“Big Jay?” “Yes Baby Jay?” “I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”- September 8th-18th 2017 TR

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 6: WDW Day 1 Part 12

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Photos continued:








This is one of my favorite photos as well:

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 6: WDW Day 1 Part 13
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As I mentioned we were going to do some shopping. I had to get the You Are Here MK mug from Starbucks so we went to that. I added the Starbucks app onto my phone the night before. All the Starbucks gift cards I had were loaded up on that. It’s very easy to use the app to pay for items. The mug was $16.99 ($18.10 with tax).

Here is a photo of the MK mug:






We found three things in the Emporium shops:

You already know I love puzzles. I’ve been eying this puzzle on Amazon but it was a lot more expensive than at the Parks so I snatched it up. The cost was $19.95.

Then we looked around and saw they were running a special on t-shirts where select styles were 2 for $40 so we ended up with these:

I got the grey one and Aaron got the bright green one. Sorry the shirts, especially the green one, could use some ironing.

This would not be the last time we got the same shirt lol. It wasn’t intentional it was just we both liked the style and more than other styles. Originally the t-shirts were $24.99 each one but with the special $9.98 were discounted off. The total for all 3 was $59.95($63.85 with tax). We paid with one of our Disney gift cards and left.

Before we left MK for the night I had to take a few more photos:




It was about 8:40pm and we decided to go ahead and head out. We were shopped out so we decided to head towards the monorail.

One quick photo before heading up to the monorail ramp:

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 6: WDW Day 1 Part 14


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About 8:45pm we waiting for a monorail to come and so I snapped a few photos of the Contemporary Resort off in the distance:




I should mention towards the end part of the day inside MK CMs were in the process of tying down benches, removing what they thought needed to be removed in preparation for Irma to come. This was no different for the resorts. We arrived back at All-Star Sports right around 9:25pm. We parked our car in the parking lot closer to Homerun and found a spot away from large trees towards the middle of the parking lot and luckily we found a parking spot. We just had to park the rental car and hoped it was in the best spot in terms of reducing the likelihood of any damage.

On the way to our room I took a quick photo. You can see by the fencing the chairs are all stacked and tied together as well as tied to the fencing:


When we got to our room we noticed this waiting for us:

We had left our DND sign up because of leaving late in the morning and our stuff inside the room all around but I still wasn’t expecting this. It was very nice to have. The bag contained extra towels and toiletries since there would be no housekeeping Sunday and Monday.

Since we were at the parks all day we missed getting the food bags Disney would be selling (just like they did in October 2016 for Hurricane Matthew). This year however they dropped the price to $6.00 which was more fair IMO. Aaron went down to the lobby and purchased 4 total ‘meals’.

Here’s the description Disney gave:


Here’s what was included in each meal:


After some relaxing it was time we went to bed. My Samsung Health app logged 21,109 steps which the app says it a distance of 9.71 miles. Boy oh boy was I actually glad to have a few days off to rest my poor feet. I was beginning to develop blisters unfortunately. And that was the end to our first Disney day and what a busy day it had been. As you can see we were not optimizing our park planning by distance between attractions (since we backtracked a lot) but rather wait time. This wasn't necessarily my original plan but because the wait times were so low it was hard not to pass this up .

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 7: Irma, Irma, Irma Day 1


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Sunday, the first day of the parks being closed and what was originally supposed to be our first USO day, started with us deciding to go down for breakfast in the food court at just before 8:30am.

Here is what Disney was offering:


Here is what I got:
I was hungry so I started eating before I snapped a picture lol but there was more potatoes than shown on the plate.

Aaron got the same thing as me except he doesn’t like eggs so he didn’t get that.

We both got coffee for our drinks. The total for breakfast was $25.58 ($27.50 with tax).

While we were in the food court Disney had a surprise for their resort guests on property:



Goofy and Pluto came to say hello and interact with guests as well as taking photos with guests!

Now Aaron and I didn’t get pictures taken but it was fun watching them interact with the guests and we weren’t’ expecting it. I thought this was just so nice of Disney to have that.

After breakfast we decided to check out the gift shop. We were thinking of getting a book for Aaron to read and for me a mind games book (I had already brought with me reading books) to break up the time we would be in the room and we found what we were looking for.

While there I saw this:


I think it’s so cute they have wine that fits in with the theming of Disney. We didn’t buy any wine but I did want to take a picture. As we were at the checkout we started a small chat with the CMs at the cash register. They were so nice and were part of the ride-out crew. I believe they had said they had been there since Friday but it could have been Saturday I just can’t remember exactly. Once we were done at the register we left to go back to our room.

Just before 12:50pm I decided to capture this screenshot from my Weatherbug app:


Here is the cloud coverage (though radar had last refreshed the cloud coverage at noon/12:00pm):


The cloud coverage screenshot you can see the eye of the hurricane more clearly though it may be hard to tell. It’s down towards the western tip of Florida.

Originally Disney was only going to serve breakfast but Irma was slowing down as she was making landfall in Florida so they decided to extend food operations until 7:30pm as the brunt of Irma would be later than expected.

This was the notice on our Resort TV channel:


As you can see (well hopefully you can read the text I know it’s a bit hard) there was a curfew starting at 7:00pm at night and I believe the curfew was scheduled to end at 6:00pm Monday. This was for public roads but Disney opted to follow the curfew as well. This meant you could go out and about Orlando but by 7pm you needed to be back to your resort area.

We entertained ourselves by watching tv for the most part. We were switching back and forth between the news (for the weather) and the channel that had Disney movies on. For the hurricane Disney was showing movies (though in a loop) but hey it was something.

Around 4:30pm I took this video (video is taken by me and uploaded to my YouTube page):

You can see the winds and the rain had really started to come in but it was still far enough away that if you needed to be out and about you could you just needed to exercise caution.

Around 8:30pm we stocked up our water containers we brought just in case the power went out (though the power did not go out for us):


That wire rack in the closet next to the sink was actually great for holding stuff. For the rest of the night we watched the weather basically non-stop. We were doing other things like reading and Aaron, who had brought his work laptop, did some work but the weather was on in the background so we kept informed.

Total steps walked for me was 2,121 or 1.11 miles.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 7: Irma, Irma, Irma Day 2 Part 1


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Just after 1:20am Monday, September 11th Aaron took this video (video is taken by Aaron and uploaded to my YouTube page):

It’s a bit hard to see with it being dark though. We had just opened the door briefly (though yes I know doing that is advised against; he did stay close to the door though).

Not too long after we went to bed. I slept through the whole event TBH though Aaron had woken up due to the winds. He had slept on the bed closest to the door so that may have been why. With Aaron’s height of over 6ft 5inches if he can spread out he will prefer that and I totally understand. The values currently have 2 full sized beds but you can request a king sized bed (it just isn’t a guarantee). We just opted to stick with the 2 full sized beds.

Towards the wee hours of the morning he took this video at just around 4:45am (though again yes I know doing that is advised against) (video is taken by Aaron and uploaded to my YouTube page):

Not long after I had groggily rolled over to where my phone was and took this screenshot:
The bulk of Irma had left the Orlando area.

Irma was a low-mid CAT 1 by the time it hit Orlando and the eye didn’t actually pass over Orlando but west of it. Now where we were located at being on Walt Disney World property (which is west of Orlando) and even with All-Star Sports being on the southwest side of WDW property we still didn’t have it as bad. Truthfully looking at photos and hearing about other people’s experience All-Stars fared significantly better, at least IMO, than some other resorts like Polynesian, Port Orleans area, etc

I found this map from Orlando Sentinel:

Where Lake Buena Vista is located is the general area where All-Star Sports is located at. It was on the side of Hurricane-strength-winds but near the border of Tropical-storm-force-winds.

Here’s a closer up photo:

The ‘X’ is where All-Star Sports is located at and then I drew the border so you could see it better.

For Aaron and I it felt like a really bad thunderstorm that we’ve experienced back home though the winds were a bit worse (we have had wind gusts in some bad storms of 60-65MPH back home) but again it was a very different situation than others who were devastated by Irma. Probably the more scary aspect of the hurricane was that we were on the ‘dirty’ side which meant more tornadic activity was expected and while we deal with tornados often enough back home (spring has quite a few tornado watch days with some tornado warning days too) the difference was the tornados didn’t act the same as they had back home. According to the weather people most often the sirens go off even when the don’t know for sure if it’s a tornado or not during a hurricane just to be on the safe side and tornados drop up and down within a moment’s notice.

I don’t remember exactly when we really woke up but it was definitely after 8:00am. Monday, the second day of the parks being closed and what was originally supposed to be our second USO day, had officially started for us.

Right around noon we were able to leave our rooms (though I know people were out before that). Aaron had left just a few minutes before noon to take a walk around. The hurricane had fully passed.

Here is the notice on the Resort channel. As it states food would begin service at noon:


I took pictures on Saturday of the view outside our room but I wanted to save showing you the photos until I could show you a side by side comparison of pre-Irma (on the top) and post-Irma (on the bottom):








It’s hard to see but in this picture there is a tree that looks to be leaning up against other trees.

Here is Aaron’s video he took on his knock off go-pro. He just went mainly around Touchdown and Homerun sections(video is taken by Aaron and uploaded to my YouTube page):

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Chapter 7: Irma, Irma, Irma Day 2 Part 2


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Around 2:45pm we decided to have lunch in the food court. I didn’t take a picture but we both had the chicken nuggets with fries plus we shared a drink. Total cost was $22.27 ($23.95 with tax).

After resting for a bit in the food court we decided to take a short walk and I took some photos:

It’s not the best photo but there were a few down tree limbs in the water:






Once we got back to the room we just did more watching of Disney movies, read a little, did a few brain puzzles in the book I had gotten in the gift shop and then Aaron and I had decided to play the card game Speed for a while.

Around 8:00pm Aaron went to the gift shop to get some Moleskin for my feet and saw this was going on:




It was an impromptu dance party going on in the lobby!

Aaron headed back up to the room and we just relaxed the rest of the night. We had a nice break but I was ready for more park time. We were thankful that the power stayed on, there was no damage to the rental car, we were safe, and there was minimal damage (well at least a lot less damge compared to what could have been). I do want to say we understood that many others did not have the same experience that we did--speaking of other parts of Orlando and other parts of Florida. We were lucky TBH.

I do want to mention that we had extended our rental car reservation. Unfortunately Avis could not extend the discount offer we had gotten through Costco nor could they apply Aaron's work discount so extending the rental car from returning 11:00am Sunday September 17th to evening Monday September 18th added $56.24 to the overall price. Compared to how much the original amount was the extra 1 1/2 days was quite steep.

Total steps walked for me was 2,549 or 1.13 miles.

Tomorrow would be an exciting day!! Stay tuned for more

 

[Micca]

More great pics and a chance to get a good look at the storm damage! Your report is making me think I need to spend more time in the parks (especially MK & Pandora) after dark. We've gotten into the habit of sort of vegging out at the resort after dinner instead of hitting the parks again. Your pics also make me want to go during a hurricane, MK looks so empty!

 

[Elsaalltheway]

This is great. It really takes me back. I was there during the hurricane too, but sitting over at PoP. I remember that night and we were at AK too during the day. I guess the lines were really short for everything, plus they had opened the park early for all early entery that day but we didn't know that. Oh and at night there was this really loud clanging and it was the man holes covers that were being forced up by the water in the drains. It was really cool. And the parks were really empty. We jumped from one fast pass to the next, it was really cool.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

More great pics and a chance to get a good look at the storm damage! Your report is making me think I need to spend more time in the parks (especially MK & Pandora) after dark. We've gotten into the habit of sort of vegging out at the resort after dinner instead of hitting the parks again. Your pics also make me want to go during a hurricane, MK looks so empty!

I've got plenty more photos I feel like I was really trying to make up for the 2011 trip where I hardly got any photos.

Yes MK was pretty much empty. People ask us "so how was being down there with the hurricane" and we respond "well it was crazy low wait times for just about everything soo...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is great. It really takes me back. I was there during the hurricane too, but sitting over at PoP. I remember that night and we were at AK too during the day. I guess the lines were really short for everything, plus they had opened the park early for all early entery that day but we didn't know that. Oh and at night there was this really loud clanging and it was the man holes covers that were being forced up by the water in the drains. It was really cool. And the parks were really empty. We jumped from one fast pass to the next, it was really cool.

Did POP get the same type of tree damage? Or was it worse like how Poly had roof damage, etc? Did you guys sleep through it or did it keep you awake? I'm glad it happened at night. I know the sounds and whatnot could have been scary for sure plus no one wants tornados at night but because of what it ended up being I was able to sleep through it.

That would be sorta freaky though to hear the man holes like that.

I'm going to have to admit we are so spoiled by that trip-just absolutely spoiled. It makes it hard to give good advice too when asked about wait times and how getting the rolling 4th FP worked out, etc. We just kept getting FP after FP for the majority of the trip and at USO the waits were just like at WDW--I mean come on HP a 5min wait!? and even low for the Gringotts ride too. The Hulk was really short too when they had it running.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Did POP get the same type of tree damage? Or was it worse like how Poly had roof damage, etc? Did you guys sleep through it or did it keep you awake? I'm glad it happened at night. I know the sounds and whatnot could have been scary for sure plus no one wants tornados at night but because of what it ended up being I was able to sleep through it.

That would be sorta freaky though to hear the man holes like that.

I'm going to have to admit we are so spoiled by that trip-just absolutely spoiled. It makes it hard to give good advice too when asked about wait times and how getting the rolling 4th FP worked out, etc. We just kept getting FP after FP for the majority of the trip and at USO the waits were just like at WDW--I mean come on HP a 5min wait!? and even low for the Gringotts ride too. The Hulk was really short too when they had it running.

Yes, people ask the best time to go to disneyworld. I will straight up tell them, During a hurricane. But yeah we slept through it and there was not a whole lot of damage, just branches fell and such. There was a building at Port Orleans that had a tree fall on one of the buildings too.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, people ask the best time to go to disneyworld. I will straight up tell them, During a hurricane.

We've said that too ...but seriously it was great park time

But yeah we slept through it and there was not a whole lot of damage, just branches fell and such.

I'm glad you also slept through it. Def. plenty of branches and leaves and a some split trees but in the grand scheme not a whole lot.

There was a building at Port Orleans that had a tree fall on one of the buildings too.

Yeah I heard they had some damage.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

We've said that too ...but seriously it was great park time

I'm glad you also slept through it. Def. plenty of branches and leaves and a some split trees but in the grand scheme not a whole lot.

Yeah I heard they had some damage.

I'm already set to go back at the same time. We are staying at all star music this time. It will be my first time at an All Star. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm already set to go back at the same time. We are staying at all star music this time. It will be my first time at an All Star. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh that's awesome!! We don't have a trip planned for years (probably 2021 or after). I liked All-Star Sports myself where we stayed at. I would totally stay there again. I didn't venture to the other All-Stars though. I wish I had though just to see them in person instead of on the internet.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Oh that's awesome!! We don't have a trip planned for years (probably 2021 or after). I liked All-Star Sports myself where we stayed at. I would totally stay there again. I didn't venture to the other All-Stars though. I wish I had though just to see them in person instead of on the internet.

I think we want to eat at each of their cafe's if we get free dining.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think we want to eat at each of their cafe's if we get free dining.

Well that would be a great way to peek at the other resorts

 

[Elsaalltheway]

yep

 

[jchurch0409]

All caught up and following along!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

All caught up and following along!

Thanks for following along!!

I should have another update here in the next week or two

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I know I know I know I'm a really bad DISer.

I am so sorry guys. I took way too long for this update but here it is!