Having a resort day in the middle was a life-saver! It almost didn’t happen, but we all appreciated it leading up to Christmas Day.
Having an ADR at the Contemporary on our MK day. This allowed us to valet park with no issues (it was 12/26, and pretty sure deluxes were turning away people from parking there if they didn’t have ADRs)
Having a few signature meals spread out so that we didn’t have 3 ADRs every single day like we did our previous trip in 2017
Driving instead of taking the bus. Although DD and I rode the bus a couple of times, we really like driving better.
Staying at a deluxe resort and using the free for handicapped valet parking.
Afternoon breaks at the resort. We wouldn’t have been able to get through this trip without them. I highly recommend it to people with health issues.
Making the reservation for Wingate by Wyndham months ago and not cancelling later. Gregg would not have been able to drive home that last night.
Making a late ADR for Raglan Road on our arrival day. It was going to be Artist Point at 4:55. It never would have worked.
Our initial plan was for Gregg to get used to sleeping during the day, and then leave at midnight on the 21st to drive down to WDW. This idea is a good one in theory if the person is in good health and isn’t so damn dependent on sleep. When he got very sick after trying to change his sleep schedule, that should have warned us not to do it. As it was, we left the house at 3:30 in the morning. Neither Aneira nor I had any sleep because I was trying to pack.
I was supposed to finish all my coursework by Friday, December 16th at 11:59 pm EST. However, I became very ill around 7 and was not able to finish. I got extensions from both of my professors. I worked all weekend and into the next week to finish everything. I also had a huge project to finish for work. The result was that I didn’t have any time to start packing until December 20th. Because Gregg had to sleep, I went into our room and pulled everything I thought I would need into the theater. And then I packed. Consequently, I didn’t pack some things I really needed to take with me. Important things. It took me hours to pack. I also didn’t get to make sure that Aneira packed what she needed, and she left things behind we needed. When Gregg got up, we started packing the car. And I didn’t go through my checklist to make sure things were there.
Trying to leave that early was a mistake that we paid for seven times seventy. It was a bad, bad choice that caused all three of us hardships for the entire trip: especially Gregg.
Taking Gregg’s wheelchair. We should have gotten him an ECV. He could always have parked it and walked when the crowds became too much. As it was, using his arms to propel himself exacerbated his issues. It was hard for me to push him due to the walker.
Split stays were a bad idea for us. We spent the night at Pop for two nights. I had a full schedule planned for the 23rd. We were still reeling from the drive down and were a lot slower at getting things ready. We should have let Disney move all of our stuff rather than just the suitcases. We didn’t get to do some things we wanted to in FW at Epcot that day. At least we started out at a value and moved to a deluxe. The opposite would have been worse.
Late dinners were a bust. Gregg and Aneira both started feeling bad by the time we ate. I wanted enough time between our lunches and dinners so that we’d be hungry, but I shouldn’t have scheduled past 7.
Too many dinners at Epcot. There were several we wanted to try, and a couple that were musts for us (Akershus & Coral Reef). If we have dinner outside of the park we are in next time, they will be at resorts, not inside another park.
Try not to change ADRs around unless it’s to drop one because it stresses us out. My changes to the last two days were bad changes that caused more stress than alleviating them.
While Christmas is beautiful at WDW, it will be a while before we do that again, if ever.
Possibly. But not every single park day. Out of 6 park days, we went to Epcot 6 days. It was rough. Most of them were in WS. That’s a lot. The only one that wasn’t too bad was me taking the boat from HS to Epcot and entering the IG. Gregg won’t ride the boat.
I was toying with the idea of not scheduling a Epcot day and doing diners there and just doing Epcot before and after dinner. I want to do England, Germany, Coral Reef, Canada and maybe one other. But we will probably have DxDP so I wanted to do more signature dining.
If we had been in ECVs, I don’t think it would have been so rough. The night we went to Les Chefs de France Aneira was really hurting from having to push Gregg up the hill in UK.
We really loved the signatures at Epcot. Well, Aneira and I loved Monsieur Paul. I think you’d enjoy them!
No way could I do Disney without a ECV. I won’t go shopping in a store without one. I wish more shopping malls offered them. I really need to get one myself but I don’t need it for around the house so Medicare won’t pay for one. I keep checking Craig’s list and other sites trying to find one I can afford, and strong enough for me.
I’m glad I didn’t get an ECV for this trip. Yes, I got tired a lot more easily, but I was able to eat more sweet things and drink alcohol this trip than I would normally be able to do due to my diabetes. It also felt more empowering.
Given all the challenges, I think you did an amazing job and hope you enjoyed it despite the pain/stress. Aneira seems like a wonderful daughter. I hope it was magical and fun for her!
Your observations are insightful and honestly, helpful to just about anyone visiting WDW. Epcot is a huge park and there is a ton of ground to cover. There are inclines all over that people without mobility issues may not notice. But they are there and if you’re trying to do too much, it becomes obvious.
I totally agree with you about the ADRs, across the board. At this point, to me, less is more. We have ADRs at most every other day during a trip. And, it’s either breakfast, brunch or lunch. No late meals.
DH & I have been conditioning ourselves for months for our upcoming trip. Even being in good health, we find ourselves exhausted at times at WDW. I’m inspired by you and your family and hope to hear more of your adventures in the future!
Due to Gregg’s dietary restrictions, we don’t go out to eat anymore. We go to WDW for the food, so we want to do dining twice a day. It’s just a matter of finding the right times. Our previous trip in 2017 I made the mistake of having too many early morning ADRs. This time I only had one early morning (9:25) and I dropped that one during the trip. Next time I think I will try early lunches/ late brunches and early dinners without so much park hopping, at least not park hopping to Epcot in WS. Epcot is certainly huge…
