
I couldn't move another inch; I was starting to think my right foot might actually be broken due to the searing pain at every step. I sat and cried, trying to gather my strength to get up and walk ANOTHER lane. I wasn't even embarrassed that I was making a spectacle of myself; I was too tired and aching to care. I was hoping against hope that some Disney employee would come by and see what a mess I was and try to help, but they didn't.
I was just starting to really grit my teeth to stand up again when a man stopped by. He was very concerned and said he'd help me look for my car, but I couldn't stand up. Even with his help, my right foot and leg kept giving out on me. He said he'd go get help and send them back to me, and told me to STAY PUT. He took off at a jog.
Well NOW I was embarrassed. Many families passed by me, looking the other way so they didn't have to help me at all. It was interesting to see them look at me and then quickly look away, up at the sky like there was something very interesting there. I sat and tried to stop crying so that I didn't look like a complete maniac when the CMs showed up to help me.
And here was my lovely view:
They finally did arrive. They treated me almost like a child, being very soothing and helpful; it took both of them to get me off the ground, since I couldn't put any weight on my legs and feet at all now. Turns out I was VERY VERY close to my car the whole time; we found it while driving around in their big truck. I kept apologizing; here I was, a grown woman, crying in their magical parking lot.
Once I got in the car, I called DBF and apologized for freaking him out. And then it was time to figure out what I was going to do until my flight took off.
loved the possessed people shots!! I showed it to dd and we both chuckled. She totally agreed it's pretty freaky - especially how you caught one and then the other. 
I finally found a pair of good runners and have not had them since but i worry about the parks b/c I don't really care to wear them in the parks - i prefer crocs where my feet can breathe. Maybe I'll have to just suck it up and do the runners the first few days til my legs get adjusted to all the walking at least. Maybe I'l'l throw a pair of really thin flip flops in my park bag to give my feet a breather here and there. and i was wondering how much walking you did too - LOTS I'm sure but it's motivated me to go and put my pedometer in my Disney Box right now so I can track ours when we go 
I love reading the Disney history blogs (like Imagineering Disney) because it's so interesting to see how things (like El Rio del Tiempo) have evolved over the years.
