Rides, Rainclouds and mishaps....Disney Style About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry the cake wasn't good And that you lost your glasses I hope they find them!!

[emtpej]

Originally Posted by CinderAbby

Thanks EJ, we did have a great day. And I'm glad the photos brought back some good memories for you. I haven't ventured too far from the East Coast so I have to see other parts of the world the "Disneyfied" way (but I don't mind). I think I've heard of that lodge though. Doesn't it have a small waterpark inside of it?

Yes, Great Wolf Lodge has a waterpark and a game called 'Magicquest'. They have many locations, including the Poconos and Niagara Falls: Great Wolf Lodge - Select A Lodge Location

They have things to do for people of all ages / comfort level.

The one that we go to at Williamsburg, VA is where 'Adventures by Disney' groups stay while they are in the area, so I guess Disney likes them!

[lauren-roxy]

Sorry for all the running around you had to do today, not a great way spend the day. I hope you were able to get your sunglasses back!

[CinderAbby]

So sorry about your sunglasses Darlene but even worse was that no one really helped. True they could have stopped the ride but all that going back and forth...

Hope that Lenny had a good day though for his birthday....(even though the cake was less then spectacular)...

Thanks. And I think that's what upset me the most. It was like they couldn't care any less about what happened. Even when I explained they were presription and not regular glasses it's like they were too busy thinking of their next comment to really listen to what I was saying. At least the ride manager listened though. I did feel somewhat better after talking to her but I still wasn't hopefull I'd get them back before we left. And as for Lenny's birthday, he didn't say whether it was good or bad. I'm sure my glasses situation didn't make for a good ending but we did what he wanted to for the day and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself.

Just catching up!!! It sounds like the 3 of you are having the time of your lives! I'm so glad you decided to keep the 1900PF meal....Abby looks soooo happy in those photos! And, Lenny is cracking me up in some of his. how 'into it' he got with the Captain Hook duel and this one.... .....

He is too much!! You've definitley had a great couple of days!! Can't wait to hear more

We did have a lot of fun. And the character meals were all so worth it this year. Had I know Abby was going to enjoy them so much, even seeing characters multiple times, I would have booked all character meals this year instead of doing half with and half without.

Lenny does have his moments. I acutally don't know what prompted him to do that. I know here at home if I hand him my purse to hold he'll make funny comments, but for him to do that - only in Disney. I wasn't even looking at the time but the Photopass Photographer certainly was. She was laughing and made comments like "go ahead and work it" while she took the pictures (yes, we have a few but that one was the best).

I'm glad you finally got someone who cared about the loss of your sunglasses and that you get them back

Thanks. The resolution is included in my TR so you'll just have to keep reading to find out about it.

OH the suspense! I wanna know about the glasses!!! Seriously, that rush in the morning---oh do I know the feeling. It's like you don't get your "footing" for the day and then nothing seems to go right, or like everything is just a little "off".
But sounds like a great birthday day for Lenny and that you all did have fun, even with a few mishaps.

If I keep you in suspense, then you'll keep reading then won't you?? But seriously, I will tell how it ended. I hate rushing when I'm not prepared for it. If I know I have to rush, it's one thing but I never expected Lenny to be like that - he certainly doesn't rush to get out of bed here at home. I guess only in Disney. And being in Disney is probably why with all the mishaps we had (other than my glasses) I was like "Oh well. What ride should we do next?"

Sorry the cake wasn't good And that you lost your glasses I hope they find them!!

Thanks. There was one good thing about the cake not being awesome - we didn't eat it all . The glasses situation could have been prevented (again, another reason why I was so upset) but sometimes you don't think before something happens. Keep reading and you'll know the outcome soon enough.

Yes, Great Wolf Lodge has a waterpark and a game called 'Magicquest'. They have many locations, including the Poconos and Niagara Falls: Great Wolf Lodge - Select A Lodge Location

They have things to do for people of all ages / comfort level.

The one that we go to at Williamsburg, VA is where 'Adventures by Disney' groups stay while they are in the area, so I guess Disney likes them

If Disney likes them, then I should try one if I'm ever in the area of one . I think the one in Williamsburg is the one I read about. We were thinking last year of maybe doing Busch Gardens but Abby's not into things like coasters. She's into the family type rides like at Disney and unfortunately, there's not too many places that cater to that. If I could afford it, I'd be at Disney ever summer for her, but we'll be lucky if we can go back in another 3 or 4 years. I'd like to go back in 2 but I don't think I'll be able to swing it.

Sorry for all the running around you had to do today, not a great way spend the day. I hope you were able to get your sunglasses back!

You're right, it wasn't the best way to spend the day, but I guess I am thankful that it didn't happen that morning. It wasn't until sometime after 6 (maybe closer to 7) that it happened. I say that because when we were in line at Guest Relations I thought to myself "with the park closing in a couple of hours, you would think there would be more CM's here to help people stopping in on their way out of the park."

[DyanKJ130]

Work it.....Work it!! I can hear her now!!

[Lemap760]

I hope you got your sunglasses back. It sounds like a bit of an ordeal to go through getting the lost and found to cooperate.

[Princess_Wantabe]

about the cake and your glasses. I'm glad you had a good day despite the frustrations!
Looking forward to more updates

[CinderAbby]

Work it.....Work it!! I can hear her now!!

So can I...and I still laugh.

hope you got your sunglasses back. It sounds like a bit of an ordeal to go through getting the lost and found to cooperate.

Thanks. And it wasn't getting lost and found to cooperate. It was just getting the CM's to listen and to help.

about the cake and your glasses. I'm glad you had a good day despite the frustrations!
Looking forward to more updates

Thanks. For the most part, I guess because we were in Disney it was easy to not get frustrated (or as much) as when we're at home.

As for more updates. Here comes the next one.

[CinderAbby]

Monday the 18th - Last day in Disney

I was up at 6:30 this day. I was still in a somewhat sour mood from the day before so it only seemed fitting that I do some laundry and start packing up. I didn’t want to do it all that night and there really was no sense in putting it off. By the time Lenny and Abby got up, I had the laundry finished and a good chunk of our stuff packed up and ready to go. I just couldn’t put it in the truck because Lenny still needed the scooter. Around 9 am, my cell phone rang and it said unknown caller. I wondered who could be calling me so I answered it. It was Disney Lost and Found, they had my glasses and they had shipped them to the Lost and Found at the TTC, which is located inside the Kennel building. Great, at least I would get my glasses back but it still didn’t change the fact that today was our last day. Once we were finally ready to head out, we headed to the TTC and while Lenny and Abby parked the truck and got the scooter out, I went to get my glasses.

When we were all together again, our first stop was the gift store at the TTC. Lenny told me to go in and get those cords that hold glasses. I don’t like them as I’m afraid the loops will open up and my glasses will fall out, but I did go in and look. The store had plenty of the cords but they also had a black fabric glass case that said Walt Disney World. I picked this up because it was an actual case with a strong velcro closure at the top - no way would the glasses fall out. And because it had a clip on it, I attached the case to the lanyard I had been wearing all week. So instead of shoving my glasses in my pocket if I took them off, I put them in the case that was hanging in front of me all day. I didn’t care if I looked silly. At least I wouldn’t lose my glasses again.

Glasses secure on my face and the case hanging on my lanyard, we went and waited for the ferry.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to the MK. After making it through Security and the turnstiles, Lenny wanted to go into the Emporium to look for any pressed pennies we might have missed. This morning, there were a bunch of characters out (like most days we were there) so I stopped for a minute to see who was there - most were the regulars I had seen all week but 2 were ones I had never seen before in all my trips to Disney - Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow!

Abby didn’t want her picture taken with them but I snapped a couple anyway to remember that we did see them. From here, we got a couple more pressed pennies. Once we got to the end of Main Street, it was about 11 and the Disney CM’s were already starting to block off the castle. Lenny asked me what time the show was (it happen to be at 11:40 that day) and I told him. I then asked what he wanted to do. Did he want to go and do rides with us and come back later? Did he want to stay behind and pick his spot to record the show for Abby? He decided to stay. His philosophy? "I have a hat, my canopy and plenty of water, I’ll be okay. I’ll meet you here when the show is over." So Abby and I set off to Fantasyland (yet again) to do some rides until it was time to meet Lenny.

Our first stop, like almost every other day was the carousel. This was followed by Snow White, Small World, Peter Pan, then Pooh.

After Pooh, it was getting almost time to meet Lenny, but Abby wanted to do Dumbo, so we got in line. I felt bad for the little girl behind me because her parents just had no clue. We went into the little "holding pen" to wait our turn and these people told their little girl "we’re next, these people should be getting off." They had just been loaded and weren’t getting off for probably 2 or so minutes. So the little girl started to cry because she wanted to ride Dumbo. When the ride stopped and the people got off, the parents again told her it was their turn. When we didn’t move - because it was the other sides turn to load - she cried again. The parents then made a comment about "Oh, the let those people out of their cage first instead of us." I just shook my head. Obviously the whole time they were in line they didn’t catch on to how this ride loads. I just felt bad for the little girl who was probably only 3 or 4. She just wanted to ride Dumbo and every time her parents said she could, she had to wait longer. Plus the fact she wanted her father to hold her up so she could see, which he didn’t do (mom was holding an infant). After Dumbo, we headed to Main Street and found Lenny.

We were all hungry so we headed to Cosmic Ray’s for lunch. Abby got her typical nuggets and fries and ate them up really well. Lenny got a burger that he loaded up at the fixings bar and I got the BBQ pork which was good. From lunch, we went right across the street and got seats for Storytime with Belle. Abby didn’t get picked for a part, but I think she enjoyed the show. After we got in line and got pictures with Belle in her blue dress.

We headed to Small World yet again then we were off to the Haunted Mansion. Abby wanted to ride it again and see the ghosts having parties. When we were done with Haunted Mansion, we kinda wandered aimlessly - we didn’t have any particular thing in mind to do. We ended up in Frontierland trying to decide what to do when I felt a big drop of water hit me. I quickly got the ponchos out and got it on Abby and then handed her the umbrella. She was all set so next I helped Lenny get the trash bag over his scooter console before it started coming down harder. By the time I got my poncho on, it was really pouring. Anyone who didn’t have a poncho took cover in the gifts shops and on the covered porches. We just wandered some more. We finally decided to head to the Frontierland Railroad Station. I told Lenny he was going to have to park his scooter somewhere as there was no handicap ramp that I knew of - he didn’t mind. But as we got closer, I saw a CM standing at the base of the stairs and I asked him where Lenny should park. He pointed out the exit / handicap ramp and said we could go right up and park up there. I never knew it was there - probably because I haven’t done the railroad from there in quite a few years. Up the ramp we went to wait for the train where we stayed nice and dry. By the time we got on the train, it was down to a drizzle.

After our round trip on the train, the rain had stopped and I noticed it was getting late. We decided to head to Main Street so I could get our Photopass CD before dinner. Being cloudy and rainy, I hadn’t really seen any photographers that day and I didn’t plan on getting any more pictures done. Instead of doing that though, Abby wanted to do the Jungle Cruise again. Since it was our last day in the parks, it was more important to me that Abby have fun. We went through the line and ended up at the front. When our boat came up, I asked if Abby could be the skipper. I never knew you could do this but I had seen a couple of kids do it the first time we rode this year so I asked for Abby. I was told it depended upon the CM on the boat. Ours was nice and said Abby could do it. As we were going along, it started to pour again.

I don't know if you can see it, but it's pouring in theses two pictures. That's what all those white lines are.

I didn’t realize it until Abby stood up to be a Junior Skipper, but she ended up sitting in a puddle because of the rain - her butt was soaked. She was really cute as skipper though. She was so intent on steering, you would think she really was driving the boat. At the end, she was given a little certificate stating she was an "official guest skipper."

From Jungle Cruise, we went right to the monorail. I don’t know if it was just slow or if the rain was affecting the monorail. We sat at the MK station for a few, then we sat on the track before the Contemporary. Then we stayed in the Contemporary for a few then stopped again before the TTC. Once at the TTC, we were there a good 5 minutes only to stop before the Poly again. We sat at the Poly, then stopped on the track again before reaching the GF. From start to finish, it took us between 20 and 25 minutes to get from the MK to the GF for our dinner. It’s never taken that long before, but like I said, I don’t know if it was running slow, if there were extra monorails running or if the rain was messing it up. We weren’t 10 minutes early like they ask, but at least we were there right at 4:30.

We checked in and were seated within 2 or 3 minutes - at the same exact table we had 2 years ago. I was hoping our experience would be better than 2 years ago though. The character interaction had been good, that’s why I was willing to try it again, but our server was non-existent and the food was forgettable. This year our server was wonderful (as was the food). She came over and took our drink orders, but kept coming back to see how we were doing. About 10 minutes into dinner is when the characters started, which allowed us time to go to the buffet line. The route they took through the room also gave us time to eat before we saw them. And once they did start, there were big enough gaps that we could go up to the buffet in between. First up was Prince Charming. Compared to 2 years ago, Charming he was not, but Abby was happy to see him and have her picture taken with him. Next up was going to be Cinderella, but before she could come to the table, there was an announcement that it was time for the "Royal Waltz." Prince Charming came over and took Cindy by the hand then led her to the middle of the room where they danced. I couldn’t get a good picture, but I was able to put my camera in video mode and get a good video. It was funny. In the background all I could hear was the stepsister making fun of it. Then I got a video of her dancing with someone there for dinner. Once the dance was over, Cindy stopped at a table other than ours and I thought "Oh great, she’s going to start her route again." But no, after a minute, she came back to our table to continue where she left off. Lady Tremaine came next and the look on her face was perfect - it matched her look from the movie exactly. Anastasia soon followed and she was funny. She asked Abby what kingdom we were from and when she heard Massachusetts, I laughed at her response. "Oh, I know that kingdom. It’s the one that’s missing the letter R from the alphabet and everyone wears only Red Socks." I said "How true. You know it well." Drizella came last and we had some funny banter with her too, but I don’t remember it like Anastasia’s comments. All in all, this meal, compared to 2 years ago was the complete opposite. It was good food, a good server and good character interaction. I left with a full belly and a big smile.



This must have been my dinner as it's on my plate and I am clearly picking up my spoon

We got back to the monorail just in time the catch the train that had just come in. Travel back to the MK was smooth - not a single stop. But once we got there, nobody was there to put the ramp down for Lenny. Luckily I just stood there becase a CM finally noticed me and came running. He wasn’t quite quick enough though because the doors closed and Abby started to get upset. She was afraid Lenny was going to get left on the monorail. I was able to calm her down and tell her no, that the CM (who was giving the hand signal that either means stop or not clear) was going to open the doors and get daddy off - he wasn’t go anywhere without us. The CM apologized, which was fine - he fixed it, then we went back into the MK.

By now it was about 6:30, and knowing there was going to be a 7 PM parade, I wanted to get to Main Street and get a spot so Abby could see the parade. We walked out from under the train station to see....nothing. Nobody was around. Well, not nobody, but nobody waiting for the parade. I actually walked up to a CM and asked why nobody was around. She wasn’t sure but thought maybe everyone had seen the 3 PM version. So I said "So we can sit anywhere here on Main Street and we won’t be told to move? All these spots are free and clear?" She told me yes, anywhere on Main Street except the white benches she was standing near. That was the reserved / VIP section. I was still surprised no one was around and talked to the CM (Crystal was her name) for a few more minutes. Lenny, at that point in time, came up and asked where the bathroom was. Out of Crystal’s mouth came, "right over there sir, behind that tree." Lenny and I both looked at her and were like huh? She said yes, the restrooms were between City Hall and the firestation, behind the tree. We laughed only because the way it came out originally from her was funny. Once he came back, he staked out our spots with Abby and I said bye to Crystal so I could go get our photopass CD. When I finally came out, the parade had already started but I made my way to Lenny and Abby.

When it was far enough past us, Abby started picking up the "pixie dust" that the Fairy Godmother had thrown and Lenny said we should stay and watch the parade come back since I had missed it. He didn’t realize I did in fact see it, but I said if Abby wanted to we would. Abby did want to stay and that’s when Lenny told me Crystal had come over and invited us to sit in the VIP section. I wasn’t there and didn’t know, but I wanted to thank her for her thoughtfullness. Because a few of the people had left there, she invited us again to sit there to see the parade when it returned.

I took her up on the offer and thanked her again. After the dinner we had, this kind of treatment kept me smiling. Unfortunately the smile wouldn’t last long.

After the parade, Lenny got the monopod packed back up again. We said thank you and goodbye to Crystal and headed down Main Street. The castle show was going on and Abby wanted to stop and see it, which we did.

A minute or two later, I told Lenny I was going to call home. When I looked at my phone, I had 10 missed calls, all from home. I moved away from the castle hub to where I could hear my phone better. Mom had been trying to call me all day. Amtrak had called the house. The Auto Train for Tuesday the 19th (our date) had been cancelled. Oh great. I was totally thrown for a loop and none too happy. We only had 2 options - either drive all the way home and hope we didn’t get caught in Hurricane Fay or stay put and be majorly late getting home. Amtrak did say that our tickets would be 100% fully refundable since they cancelled or we could apply what we paid to future tickets (a major money maker for them. The tickets I bought early at approximatley $550 would be almost triple that in cost at the last minute). Not knowing when the Auto Train would run again anyway, I told mom we would probably drive but I would call her back after I talked to Lenny. While Abby watched the last of the castle show, I told Lenny what was going on. He wasn’t happy either, but there was nothing we could do. Part of him wanted to leave the park then and there and start driving, but I told him a few hours wouldn’t make much of a difference. Besides, we both needed some sleep before we could seriously think of putting miles behind us. He agreed and I told him "Let’s at least end the night on a high note for Abby instead of this way."

After the castle show, I explained to Abby that a big storm with a lot of rain and wind was coming and that the train employees decided not to run the train in it and that we would need to drive home. I told her that she could pick one more ride, whatever one in the park she wanted, to end the night on but then we had to go back to the hotel and pack the truck up. She said okay and chose Peter Pan. After Peter, she pulled her little stunt by saying "just one more ride, pleeeeease, then we’ll go back to the hotel." Because I wanted her to have good memories, and not ones of a rushed end to the vacation because of the storm, I said okay. I said to Lenny, what’s a few more minutes and he agreed. Then Abby told us her last ride - Snow White’s Scary Adventure. No way was I ending vacation on that ride. Try as I might, she would not change her mind, so off to Snow White we went. When we got off, I said to Lenny "I can’t end our vacation with that ride. Can we go on Small World and end it that way for Abby?" He said fine and I told Abby we had a surprise. We would do one last ride before saying bye to the MK (which she refused to do. "No, we can’t say goodbye"). We would go and do Small World and end on a happy note.

Abby was happy with that and when we were done, although not wanting the vacation to end, we accepted the fact that it had. I was hoping to close out the park and see Wishes, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be this year.

Ever resilient, as most kids are, instead of getting upset at leaving, Abby came out with "I’m hungry. Can we go to the food court and get chicken nuggets?" It was still vacation for her after all, and since we had CS credits I knew we wouldn’t use on Tuesday, I said we could do that. Once back at the hotel, Abby decided she wanted to swim first. That was fine with me. While she and Lenny went swimming, I started moving things from the rooms to the van. By 10:30, most of the stuff had been put away and I was at the pool telling Lenny it was time to get out. The grill portion of the food court would close at 11 which meant we had to get in line and decide what it was we wanted. He and Abby went to the rooms to get dressed while I went and waited in line. Abby, being Abby, instead of getting dressed after swimming, got ready for bed. It was so cute seeing her walk in the food court in her nightgown. It was long and covered everything so I didn’t mind that Lenny let her leave the room like that. She stayed in line with me while Lenny decided what he wanted. Food in hand, we took it back to the room again. I got a hot dog, which I didn’t like. Abby got her nuggets and fries which she ate right up and Lenny got the italian sandwich, which must have been good. It didn’t last long. After all that was cleaned up, Abby was ready for bed. Once she went to sleep, Lenny took more things out to the truck for me. By the time we got everything packed up to my satisfaction, it was something like 1 AM. There was no way we were going to be on the road for 5 like Lenny wanted. He had me set the alarm for 6:30 in the hopes we could be out for 7 AM and then we attempted to go to sleep.

[CinderAbby]

Sorry, there's no pictures for this post. All the characters we took pictures of today are in my other post. But we saw:

Chip and Dale
Pluto
Pinocchio
Gepetto
Jiminiy Cricket
Daisy
Clarabelle Cow
Horace Horsecollar
Prince Charming
Cinderella
Lady Tremaine (Cindy's step mother)
Anastasia
Drizella
Tigger
Pooh
Darby
Belle in her blue dress

I also saw Friar Tuck hurry throughTony's / the Exposition hall while I was waiting in line to purchase my photopass CD. He went through so quick I didn't get a chance to get a picture. I waited for him to come back but he never did - probably because the parade was getting ready to start.

[bsblady01]

more please

[bitterchickey]

SERIOUS congrats on the glasses and seeing Horace and Clarabelle--that is a major GET! So glad about the glasses though! The VIP seating, Lenny having to go to the bathroom "behind a tree"!!! Too funny! Sounded like THE perfect day in MK to end the day! Especially with Small World (for Abby, I know....). Ok, I know about the glasses, now you're going to torture me with the car-train resolution...........

[CinderAbby]

more please

Tomorrow night I'll post more.

SERIOUS congrats on the glasses and seeing Horace and Clarabelle--that is a major GET! So glad about the glasses though! The VIP seating, Lenny having to go to the bathroom "behind a tree"!!! Too funny! Sounded like THE perfect day in MK to end the day! Especially with Small World (for Abby, I know....). Ok, I know about the glasses, now you're going to torture me with the car-train resolution...........

Thank you very much. I was happy to have my glasses back, especially since it was sunny that day. I would have been hurting (literally). And I was really surprised about the characters. I had a link to a website with all the Disney characters and their classifications (according to the guy who did the website) as things like common, findable, unusual, etc. I think Clarabelle and Horace are termed "super rare" or something like that (I don't know how accurate he is though).

Although I wouldn't call it perfect, there were many memorable moments that day that will certainly stay with us, especially since I have this TR all printed out and put in a notebook to reread anytime I want. And as far as SW is concerned, of course it's for Abby, I don't like the ride at all. It's just such an unbearable ride for me. Seriously though, Abby just has so much fun on SW it's really hard for me not to like it. I really think each time we went on it I saw something new that I'd never seen before (the panda picture for example).

And yes, I will keep you in suspense until tomorrow night when I post more.

[chezp]

Glad to hear you got your glasses back! Even though it was your last day, my goodness you did pack a lot in. I was so sad reading about the evening though with the Auto Train and Abby not wanting to leave the park.

[mcc0313]

Glad you got your glasses back Darlene and that you did not even have to call but they called you...at least someone was on their toes that morning. What a wonderful day at MK - sorry that you had to hear about your traveling plans being changed but it sounded that even with the last minute change in plans you all had a great evening to end the trip...