Ok, so it’s been a bit since I’ve updated this. Apologies on that. School’s final weeks were killer and I had another trip to ramp up (and down) for. But the story isn’t over yet so… onward!
Day 6 - Trials and Tribulations
The morning starts, as it always does, with an early morning wake up in the hotel room. I let mom sleep in extra “late” today, as we don’t have any breakfast reservations today because today is a Extra Magic Hour day in Magic Kingdom. As she needed the rest and I knew we wouldn’t get any advantage from a breakfast in the park, I thought this would be the best course of action. The morning is cool and cloudy and everything is still soaked from the storm last night. I take a towel to the chairs out to the balcony to dry them off.
Once she stirs, we recreate our, now traditional, cereal breakfast in the hotel room. I settled down into the balcony seat gingerly(my fear of heights causing no sudden movements) with my cereal while mom sat on the bed closest to the window (but still unwilling to actually go out onto the balcony.) We had purchased a bunch of those “travel cereal” variety packages specifically for this morning, so we had a number of choices to choose from. It was a little tricky fitting them in the luggage down here, but worth it for this. While the Fantasia Market downstairs had a bunch, they wanted around $8 per package. Hah, no. However, I warned mom not to eat too much because I had plans for “2nd Breakfast” today.
As we ate, we are joined by birds looking for scraps. Mom becomes fixated on them and wants to feed them, so she throws a few pieces of cereal to them. To which a few hop over and scoop up the loose pieces. I suggest she can feed them better out on the balcony, but with a look of “nuh-uh”, I laughed as I understood getting her out on the balcony was just not going to happen.
Once the birds are fed, mom and I go over what we’ve done so far and what the plans are for today. Today, we don’t have much on the agenda other than Spirit of Aloha. Mom has been trying to see this show for years when she comes to Disney World, but circumstances always keep her from seeing it in its entirety. Today, we’re looking to change that.
Once we finished up 1st Breakfast, we grabbed our gear and headed out to the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of the lower crowds and to just walk around and do some shopping.
We get to the park and the sun starts to come out, drying everything off and warming the air to a comfortable level. We roll over to the Emporium and go through looking for souvenirs. Mom’s has become reluctant to buy anything because she suddenly thinks we can’t afford anything, even with my reassurances that she can get anything she wants…short of a certain jewel-encrusted castle that costs more than my car.
As we make our way up Main Street, we catch a performance of the Trolley Show. I think I liked the autumn show a bit more, because as I write this, I’ve already forgotten what the song is where as the Autumn one still pops up in my head every once in a while.
We continue onto Liberty Square where it’s time to enjoy 2nd Breakfast at Sleepy Hollow Inn. I order a large Mickey Waffle and mom gets the Egg and Cheese Waffle Sandwich. The waiting for it was a bit awkward as there was no table free to park mom at so instead we waited in the little area which was mobbed with people. Moving was impossible and while it would have been ok without a wheelchair, it was a nightmare with one. After a while and inching up, I was finally able to get through the crowd and set mom up to the side so we could more comfortably wait. Almost as soon as this happened, a table opened up so I quickly scooted mom over there to claim the table and went back to get our food.
Once food was in hand, I joined mom at the table and we enjoyed 2nd Breakfast next to the castle. As I dined on my delicious fluffy Mickey Waffle, I marvel at the setting once again. Eating here next to the castle, with the warm sun shining in the morning, makes this restaurant on par with, or arguably better than, any other dining experience here in Disney World for me.
A loud “quack” brings me out of my musings and I notice several ducks have joined everyone for breakfast (not Donald). The one mallard seems particularly interested in our table, but he’s nuts if he’s thinking he’s getting any of this waffle. I look over at mom who is still contently working on her waffle sandwich. Once again, the meal is silent, but I’m content so long as she’s enjoying herself. Which the quick smile she flashes at me confirms.
After the duck loses interest in our table, he decides it’s time that it’s time to blow this pop stand and takes flight. On his way out though, his flight path was a little off and nearly collides with mom which caused a few moments of surprise and hilarity.
After we finish up 2nd Breakfast, we take our coffees and stroll around, take a few photos of things. One thing I’ve actually been wanting to see is the Cinderella Fountain. For some reason, when I was here last, I couldn’t find the thing so I was looking forward to checking it out. I wheel mom up to where it was and get a photo of it with her.
As we finish up there, I look at my watch and we’re nearing 11AM and mom is starting to fade and she wants to head back to the hotel so that’s exactly what we do. Once I get mom back to the hotel, I plug her POC machine back in and begin the process of recharging all her batteries. She climbs into bed and I pull up the park info channel on the TV and the music fills the room once again. Mom settles in and I let her know I’ll be heading out and check on her to see if she needs anything. She sleepily tells me no and to have a good time. I nod as she falls the rest of the way to sleep.
With that, I’m out the door and head toward the monorail. I’ve been itching to try some food from the Flower and Garden Festival but haven’t had a chance yet, so I’m looking to fix that now and moving with a bit of energy. I also am feeling that I could be called back at any moment if mom should wake up, so that fuels my speed even more. I’m through security easy enough and soon on the monorail listening to the narrator. I don’t even understand why, but the narration on the monorail has become as important as anything else here in Disney World. I do notice there’s a difference in the speech though. Before, in 2016, as we headed toward TTC, he wished those who are departing a safe trip home, but now there’s no mention of it at all.
I soon disembark into Epcot and the sun has since disappeared and the clouds have turned ominous as I head into World Showcase. On the way in, I noticed the sign for Annual Passholders to get their free magnet, so I change course real quick to pick it up. It’s a useless little trinket but a nice thing that Disney has done for AP holders.
Once I deposit my magnet safely in my park bag, I start counterclockwise in World Showcase and come upon the Honey Bee-stro, which is apparently a new booth here in the festival this year. I think this is a good place to start for the food so I look over the menu but don’t see that much interests me until I see the “Honey-Peach Cobbler Freeze” Now we’re talking. There’s an alcoholic version but as I don’t drink I opt to go for the cheaper virgin one.
The system they have for giving you your order is surprising to me. You make an order at the front, pay, and then they give you a receipt. You walk around the side and there’s a cast member there who takes your receipt, then announces it to the “kitchen” at the moment and then they make it. I found this strange as the line quickly grew using this method. I would think someplace like Epcot would use a far more efficient system, something like McDonald’s uses, where the order is displayed on a screen in the back. Still, I got my small cup of freeze soon enough and gave it a try. Absolutely fantastic! The crunchy honey “crystals” at the top set off the creamy treat.
The treat doesn’t last long enough for me to make it back to the main thoroughfare as I basically inhaled it, so then it’s off toward England and France to see what they have to offer. I’m after something seriously chocolaty, so I’m thinking France is my best bet. As I enter into France, I look over the menu and I see chocolate there, but nothing major enough for me, or at least not at the price they’re asking. The sky is starting to look ominous though, so I need to figure something out here quick before rain forces me indoors or mom calls saying she’s rested again.
I remember that there’s an ice cream parlor on the Boardwalk, which can be accessed from here and I’ve been wanting to see how long it takes me to get from Epcot to Hollywood Studios. So I spin around and head out the International Gateway toward the Boardwalk.
When I did this walk last, I thought the boardwalk was in the middle of both Hollywood Studios and Epcot but I quickly discovered I was wrong. Within 3 minutes, I had entered onto the boardwalk and made a bee-line for Ample Hills Creamery for some ice cream.
Like most things here at Disney, the amount of choices is almost dizzying, but I see they have a new feature than last time which is the “flight of ice cream.” Perfect option for me and I load up several flavors, my favorite being the “baked/half baked” one. Which is part cookie dough, and part fully baked cookie.
As I exit out of the creamery, the rain has started so I finish my ice cream under the awning of the Screendoor General Store. Even though the ice cream was done, the rain was not, so into the store I went to check it out.
After I was done in there, the rain was starting to let up, so I decided it was time to see how long it was going to take to get to Hollywood studios and began heading in that direction. The distance was considerably longer than Epcot and I clocked myself taking 17 minutes to finish. I was a little disappointed with my speed, but happy that I had a concrete time to work with in the future.
I get into Hollywood Studios, but I’m not wholly sure what I want to do. I’ve pretty much seen everything here in the park, but then I remember I’m a little behind in my Mickey Pretzel consumption so I figure now is as good a time as any to catch up a little. I begin wandering the park looking for a stand that sells them and settle on the one just outside of the Chinese Theater.
I get into line and am only there about 10 seconds when my phone rings. It’s mom. I check my watch and it’s considerably earlier than I was expecting and exactly what I had been mildly dreading.
“Hello?” I ask, already mentally plotting a course out of the park so I can get back.
“Hey, you need to get back here,” she sounds very upset, “There’s someone knocking on the door saying our time is up and we need to get out.”
This doesn’t make sense at all. “Wait, what do you mean? Who’s telling you that?”
“I don’t know. They’re just telling me our time is up.”
“Are they there now?” I mentally run a list of who could be giving her such an command at the contemporary, the list is a grand total of zero unless it’s a guest confused on where they were.
“No, they left.” I can tell she’s on the verge of tears in her voice. “Can you come back please?”
“I’m on my way.” I say, probably a little curt though I’m not mad at her at all. If someone bothered her while she was sleeping for such a threat, I’m going to rip someone a new one.
“Please can you come back?” She repeats
“Yeah, I’m on my way.” I reassure her as I am already making my way to the bus stop. Again, my voice probably not sounding the most sympathetic.
After a few more pleads for me to come back, and me reassuring that I am, I hop on the bus and headed back to the contemporary. As I ride, I play the conversation over in my head. Her confusion at the end with not accepting/understanding I’m already on my way keeps sticking with me. She’s confused so I start questioning what’s really going on.
After about 15 minutes, I’m entering the Contemporary lobby and I head over to the front desk. It’s time to get some answers and I’ve had time to calm down, so I ask the Cast Member there if everything was OK with the room and recounted what mom had said to me. The Cast Member looked utterly confused about the situation and looked at his terminal nodding that everything with the room was just fine.
I thank him for his time and head up to the room. Upon entering, the room music is replaced with standard TV programming and mom is there watching. I ask her to, once again, tell me what happened and she kept saying the same thing: someone knocked on the door and said get out, our time is up. I reassure her that whatever it was, it had nothing to do with us and relayed what the front desk had told me, that everything was perfectly fine with the room and that should there be any issue, no one should be calling the room or knocking on the door and instead should be reaching out to me directly.
This seemed to calm her a bit, but not entirely so I recommended she try to get some more sleep and this time I would stay in the room. She seemed to be ok with that and settled back into bed and I made my way to the balcony. As I did, the TV happened to play a trailer that caught my ear. The trailer was for one of her crime shows and they kept threatening that the villain that their “time was up.” Suddenly, I started to get an idea of what was happening. She was having a lucid dream and was hearing the show bleed into her dream and probably heard someone outside the room as they were making their way through the hall. (Or, and I didn’t think of this until I am here writing this, it was a security check and just happened to hit all the wrong timing.)
I relaxed a little with that knowledge and let her sleep. Eventually, it was time for us to head over to the Polynesian for our Spirit of Aloha show. I start the “process” of leaving around 1.5 hours before the show just to give her time to get moving and we’re out the door within a half hour.
We get to the monorail and are through security fairly quickly and then grab the elevator up to the platform. We don’t get a few feet out of the elevator before running into a crowd of people. I feel this is a bit odd, but don’t pay it much mind.
However, it becomes clear that there’s a problem with the monorail. The crowd has now grown to a level where we cannot move (with a chair) and getting back down is impossible. So we wait there for about 40 minutes before finally Disney Cast Members officially announce that the monorail is down and that we should depart to the buses. I smirk at the recent memory that I saw a factoid somewhere saying the monorail has a 99% uptime rate. For this week, it seemed to be that entire 1%.
It takes another 15 minutes before we’re finally back on the elevator and able to move freely. Looking at my time, I see we’re cutting it really close but we can still make it on time. We get out to the bus stop and see it’s mobbed. We start to wait for the bus but there’s apparently no bus heading directly to the Poly and instead are taking on the “monorail resort loop”, so it’ll go to TTC then to Poly, then to the Grand Floridian, then back here.
After 15 minutes of waiting, I decide there’s more than 1 way to skin a cat here and head over to the Magic Kingdom, even though it’s lightly raining. I figure there’s bound to be buses to the Poly there and if not that, we can take the ferry to the TTC and walk over.
I approach the Magic Kingdom bus lot and the rain begins to grow stronger and I make sure mom is wrapped in her poncho. I look at the destination chart and notice that none of the buses are going to the Polynesian. That’s odd. I flag down a security cast member and ask which bus goes to the Poly only to have him confirm there is none that goes there. Weird, I could have swore that they go to the Poly.
A little dejected, I wheel mom over to the ferry where a ton of people are disembarking and notice there’s no one heading toward the ferry. As I had never boarded the ferry from MK before, I decided it was best to double check with someone to make sure this was, indeed, the place to board. I walked up to the booth and asked the cast members inside “How do I get to the ferry?”
The girls inside looked at me like I was playing a joke on them. The one pointed her thumb over her shoulder and said cautiously “it’s right behind us?” Nodding, I said “right, but where do we board?”
Their confused look only increased and it caused me to replay the question in my head to try and determine why I was getting such looks. It didn’t take much for me to realize that my question sounded incredibly stupid. Trying to recover, I mention I’ve never boarded from MK before.
The girl stumbled through her confusion and said it’s also right behind us but it’s not taking traffic right now. Shocked, I simply blurted out a confused “oh, ok, thanks.” And gathered mom up.
In the few seconds it took for me to get back to mom, my shock work off and was replaced with full on frustration. I wheeled mom back to the contemporary in the now driving rain and approached the, very mobbed, bus stop. Realizing I would never get her chair through the crowd, I decided to go in the lobby through the back way and then rejoin the mob. As we do so, the concierge greets us and I quickly ask him if there’s more than 1 bus coming and he nods.
“Oh, absolutely! It’d be crazy out there if we didn’t!” He said, reassuringly.
“It’s crazy now.” I fired back immediately, with far less joy in my voice. I tried my best not to snap at him, but at this point the show was already started and the mob outside indicates that the buses are not plentiful.
He seemed to realize the gravity of my frustration and the smile disappeared from his face and he gave a nod of apology and I continued on my way out of the lobby. I get mom back into the “line” (and I use that term loosely) and we wait for the bus.
Finally a bus comes around and we board first, thanks to the wheelchair thing, and soon we’re off to the TTC. As we go, I overhear a passenger say they’ve been on this bus for over 2 hours trying to get wherever it was they were going (I don’t remember). I look at my own watch and happen to realize we are now a full hour into the show.
As we ride I look at mom to try and read her emotions on her face but she’s just staring off blankly. None of this is really registering with her. Small blessings, I guess.
We finally get to the Poly and disembark and head into the lobby toward the registration desk that I had noticed earlier in the week when we were hanging out in the lobby. However, there was no one there and so I waited a few minutes thinking that the attendant was just away. As I had absolutely no idea where to go, I really didn’t have any other choice but to wait to see if someone showed at first. Eventually, it became obvious that no one was coming so I flagged down a cast member and asked them where the show was.
“The dinner show? That’s nearly over!” The elderly man said bluntly. Thanks, man… can I have some more salt for that wound?
After explaining that we still wanted to get over there, he gave us verbal directions with the note “I’d take you, but I have to be somewhere else.” He then vanished off behind a door and I wheeled mom out on to the path.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped at this point so it wasn’t completely miserable. As we walked, I made the decision to see if I could get a refund, even though the website said there were no refunds and I never tried to get ahold of anyone to cancel ahead of time. But seeing the last quarter of the show didn’t appeal to me for how much money we plunked down for this so I figured we’ll just have to try again next time. I ran this idea past mom real quick and she disappointingly agreed.
Eventually, we found the counter (after getting a bit lost) and I left mom at the top of the stairs while I approached the desk and explained the situation about why we were late. The Cast Member completely understood and offered to give us passes for another show. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take her up on the offer as we had the Dessert Party already for tonight and we were leaving on Monday and the show doesn’t happen on Sunday or Monday, so this particular time was our only chance. Realizing that, she immediately offered to refund the money. She even went as far to say if we wanted, we could watch the end of the show from the back.
Declining, I thanked her and headed back to mom. Once there, I knelt down to be at eye level with mom and relayed everything that was said at the counter. Mom was in agreement that if she couldn’t the whole show at this point, she’d rather see none of it. She’s had enough of the piecemeal style of taking this show in. Nodding sympathetically, I agreed with her, and we started to determine what we wanted to do now as we only had about an hour before our dessert party started up. We could either go back to the hotel room or go to MK and get dinner. We were there for a few minutes contemplating our options and we must’ve looked pretty pitiful because soon the girl from the desk came up and asked if we were OK.
I said we were and just deciding what to do now. Once again, the girl offered for us to watch the rest of the show, this time directing the offer at mom, and added she’d be happy to bring some food out for us at no charge. This is the level of Disney Customer Service that I am always impressed with.
This time, it was mom who declined politely. After asking if we’re sure several times, the girl finally conceded and we thanked her again for her compassion and we started toward the lobby (before it began raining again).
On our way to the lobby, we had decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom, and get food at Pinocchio Hause. I know it’s considered sacrilege for some, but I was looking forward to one of their caprese flatbread pizzas and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to rebound from all this.
As we entered the lobby, I checked to see if the monorail was still down and the cast member at the front desk confirmed that it was. Not wanting to have another bus fiasco, I thanked him and wheeled mom out and past the bus stop and we headed toward the TTC to take the ferry to the Kingdom. Of course, there was always the danger of the boat not taking traffic TO the magic kingdom now, so as we got closer, I had to ask the security guard if it was.
He confirmed that it was and I let out a sigh of relief as we went through security and eventually found ourselves on the boat. Things were looking up as we were on of the last ones on and the ferry launched almost immediately. I kept gauging mom’s level of disappointment and it seemed to be about where I expected: obviously was looking forward to the show and sad she didn’t get to see it.
Once we were at the gates, once again, I was incredibly glad of the “pass holder only” line. What could have been a significant wait turned into nothing other than waiting for mom’s magicband to cooperate with the tapstyle. Once we were through, I wheeled her directly to Pinocchio Hause with the idea of sitting and watching the Small World boats.
As we neared the restaurant, the rain picked up again and, as the outside seating was empty due to being wet, the interior of the restaurant was packed. So much for my hopes of watching the small world boats…
I parked mom off to the side and got into line to order our pizzas. Being particularly hungry, I had ordered 3 pizzas. 1 for mom and 2 for me. We had them soon enough and I found a table for us and did some less-than-graceful maneuvering as I wheeled mom and the pizzas over to the table.
We began eating and overall it wasn’t bad, but the pizza wasn’t as good as I had before (0 for 2 on the pizzas this trip) but it sufficed. Then I looked at my watch and saw it was already 7:30. Somehow we had burned up a whole hour in transit from the Poly to sitting here. Urging mom to finish her pizza, she only ate about a quarter of it before declaring she was full. As we didn’t have time for us to sit here and let her work at it, I took her at her word and let the matter drop. Meanwhile, I woofed down the last of my first pizza, realizing I wouldn’t have time to eat the second one.
I decided to take it with us and had mom hold the pizza while I wheeled us out toward Tomorrowland Terrace, suggesting she help herself if she was hungry. The rain had started up again and I put some extra speed on to get Mom out of the rain and into the covered area of the Terrace. We get the entrance and go through the registration and again we’re on time but that means we’re “late” for this party. Once again, there’s no open tables for easy wheelchair access so, once again, I have to maneuver mom to the center of the mass of tables.
When she’s settled in, I offer to get some deserts and run down the list of what she wants. She says she wants nothing but I suggest things I saw on the table. When I land on “ice cream” she nods, probably just to shut me up, and I dash off to get the goods.
I gather up a bunch of the little cheesecakes, cookies, and other dessert items and put them on a plate and come back to the table. I drop them off and grab two things of coffee and also bring them back. Finally, I head back out one more time to get the ice cream. This is exhausting.
Unlike the last time, there was nothing interesting at all about this ice cream experience. It’s different Cast Members and so it was more assembly line than it was anything else, but I was happy for it as I didn’t really have time to interact with anyone this time around. I collected the ice creams and headed back to the table, finally able to sit for a few moments.
Mom ate about half her ice cream and then put it down, saying she didn’t want anymore. Meanwhile, I attempted to eat the now-waterlogged pizza (Thank you, rain) and decided it was lost cause and set it to the side. In compensation, I cleared the plate of dessert items and the ice cream in record time and went to get seconds.
I came back and finished up the second plate and, now feeling full, asked if mom wanted anything else. She didn’t and I asked if she wanted to go to get our spot for the fireworks. That she did want to do and so we gathered up our gear and headed out. The rain had stopped and as we we were actually early, the garden area was completely clear this time as compared to last and I was able to get mom right up to the fence for a great viewing angle. There wasn’t really a place for me to sit, but I didn’t care.
We waited for a bit, making small talk with a couple who had joined us and marveling at the amount of rain we had seen this week. Eventually, it’s about time for the show to start and everyone gets settled in when mom turns to me and asks if we can go back to the hotel room.
We’re about 10-15 minutes away from showtime.
Confused, I ask what she means and says she’s cold and wants to go back to the hotel room. I warn her we won’t be able to come back but she is certain she wants to go. I examine her face, looking for signs of reluctance or uncertainty that she wants to do this, but I see nothing. So I concede. As we start to wheel out, the couple next to us is surprised. “You’re leaving??” The woman asks and I confirm that we are and wish them a great week and we head off.
I get mom back to the room and she climbs into bed. Quickly, I turn on the TV and tune it to the music for the show channel, and with good timing as I make it just as the show starts. From there we watch the fireworks from the room. While this was always a goal for the trip, watching the fireworks from the room, spending the money on a fireworks dessert party and then not enjoying said fireworks (when it wasn’t raining especially) left me a bit annoyed. I know it’s not her fault, so I’m not angry at her, but that was a lot of money I feel we just spent on desserts. …correction: MY desserts and her ice cream.
After the show, mom is now beat and I put her to bed and then decide to head back out to the Kingdom as it doesn’t close until 12AM. I get into the park and make my way to the people mover. I have never ridden it at night and I’m really looking forward to checking out what it has to offer at night. It’s actually pretty interesting seeing Tomorrowland glow at night while zipping above it.
After that, I pretty much just do some more night photography and walk around the kingdom. I grab a dole whip (or 2) and enjoy the park until the Kiss Good Night.
After the Kiss Good Night, I’m pretty beat so I make my way back to the hotel and turn in.
Easily, today would be the most trying day of the whole vacation. Not being able to get mom to her show really bugged me, and then essentially wasting the money on a dessert party left me frustrated. For all my planning and experience in being able to create contingency plans, everything just fell apart when it came to this. In hindsight, I probably could have taken a bus from MK to the TTC, but even then I’m not fully sure. I didn’t count on the monorail going down in such a grand fashion and for the buses to be so backlogged that even mom’s “wheelchairs first” privileges ended up being almost useless.
The upshot is I got to see a wonderful display of Disney Customer Service as the girl from the Poly, I felt, went really out of her way to try and make things right for us even though it wasn’t anyone’s fault. I understand that the monorail tends to go down, so I wasn’t really angry at that, I was more frustrated at the lack of viable backup options (of course, some of it being my own fault by not knowing certain things about the MK Bus lot). While I know it didn’t cost the company anything, offering up some food and suggesting we watch the show to the end, had done loads for my mood as mom was obviously disappointed and that we weren’t going to get to see the show.
Hopefully, the next day would prove to be better.
