Mommy and Me (& a Hurricane) - October 2016

[Eoywin]

Since we hadn't gotten back to our room until midnight, we slept in until about 8 am. I've been to Disney in October several times before and I've always scheduled our rest day for the day after the Halloween party in order to sleep in.

After we did wake up, we got moving because DD wanted to go to Disney Springs (formally known as Downtown Disney). We took the bus there, and walked a bit to get over to the World of Disney store.

My husband, who we called several times a day while we were gone, decided to give DD an extra $20 in spending money and it was burning a hole in her pocket. But the first thing we saw when we walked into the store was that there was a visiting princess doing meet and greets.

I had read about this before our trip and knew it was a fairly new thing. Because we were curious who it was and because there was no wait, we went to see the princess who turned out to be Aurora. DD got her picture taken with her and then went off to look for something very specific she wanted.

She had seen a little bear stuffy from 'Brave' and she had to have it. I had to ask a cast member but we were directed in the right place, and DD got her precious bear, that she named Bear. I got some pins, and was tempted by the Captain America ears, but decided not to get them.

From there, we went to the LEGO store. DD played with some Legos and I got new lego keychains for my keys. We also had to get pictures with the different LEGO statues, which are all very cool!

We didn't really have much else we wanted to look at, so we headed back to the bus. Thankfully everything was well marked so we could find our way back. The whole area had pretty much changed a ton since our last trip.

Once we got back to our resort we had some lunch in the food court. I had given DD the choice of mini golf or swimming for after lunch and she picked swimming. Since we had quite a bit of time, we opted to go to the Big Blue Pool to swim. DD also played some in the Nemo splash pad.

The hurricane was coming closer but we only had a few sprinkles so far. The sky was a bit dark while we were swimming but thankfully no bad weather - yet. After swimming for a while, we headed back to our room to change for dinner.

We had reservations at the Whispering Canyon Cafe which is located at the Wilderness Lodge, We took a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then we rode a ferry boat to the resort. At this point, it was raining some so we had to ride on the inside of the boat. No-one could be on the outside.

It took us a bit to figure out what way to go but we got some help from some lifeguards that were standing around, waiting for the pool to be able to reopen because of the weather. The resort was beautiful! I would love to stay there someday.

We didn't have to wait very long to be seated. I had heard good things about this restaurant, not just for the food but for the fun games they play. Before we left for our vacation, I was told by several people to ask for ketchup. So I did that right away.

Our server yelled for ketchup and people brought us about 20 bottles of it! It didn't take too long before another table needed ketchup so DD and I took our bottles over. Though DD did keep one and hoarded it like it was her precious.

The food was really good and our server brought DD a cupcake with a candle in it for her birthday. Then the entire restaurant sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. She was thrilled about that and still talks about it.

As we waited for our dessert, it was time for some fun and games. DD took a horse on a stick and parades around the room with the other kids, as everyone else twirled our napkins in the air. It was a blast!

Once we were done, we decided to look around the resort a bit. It is beautiful! I'd love to stay there sometime. There was a bit of a break in the rain, so we headed back to the ferry to get back to the buses to get back to our resort.

It was really easy and not that long of a wait to use the other transportation options after we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom. Of course, all our meals that were at other resorts were at Magic Kingdom resorts. But it was nice not to have to use my car at all during the week.

Night was falling when we got back to our room, but the rain had stopped and it was clear and warm out. Since I knew the hurricane was coming, I asked DD if she wanted to go swimming which she did. She really thought swimming after dark was a blast!

After swimming, we got to bed at a decent hour because we had to be up fairly early the next day since we were going to go to Animal Kingdom!

Up Next - Animal Kingdom & Hurricane Part 1!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like you two had such a fun time at MNSSHP! And the following day sounds like it was great too. So cool that Aurora was meeting at Disney springs!

 

[patches07]

Joining in! Enjoying your trip report. We were also there October 2nd through the 9th we stayed at the POP !!!!

 

[LadyEllie]

Rest day looked like fun.

 

[Imagineer5]

Following along!! I have done a bunch of Mommy Daughter trips with my DD Aria who will be 5 in January! They are so much fun, although now I have a nearly 1 yo and another on the way, so will have to plan for special trips with each as they get older!!

Anyway I am enjoying the report, and anxious to hear how the hurricane affected you!

 

[Eoywin]

Thanks everyone I'm hoping to get the rest of it up in the next couple of weeks.

 

[BellaBaby]

Great TR! Looking forward to more!

 

[Eoywin]

It was a bit rainy as we got up to head to Animal Kingdom early. On the bus ride over, we heard that all the parks would be closing at 5 pm and would be closed all day on Friday because of the impending Hurricane.

While we were still on the bus, I canceled our dining reservations for Friday and managed to get a Crystal Palace reservation for Saturday morning. We were leaving on Saturday and I had planned on just checking out and driving home in the morning. But I didn't want to miss out on the last park ticket we had, so came up with a plan to spend the morning in the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, provided that it was open.

Even with the Hurricane coming, I was determined to have a good time while we were in Animal Kingdom. Thankfully for us, Animal Kingdom has always been a half day park especially since neither DD nor I wanted to ride the roller coasters and Dinosaur was down for rehab.

We went straight to Kilimanjaro Safari which was excellent even in the rain. We still got to see lots of animals! After that, we went to see Festival of the Lion King which is thankfully indoors. It's a great show and we had really good seats!

After the show was done, we booked it to Finding Nemo: The Musical. We had fastpasses for that and we made it into the also indoor theater just before the show started. Neither DD nor I had ever seen it before and it was so cool! The songs were great and the puppets were very unique! I think it's now an Animal Kingdom must do for both of us.

DD wanted to go on TriceraTop Spin (which is basically Dumbo with dinosaurs) and then play some of the carnival games at Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama. She actually won two of them and got some stuffed animals as prizes! She was really excited about that!

She played in the Boneyard for a little bit and then started on her Wilderness Explorers trek! There are different stations around Animal Kingdom where kids can do activities and earn badges. DD thought this was a lot of fun.

While we were in Dinoland, the rain had stopped. But it looked as if it was going to start again anytime. We had a reservation at Yak and Yeti for dinner but both of us were hungry so we went to see if we could get seated several hours early. It wasn't very crowded and they honored our reservation.

We had a great table on the 2nd floor. We were able to see all the people out in the rain since the rain had picked up at that time. The food was very good and once our tummies were full we went back out into the rain for one last ride.

I had to convince DD to ride Kali River Rapids, which is one of my favorites. We were already wearing our ponchos because of the rain so when we rode the first time, she hide her face in the hood of her poncho. But she decided she liked it!

We rode it again because it was getting to be in the afternoon and the park was getting empty. We had no line and we even got to stay in our raft after that to ride it one more time. DD was especially geeked about that!

After we got very wet on Kali River Rapids we headed out. We stopped to get our picture by the Tree and DD did one more Wilderness Explorer stop. We got back to our resort about 4:30-ish.

We went right to the food court because I wanted to get us dinner and something for the next day as well. The lines for all the stations were super crazy but there was also a spot that was selling box lunches. The line wasn't very long so we got four of them with some of our dining plan credits. We also got four drinks as well to go with them.

The box lunches had a sandwich (we got 3 ham and cheese and one peanut butter and jelly), a piece of fruit (all apples I think), a cookie and a bag of chips. It was $8, if I remember correctly. The sandwiches all were good with a decent amount of meat and cheese and the fruit was fresh as well.

We only waited in line for maybe ten minutes. It took longer to get to a cashier to check out. From there, we headed back to the room. I went back to the food court and got our refillable mugs filled up and then we started to do what we could to get ready for the hurricane.

I filled up the bathtub and the sink with water just in case the power went out. I made sure the tablet and my phone had a full charge and also charged up my portable chargers. The cable went out that afternoon but we still had internet access so we watched some of Tangled on the tablet.

Someone from the resort came around and gave every room a flashlight, which was nice. Though it scared me when he knocked on the door. I also put a bunch of towels in front of the door as well.

I stayed glued to the disboards because there was a huge thread about Disney and the hurricane. From there, I learned that the resort TV was showing Disney movies so we turned off the tablet and started watching that. DD ate her pb&j bagged lunch but I was starting to get a pretty wicked migraine because of the incoming storm.

When we went to bed, we still had power. It was very windy and rainy out, and the whole area was under a curfew. We had been instructed, via a voice mail, to stay in our rooms until the curfew was lifted.

I had no idea what we were going to face the next day but there wasn't anything we could do but get some rest.

Up next - Hurricane Part 2!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great day at Animal Kingdom despite the rain! No better time to ride Kali than when you are already wet!

I would have been so scared being there during the hurricane. It sounds like you guys were well prepared though!

 

[Eoywin]

Sounds like a great day at Animal Kingdom despite the rain! No better time to ride Kali than when you are already wet!

I would have been so scared being there during the hurricane. It sounds like you guys were well prepared though!

It was a great day at Animal Kingdom We had a lot of fun.

It was a bit scary during the hurricane but Disney did a good job of keeping us updated and prepared. We got several messages on our phone at our resort. My TA also called us to check in, which I thought was sweet.

 

[Eoywin]

DD and I woke up a little before 8 am on Friday. The worst of it, as far as I could tell, happened overnight while we were sleeping.

The curfew was still in effect and it was still pretty rainy and windy outside so I gave DD some Pop-tarts and I went back to sleep for a while. The hurricane had given me a pretty bad migraine. We still had power and internet, and they were still playing movies on the resort tv station so DD watched that and played with her new toys.

In the afternoon, the curfew was lifted so we ventured out to go to the main building that has the food court and arcade. It was packed and there was a long line to talk to someone at the desk. I actually got in this line to make sure I had the dining credits I did. Thankfully it wasn't that long of a wait.

When we got there, Rafiki and Dale were doing meet and greets in the lobby. But right as I was finishing up with the cast member, Jessie from Toy Story came out! DD's favorite Toy Story character is Jessie and we missed her on her last day at the Magic Kingdom on the 1st.

Needless to say, we got right in line and it didn't take long for DD to meet Jessie. From there, we went into the arcade where all the games were free! It was crowded and you had to wait for the games, but DD had fun. Everyone was polite about waiting.

Plus two of the Green Army men from Toy Story were wandering around in the arcade and playing with the kids. DD got her picture with one of them too! It was a great time and awesome of Disney to make that available for everyone who was stuck at the resort.

Disney worked pretty fast on clean up. Disney Springs actually re-opened for resort guests in the evening. The Big Blue Pool at our resort was also opened back up in the evening after they cleaned up.

DD and I went back to our room and ate some of our bag lunches. We also spent a good part of the afternoon packing up. I packed everything except what we would need in the morning and got it into the car. That way we wouldn't have to do much in the morning before checking out and then heading to the Magic Kingdom for our last bit of magic.

After night had fallen, we took a walk. DD had wanted to see the Cars area of the resort at night time. It was pretty cool and it was a nice evening for a walk. Once we got back to the room, we headed to bed early. The next day was going to be the longest yet!

Up next - Magic Kingdom and Departure!

 

[dmea10]

Glad to see you made the best of the situation. And Disney really stepped up and did everything they could to make the guests happy even if they could not go to the parks. Looking forward to reading about your last day.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad the day didn't turn out so bad! That's really great that the resort had characters out meeting.

 

[Imagineer5]

Sounds like a pretty relaxing Hurricane day!! So nice they brought in characters and had the arcade free, too. Looking forward to the MK day!

 

[Eoywin]

Our day dawned very early because I wanted to get to Magic Kingdom as close to rope drop as possible. We got dressed, finished packing up the car and checked out of our hotel. We hopped on a bus and got into Magic Kingdom just as the morning rope drop show was finishing up.

We headed right to the Crystal Palace and got seated very quickly. The food was good and the characters were really great! DD had especially wanted to meet Eeyore, but loved Tigger, Pooh and Piglet too!

From there, we to Fantasyland. DD wanted to ride on the Carousel and there was no wait for it. Then we went to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Since this is the newest ride in the Magic Kingdom, it's a long wait for standby. I had had a fast pass for it on hurricane day, but sadly none to come by on the day we actually got to the Magic Kingdom.

Thankfully the queue was pretty cool so DD was amused. But it was the longest line of the whole trip since we waited over an hour. The ride was cool and DD loved it. It was her first roller coaster! I'll definitely want to ride it again, but not with an hour wait!

We did a few Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom stops. DD loves that game and had fun fighting the baddies. We headed to Adventureland because I had gotten a fastpass for Pirates of the Caribbean. This was DD's first time riding Pirates and she loved it.

While in Adventureland, we also rode the Magic Carpets and had our very first Dole Whip! It was getting close to noon and getting really hot out. It was honestly the hottest day of our entire trip. So we headed back to the front of the park.

We did one more Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom stop and then rode our last ride, which was The Haunted Mansion. We left my favorite place in the world behind and got back to our car to begin the long journey home.

Because of the hurricane, we took the longer way home through Atlanta. I use my GPS on my phone to get directions and I was a little freaked because it took me on a toll road and I had no change. Thankfully the tolls had been suspended because of the hurricane.

I really wanted to get back home so we drove the whole way back to NC. I did manage to hit my head pretty hard. I went to the back of my car which has a hatch, and misjudged the distance when I was closing it and brought it down on my head. It hurt a lot and once we got home, I spent the next few days in bed. Afterwards, I'm pretty sure I managed to give myself a minor concussion.

Besides injuring myself, I managed to get us safely home. We got home right around midnight so at least I had been awake for 18+ hours. It was a long day!

Up Next - Final Thoughts About the Trip!

 

[Eoywin]

The whole reason I started planning this trip was an incentive to recover after I got very sick and had a bunch of seizures. It was a scary time for me and having just the thought of Disney World helped me along. It also helped me get stronger. I spent a lot of this year at the gym, walking and doing weight training. It really paid off because even though I was walking many miles in a day, I wasn't really sore the whole week.

Of course, we also celebrated DD's birthday since she happened to be born in my favorite month of the year. She got a lot of attention from her birthday button and she loved that!

This trip was a lot of firsts for DD. First time at Epcot, first time on a roller coaster and first time going to the Halloween party. She enjoyed it all which made me happy!

My favorite part was finally getting to wear my Tightrope Girl costume to the Halloween party. I got a lot of compliments on it, especially from cast members.

Even the hurricane was interesting. It was a little scary but I hoped that Disney would do their best to keep us safe. And they really did and did their best to keep people entertained while the parks were closed.

My travel agent was really wonderful too! This is the 2nd trip she's helped me plan. She got all of our dining reservations that we wanted and even called us the day before the hurricane was suppose to hit to make sure we were ok. Fabulous customer service right there!

All in all, Disney World still retains its place as my most favorite place in the world!

With that my trip report is finished! Hopefully I'll be able to start planning our next trip soon!

 

[Mac Brew]

Enjoyed reading your trip report. I hope the time there helped you to recover even more nothing beter than Disney to help cheer you up. I love the weather in Florida . It must have been a good feeling to have experienced a hurricane.Looks like you both made the most of your time agree that October is on of the best months to go . Hopefully you will be able to start planing your next one soon.

 

[BellaBaby]

Enjoyed your trip report!!

 

[Eoywin]

Enjoyed reading your trip report. I hope the time there helped you to recover even more nothing beter than Disney to help cheer you up. I love the weather in Florida . It must have been a good feeling to have experienced a hurricane.Looks like you both made the most of your time agree that October is on of the best months to go . Hopefully you will be able to start planing your next one soon.

Disney was awesome - it made me feel great to not feel sick and much stronger.

Hopefully I can start planning a trip by the end of 2017. I'm hoping to go back in 2018 or 2019.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great final morning! I'm sorry about your head on the way back.

I'm glad you and your daughter had such a nice trip together. Hopefully you will go back soon!

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading along