My worst trip was actually the trip we didn't make. I was about 10 and we were leaving the next morning for WDW. My older sister and I got into a typlical sibling argument and my mom canceled the trip. Mom was the type that hated to leave the house and she would use any excuse to get out of a trip. I was heartbroken. I had only been once, when I was 2, and had almost no memories of that trip. I wouldn't go again until 2005, at 34 years old. DD was 4 and was all smiles. Since we have been 5 times with the 6th coming up in October. I guess I feel a need to overcompensate for my mother's actions.
Other than that, our worst experience was not all that bad. My DW and DD (8 years old) were at WDW May 30th - June 8th. We spent the first day at the pool, did a little shopping, and returned to the pool to cap off the night.
A little backstory. When I was 21 (way back in 1992), I was in an auto accident that ruptured 3 disk as well as causing a list of other problems that I won't bother to list. I spent nearly a year in physical therapy but managed to avoid surgery. Until about 3 years ago, my back went out about twice a year to the point I could barely stand up straight or walk. My Dr. prescribed my Vioxx and I would recover in a few days. But I had been hitting the gy m fairly regulary and hadn't had any problems lately.
Fastforward May 31st. I wake up and my back is out. Thankfully, the pain was mild... I just couldn't stand up straight. I looked like this.
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My DW and DD frequently made fun of me.
I still rode everything without any problems. After four days of Ibuprofen and heat patches my back is straight and I am pain free. On the 5th day, our first ride is Space Mountain. Well guess what!? The ride jars me just right and I pinch a nerve in my back. I not can no longer turn me head without rotating at the waste prompting further mockery from my DW and DD.
It cleared up just in time to leave but it wasn't much of a problem. I mainly hated not being able to carry DD on my shoulders or piggy-back.
The bus schedule was horrible this time. We waited over thirty minutes on many occassions and over 40 on several occassions.
We spent the majority of our last day(June 7th) at HS and returned to MK for 6:30 reservations at Crystal Palace. We were aware of GayDays during booking and probably wouldn't have noticed GayDays attendees at HS and EPCOT had they not wore GayDays shirts. MK was a completely different story.
As we walked from Adventureland to Fantasyland, we noticed many gay couples lined up at the back wall making out. In the Peter Pan ride, one male had a visible tattoo depicting a... (I'm not even sure how to word this...) let's just say a well-used sexual partner. Another female had a tattoo of a scantily-clad women with her breast showing. The t-shirts were not any better. One read, "Spitters are Quitters". There were isolated either. There were hundreds of displays such as these.
While it far from ruined our trip, I thought Disney should do a MUCH better job of policing behavior.
I noticed dozens and dozens of other shirts that read (paraphrased):
Parking - $12
MK tickets - $63
Scaring straight people standing next to you in line - Priceless.
I thought WDW was about having a magical experience with loved ones, not making a political statement. Anyway, I doubt I would have been allowed to wear a t-shirt that explicitly called out gay people.
Well, now that I complained, I wanted to finish this post on a positive note.
With the exception of our waitress at the Garden Grill who was intent on pi$$ing off Mickey Mouse by calling him a rat and threatening to roast him (that's appropriate, eh?) character dining was fantastic. The characters took up so much time with DD and seemed genuinely interested in her. At the Grand Floridian, she became so flustered when the Prince Charming kissed her hand. You could tell he enjoyed it. When Cinderella stopped by, my DD thoroughly enjoyed rubbing in the fact that Prince Charming kissed her hand!!!
After PC and Cinderella danced, PC beelined to our DD to dance with her... and we were way out of the way for hime to do so. And again, leaving the restaurant, PC came to our DD and asked for a hug. She enjoyed it so much it nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Were hit the parks early and rode EVERYTHING. It was also our DD's 1st opportunity to ride Rock-n-Roll Roller Coaster and she LOVED IT! We must have rode it a dozen times.
There was also one evening, the bus was very crowded. We were able to get seats but an elderly couple was left standing in the front. I didn't notice until we began to move but at our first read light, I insisted the woman take my seat. She thanked me and that was the end of it... so I thought. After we returned to Pop and were walking into the gift shop, my DD put her arms around me and squeezed me tight and said, "That was very sweet of you to give up your seat for that lady... I'm very proud of you". That was probably the best moment of the trip for me personally.
I was the only one in the theater/room during this very scary attraction (just me and the alien...
) and had a pretty bad panic attack!
My worst didn't actually happen to me...Dh and I were at MK a couple of years ago when we noticed some disabled patrons getting on Jungle cruise, some could ride while others could not, so they were with a care giver. Later whe we exited Jungle Cruise and were walking past POTC we noticed them in their wheelchairs--caregiver on the phone. All of a sudden she screams that one of them is joking. Rushes to him. sweeps his mouth out and and starts screaming for help. We were stunned. Just then a very tall older man runs up before we can even respond and lifts the guy out and begins Heimlich. The sick man was very heavy and all of a sudden they are having to lay him down to do the Heimlich. It took several minutes for the POTC to get 911 there. They rolled out in a little cart from one of the buildings and all started working. A crowd was gathering and the POTC CM was making a loud announcement that "folks could enter POTC with no wait", I had to turn and stop a man from taking his kids along that way. I do not think it went very well.
It is a facinating place to visit.
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