Ten of us 3 to ummmm old enough, take on the world July 5th -9th and then some.
Part One: Planning and Flying
It started out that my dear friend and I were going to sneak in a side trip to WDW on our way to the Autism Society of America National Convention at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando.
Enroute to planning a mom’s away trip the kids got in the way, they felt they should go to Orlando and play too. We added her two and my two and another room to our plans. Well we always live by the adage the more the merrier so another friend and her 3 kids decided to camp on the trip now we are a party of 10 with the youngest being 3 and the oldest being my friend, yippee it is not me!!!!!
We booked the trip in February and ended up with great airfare and we splurged to stay concierge at the Polynesian our favorite resort.
We booked the must have dining reservations, Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal table and Liberty Tree Tavern. I planned and planned made schedules, note cards for the kids with daily schedules, I wrote pre-trip reports and was as ready for the trip as I could possibly be.
We left without a hitch from the Humphrey Terminal in Minneapolis early a.m. on the 5th of July. My husband and my friend’s husband drove all of us to the airport. I checked all of us in only to find out that one of the bags was 15 pounds over limit so with a little curbside rearranging we evened out the luggage and were soon on our way through security and to the gate. Once again not one of us was stopped to be searched, which is a good thing!
My job after getting the crowd through security was to take care of the youngest member of the group. While we waited I explained to her we will get in the air, have a snack, play some and then we will need to take a nap before we get to Florida. We boarded the plan as a family traveling with small children; I knew with a group of 10 we were going to need extra time to get everyone settled and ready to fly. As luck would have it the plan was quite empty the benefits of flying early in the morning. Once in the air the flight attendant told us we could move around and spread out. I began to talk with the nicest lady and her daughter that were taking a week vacation in Florida for some bonding time. They were sitting in an exit row and the 3 seats across the aisle were empty so I moved in with the 3 year old. The flight attendant stopped by to tell me that we were okay to sit in those seats until landing then the 3 year old would have to go back to her original seat, not a problem. We had plenty of space for her to play, color, move the shade up and down, dance and sing etc…
Part Two: Clean up is a breeze and where the heck is Mickey Mouse!
We had our snack then I told ‘small fry” it was time to clean up and take our nap, she cleaned up only the way a 3 year old would, up went the tray and down went the drinks, crayons, and color books all over! This spill was minor compared to the spills our older girls had that were with us. One involved and entire coke and had the teen running to the bathroom to change her soaked clothes( funny this was the same teen that thought traveling in tight jeans, several shirts and a sweatshirt would be just fine for Florida, good thing she over packed and had to put a pair of shorts in her purse), the other involved my son kicking my daughters tray upsetting her apple juice all over. Once I cleaned up the seats “small fry” crawled up in to my lap and was out like a light. The mother could not believe it and said her daughter was faking, but the dead weight in my lap told me otherwise, she slept over an hour in my arms. Once we landed, and were stopped at the gate the little one woke up and looked out the window and exclaimed loudly “Mickey Mouse Where ARE YOU!” The entire plane erupted in laughter. This little girl really expected to see Mickey Mouse upon landing in Florida. We were off the plan in no time and headed on the tram to the terminal where the one mom would take 6 of the kids and herself on Magical Express while my friend and I got the rental car and her son and headed off to meet up with the group at the Polynesian Resort. We began just minutes behind the bus but after our little detour to Animal Kingdom, that is what happens when you are talking and not paying attention, we ended up arriving at the hotel about a half hour after the others. We were whisked off to the Hawaii building with a small tour of the property first. Our rooms were ready and we happily dropped off all the carry on bags and prepared to head to the Magic Kingdom.
Arrival at the Magic Kingdom was discussed on the plane and decided we would take the boat over, I handed out the lanyards and pins that I had collected for everyone and explained how to trade pins to our rookies, we planned that 3 of our would take all the bags through security while the others got the stroller rental arranged for the week.
Part 3: Realizing the Florida Heat, Costume Characters – OH NO!
Our entry was quick and painless and we were on our way to find a spot for the 3pm parade in no time. First stop was to get our arrival photo taken on Main street and make sure we all received a photo pass so the kids would stop and get their photos taken as often as possible. Well for some reason 9 of our made it in the photo, we told my friend to stop and get another photo taken of herself so she would have a photo pass, I suppose I was not clear enough because while she found another photographer I was headed off on my zigzag adventure to Liberty Square to find a spot to watch the parade, I ducked though shops and back walkways to get to a wonderful spot just outside of the Christmas shop where we would benefit from the air conditioning billowing out of the store while we watched the Parade. Funny thing I turned around to find out dear friend was lost and the girls were peeling off the layers of shirts they thought they were needing, we truly were in Florida now, the girls realized that they would want to wear cami’s the rest of the trip. Once on the location I pulled out the fans and misters that I had packed for the trip, the kids loved the little mister bottles and soon adopted them for themselves. I did have to instruct our rookies that they needed to guard they rope spots with their lives as people would swoop in and take their spot with the blink of and eye and sure enough we soon began to be pushed and shoved around. The older kids made their plans for the afternoon and we gave the evening plans out to the group Dinner was at 5pm at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Hotel and do not be late!
Since we were in Liberty Square and we had a 12yo boy in our group we headed over to the Haunted Mansion as our first attraction. Then it dawned on me this might not be the best place to take a 3yo who has never been to WDW for her first ride, I took her in my arms and explained when the lights would go out and to remember that is was all make believe and that the ghosts were trying to scare us but we would not let them do that and how silly these ghosts where and she was fine with the ride though later she did say she did not want to go to the mansion again. I followed up the next ride with It’s a small world, then Peter Pan I then looked at the clock and realized it was 10 minutes to 5:00 which meant a very quick walk down Main Street USA. We arrived at 5:05pm at the Contemporary, with only one child missing only because he was stuck on a broken down ride but he called to let us know of the delay, things were looking up, we had the confidence that the older kids would be responsible.
We were only slightly delayed with getting seated due to the fact that a gentleman in the front of the line had a 9pm seating and wanted to get in earlier and was really not being very understanding of the hostess that was helping him meanwhile the line that began as a couple of people began to snake its way across the lobby and around the main level of the hotel. Now if the people at the end of the line were getting tired of waiting just think what it was like for me to have to listen to the hostess repeat her words over and over while the throngs of hungry guests waited for their turn which was NOW and 5,10 or 30 minutes earlier. The waiters were lined up waiting to seat everyone while this guest worked out his problem.
Finally we are seated and perfect seats they were, in the large room, in the corner where our older girl would be safe from the characters, little did we know what would happen when the 3 yo encountered a character for her first time. 3yo is sitting next to my daughter and Donald Duck arrives at the table, pats 3yo on the shoulder and she screams and jumps into my daughters lap so fast and clings to her for dear life and cries. WHOA we were not expecting that reaction and my daughter did not know what hit her she suddenly had this little girl in her lap so fast. Well, needless to say, little one did not like Donald Duck and Donald quickly moved off to the next table. We had some time to recover before the next character was to arrive and fortunately it would be Mickey Mouse. We graduated to having the 3yo on her mom’s lap while Mickey and her brothers stood behind and we promised the characters would not touch her unless she put her hand up to touch them first. Dinner and characters were a success but, she never did let Donald come back to the table to visit the other kids.
Part 4: A perfect ending to our first night in our Magical Wonderland
After the wonderful dinner at Chef Mickey’s we headed back over to the Magic Kingdom took in Mickey’s Philarmagic, My friend and I decided we had enough we needed to make a grocery run and took the 3yo with us to run errands, she was exhausted and needed some down time, she immediately fell asleep in the car. The others headed off to Disney Hollywood studios to go on Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster and find a place to watch Fantasmic basically they were doing the big kids stuff while we took care of the little gal. Upon arriving back to valet the car we asked if they would give us a ride in the cart back to the Hawaii building because we had all the bags from the grocery and a sleeping child, the bellmen were happy to help us out. We unloaded the groceries in the room and headed down to the lounge to watch Wishes, our little charge woke from her nap and discovered the snacks and found a chair and sat in the chair by the window and entertained us until the show began. What a wonderful location to watch the boat parade and Wishes from out of the head and humidity, when the fireworks were over we were back in our room in 2 minutes. We organized our rooms while the little gal watched television and colored, then we ventured to her room for her night clothes, I had her crawl in my bed and she was once again fast asleep. The older kids arrived back to the room about 11:30 and we all called it a night, breakfast call was for us to be on the monorail heading the the Magic Kingdom at 8:00 for Cinderella’s Breakfast in the castle at 9:00.
Part 5 Princess’ and photos
Oh were we tired but the most magical thing happened this morning, a little knock was at my door and when I opened it I found the cutest little Princess all dressed up like Snow White waiting for me to take her to meet Cinderella. We stopped by the concierge desk to see if they had a stroller available, they did and that madetravel much easier getting to the monorail and parks. I quickly packed up my things I would need for the day and got my kids moving along faster and we were soon on our way to the Magic Kingdom. The family was shocked at how we have gotten our maneuver down getting us all into the park, 2 people grab the bags one takes the little one and the others get the rental stroller. All the bags go into the borrowed stroller and the child goes in the double stroller, this accomplished in minutes. The park was empty except for the few heading to breakfast we had many pictures taken with nobody in the background until my daughter decided to take some pictures of her sitting on the street and she chose to move further down the street from us, which meant that she ended up in the background of our little snow whites photos, not to be discovered until we reviewed our photopass pictures. Breakfast was a wonderful as always and all our rookies were enchanted to meet the princess’ and then some of our not so rookies were also enchanted to meet the princess’ – my son just had to have a photo with each princess by himself! (He’s 16!)After breakfast and changing into park clothing the little princess and I headed over to the ride that we had talked about for months – Dumbo! I have not ridden Dumbo since I was probably 7, and luck would have it we got the orange elephant the little princess’ favorite color! The discussion of this ride began back in April when I had asked my small friend if she would go on a ride with me and she said yes, but I am not riding on an elephant! I was crushed but in the end prevailed and we had a great time. I guess after taking her on Haunted Mansion anything was an improvement. Shortly after our Dumbo ride we headed over to Ariel’s grotto where she played in the squirting fountains and I waited in line for an Ariel meet and greet, then something happened that I am not proud to say I was part of because the rest of the kids found us and joined us in line. I have to say thank you to the people behind us, fortunately the line was just a few people long and I never heard one person complain. I made a promise to myself it this was to happen to us I would not complain either and make the best of it. It was getting hot and we needed drinks so after a quick twirl on the teacups, we stopped by a quick beverage stand nearby to get frozen lemonade. The big kids and the roller coaster mom were once again off to play big kids ride so we took the little one back for a swim in the pool and a nap (or should I say another car ride nap). I do not think I mentioned that for being the week after the 4th of July the crowds really were not at the Magic Kingdom this morning. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for more photopass pictures and had the one picture I love taken where you hold out your hand to hold Tinkerbell. I then found out something interesting, the Tinkerbell photo is only taken during the day. MY FAVORITE FAMILY PHOTO FROM THE PAST WAS a picture taken in front of the castle at night and we had Tinkerbell in our hands.
Part 6 A restful afternoon
While my friend and I headed back to the hotel with the 3 yo the others headed over to Typhoon Lagoon. My daughter and son and the 3yo’s brothers and mom decided to snorkel with the sharks, rays and fish. Haley (DD) headed into the water first and swam to the first rock, then as she began her journey to the end of this pool she suddenly realized that she was afraid of fish and swam a little faster. Meanwhile back at the hotel we remembered there were a few things that we did not get the night before at the grocery so we thought we would run to Walgreen’s. We stopped by the lounge and picked up a cup of goldfish for our little one to snack on while we ran the errands. We always need to keep in mind when traveling with 10 someone is always bound to call in need of something and the call came in as we were waiting for the valet to bring the car around. Our 15yo lost his guest assistance pass and was very distraught, we talked him into taking the monorail from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary and we would meet him there and help him out. By the time 15yo reached us he had calmed himself down and we asked what he was planning for the afternoon, he would like to go to Epcot, which is where we would take him, and then explain his GAP loss and help him to get a new pass. 15yo has Autism and is quite comfortable being able to develop independence and freedom while in the somewhat controlled environment of WDW. 15yo decided to look in the store next door to guest relations while I waited for the cast member to finish up. Once done 15yo had me come in the store so he could show me a pin he thought he would get his girlfriend. I found a couple of pins and purchased the pin for his girlfriend, the cast member helping with the sale ask 15yo if he would like to participate in a memory game and took a shadow box from the shelf behind him, he gave him a minute to look at the box then took it away and gave him a piece of paper to write down all the items in the box. When they were done 15yo was given a certificate for a magic moment. I could not have thought of a better magic moment for a child with autism, very low key and completely at his level, I took the certificate with me back to the car and 15yo was on his way. Meanwhile back at the car, 3yo is sound asleep where she fell asleep mid-way through eating the goldfish, with hand in the goldfish cup, she was out and sleeping well since we left the Polynesian. Everyone now was taken care of it was time to get to Walgreen’s. We found the store in no time just past DTD then take a left at the light and less then a mile on the left, perfect. We had been gone for a few hours and upon arrival back to the Polynesian our little charge woke up announcing it was time to go swimming. We had her in her swim suit before we left the hotel because she was planning to swim this afternoon. I quickly went up to the room and changed, then found a place for our stuff grabbed some towels and we found a spot in a very crowded pool. First location was not so good a grandma started a water fight with her grandsons and we were not quite ready to get so wet so we moved to what we thought would be a better location, I could sit in the water and the 3yo could play around me, well a group of 10-12yo boys found a new activity of running from the zero depth and splashing into the deeper water! Again more splashing of which we did not want so I took her deeper in the water and worked on her swimming, all was well until I tripped and landed backward on the stairs at the side of the pool, unfortunately landing on a small but vocal child that told me I should be more careful, hmmm thoughts running through head telling me to say to the child “maybe you should not be playing on the stairs!” Fortunately nobody was hurt, I did not want to land on that child, and I did not drown the 3yo in the process. We swam for a bit more I showed her the water slide but she was not impressed, and then realized we made a great decision to keep her with us and not send her to the water park. Little one was now asking for a snack so we dried off and went to the lounge, it was time for evening snacks in the lounge we stayed there and talked for a bit waiting for the others to return from the water park. Our dear little 3yo was given a plate with a few veggies, some fruit and the requested crackers and cheese, I got the same plate, I left her to eat with my friend while I went up to the room to change. I came back and was told that my cheese selection on my plate was changed because the 3yo said she did not like white cheese only yellow. She had finished all her cheese and crackers and then befriended a man who we began talking with, finally she decided that she should have snacks with him and he offered her the “yellow cheese” on his snack plate. The others arrived back from Typhoon Lagoon and joined us for snacks, 3yo mom was wondering why we let her daughter bother the man that was sitting nearby, she said the 3yo will always talk to strangers, my daughter said he is not strange and we are all talking therefore he is not a stranger, okay that might be stretching the point but we were having a nice conversation in the lounge and sharing our Disney experiences. After everyone had a snack we headed to the rooms so the swimmers could shower, rest and get ready for the night.
Part 7 Wishes and Wedding Wishes
Everyone is ready and rested so we head over to the Magic Kingdom in 2 groups I go with all the kids and the 2 other moms follow. We took the boat over since it was just about to us.
NOW I MUST BACKTRACK A MOMENT: earlier in the day on the way back from MK to hotel we stopped and purchased some balloons to keep in the room, we have heard if you have a balloon in the room then the motion will be detected and the air-conditioning in the room will not shut down. Then we took the boat back to the hotel, managing 3 balloons on the boat let alone down a busy Main street USA was an adventure.
We love to take the boat to the hotel and parks! We had the bags checked and stroller rented and we were ready to go! Okay so we stopped and did some shopping, then we stopped at Casey’s corner for drinks etc…. some ate some did not. Finally we are ready to go, we all went on Aladdin’s Flying Carpets, the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Carribean, we were then heading over to Splash Mountain but Spectro Magic had just begun and we were stopped just outside of Pecos Bill’s we waited out the parade and later realized that we almost saw the entire parade. While in this back corner of the park, the parade had just begun Fireworks began to erupt, not quite at the castle but as many or more than WISHES, I thought perhaps they had an accident and released the show early, I was confused then we put our heads together and remembered how a wedding was being set up for the past few days and the gals that arrived late saw the bridesmaids and wedding couple having photos taken outside this huge tent, the fireworks were for them! Bridesmaids were wearing white flapper outfits with the huge feather bands in their hair, that was some wedding perhaps we will see it on platinum weddings. The parade finished and of course, we are in the opposite corner of the park from where we decide we need to go. Buzz light-year would be where the group decides to go, about face march and make it quick, Wishes is going to start. We make it to the tomorrow land side of the hub and Wishes begins, we stay to watch. All 10 of us are now together, break time more people need to eat, chicken fingers and drinks for the crew. We go to Buzz it was fun I performed dismally as normal. Now we divide again, I am getting tired and my rash on my ankles is killing me so we head over to the Monsters Inc laugh floor with the 3yo while the others decide to go coaster crazy. I had never been to Monster’s Inc and it was fun our little gal was chosen as Boo for the show. We called it a night and took the resort monorail back to the hotel, once again I got the little one ready for bed and sleeping before her mom got back. Consensus, we the group is tired and they want to sleep in, decision was we would sleep in and head over to the Hollywood studios for Toy Story Mania. Magic Kingdom was open until 2am EMH the big group stayed until 1:30, dragging themselves back to the hotel.
Part 8 Today is July 7th, Amy’s Birthday
Amy is the mother of the 3yo and one 14yo boy and 12 yo boy. I was up at 8:00 took my shower organized the room and finally knocked on my other friends door about 9:15 with a mocha from the lounge for her. I also shared that we should think about moving since breakfast in the lounge is over at 10, if anyone is interested. My kids pop up at the thought they may miss breakfast if they do not get going, we woke Amy’s room to share the breakfast news and suddenly 3 rooms are in a flurry of activity. Before we left, I confirmed that we had ordered a cake to be delivered to Amy’s room today.
It is hot, we’re sweaty and we’re tired so we decide to squish into the van and head over to DHS about 11:30, my original plan was that we would be heading back to the hotel about now not arriving! Amy says she has a list of things that she and the boys want to do before the leave on Wednesday. I take a look at the list and do not have the heart to break it to her there is no way she can do everything, hopefully she will figure that out on her own, she’ll have to make another trip to WDW with the kids to finish the list. Once in the Studios with the stroller and everyone we stop for the photo pass pictures and head over to Toy Story Mania, our wait was not so bad and it was a hit with everyone, I loved it and looked forward to another ride later in the trip. Another chance to divide and conquer, Amy’s and the big kids want to do RRC, TOT etc… so they head one direction, while we take the 3yo and 12yo and try to decide what to do, but what we did not count on was the rain. Somehow during this process 15yo lost another GAP and his mother helped him out taking him back to Guest Relations and getting him another, in the process he almost left his room key. We made it to Pizza Planet, where 12yo would be in video land and we could order something to eat and drink. While at Pizza Planet 12 yo calls his mom and says we left him, guess we did not tell him prior to travel that we would never leave him anywhere. We found a table outside, it was wet but not so bad and once we began to eat the others found us just like homing pigeons. After we ate we headed over to the little store across the way. We were having birthday dinner and we needed to pick up a few gifts. So we all found something small and headed back to meet Amy in the front of the park, back in the car and heading back to the hotel, once again to return to MK for dinner at Liberty Tree this time. It was wonderful to have a nice dinner and rest up for what lies ahead for the night. Decision was made that we would go to Animal Kingdom since it has EMH. Expedition Everest is calling us. We were given a ride over to AK but told not to call to be picked up because my other friend Grace was going to go to bed early. We finished the things at AK early called a sleepy Grace who re-affirmed to take the bus, we took the first bust we could that said it was going to Wilderness Lodge then Grand Floridian, a couple of people were on the bus before us and we headed over to WL, guess what! That is where they were all going, so in my nicest way I asked the bus driver that since the rest of us really wanted to go to the Polynesian could he drop us off there, he radioed to base and soon we had our own bus to the Polynesian, Woo hoo we had some luck with us tonight. I took the 3yo back to the room and the others decided they still had plenty of time to go back to MK so they were off. I got 3yo ready for bed and tonight I crawled into another bed, about an hour later the 14yo girls returned to the room and went next door and began to talk, then I woke to a commotion next door, I got up and found Grace was on the phone, what is going on it is almost 11:30, well the 15yo with Autism, was making a purchase in the Philarmagic gift shop and the cashier took his room key away! He did not have photo I.D., he called distraught we told him to come back to the hotel and we would handle it. I got on my phone and called the resort manager, who was a gem and said that “first of all, I have never heard of this happening ever! (Our family firmly considers ourselves a 10, if 9 out of 10 times something happens correctly, and the 10th time it does not, we are the 10). I had a concern that one now the child really does not have any identification, he has no way to get into the Hawaii building and he did not have a key to get into his room, not to mention the fact that there is a live room key out in where-ever. These concerns are on top of the fact that this could set him off since he has Autism. The resort manager confirmed that he would disable the key right away. Since 15yo had a phone we told him to call as soon as he neared the building so we go send someone down for him. Meanwhile Grace has been holding on the phone for someone for a very long time. The phone in my room rings, it is the manager of Fantasyland, she is aware of the situation and wants to know what to do with the package. 15yo arrives back I ask him if he still wants the package. He does since he was purchasing the items for a gift for his mom and I! I was assured that the package would arrive sometime in the night, and that the situation was being dealt with in Fantasyland. Polynesian manager assured me he would have a room key ready by 7am the next morning. Now since we were all wide awake and not everyone was back yet, all of us that were back had a impromptu party in Grace’s room, Just after mid-night kids were all back, stories were shared and we all found out beds to crash. We are headed to EPCOT in the morning.
Part 9 Rains are back and a quiet evening
I get everyone up and going earlier today, after all I was up at 7am to get the new room key, then I got some coffee and breakfast, showered and everyone else followed suit, we just not could afford to get a later start like yesterday especially since Amy had that list to accomplish. Again we drove to Epcot. First stop was Soarin then Living with the Land, and the Living Seas with Nemo and friends, I had not been on this before it was cute, the kids enjoyed looking at the sea life and everyone enjoyed Turtle Talk, but the kids were getting antsy they wanted the more thrilling rides so they took off with Amy leaving Grace and I with 3yo. 3yo wanted to do the clamshell ride again so we were off to ride in the clam shell, then we took photos outside and began to wander, well we found the character connection and took some time to meet the characters. Remember a few days ago she would barely take a photo without persuasion at Chef Mickey’s…. today she was running to the characters and jumping in their arms! After the photos we wander toward Mousegear, it is calling us! I just love that store, I always find something I do not need but have to have. Tonight we are having the kids’ photos taken as part of our photo pass package. The rest of the gang meets us, the girls have outfits that may match fine they pick up a couple of accessories, the boys get similar polo’s. Now everyone is hot, sweaty and hungry. They want to eat NOW, nearby is the electric umbrella which is always crowded and the choices limited, finally after searching for a table that does not exist. I suggest we make a run for Sunshine seasons at the land pavilion; the choices are much more plentiful. It is raining but, we make it, the girls find a table right away and we break up to get some food for those holding the tables. We had a nice and filling lunch and headed out of the building to find what looked like a monsoon. Those ponchos that we had left in the room yesterday made it in the pack today and distributed out to the group. We covered the stroller stashing everything needed to remain dry in the stroller and make a quick walk to the car. We took naps, some showers and the kids got themselves together for the photos, 3yo remained in the room sleeping with her big brother, they were planning a long night back at the Magic Kingdom.
The photo pass people call us and ask if we would like to reschedule since it is raining, we really did not have a better time in our schedule so we went ahead and kept our session, this meant that we would not have beach photos.
After our session we sat in the lobby and decided what we should plan for the night. Decision tonight we will go to Beaches and Cream then back to the hotel to watch Wishes and water pageant. Amy called we told her what we had planned but said they should continue with their plan since she needed to get as much done on her list and we did not want to hamper her quest. We would talk to them later and for them to have fun. We were in the lounge just before Wishes talking about how we really liked the gummy sharks, the lounge offered in the afternoon my son asked how long we thought it would take to get to the candy store at the MK and back, we said at least a half hour. He headed out, returning in 15 minutes with a caramel apple and candy apple, both of which he had been craving since he got his braces off this spring! We watched fireworks then returned to our room to get things together since we would be leaving the Polynesian in the morning for the Gaylord Palms and the Autism convention.
Part 10 Pink Shoes and how long a day can last
Amy and her family are leaving today, and we have reservations at 9:00 for 1900 Park Fair. We get up early today and pack, empty all the closets and drawers get all the luggage in one place in each room, certain we are leaving the green buckets along with the family fun magazine behind. I take Amy and family downstairs for photos and Grace finishes up calling us to tell us to get up to the monorail we need to get to breakfast. We do our goodbyes and wish them a safe trip and leave to meet Grace. Grace’s daughter asks her to bring her flipflops since she thought her crocks might hurt her feet, while waiting for the monorail the shoes are switched but in the process my son commented let me try those crocs and the challenge was on, Wear those through breakfast and Grace will buy you a pair of your own, DS is always ready to play the game and the game was on! Now could we quietly let him sit through breakfast wearing pink crocs without saying a word – NO WAY!
Pooh came over we pointed out the shoes and Pooh would point to the shoes scratch his head, put is hand on his hips shake his head, then leave and come back scratching his head, then leave and come back later with Tigger and point to the shoes, it was quite comical, then Mad Hatter arrives and screams to the entire restaurant “ Hey everybody this boy has on pink shoes!” we all crack up then they pose for a picture. DS survived breakfast and later this day he received a new pair of tan mickey crocs. After breakfast we head back to the Polynesian via the long monorail route from the Grand Floridian. Grace and her son head over to check her dad and brother in at the Portofino at Universal and I get the kids together to go on our Wildlife Discovery Excursion at Animal Kingdom. We headed to the room and called the bellman to come up to collect the baggage, we told him we were leaving quickly to go to Animal Kingdom, he gave me the claim ticket and we headed off by taxi. The kids ran back to the meeting location I discovered I had Grace’s park ticket so I had to make a stop at guest relations to figure out what to do, she was suppose to meet us for the safari but, due to traffic at Universal she called to let us know she was not going to make it, I told her I had her ticket and she should check at guest relations prior to entering the park to claim it. I then hurried back to meet the group for the safari, there was another family going along on the safari too. I looked around to find a couple to fill the seats we had paid for but I could not see anyone that did not look like a group. Everywhere we had been the previous days we saw couples in their Mickey bride and groom hats but today when I wanted to gift a special safari to one of these couples I could not find one, we had 2 seats go to waste on this safari. We had a great time looking at all the animals close up and learning about the animals. The baby giraffe was meeting his dad for the first time on the savannah so there were a lot of zoo keepers out observing. I wanted to meet the baby elephant but he was too young so we did not get to see him. After the safari we began our search for Grace, she was now at the park, my guess was somewhere air conditioned, first guess was Pizzafari, I was wrong but she was in the shop next door purchasing pins. It was so hot outside after we purchased and traded pins we decided it was time to leave animal kingdom, we thought that perhaps we should head over to the Gaylord Palms and check in to our rooms for the conference. The kids were impressed by the hotel and once we received our room assignments from the excessively chatty desk clerk we headed off for the hike, it was to hell and gone from the front door. Grace’s room was on the 5th floor ours was on the 7th floor, once we arrive in the room my kids began to argue about the sleeping arrangements so I called for a roll-a-way only to find out the room I was assigned would not allow a roll-a-way due to fire codes so they had me wait a minute and then asked if we minded being on the courtyard because they had a room in the newly upgraded Emerald Bay wing, I said perfect then Grace has me check on a room nearby for her, right next door! That would be perfect for the kids going off to the park together they could knock on the next door and be off, we tried to get a roll-a-way in that room but fire codes would not allow it. Now we have changed rooms and settled into the new room, we want to go to the Studios but we thought we should pick up the luggage from the Polynesian and we are hungry with counter service credits to use up before mid-night. We also received a call from Amy, her youngest son had lost his cell phone on a ride at the Magic Kingdom and it was recovered and was at the Lost and Found at the Ticket and Transportation center, would we pick it up. This would be a quick stop we drove to the Guest Drop off for the TTC, Grace went to find the phone then called us and said that we should drive around and pick her up, we had a loop that we took often to get us back to the Polynesian and just to do that, except I missed the turn and we drove through Epcot twice! Then when I finally arrived at the Kennels, which is where lost and found is located I discover I could have originally taken a right out of the original parking lot and drove over about 300 feet and been at the kennels! We decide to eat at Captain Cooks it was a decent counter service meal, with dole whips in a quiet and a very relaxing respite, I wish I would have remembered Captain Cooks earlier in the week. Upon leaving the gals and I make a pit stop in the ladies room and my DS waited on a bench just outside. While we were in the ladies room a Disney guest walked by my son and said “I am glad to see you changed your shoes!” I guess my DS smiled and said yeah and the guest continued on. My son said you will never believe what just happened when we came out of the bathroom; we all laughed and thought what a small world. We call for the luggage to be brought up, load the car and head back to the Gaylord Palms to drop off the luggage with the bellman, except that it took over an hour for this little jaunt because we could not find the hotel, then we head over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for EMH best laid plans go awry Grace’s son is now done at Universal and wants to go to the studios with us, we head over to pick him up on the way to the studios. I must say the studios are not as organized when it comes to EMH and the lines were miles long to get wristbands, once we figured out the system we quickly headed to Toy Story Mania to be informed that the ride was possibly down for the night! Major bummer! We thought that we might be able to get something to drink at Pizza planet next but it was closed up as was much of the park, then we found an employee that said she could show us the way to the ranch on the other side of the park! We then got drinks and snacks for those that needed them, and we bought dinner for a cute couple that was standing in line, we asked if they were using the dining plan or using cash they said cash so we asked if we could buy their food for them, we had counter services to use that would expire at mid-night I believe the young couple was from England and just a cute as could be. We were tired and hot, we had enough of the studios though we did not do much and decided to call it a night. Wait though it is early enough to get in a trip to Downtown Disney and the kids thought some shopping would be great so we head on down to get some shopping in. My DS and I spent over an hour in the toy store stuffing the large Mr. Potato Head with parts, Grace collects Mr. Potato Heads, then we were over to the World of Disney, where we did our good deed of the trip someone had abandoned their stroller but forgot their purchases we waited a few minutes to see if they would return then just moved it next to the checkout desk and told the cast members the family will probably come looking but could they watch the stroller. My daughter bought a ring at the ring carvers and it would not be done until 11:30 but we were tired and said we would come back in the morning, she was not happy but dealt with us and left very angry. We got lost on the way back to the hotel took the wrong exit and eventually found it via Celebration. By now it was almost time for Grace’s Dad and Brother to arrive, we dropped the kids off to collect the luggage, which was just delivered to the room as I found out as I was taken back to talk to the delivery man in the luggage holding area, and get to bed, while Grace and I headed over to the Portofino to meet Grace’s dad and brother who would look after the children while we attended the conference. Grace’s brother drove us back to the Gaylord Palms and I could finally get ready for bed about 1:30 am. I decided to skip the opening session to sleep in but while getting ready for bed I realized that I did not have all my bags, I thought perhaps some went to Grace’s room I would wait to find out later in the morning.
Part 11: Where Oh Where could that be…
Grace calls and asks if I am going to the opening session of the conference, I tell her no and go back to sleep. I woke an hour later, decided to get ready and now discover that my phone charger, my computer charger, Haley’s Disney pin lanyard, my pin lanyard, my Disney charm bracelet (which my kids deem a lethal weapon because I have so many Disney charms on it), my Nintendo DS, and the charging cable are all not with us. Once dressed and ready to go I knock on Grace’s door, I ask if she has a bag of mine and she says I was just going to ask you the same question she is also missing stuff.
I call the Polynesian and was told we did not leave anything. I head off to my first session at the conference when it was done I call back to the Polynesian and ask again if it was possible we inadvertently left a bag when we picked up the luggage, and guess what they did have a black rolling duffle that had Grace’s name, Wonderful we would be over sometime today to pick it up. The kids got up and got ready Grace had ordered breakfast room service and they ate and were on their way to play. They called Uncle and said they wanted to go to Downtown Disney to pick up the ring from the night before, we had told Uncle that this was on the agenda for the day and he was to make sure they were not hassled. Grandpa went along for this adventure and ate at the Earl of Sandwich, we he loved. Uncle and Grandpa spent the day driving the kids, dropping them off and picking them up. The conference was done about 4:30 we call to be added to the pick up route and Grandpa and Uncle were at the hotel in about a half an hour. Grace and I made our way to the hotel entrance and had time to stop by to watch the alligators being fed. We found out that the alligators are at the Gaylord Palms from Gatorland and they will live at the hotel until they reach 4ft. then they are traded out with new babies, we enjoyed checking to see if the alligators or the turtles had claim to the rock in their enclosure. We discovered they shared the rock well, sometimes it would have turtles sometimes it would have alligators. Everyone was hungry and a location for dinner was discussed, the decision was eventually referred to me however based upon the discussion I clearly heard that Steak was the choice, and then Grandpa said what about that boat place we ate at last time, we head over to Fulton’s Crab House, in Downtown Disney. As always Fulton’s came through with a wonderful meal and excellent service, Craig was our server; he had excellent recommendations and was very attentive. Everyone was thrilled with their dinner and we all came out of that place in much better spirits with full tummies. We were all tired we had a long day and it was time to go back to the hotel, via the Polynesian to pick up the luggage that was left behind. We now have the markers down as to how to get us back to the Gaylord Palms without us getting lost.
Part 12, It’s raining again, and the lost is not found
I got up and got things together in the room, realizing that those missing items just did not make the trip from the Polynesian to the Gaylord Palms so before I head down to the conference I call the Polynesian and ask for a manager, to be told there was no manager on duty, then I am put through to the housekeeping line where I have to leave a message. Frustrated because I am getting no where with this loss I head off to the conference. During my break I again call the Polynesian which happens over and over again for the next week leaving messages and being told that there are no managers on duty. I am relentless with this issue of missing items because I know we had them at the Polynesian and I know we do not have them now. For 5 days I am told there is nothing of ours at the Polynesian even when I ask them to check again. I skipped ahead a little about the five days but I do not want this to become a report from here on out as to how I persevered and droned on as to this loss of items. I never gave up the pursuit of the lost items. The conference sessions were great. The kids had Uncle pick them up and deliver them to Disney Parks, and then pick them up again and come back to the hotel. Grace and I had a wonderful lunch at the buffet restaurant at the Gaylord Palms so dinner tonight would be I set up reservations at Boma for the evening meal. I am careful who I steer to Boma because I like the restaurant but some people just do not like different kinds of food. I knew this crowd would be accepting of the expanded palette of Boma.
My DS and DD wanted to make a last trip to Epcot and Norway to see the Deadliest catch guys again they wanted to know if I would go with them so despite the rains I donned a poncho, got a ride to Epcot from Uncle and we made our way to Norway, first stopping to see the kids picture that is on the pillars by spaceship earth, there is not a time I can go to Disney with out stopping by the photo, kissing my finger and placing it on the photo, kind of like my promise to return. We get to Norway I feel like a drowned rat, but he kids are so happy, both kids make their purchases; DS is wearing his previous purchase of the Helly Hansen raincoat that the brothers wear on deck on the show, that my son had the brothers sign on the inside. Sig mentioned to DS that he is a walking billboard for the Northwestern! The brothers laughed joked and were really personable with the kids, DD bought a white Helly Hansen jacket and had the brothers sign it, I was worried that the permanent markers would bleed through but Sig said if it bled through he would buy DD another jacket. Norm said to DD, we have those jackets on board too but they cost to much to wear on deck, we all laughed again. DD put on her jacket and we were off to meet the rest of the gang at the Beach Club. Grace called and said Uncle and Grandpa were stuck in traffic and for us to take the bus over to the lodge, no problem we were headed to the beach club to meet the group we would grab a bus. Since the boat had just docked at the boardwalk we got off to catch the bus, we shopped in the store on the boardwalk for a couple of minutes then walked up and out of the hotel toward the bus stop, we just missed the Animal Kingdom bus. Phone rings again Grace says Don’t take the bus traffic has let up and they will be to us in a few minutes. We then head up to the main entrance to wait, on the trek back up the hill we were entertained by all the worms that were on the sidewalk after the rain and how some of them seemed to jump around, while waiting I discovered that it was a good thing we missed the Animal Kingdom bus because it would have taken up to the park and not to the lodge.
Everyone loved the dinner at Boma all finding/discovering their favorite at the restaurant. Our waiter, Seth, was so helpful explaining all the dishes to those of us that had never been to Boma before. It was a good experience and nice to introduce the Animal Kingdom lodge to those that had never been out to it.
Part 13, Our last day!
As luck would have it the last day of the conference had a session that I wanted to go to in the very last session group so, no cutting out early. The last session was completely false advertised and not what I had been looking forward too. Grace was sprung early due to a phone call and after waiting for 15 minutes for her to return I decided to check on her. She was on a couch nearby talking to her husband, she asked if I was ready and I said yes we needed to go. Tonight we would have Uncle pick us up Grace’s DS wanted to go to the last show of the day at his favorite attraction at Universal, we raced over to deliver him to USF but really we thought he would miss the show, but he wanted to try. Uncle decided he wanted to stay at the Portofino for the night and he and Grandpa would get their stuff together to leave early in the a.m. I had arranged for a round trip from Quicksilver towncar service when they arrived. The rest of us headed over to the Magic Kingdom, we wanted to see Philarmagic one last time for the trip and my DS had been asking to eat at Pecos Bills the entire trip, tonight we would eat at Pecos Bills and we landed their right as the first SpectroMagic Parade had begun, the kids watched from the patio. It was another decent counter service. Now since we were had full bellies we wandered out toward the park entrance, via the pin store in frontierland where we purchased a few last minute pins then, we headed toward the Christmas shop where we lucky to see the Wishes fireworks from, then we headed to fantasyland and Tinkerbell’s treasures to pick up the peter pan hat we wanted to bring back to a small friend, and we managed to locate a few other must haves, then we slowly made our way to main street, where SpectroMagic was to begin again. The street was not that crowded so we stopped and watched. DD got to see her favorite Peter Pan. We had a few giggles and then bid farewell to the Magic Kingdom until next time.
Grace dropped the kids and I off at the Hotel and went over to the Portofino to pick up her DS and say good-bye to her brother and father. While they were gone we packed and got ready for the morning.
Part 14: The trip home, we almost missed
I got up early this day and began to pack the suitcases, I first emptied everything again, took stuff of counters and drawers and piled everything in the middle of the room, and nothing was going to be left behind if I could help it. I turned inside out every bag and gave it a good shake so we could not possibly leave any of our purchases behind. Our suitcases were packed we had a bag for my co-worker that we would see at the airport (rain ponchos and our park ticket lanyards). My kids had gotten up began the suitcase ordeal themselves and we were finally packed up and ready to go. Grace was finishing up so we took our bags and the valet ticket for the car and headed down. The car was with us in no time and we began to piece the puzzle of getting all the luggage into the car, Grace and kids came down with their luggage and we were all surprised at how nicely it all fit into the car. We were squishy and some not riding in the car exactly legally but we fit and were heading to the airport. Grace decided to have me get out with the kids and luggage at ticketing and she would return the car and meet us. Grace told me just to pay for the 2 extra bags and the bags that were over the weight limit. I called a skycap to help with the luggage, we would be checking in 9 pieces but he put the 2 carry-ons on the pile so we would not have to haul them into the airport with us. The skycap walked with us to check in and put one piece of luggage on the scale and soon all the luggage tickets were being printed out and placed on the correct luggage, he handed us the carry-on bags and took the luggage to the scanner. I asked about our extra bags and the bags that were over the weight limit and the ticketing agent responded it was our lucky day! Grace met us, got her ticket and we made a quick scan through the Disney store and the Universal Store, we went through the screening lines and headed to the gate. We met the co-worker whose DH said do we really need the ponchos, it doesn’t rain in Florida! We casually mentioned to notice how nicely we folded up the ponchos we used and then the rains came, it was pouring very hard, they probably sprung the ponchos before leaving the airport. The kids grabbed a bite to eat and we made our way to the gate Nobody was there, then the gate agent sprints over to us saying he was about to close the flight and we had less than a minute or we would have had to wait until the next day to fly! Grace says you could have announced the flight we had been standing just around the corner and he said we should have been in the gate area, they don’t have to announce the flight. We hurry down the jetway, onto the plain and whoa partner, those seats on our ticket are full! My DS in the lead says, Mom what is your seat number I tell him and he says well I don’t think they want us flying on someone’s lap these are taken. Then a couple of very annoyed sets of passenger’s say oh are these your seats I politely respond yes all 6 of them. They not to happily get up get their stuff and move to their seats, you see they were traveling with people with small children and they thought they would spread out to take the available seats. I am all for the spreading out if seats are available but, I have always been told you have to wait until after take-off to claim an open seat. We all settle in and had a quiet, smooth flight home. Hot humid Minnesota felt very comfortable to return home to after being in Orlando for 8 days.
Part 15, Now it’s time to find the lost items
Monday A.M. I am up early and begin making calls, again the first call of the day to the Polynesian resort results in me being told there is no manager on duty. I call my insurance agent explain what happened and say that in all approximately $1500 worth of items are missing, I find our my deductible is
$1000, and that I have to believe the items were stolen, this process seems like something I do not want to go through and a huge hassle as well. It was recommended to me that I call WDW and find out what their policy is for lost items and if they have a way for guests to make a claim. Now, all I want are the items to be returned I do not want to hassle with claims etc. I feel like the worst mom in the world for losing my daughters pin lanyard, which she has collected pins on from all of our Disney trips. I am sad about my things but I feel worse about my DD’s lanyard. I continue to make calls to everyone I can think of and constantly have to leave messages. This system for losing items in hotels needs to be fixed it is broken.
Finally Tuesday A.M. I am not feeling good about the lost items, I go online and look up the name and address of Jay Rasulo the V.P. for WDW Parks and Resorts. I decided to make one last call to the Polynesian before I begin my letter to Jay. I ask to be connected to the concierge building guest service cast member and I am connected to Brandon. I explain to Brandon that I am on the last of my patients with this problem it has almost been a week since I left the Polynesian my vacation has been surrounded with a black cloud and it has no hope of clearing up until the issue of the missing items is solved. I take the time to go through the entire process to this point, explaining that on numerous times I called the hotel to talk to a manager only to be told there is no manager on duty, I explain to Brandon that I was not born on a turnip truck and I know for a fact that they have some type of manager on duty at the resort 24/7 and that due to a previous issue that is unrelated I personally spoke with 3 managers of the resort. Brandon was very empathetic and I did notice a bit of shock in his voice as I went on and on about what was going on and the length of time this has been taken and the repeated calls that I have made all to be met with dead ends. I also explained how irritated that I was being wished a Magical Day by everyone I talk to that nothing can be magical until my belongings were returned. Brandon took notes on the call and said that Laura is the manager on duty right now he was going to talk with her and she would be calling me shortly, I gave Brandon the numbers that I could be reached at and hung up. Less than 15 minutes later Laura called she said Brandon had explained everything and that she would personally look into the issue and call me by the evening. An hour after I spoke with Laura she again called to say “actually Betsy we have quite a few items that you left in your hotel room, she went on to explain the items that were in a bag with Grace’s name address and phone number and by the way these are the additional items that we found in your room that you have not told us about, would you like us to ship them out, relieved I said yes and she said we could expect them by the end of the next week. I talked to Grace and said the items were found with some additional items, one being her Dooney and Bourke Purse, she got a funny look on her face and said, Betsy, I never took that out of my suitcase ever, my items were in her bag and this all is very strange. Like I said all I want are to have the items returned. I actually returned Laura’s call to verify that it was in fact my DD’s lanyard and she was able to verify that fact. Whew, I am relieved; I knew the items were at the Polynesian and if I had not been dog on persistent we never would have had the items found.
Wed. I went to work and when I got to Grace’s house in the afternoon there was a huge box for WDW’s Polynesian Resort, I opened it to find most of the items that were missing. Laura had explained that the DS was not in the missing items. I was relieved to know that the most replaceable item was the only item I believe is missing from this adventure. I called Laura again this afternoon a little chocked up to express my thanks at what a wonderful, diligent cast member she was. I also explained that I will still be writing Jay a letter but now the tone of the letter will be completely different and that I will explain how both she and Brandon really saved my love for Disney. I will also recommend that they receive a Disney commendation for their dedication to the Disney guests. Laura thanked me and responded by saying now the black cloud is lifted and I could have a magical day, yes now I could!
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