We want to do it all over again - minus the trip to the hospital! *COMPLETE*

[Queila]

*Epcot- Future World- Part 2. *

So after we were done with our lunch at the Coral Reef it was finally time to use our FP's and ride Soarin'. Soarin' is my favorite ride at WDW so I was very excited but since Beatriz is not tall enough to ride it yet we had to split up and my sister and brother- in- law went in first while we explored The Land.

One day I really want to try the Garden Grill, by the way. My sister ate there once and had great things to say about it. Something about all the fresh produce from The Land itself...

So by now I was happy to see that Beatriz had gone back to her old self and was finally having a good time. Her behavior from the morning was really weird and I was starting to wonder.

There she is on a sugar rush:

Taking pictures together while waiting:

When my sister and BIL were done with Soarin' it was our turn to go and we left Beatriz with them. Bonding time.

When we were at the pre boarding room I noticed my left calf was red, slightly swollen and VERY itchy. I remembered being bitten the day before at our hotel balcony and rolled my eyes thinking of those Florida flies. Little did I know... More on that later.

Anyways, once again we ended up at the last row of the room but still enjoyed every minute of the ride. I particularly enjoy the finale when we "fly" over the fireworks at Disneyland.

On our way out we thought about getting another FP to come back later but they were all gone for the day. "Next time, we said". So the boys ran ahead of us and got FP's for Test Track instead.

We all met up in front of Mission Space and once again my sister and brother in law rode it first. In the meantime, Joey and I waited with Beatriz at the play area near the exit of the attraction. I had never noticed it before but they have some cool stuff for small kids to play it at that area and Beatriz had a blast. I guess they do think of everything...

Once they were done it was our turn to ride Mission Space. Surprisingly there was very little waiting involved. I had a blast! I really love the launching part but this time around I got a bit of motion sickness as were preparing to land in Mars. I guess I am getting old...

After Mission Space it was time for Spaceship Earth. Again, no waiting. Again, a bit of motions sickness.

So at this point we decided to split. My brother-in-law wanted to do the ride at the Universe of Energy but there was no way I was going to do it. I did not want to risk getting Beatriz all scared again (not sure how she would react to the dinosaurs) and I wanted to do something for her so instead we headed to Innoventions.

So we were able to catch the last show of the day at "What's your problem" which was very cute. We also brought her to "Prepare for Storm" where she had the CM all for herself and, frankly, did quite well.

All happy with her participation stickers:

Next up:
- Big coincidence at Innoventions
-Our evening at Epcot

​

 

[natebenma]

Enjoyed your update. The picture of Beatriz with her stickers is ADORABLE! You can just see the pride in her face!

Ya know, it annoys me when people say that EPCOT is not a great park for little kids. Maybe they can't do everything, but there are a lot of little touches, like you discovered, for them.

 

[Queila]

Great report so far! Great family pics at Ohana and at Coral Reef!!! Your daughter is certainly photogenic! I have never seen pics of the rooms at AKL before. Super theming!

Can't wait to hear more!

Hello and to my trip report.
Yeah... theming is ll around AKL. There are so many details that is easy to miss some of them. For our next trip we have our eyes on the BCV though. They look stunning!

Great update Q!

Poor baby, I can see why some kiddies are afraid of the characters! The pictures look great though.....love the family shot at Coral Reef!

Thanks!
I think that when we would tell her before the trip that she was going to see Mickey mouse she did not think he was going to be that big. I can see how it can be intimidating...

My oldest daughter was exactly the same way with the characters when she was 2. She loved them from afar but went crazy when they got close. She was better at age 3 and great by 4.

Your food at Coral Reef looks beautiful. You took nice pictures.

I am sure it will get better on future trips but even as today if I ask her if she wants to go back to Disney and take a picture with Mickey and his friends, she says she wants to go to her Disney hotel. No chance of bumping into them over there! :lol:

 

[Queila]

I can think of no better place that in Walt Disney World for a family reunion. You and your sister look so much alike!

Poor Beatriz. I hate that she threw up before dinner. At least it wasn't a stomach bug or something.

Woohoo for shopping! You got to combine shopping and visiting with your sister. Can't beat that.

I know!! I wish we could have one of those every year: family reunion, Disney, shopping, great food... I does not get much better than that.
I was happy she did not have the bug either. That would have increased the chaos level by one hundred fold.

Poor baby getting sick She sure recovered nicely though!

I would have clapped too, that dessert is one of the best on property IMO

Beatriz rarely gets sick so it was upsetting to see her throwing up like that but at least we still managed to have a good evening. It could have been worse.

There were so many times I felt like clapping or doing a hppy dance when I saw my food. I love it THAT much.

Q

 

[Queila]

Still at Innoventions Joey and I headed to the Segway Central to test drive the Segways. I think it is very cool that we are able to do that even if we are not taking the big tour. So once again we took turns and Beatriz kept "cheering" for us from outside.

Sorry, no pics again. Just video.

So by this time my sister and BIL were done with the Universe of Energy and they met up with us at Innoventions. Everybody wanted to try The Sum of All Thrills but I was still a little dizzy from the previous rides so I decided to pass.

While I was waiting outside with Bea something really funny happened. A great coincidence!

Here's a little extra background information:

My sister's husband has a brother that is also married to a Brazilian girl. That's it: two brothers married to Brazilians. They all live in the same neighborhood in Knoxville, TN. My sister still do not have kids but her BIL and SIL have two little girls: a 4 year old named Johanna and a 4 month old named Camilla.

Are you following? Bear with me. I am getting somewhere with all this. I promise.

So as everybody else were riding The Sums of all Trills I stayed outside feeding Beatriz and she started playing with this little girl that was with her mom, obviously also waiting for someone to come out of the ride.

So we started talking and I asked for the little girl's name. Turns out she has the same name as my sister so I say something like: "That is a beautiful name. My sister has the same name but we pronounce it differently because we are from Brazil".

Then the woman goes: "Oh! You are from Brazil? I have a friend from Brazil but I do not remember the name of the city where she grew up. She has two little girls. The oldest one goes to kindergarten with my daughter. Her name is Johanna". At this point I was like: "It can't be. There are hundreds of thousands of Brazilians living in the US. Could it be??? " But then she quickly added: " And she just had another little girl this past Easter but I don't remember her name now".
At this point I was sure I knew who she was talking about and I just said it: "Camilla. The name of the little baby is Camilla".

The woman opened the widest eyes I had ever seen. There was fear in her eyes. How could I know that??? We had only talked for a minute or so and I was able to read her mind??? The funny thing is that at no point the city of Knoxville was mentioned (no Vols t-shirt or hat either) so I knew who she was talking about just based on the name of the little girl.

I explained her the whole thing. The two girls were my sister's nieces and my sister lives in Knoxville also. By now the woman's husband came out of the ride and we introduced ourselves. When my sister and BIL come out a couple of minutes later they recognize each other. They have seen each other around at church or something.

I guess it IS a small world after all!!!!

Anyways, we talked some more, took some pictures and said good byes.

I hope I did not bore you to death with the story but I thought it was pretty cool.



​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh my goodness! What a coincidence that you met someone that knew your sister.

 

[Queila]

*Epcot- Future World- Part 3*

So we left Innoventions and it was time to ride Test Track. On our way to the ride we found one of those little water play areas and I decided to let Beatriz play.

It was our first contact with good weather in the spring (we live in Canada after all) and the kid was dying for some wild play. So I took her clothes off and let her run wild in the water for a while.

She was having a blast!

In fact, she was having so much fun she did not want to hear about leaving anytime soon so I forfeited my ride at Test Track and told everybody they should go on their own and I was going to stay and watch her play.

So I found a little spot on a nearby bench and decided to sit for a bit. That is when I noticed the bite in my leg was getting worst. The bite was oozing and the swelling was spreading. It did NOT look good. Oh boy!

So everybody came back out from Test Track and I went to the bathroom to change Bea into some warmer clothes. I also fed her the rest of the snacks we had packed with us and she had some milk.

We then took some last pictures at Future World and headed to the World Showcase for super.

Even though my sister and BIL wanted to eat at Sunshine Seasons I convinced them we should go try Yakitori House at Japan. I love Sunshine Seasons but we had all eaten there before and I am all about trying different things so off we went...

We put Beatriz in the stroller and she fell asleep even before we hit Mexico. She had finally had enough!

Yakitori House was great! We ate inside and there was not a lot of people. It was very calm and relaxing. Beatriz was still sleeping so we were able to sit back, chit chat and review the highlands of the day.

The outside seating area was empty:

The food was not bad either. I had the Japanese Curry rice with ice green tea and ginger cake for dessert. Joey had the Shogun combination with a diet coke and a cookie for dessert.

All in all we were pretty satisfied with the taste and quality of the food but we were specially pleased with the location and the ambiance. It does not get much better than that!

And to end the night in style we watched Illuminations from Japan. It was a great view and it was the perfect ending for the day.

In 2009 we did not get to see Illuminations because it was way too cold (yes, close to 32F in early February) to stay outside with the baby.

I personally prefer the old Illuminations (I saw it for the first time in 1993) when each country used to have a special moment during the show but I enjoyed the new one also.

So after the show we made our way to the exit of the park but not before stopping at Mouse Gear for some browsing.

That's it for day 2!

Next up:
Day 3 at Animal Kingdom and a trip to the hospital.​

 

[natebenma]

That is amazing about discovering the connection with the other family! Makes you wonder who you might be connected to when you are out and about! Sounds like you zeroed in on it pretty quickly.

Absolutely beautiful fireworks photos!!!

Sounds like "tomorrow" will be another day, but maybe not so fun!

 

[ddstratton]

Joining in! I am loving your report so far. Your DD is just a cutie!! And you got to Disney World just as we were leaving. We were at Port Orleans French Quarter from May 12th thru the 19th.

 

[Queila]

*Monday- May, 24th, 2010- Animal Kingdom*

So before I went to bed the night before I had noticed that the bite I had on my leg was getting worse by the hour. Joey had called downstairs to see what would be the best way to get some medical help in case we needed and they said they could send someone to our room right away to evaluate me and they could arrange for a transfer to the hospital if I wanted to.

It was already close to midnight after our full day at Epcot and I needed to rest. Beatriz was already tucked in bed and I was too tired to even think about the logistics of a trip to the hospital at that time. So I told Joey that I wanted to wait. I had been on my feet all day so maybe a night of sleep would actually help my case.

When we woke up the next morning the wound did not look as bad and I thought I was perfectly fine for another day at the parks.

Seriously!

Would you rather go to the hospital or to Animal Kingdom??
Animal Kingdom it is!

But not before we have breakfast enjoying our savanna view!

Beatriz never got tired of it:

So it was Extra Magic Hour morning at Animal Kingdom and we wanted to take advantage of it. We met my sister and brother- in- law in front of the gate of the park and this time we were on time. I think. We got there as the park was opening and we headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safari.

Now, I am not sure this was the smartest way to use our extra magic hour since by the time we were done with the Safari the EMH was already over but we truly enjoyed our safari and got to have some great animal viewings.

All aboard!

So after the safari we went straight into the Pangani Trail. I had read wonderful things about it and I was really looking forward to it. There is so much to explore I don't understand people saying there are not enough attractions at Animal Kingdom. You can spend a whole morning just looking at the animals and talking to the CM's about them.

It was still mid morning but it was already VERY hot and my leg started flaring up again. It was SUPER red and oozing like crazy. As I walked the trail I was constantly dabbing the wound with a little kleenex. It started to hurt too since the swelling was pulling the skin.

At this point I knew I would not be able to ignore it any longer.

Still managed to try to enjoy the trail and take some pics:

We managed to finish the trail in a moderate to fast pace and I announced to the rest of the group that it was time for me to look for some help.

Next up:
Trip to the hospital. ​

 

[ddstratton]

Oh my. Sounds like you had a nice morning at Animal Kingdom, at least.

 

[cheshireqt]

How terrible to have to visit the hospital! That it was at Disney just makes it that much more horrible. Hoping to hear that it all turned out alright and you enjoyed the rest of your trip.
You and your sister look so much alike, love that you were able to reunite and vacation at the same time!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh no! I hate that your bite is getting worse and worse. At least you were able to spend a nice morning at the Animal Kingdom.

 

[Queila]

*May, 24th 2010- Florida Hospital... here we go!*

So it was time to decide what to do. One option was to go back to AKL and grab a taxi to a hospital/ clinic and the other option was to go to Pop Century (where my sister and BIL were staying ) so they could drive us.

As we were walking towards the front of the park I noticed the sign for the First Aid so we decided to check it out. Maybe there would be someone in there able to give us some clarity on what we should do.

It was barely 10h30 in the morning and the 'First Aid' was pretty empty. I explained my case to the lady that was over there (I guess she is a nurse) and as soon as she looked at my leg she said (*insert heavey souhern accent here*): " Oh sweety. You got a nasty infection going on and I would not ignore it if I were you*.

Great.

But then she went ahead and said something really wonderful. She said that they could arrange for a van to come and pick me up right there at the 'First Aid' inside Animal Kingdom and bring me to a hospital and whenever I would be done they could pick me up and bring me back to the park or back to our hotel.

I was like : REALLY? DO YOU GUYS DO THAT?? AWESOME!

So she called for the van while Joey found a phone to call our insurance in order to get all the info necessary for our claim. I swear our insurance will refuse to do business with us one day. As soon as we step foot out of the country something like this happens. It never fails.

While we were waiting for the van (it took around 20 minutes for it to arrive) I developed a game plan with my sister. At first everybody wanted to come with me to the hospital but I said NO WAY. No need for that. I told myself that even if it took me like 5 hours at the hospital I could still be back to the park before it closes. They should stay and enjoy their day and we would meet up at the end of the day either at the park or back at the hotel.

Then I had a nice and serious conversation with Beatriz. I told her mommy and daddy are going to see a doctor because mommy has a boo boo on her leg. "So, do you want to come with us or do you want to stay with auntie and uncle in the park?" The girl did not even think for a second. "I want to stay at Disneyworld", she said. Can you blame her?

So I gave my sister all the "mommy instructions". In case of a major melt down they would just bring her to their hotel and relax at the pool or in the room until we get back. We each had a cell phone so we were going to touch base to let each other know what was going on.

So in no time the van arrived and off we went to the Florida Hospital - Celebration Health. It is literally four minutes away from the Disney gates.

The driver of the van dropped us and left us with a phone number to call the van back to pick us up whenever we were done.

The hospital waiting room was pretty empty and that was good sign. We signed in, filled up some papers and waited maybe another 20 minutes before they called us in for triage. At this point I was afraid I had caught some sort of flesh eating disease and was going to end up losing my limbs or something. We have all received those scary emails, haven't we??

So we go back to the waiting room and waited another 10 minutes until they called us back in to see the doctor. At this point I am thinking: "Man, this is going pretty fast". I am used to the Emergency Room in Montreal where if you wait around 4 hours it was good day.

So in comes the doctor, she looks at my leg, asks me a ton of questions and drops the diagnosis. Are you ready? It was a mosquito bite that got infected. Apparently, it was either a horse fly or a yellow fly. The yellow fly thing immediately rang a bell because I remember seeing those flying around our balcony. She told me to try NOT to scratch it and try to put some ice on my leg every night before going to bed to help with the swelling.

And then she told me she was going to prepare me a prescription for antibiotics and a cream for the itching. In the meantime, someone came in the room with some lukewarm water and a cloth and proceeded to clean the site and put a big band- aid on it. She assured me that the "wound" was going to keep on oozing for a couple of days but I was not going to lose my leg.

The doctor came back for the prescription and we were done. It was barely noon.

So we called our van and ckecked-out of the hospital. Now THAT was the really interesting part of the whole thing since in Montreal we literally just walk out of the hospital. No bills to pay. But when they handed me the bill over there I almost had a heart attack.

SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS for my little encounter with the doctor.

God bless America and my travel insurance!!!

So by the time we were done with the paper work our van was already there to get us and we decided to go straight back to Animal Kingdom. We decided it was best to deal with finding a pharmacy issue later on the day. I do not think the van service included a trip to the pharmacy anyways....

So we called my sister and told her to meet us in front of Finding Nemo- the Musical gate. There was one show starting at 13h00 and looked like we were going to make it.

Apparently Beatriz behaved wonderfully in our absence. She only asked about us once but was satisfied with the answer we were going to be back soon.

My sister brought her to ride the Triceratop Spin...

and they even bumped into Pocahontas...

They also stopped to eat at Flame Tree BBQ and apparently she ate half of my sister's chicken.

All in all I thought the medical service was awesome. It was fast and effective. We were very well treated and Disney once again surpassed the expectations. I would never thought they would provide transportation back and forth the hospital like that. It wasn't like I was having a heart attack or something like that. As far as I am concerned the service is offered to every Disney guest since not even once I was asked if I was staying at a Disney hotel.


Next Up:
Our afternoon at Animal Kingdom
Trying to buy my antibiotics
Super at Boma​

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am so happy it wasn't anything too serious! I would never have guessed Disney would send a van for you....that is beyond awesome!!

Hope you don't run into a problem getting your prescription

 

[acejka]

I feel your pain! Right after we moved down here in June, one of those suckers bit me while watching wishes. Within 2 days it my whole ankle was swollen and really hot. Then came the antibiotics and the itching. the itching made me crazy!

 

[natebenma]

Great call to stop into First Aid! I'm glad that the trip to and from the hospital went so smoothly and quickly. It is amazing that you were able to rejoin the family so quickly at AK! It was also great that Beatriz could spend the morning with your sister and her husband. She must have better memories of enjoying AK than she would have waiting around the hospital!

I hope it wasn't too difficult for you to get the antibiotics. When my son was sick in 2008, the front desk (we were at All Star Music) had lots of information about Urgent Care- a van to clinic if needed, or a doctor would visit in the room. They also had information about Turner drug, who seems to be the WDW Pharmacy of choice. They delivered to our resort, but we had to pay out of pocket and get reimbursement from our insurance company. It will be interesting to hear if your experience as an international traveller was different.

Last year I had posion ivy on my leg that became swelled and infected. It was incredible how quickly it happened.

I hope the rest of the trip was incident-free for you and as comfortable as it could be to get around. So much walking!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm happy to hear that your leg wound wasn't anything serious. I agree that the service provided by Disney was outstanding.

It looks like Beatriz had a good time with your sister and her husband. I especially like the picture of her in the stroller.

 

[Queila]

I am so happy it wasn't anything too serious! I would never have guessed Disney would send a van for you....that is beyond awesome!!

Hope you don't run into a problem getting your prescription

Thanks. It could have been worse. And I really felt taken care of. Now my crazy husband says the trip to the hospital was one of the highlights of the trip.

I feel your pain! Right after we moved down here in June, one of those suckers bit me while watching wishes. Within 2 days it my whole ankle was swollen and really hot. Then came the antibiotics and the itching. the itching made me crazy!

They really take a piece out of you, don't they? It had never happened to me before but I was glad it was not my daughter. THAT would have driven us crazy. The funny thing is that we went camping in Cape Cod a month ago and it happened AGAIN (minus the infection). It bit me in the ankle and it got super swollen and itchy. When I say we cannot get out of the country I mean it.... :lol:

Great call to stop into First Aid! I'm glad that the trip to and from the hospital went so smoothly and quickly. It is amazing that you were able to rejoin the family so quickly at AK! It was also great that Beatriz could spend the morning with your sister and her husband. She must have better memories of enjoying AK than she would have waiting around the hospital!

I hope it wasn't too difficult for you to get the antibiotics. When my son was sick in 2008, the front desk (we were at All Star Music) had lots of information about Urgent Care- a van to clinic if needed, or a doctor would visit in the room. They also had information about Turner drug, who seems to be the WDW Pharmacy of choice. They delivered to our resort, but we had to pay out of pocket and get reimbursement from our insurance company. It will be interesting to hear if your experience as an international traveller was different.

Last year I had posion ivy on my leg that became swelled and infected. It was incredible how quickly it happened.

I hope the rest of the trip was incident-free for you and as comfortable as it could be to get around. So much walking!

I guess we packed all the drama for the first couple of days of our trip. It got much better as the days went on. It is really amazing how they have everything in place for guests in need of assistance but, again, with the volume of people in the property at any given time I guess they just HAVE TO.

I'm happy to hear that your leg wound wasn't anything serious. I agree that the service provided by Disney was outstanding.

It looks like Beatriz had a good time with your sister and her husband. I especially like the picture of her in the stroller.

Thanks. The picture in the stroller is one my favorites too.
I was very happy that Beatriz had the opportunity to bond with my sister and BIL. They became really close after that.


Q

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm loving your TR so far!! I'm glad you got such quick medical care - Disney is outstanding in pleasing their guests

Your little daughter is adorable - I hope she warms up to the characters before the end of the trip. I love watching Illuminations from Japan