This is how we feel there, out of step w/ the other guests, but the CMs make us feel very welcome.
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At GF I feel like I’d have to wear this just to go swimming in the pool:
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Why Bucket List
Many of you know why this trip was for our 25th anniversary and Epic Bucket List, however I may have picked up a few people along the way that aren’t aware of our story. If you wanted full details look for my other posts, but I will try to summarize here as well. The reason is not for woe is me but to emphasize how important getting every drop of fun and happiness out of this trip was to us. I think we have managed that and I again thank all those who helped me plan any part of this.
Jan 2019 DH was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had his left kidney removed. It was technically stage 3 due to some blood vessels that extended beyond the kidney. We took the option to monitor his condition without any additional medication at that time. The oncologist was excellent in explaining that either option was equally recommended. So every 3-4 months he got MRI or CT and blood work. Things looked good for the first year or so. 2020 entered the scene. We decided to plan a WDW trip since we hadn’t done anything “fun” since his surgery. That’s when I joined this forum. I really needed a break and was really looking forward to returning to WDW for the first time since our honeymoon. Then covid happened. Trips were canceled etc etc. I really had a hard time as many people did. We were very careful since I have diabetes and DH was a cancer survivor. Fortunately our loved ones agreed with science and we managed to remain mostly unaffected by covid directly. Then 2020 decided to up the ante. Right before Thanksgiving a routine check up stopped being routine. Oncologist was visited. I wasn’t allowed in the building so I had to FaceTime DH with my phone and record it with our iPad. Stage 4. Renal (kidney) cancer. This means it has spread to other parts of his body in this case, as is typical, the lungs. 40 nodes were counted some 10 mm in diameter. This is not a cancer to beat. It doesn’t get cured. It is about quality and length of life. It’s treating cancer as a chronic condition. The dr wouldn’t give me the numbers I wanted and I didn’t press too hard. He did say if DH didn’t treat this he probably would have 6 months left. The other end he wouldn’t give me, it depends, it can be years etc. When kidney cancer is first caught if it’s already stage 4 there is an 8% five year survival rate. With a recurrence that changes but since I haven’t been allowed in to his appointments it’s been hard to ask the dr. Before he started treatment I asked DH what’s one bucket list thing you would want to do. (Not knowing how he would respond to treatment made this more urgent) he said pretty quickly WDW and Harry Potter. So I started planning this trip to leave as soon as I could once school was over (h.s math teacher here). Fortunately, he responded really well to his treatments. Cancer is shrinking and nothing new is happening right now. However there have been some side effects that are starting to be an issue and when we get back we may have to play at adjusting his treatments.
So we will celebrate our 25th anniversary on July 27th. I don’t know how long I will still have with my best friend but we now have some wonderful memories that I will always cherish.
Next up UOR
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I’m so glad you got to take this bucket list trip! Thanks for taking us along.
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So many hugs to both of you. I’m so happy you got to have this amazing trip together. 
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I just wanted to say I’m so sorry you are both facing this prognosis. This would be on my bucket list as well, and having read your report, it looked like you did a fabulous job fulfilling this mission! It seems like it was time very well spent, together.
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From Orlando to DC
We made it to DC after traveling on the train from Orlando. The trip was pretty good but we realized we were much more exhausted than we had thought. We did get to see a little of the sites the Washington monument, the capital, the national mall as we were being driven to our hotel and we realized we were not up for any sightseeing or people. One thing that hadn’t helped was the redcap service that we were supposed to get as we got off the train got allocated to other people, so we had to wait which aggravated my disability and brought me a lot of pain. We did eventually get redcap service and the guy was awesome and got us a cab as well but it was just a longer process than we had intended.
We also saw the beginnings of what are probably Juneteenth celebrations or protests for tomorrow (now today) which we really don’t want to be around because that’s going to mean even more people than today. Not a big deal because this was always an add-on due to scheduling the train because of Covid so we’re gonna use the rest of today and tomorrow as self-care days in the hotel. We will be very happy to not be around people. Lol. Oh. And the scooters were delivered. Now they better process the refund.
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So sorry for everything you both are facing. I really admire you guys for having the courage to take this trip… it can’t have been easy at times. Still, it sounds like you had a wonderful time together that you will always remember. Even the frustrating moments you will both share a laugh about in the future! Best wishes for continued success with the cancer treatments and many more precious times together! We will all be rooting for you! 
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UOR Part 1
We basically had 2.5 days for Universal. We could have had another have day on our last day both we were just too exhausted.
We had 3 goals with Universal:
1. try all 7 versions of butter beer
2. Get wands and do wand stuff
3. Anything else we wanted maybe trying test seats just for fun.
First half day we ate at the Leaky Caldron ( this is where I was for dealing with ECV debacle aftermath)for our dinner. We tried Hot, regular and clotted cream butter beers. We liked all three though Hot was favorite and DH really liked the clotted cream. Also, they need to clearly mark entrances and exits. We both had the fish n chips. The fish was very good but I didn’t think potato wedges were proper chips or French fries. The fish was good though. The overall fish n chips is better at Epcot’s Yorkshire County Fish Shop imho. It was on and off rainy but we did manage to go into most of the Diagon Ally shops. They were interesting to navigate, very minimally spaced aisles and the helpfulness of others was needed to see some things. One unfortunate thing is the were all out of the medium sized pygmy puffs 
. I even asked about the 3 in the menagerie window but they couldn’t sell them. We also found out the procedure for seeing Gringots without riding. We ended up not doing it but the process was nearly the same for Hogwarts (FJ). They “say” the lines can’t accommodate ECVs. I call mostly shenanigans on that based on our Hogwarts experience. However, you can borrow one of their wheelchairs and use that in line. This sounds great and equitable to non disabled people, however there are issues with it I will put in a follow up post about accessibility at both parks.
Once done with DA for the day we decided to head back to hotel because more rain. However, we managed to get into the last Horror Makeup Show for the day just as it started to rain harder. We have seen that show or some form of it every time at any Universal and we loved it as always. DH did makeup in high school shows and loves makeup effects.
Next morning we RD Olivanders and we’re in the first group of the day!! Did not get picked but that’s ok. The shop is one of the worst to navigate in an ECV. Fortunately a nice TM witch helped us out.
We then headed to Hogsmede as USF was a predicted 10/10 crowd calendar. Loved the HExpress!! We got the car to ourselves the first time but not again after that. Once in Hogsmede we looked around a bit and decided we would try to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We found the end of the line to get in, and basically sat there for 15 to 20 minutes without moving at all. So we decided we would try someplace else. We happened upon The Burger Digs in the Jurassic Park area. We each had a burger and a brookie (brownie and cookie combo). The TM who seated us really went the extra mile because he found us a spot where we could easily park our ECVs nearby without making any kind of fuss. The burgers, while nothing fancy, were very good and much better than normal theme park burgers. We would definitely eat there again! The brookies were literally a cookie baked into the top of a brownie and were fine but not as special as they want you to think they are.
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I will be adding more later because this TR is not finished!
However, we are back in our home city waiting to be picked up.
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I’m glad you made it home safely!
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UOR Part 2
Not sure if this was before or after our lunch, but we did do the Hogwarts castle tour. Which means we went through the standby line and didn’t ride. This also means that we had to park our ECVs (taking all our stuff of course) and borrow one of their wheelchairs. These were slightly larger than a standard wc but smaller than the typical larger size. I fit in the seat but could not actually use the wheelchair as it’s intended. Ok. No biggie I’ll just use it as a walker and sit in it to rest when I need to. That almost worked. First, let me say walking through Hogwarts Castle was worth everything! The detail and layers of immersion were fantastic! Don’t regret doing it at all!!! Having said that here are my thoughts about accessibility. I did not see any place where the line could not have accommodated most ECVs. Likewise the few iffy spots could easily have been spaced just a bit differently to make the attraction much more accessible imho. When we started the wait was like 20 minutes so we could wander and rest as needed. Then as the queue got busier it became harder for us to find a spot to step aside and take a break. DH would have pushed me if I had asked him to, but I didn’t ask him because I love him. If it had been flat maybe, but not uphill!! It became really difficult for me towards the end where there was almost constant movement of the line and no place to pause. One of my issues tends to be standing in one place even with aids like the wheelchair/walker. My legs start to hurt with very acute pain. The only thing that helps is sitting down. Like I said, worth it, but the next day my legs were extra sensitive/painful.
Then once that and lunch were done we decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap which was a great decision!! We came back and decided to give 3 Broomsticks another try. The line outside was much shorter than earlier and appeared to be moving so we joined. This is the line where @eightyeightkeys recognized me and we had our mini-meetup. Once inside you realize that there is still a lot of line left and it seemed to get slower. I don’t remember how long we were in line. I do remember that it took a bit for them to get us a table but that when we did get one we were able to park our ECVs inside, out of the way. That was nice. The tables/chairs are odd. The benches and tables are normal height but any chair is like half the height from the floor than you are used to!! It was very odd and if it’s because of something in the books I don’t remember it. It bothered DH more than me as he had a hard time standing up because of the lower center of gravity. Our dinner was fine I think I had fish n chips again and we both had frozen butter beer (4/7 so far). We both really like it and decided that Hot and Frozen are the way to go for butter beer drinks. Since it was getting late like park almost closing late we decided to order the hard pack ice cream for dessert. One butter beer and the other strawberry peanut butter. We ordered at about 8:50 pm. Things were winding down but people were still getting dinners. Some TM were starting end of night routine things. We figured that it shouldn’t take too long to get two tubs from the freezer and some spoons. We were wrong. I should also mention that there was a pretty good stream of people getting to-go butterbeers which shouldn’t be possible with their MO system except that some people know a hack where you put 00 in as the table and you get your to-go butter beers right away. This rubbed me wrong because at Disney everyone gets the same basic service even if you don’t know “secret “ menu items etc. but here if you knew a secret you could essentially cut the line, which given how they set things up seems unfair. Particularly given our ice cream situation. Once it got to be 20 minutes and nothing (also once they are preparing your food there is no way to cancel the order) we flagged a nice TM and asked about it. She said she would try to see what was up. During this time fewer people eating and fewer TMs serving etc. At about 9:15 we just wanted to be able to leave but didn’t want to pay for ice cream and not get it. At about 9:20 I got the attention of another TM and asked to speak with a manager (there are still times when that is perfectly necessary!). One finally came and I explained that we had been waited more than 30 minutes for someone to grab two ice cream tubs and bring them and at this point we just wanted to cancel our order so we could go. He was very apologetic and we discussed the issue with not being able to cancel online etc. and that we knew they did orders as they came but there weren’t many people left etc. He needed my card to do a refund, fortunately I had my actual card with me and not just stored in the app. Then he disappeared for a bit (5 minutes??? 10??) and finally came back with my card, refund receipt and the ice cream. He again was very apologetic and insisted we take the ice cream we were getting a refund for. We finally left and ended up eating the ice cream on the path back to the hotel. It was good. (5/7 butter beers).
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Sorry it’s taking me a bit to finish this up but I have edema and with the super hot and humid and my “mishaps”, it kinda exploded near end of the trip. I’ve been dealing with it and trying to get a handle on it since we got back. Dealing with the severe itching etc. made it hard to concentrate on writing. I think 
I’ve started to get it under control so finishing up should be happening. In addition to my TR I want to do a bit on accessibility and differences in Disney and UOR. Not sure if I should just include those here or start a new topic.
We have resolved never to go to Florida during summer months ever again. So will need to wait until at least September 2022 to think about returning. I’m hoping to retire in August 2022. Will have to keep an eye on DL too and the Marvel campus. 
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September and October are still hot and muggy. If you really want to be comfortable go Jan/Feb. Nov/Dec are better too but prices do increase then.
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Thanks for the information! Nov 22 - Feb 23 then. Unless we do DVC we can stay at POFQ.
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It’s one of my FAVORITE resorts, small, quiet, on the water.
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I was already enjoying the snot out of your trip, and now I’m bawling the snot out of myself. I hope your DH continues to respond well to treatment. Here’s to taking up residence in the 8%!!!
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UOR part 3
So we RD Diagon Ally on the third day which was great because it meant we actually got to try all the known wand spots in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmede!! Then we wandered about a bit and decided to try Transformers. We got there and unfortunately someone had gotten ahead of us for the wheelchair to borrow. So one guy asked the decision maker “couldn’t I just take them up?” Yas!! That meant he took us up the exit ramp and right to the spot for rider swap!!! Perfect! Better than needing to use a wheelchair!! We fit just fine and it was a wild ride!! Much better than what we were expecting! Thanks to the TM that thought a bit creatively!!!
Oh and sometime that morning we had butter beer ice cream (soft serve) at Madam F’s and got butter beer fudge at Honey Dukes!! (6&7/7 taken care of)!!
At lunch we decided to take a break and try the Bread Box in CityWalk. We made it up all the zigzagging ramps and had an amazing lunch! Definitely give it a try if you want some good simple food!!
Then we went back to the hotel to rest because we had 6 pm reservations for BigFire that night.
Our dinner at BigFire was amazing. We got sat in an out of the way area which was perfect for us. DH had a burger which he enjoyed and I had the roasted half-chicken. The flavor of the chicken was so good. The spices were flavorful and handled by someone who understands that not all spices are meant to be hot. That many are meant to augment the flavor of the food not cover it up. The server came by and asked how things were going and I told her much the same. She said she would tell the people in the kitchen. Later she came back to let us know how much my words were appreciated 
.
After that wonderful meal we did a little shopping at the Legacy Universal store and then decided that we were ready to be done at Universal. We were leaving the next day. We had tickets that would have let us go to both parks Thursday and our train didn’t leave until 7:30 pm but we were done. Universal can be very draining and we were ready to be heading home.
So we got up slowly and packed. Then we checked out and had lunch at the Kitchen. It was all right but not as great as BigFire the night before. Then we hung out in the lobby waiting for our car service, which was a bit early though we didn’t mind. HRH plays the music just a little too loud in the public areas. Next we got set up at the train station and were on our way right around 7:30.
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We have done that on a couple of rides there with DH - definitely Jurassic Park and I think Spider-Man. BigFire sounds great, I’ll have to look into that!
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