Disney without wheels

[Angelrose]

DISNEY WITHOUT WHEELS



The past two times I’ve been to Disney I’ve had to use a wheelchair. Twenty eight years ago I broke my ankle and there is very little, if any, cartilidge left. But, since losing 45 lbs. I no longer need it. I can’t tell you how exciting this is for me.

My son, Chuck, Daughter in law Karen, grandson Jesse and granddaughter Zoey are all going. We are renting a vacation home in Clermont and will be only 15 minutes or so away.


October 25, 2013 – I am really looking forward to this trip. My granddaughter Zoey is now three and Jesse will be six. The prefect ages for DW. The last time we were there two years ago and I don’t think she could understand much. Jesse loved al the characters, especially Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon. He has been a pirate for Halloween the last two years.

Going to DW brings back so many wonderful memories for me. We started going in 1982. My son was 11 and we all had such a great time that we started going every year the second week in December. Every year was as magical as the year before.

Five years ago I lost my DH Ron in June. That September my son and daughter in law Karen convinced me to come with them to DW. I didn’t think I could do it but I’m so grateful that they convinced me to go. Being at DW with them gave me the confidence that I could go on and do things that I used to rely on my Ron for.

Whenever we plan our vacations, I start getting excited as soon as I close the pool in September. Now here it is October 25 and I’ve just made my flight reservations and my car reservations to take me from MCO to our vacation home on January 31st and then back to the airport at the end.

Chuck and Karen will be driving down with the kids on the 30th of January and we will all get there around noon on the 31st.

After unpacking and relaxing a bit, we will go to DTD for lunch, shopping and letting the kids run around. I am hoping to buy a Disney Vera Bradley mini hipster. So far the reports are that they have run out of everything but the duffels. Hopefully they will restock by the time we get there.


January 6 – I called the local car service today and reserved a car for the 31st. The price he quoted me was a bit too high, but he said he would see what he could do. I’ve put all my Christmas decorations away and have the tree almost all done. I need my son to do the very top and then put it away until next year. He’s coming over on Friday to do that.



January 12 – Karen bought our tickets and got the babysitting reservations. I have all my clothes packed and found that most of my Disney t shirts are too big. I am so proud of myself for losing that weight. Only 18 days left.


January 15 – Is it time to go yet?? Everything is ready so it should be time to go. I guess I’m going to have to work a bit more on that time machine.


January 22 – We had a few inches of snow yesterday but the temp was down to 6 this morning and it got all the way up to 16.

I shoveled off the back porch and a path to my car. I am so blessed to have a wonderful neighbor who plows my long driveway and all the way to the back of the house. I don’t know what I would do without him. Thank you, Chris.

I am so ready to go to DW. I hope it warms up down there and we have good weather.

Only 8 days to go.

January 30 – Here it is. I’ve printed out my boarding pass. I will confirm with the car services shortly. Then, no more steps. I will be at the airport by 6am tomorrow. Chuck and Karen are on their way. I just hope they don’t run into any bad weather conditions on their way down.

Only 20 hours and 44 minutes to go!


January 30 – Well, it’s finally here. I printed out my boarding pass and confirmed both car services. I thought this day would never end. I know I won’t sleep well tonight. The alarm is set for 4:30. I will have a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich and pace until the car comes for me at 5:30.

Only 8 hours, 7 minutes to go!

January 31 - I made it to the airport with time to spare. I slept pretty well last night. I only woke up once at two. Then I slept until 3:20 and after that I was just dozing.

I had the full body scan. I guess it doesn’t bother me. It wasn’t bad at all.

Of course my gate was the furthest away, but it’s a small airport and it wasn’t that far.

I have a twenty minute wait until I board. A beautiful sunrise is just barely visible. I can see streaks of orange and gold against the dark blue of the clouds.

I’ve just boarded and have a window seat in row 4. I’m glad I paid extra for it.

We took off a few minutes early and the skies are mostly clear. Orlando is 51. Much better than the 16 I left in NJ this morning. I think we are a little more than ½ way to MCO.

 

[Angelrose]

January 26 – I’m typing this on my new laptop courtesy of Karen. I also have a new PINK mouse with flowers on it. They will bring this down with them so I can type up my trip report.

January 31- I slept pretty well last night. I only woke once at 2am. Then I slept until 3:20 am and after that I was just dosing until 4:30.
I made it to the airport with time to spare. I was the chosen one for the full body scan. It wasn’t bad at all.
Of course my gate was the furthest away, but it’s a small airport and it wasn’t bad at all. I have a 20 minute wait until boarding.

A beautiful sunrise is just barely visible. Lots of clouds here in NJ. I can see streaks of orange and gold against the dark blue of the clouds.
I have just boarded and have a window seat in row 4.
We took off a few minutes early and the skies are mostly clear now. Orlando is rainy and 51. Much better than the 16 I left at 5:30 this morning. I think we are more than half way there at 8:30.
We landed right on time and I called Chuck to tell him I had landed and should be there in half an hour. Little did I know how wrong I was.
I went down to the baggage claim where my driver should have been waiting. But he wasn’t. 5 minutes pass, then 10. I was just about to call when the driver calls to tell me with the rain and traffic he is running late. He’ll be here in 10 minutes. He finally arrives and we have to shlep back to the parking garage and we’re finally on our way. We’re heading to Clermont to our vacation home. Dear Lord in heaven, he took by way of Istanbul. First we went through the entrance to DW. Then we took a cut off back onto 192. Then he has the nerve to ask me if I want to stop for coffee!! NO! I just want to get to the house. Mercifully we arrived at the house a little after 11. I was so stressed and hungry I was shaking. I had some crackers and then Karen and I made a grocery run at Publix. We also had sandwiches made there. Believe me they were so good. After lunch we all went to Downtown Disney for some shopping.
It was still raining but we had a good time buying our souvenirs. I got a sweatshirt and two Chamilla charms for my bracelet. I bought some Vinylmations to add to my collection and a keychain. I found two neat pins to add to my collection too.
For months, I have been hoping they would have the Vera Bradley bags restocked. They had lots of Midnight with Mickey pattern that I thought I wanted. In person it was rather garish and I didn’t buy it. It was kind of a letdown. I also bought a bag for my new laptop that Karen gave me, but it didn’t fit, so I have to return it. I was so disappointed because it was all hot pink and had Mickey heads embossed on it. Oh well, when I get home I will order a Vera Bradley messenger bag in the Ribbons pattern. I’m sure that will fit.
We had dinner at EOS. Karen and I had the holiday turkey sandwich. OMG it was so good. We did a bit more shopping for the kids and then stopped at Ghardellis for a small salted caramel sundae which we shared. My last stop was Basin where I got my Pink Sugar body butter, lotion and hard perfume. If I get the chance I will have to stop at the Grand Floridian to get the bubble bath at the Basin store there.
We came home and sorted out our loot and then Chuck and Karen took a swim and I typed up my report for the day. I’m going to take a hot bath and watch some tv before bed.

 

[Angelrose]

February 1 – Today was Magic Kingdom day. First we had to have a race on the carousel. For some reason Grandmom always loses to Jesse and Zoey. There was only a short wait for the Princess meet and greet. We got to meet Rapunsel and Aurora. Zoey was a little shy but as long as mommy was with her she was fine. While we were meeting the princesses, Chuck took Jesse to ride the barnstormer. He loved it and when we got done with the princesses, we took Zoey to ride the barnstormer. I rode with her and Karen rode in back of us with Chuck and Jesse in front of us. Well, Zoey was fine and all smiling when we took off and when we were climbing, but when we started down she was crying and scared. I held her but she was not a happy camper.
We went on the Ariel ride and that was really cute. The kids rode Dumbo while I went to buy stuff. I bought three pins, a coffee mug and a couple of antenna toppers. I was seduced by the flavored popcorn. Chuck got the southwestern and I got the bacon cheddar. Mine was the best tasting, but the spicy southwestern was really good too. Especially when you got them both in your mouth.
We did another meet and greet with Minnie and Daisy while Chuck too Jesse over to see Goofy and Donald. That was a lot of fun.
We had lunch reservations for CRT. Zoey was dressed in her Cinderella dress and Jesse, of course was a pirate. The pictures came out beautifully. The food was exceptional. We had hummus and chips, cheese dripping with honey and a salad for appetizers to share. Karen and I had the roast chicken with farrow risotto and chalets, Chuck had the pork sandwich and the kids had chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and corn. Neither child would touch the corn, so I helped myself to a few forkfuls of Jesse’s corn. For dessert I had the cheesecake with apples and caramel. Chuck and Karen and the chocolate mousse and the kids had the tiny cones filled with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry mousse. We also got our star wands and swords and wishing stars. Both kids loved meeting the princesses and Chuck enjoyed meeting Ariel and Jasmine.

After lunch we went on pirates, jungle cruise and both kids went on Swiss Family Robinson tree house. My ankle was really bothering me, so I sat that one out. I was using my cane most of the day.

There was a huge line for people mover but we went on anyway. Carousel of Progress is a must every vacation and we all enjoyed it. Our last stop was the Incredibles Dance Party. Zoey was really loving every minute of it and dancing all around. Jesse was disappointed that Dash and Violet weren’t there.
We were all pretty tired by this time and decided to head out and look in the stores on Maine Street. Karen found a really cute tank and I found a cute long sleeve Minnie t shirt.
It was a wonderful day except for the constant showers and humidity. Weather is going to improve tomorrow. Tomorrow is adult night. I’m looking forward to that.

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

Yes Jesse's hand is where you think it is.

 

[Angelrose]

February 2 – No more rain, but hot today. There was cloud cover and that helped. It got up to 89 and it did wear on you after a while.
Our first stop was SSE and then, a first for me, Mission Space (green section). Jesse loved it and so did I. It was amazing and I managed to press the right buttons when Gary Sinese told me to. I was surprised that I didn’t feel bad with such close quarters, but with all the special effects, I didn’t even notice.
Chuck and I shared a pretzel and the kids shared Karen’s. They also shared some ice cream. Now it was the kids turn for rides and we went on the Nemo ride, followed by Turtle talk with Crush. It was very funny when one little girl asked him if he ever had turtle soup. Crush gave this sick look and I think he turned a brighter shade of green. I’m sure her dad told her to ask that question. There were so many funny jokes through the show.
Next we let the kids look at the fishes. Now two years ago all they wanted to do was run around. This time they were so excited to see everything. Jesse was taking lots of pictures with his camera and he got one very good picture of the dolphin smiling. “Grandmom, I got it!” He actually got quite a few good pictures.
Chuck, Jesse and I went on TT. Jesse helped Chuck design a turbo charged race car. Wellllll, Chuck designed it and Jesse wanted it red with flames. It’s really a neat thing. Then you will see your car and how it tests in several categories. Chuck’s car came in first in everything but efficiency. Then after the ride you can make it into a video and email it back to you.
It was time to pick up a pizza and go home and wait for the babysitter. I can tell you I needed that time to get my legs up and relax for an hour.
We went back to EPCOT for our adult’s night out. We went again to TT and Karen and Chuck both designed cars. Karen’s was purple with no design because that part wouldn’t work. They were both one and two through all the tests. It was really fun.

We stopped to look around in Mexico and I bought a Rhinestone Minnie pendant at Arribas Brothers. It was getting close to our reservation time at Morocco. I knew exactly what I was going to order. I got the Harira soup, mint ice tea, and the roast lamb moushoui. I had the three kinds of baklava for dessert. What a great meal.

We stopped in France for Chuck to get a dessert. It was a raspberry mousse thing. I had a taste but it was too sweet for me. There were no photo pass guys around there. We really wanted a nice picture of all of us by the fountain.
We stopped in England for some Dr. Who souvenirs. Chuck and I are big fans. I got a t shirt that said, “Keep calm and don’t blink”. It has a picture of the Tardis on the top. Chuck got a poster with all of the Doctors on it.
Canada was next and Chuck came over to us wearing a moose hat. We laughed until we cried. Not to be outdone I tried on a husky hat. Yeah, we are geeky.

Karen and I went into Mouse Gears while Chuck made another trip to Mission Space (the orange side) this time. I bought a Minnie t shirt to go with my new necklace. Karen bought Minnie stuff for Zoey, a Mickey throw and Chuck got some chocolate.
We were all tired and decided it was time to go. The babysitter said the kids were very good and went to bed without a problem.
We went through some of the pictures, I typed up my report and went to bed. Tomorrow is an early morning. We are going to have breakfast with Jake.

 

[Angelrose]

Here are a couple of pictures of Chuck and Karen's and Ron and my Leave A Legacy pictures at Epcot.

We stopped in France for Chuck to get a dessert. It was a raspberry mousse thing. I had a taste but it was too sweet for me. There were no photo pass guys around there. We really wanted a nice picture of all of us by the fountain.
We stopped in England for some Dr. Who souvenirs. Chuck and I are big fans. I got a t shirt that said, “Keep calm and don’t blink”. It has a picture of the Tardis on the top. Chuck got a poster with all of the Doctors on it.
Canada was next and Chuck came over to us wearing a moose hat. We laughed until we cried. Not to be outdone I tried on a husky hat. Yeah, we are geeky.
Karen and I went into Mouse Gears while Chuck made another trip to Mission Space (the orange side) this time. I bought a Minnie t shirt to go with my new necklace. Karen bought Minnie stuff for Zoey, a Mickey throw and Chuck got some chocolate.
We were all tired and decided it was time to go. The babysitter said the kids were very good and went to bed without a problem.
We went through some of the pictures, I typed up my report and went to bed. Tomorrow is an early morning. We are going to have breakfast with Jake.

 

[Angelrose]

Sorry about that. I'll try again.

Here are a couple of pictures of Chuck and Karen's and Ron and my Leave A Legacy pictures.

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

February 3 - Today was an early start for breakfast at Hollywood and Vine with Jake, Doc, Sophia and Manny. The food was great as usual but it took so long for the characters to get around to our table. Now comes the frustrating part. We tried to get fast passes for RNR, TOT and Lights, Action and Motor Cars. The CM messed up and gave us something we didn’t want. Easy fix, right? NOOOOO! Nobody could fix it and told us to go the Guest services. That worked out really well. They couldn’t do anything about it either. Now if we were staying at one of their resorts, then something could be done. One man wanted just one fast pass. No, you have to take three. So they gave him two that he didn’t want and wouldn’t use and people that wanted those couldn’t have them. I’m not making this up.
Enough of that. We rode Toy Story Mania and I got the amazing score of 72,600 and Jesse got 45,000. Pretty good for a 6 year old. Pretty sad for a 68 year old. Moving on. We went to see Lights, Action and Motor cars. This was my first time seeing it and it was pretty amazing. Jesse loved it.
It was getting pretty warm by now so we went to see the Muppets. It was nice and cool in there and both kids loved it. Indiana Jones was next and both kids loved that as well.
We grabbed burgers for dinner and went to see the GMR. I know its dated but I love it. RNR was closed for technical problems so we took Jesse on his first ride on TOT. He didn’t cry, but he didn’t like it and was scared.
We heard some people complain that Fantasmic was SRO and people were almost crushed by how they packed them in.
To top off the frustration, someone stole Karen’s sunglasses from the stroller.

I thought walking with my cane was getting a little harder so I looked at the tip on the bottom and it was completely worn through. I will have to get a new one tomorrow for sure. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day at Animal Kingdom with dinner at Boma.

 

[Angelrose]

 

[Angelrose]

This is Chuck's total on Toy Story Mania, but from a different day.

I apologize for any pictures that are out of order. I'm sure there are a lot of them.

 

[Angelrose]

February 4 - It was foggy again this morning, but we enjoyed the cloud cover. We stopped at Walgreen to get a new tip for my cane. Karen helped me measure the bottom to get the right size. ( who knew that cane tips had different sizes?) When Chuck put it on we discovered it was a tad too big. So he stuffed it with the cardboard from the box and it fit perfectly.
This was AK day. Our first stop of the day was the fast pass kiosk. What do you know, they actually knew what they were doing and we got everything we wanted at the time we wanted.

We was getting warmer and the cloud cover was clearing up. We did the Safari ride first. Jesse was so excited to take pictures of all the animals. But he wanted to see the gorillas. We told him we would walk the Panganini trail later. We had fast passes for Everest. Chuck and Karen went on first and when they came back, they asked if Jesse wanted to go. He changed his mind and didn’t want to try. So Chuck and I took our turn. It was so much fun. I really love that ride. We had an early lunch at Yak & Yetti. We all ordered two apps. I got the pork egg rolls and the fried green beans. Now I abhor green beans, but I had heard so many good things about them, that I had to try. OMG they were so good and so was the dipping sauce. The egg rolls were three full sized ones, not the small ones. They were delicious too. I shared the green beans with Karen and could only eat two of the egg rolls. Next time I will only get one or the other.

Our next stop was the Finding Nemo show. The kids really enjoyed that and so did the big kids. We stopped at the playground for a half hour to let the kids run. Then we went on the dinosaur ride. That was really fun.

We finally walked the Panganini trail and Jesse got his pictures of the gorillas. I was really feeling the heat and humidity now and I think I am coming down with a cold. But we were going to BOMA for dinner and we asked if they could take us early. They could and we were seated immediately. I had some roast pork and chicken, hummus, corn and spinach pudding and some babootie. I also had some tomato and spinach soup. It was good but I should have stuck with the chicken corn chowder. Everything was so good, that we decided on going back in a few days.
I was very ready to get back to our home and relax. I was even too tired to get in the pool. I just showered and got into my pj’s and wrote up my TR and read my Kindle .
Tomorrow is going to be a relaxing day staying here and enjoying our pool, eating here and just taking it easy.

 

[Angelrose]

Chuck has a very warped sense of humor.

 

[Angelrose]

February 5 -- Well, I was sleeping peacefully when Jesse and Zoey woke me up and scared the devil out of me. LOL I got some OJ and coffee and let them play in my bed until Chuck woke up and I just went back to sleep. I finally became conscious around 8:30. I’m ready to face the day. A little later we will all get in the pool and have some fun.

Would you believe I dozed and read all morning? We sent out for steak subs and then I dozed again until 2:30 and then we all went in the pool. We spent an hour playing and then a couple of minutes in the hot tub and then back in the house for more relaxing. I really needed this day off. I think the cold medicine is making me feel much better. Last night I tried to watch NCIS LA and fell asleep not even half way through. I woke up and tried to watch Person of Interest and fell asleep again. I just gave up, turned off the tv and the light and went to sleep. I think I will be more energetic tomorrow. It’s MK day.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Karen and I had the filet and Chuck had some chicken wraps. Jesse had some mac and cheese and Zoey had bread and butter and a few French fries. Everything was really delicious. We all shared the dessert sampler. There was chocolate cake which was divided between Jesse and Zoey and Karen and I shared the apple cinnamon thingy and the strawberry cheesecake.
We made a quick stop at Publix to get some OJ and some Claritin D for me. We came home and got the kids to bed and I tried to read and watch tv. We’ll see how that turns out.

 

[Angelrose]