So it was the day that we were heading home. Honestly, after the week we had, I was ready. Carolyn, DS, and me all slept in until almost 10. I wasn't waking up DS if he needed the sleep. I woke up a bit before him and had no idea what to expect. I had told Jen that she should take Jaden to one of the parks early so that they could do some rides with no wait. They had headed off to MK.
When DS woke up, he actually seemed quite a bit better. He wasn't completely back to himself, but I could see the sleep had done him a world of good. I had him eat some breakfast while I went to the lobby to get the key for the room next door.
Jen and Jaden had decided to come on this trip because they really wanted to see us, but this trip was very tight financially for them. Jen had planned to spend the day at the parks until as late as they could and then to start the six hour drive back home. She only had enough money for the one night at POR so they would have to make the long drive home after a long day in the parks. Anyway, when I went down to the lobby, I asked if the room that we were getting for the day was available for the whole night. They said that it was, so I paid for the room for the night as a surprise for Jen and Jaden. Besides the fact that I just love them bunches, things would have been much more disastrous in many ways without Jen. It was just my way of saying thank you to her.
So, I went back to the room to see how DS was feeling so we could plan the say some. When I got back DS was feeling a bit sad. When I asked Carolyn what was wrong she said he was upset that Jen and Jaden had gone to the parks and that he wasn't going to be able to see them anymore. So, I asked DS if he could go back to any one park or do anything he wanted to do for his last day, what would he do? He answered (to my surprise) that he wanted to go back to Epcot. I was very nervous because Epcot is so big, but I knew we would have to take it slow and keep DS from standing for very long periods of time.
Because of the DIS...can I just say how much I love the DIS?!!?... I had read a tiny bit about the Guest Assistance Card. I really didn't know much about it since we didn't have any special needs in our group. I decided to ask about it when I went back through the lobby at POR.
We called Jen and told her we would be in Epcot and she told us she would hop over shortly. We checked our luggage with POR for the day and moved our carry-ons over to the room next door. After that, we were ready to try a day at Epcot...SLOWLY.
I stopped at the POR lobby while Carolyn took DS to get some drinks. I needed to know exactly how many meal credits we had left anyway so I thought that was a good opportunity to ask about the GAC. I tried to show the CM at the desk the papers from DS from the hospital but she stopped m right away and told me just to go to Guest Services at Epcot and tell them that DS shouldn't stand for long periods of time. She told me the GAC would be a great help for him. I really didn't know what to expect from the card, but hearing that it could help was encouraging.
We got to Epcot around 12:30. It was so late, but we really took the morning slow.
I had him take lots of breaks, but he was doing so much better!
So, DS had said the only ride he wanted to ride was Soarin. He loved it the first time and because Carolyn and I were fighting, she never rode it with us. So, I looked at the standby line was very long. I had hopes that the GAC would allow us to sit somewhere while we waited standby.
I went to Guest Services and they gave us the card with no questions asked. The CM really didn't explain how it would help though, so I really didn't know what to expect. I went and showed it to the CMs at Soarin and they sent us straight through to the FP line!!! I never ever expected that, but I can't pretend that I wasn't super grateful. It meant that DS could ride the one ride he really wanted to ride and still have a few hours to do some other things that he wanted to do. I was so, so happy! I can't say how wonderful this is of Disney. Since we don't have any special needs I never had thought about how important something like this would be, and I'm so glad they offer it to those who need it. So, we got to ride Soarin...
DS was looking super happy during our short wait.
He loved it again! Carolyn was not as impressed. She said it made her feel a little nauseous. I think it's a blast. After that, we had to head over to a ride/show that Carolyn really wanted to see. We had to humor her on this one
While I wasn't super excited about this, I was happy about the amount of down time it offered us. A CM came over and asked why we were sitting when it was time for us to get into line. I just explained that DS shouldn't for too long and I was trying to reduce the amount of time standing and waiting in lines. He explained the first part of the show has a little movie and that guests are specifically asked not to sit on the floor. I said I thought DS would be OK for that, but the CM said we should sit on the stage. I know this wasn't that big of a deal, but it's just another example of the way Disney treats it's guests. I mean, in no other amusement park in the world would anyone even care about why we were sitting off to the side. The CM was great, and so sweet. DS was having a great time and that's all I wanted.
After Captain EO, which was better than I thought it would be, we went over to the Visa Meet and Greet to meet some characters. While we were in line (very short line) Jen and Jaden showed up!!! We had told Jen that I paid for the extra night at POR but she was still so happy she had tears in her eyes. She said it would really allow them to enjoy the day at the parks.
I'm such a dork. Looking at these pics still makes me cry. DS looks so happy, and after knowing everything we went through...seeing that Disney still made him smile brings tears to my eyes.
So....we headed over to the Electric Umbrella for lunch. Because of the events of the week we had enough CS credits left to feed everyone.
The boys were being super goofy in line.
While we were in line, and I was trying to figure out what to order for everyone, DS walked up to me and said, "Mom, what's this?" Well, in his hand he was holding five $20 bills. I asked him where he got it and he said on the floor. This was soooo upsetting to me!!!! That was $100 and I know how much money that can be. I was so worried someone's day was ruined. I asked everyone close to us if they had lost any money. Jen thought this was crazy and said that every single person was gong to say yes. Well, not one person did. It was busy in there too...but not one person would say they lost any money. I kept watching and watching to see if anyone looked frantic in any way or like they were looking for something.
As we were eating I kept on looking. The food was OK I think. I just remember looking around the table and being so completely happy. It was our last day and everyone was smiling and happy. I couldn't ask for anything more. I never did find who was looking for that money. I decided to give it to the CMs in case someone came looking, but I thought Jen was going to murder me at that thought.
She insisted the CMs would end up keeping it if we did that. Since there were five of us, she divided it up between all of us and gave everyone a $20. I still felt guilty, but the happiness on Jaden's face definitely made me feel better.
After that we all headed over toward the World Showcase. On the way, I bought the boys some Phineas and Ferb pins. They were excited.
DS was desperate to try a Perry mission again and he really wanted to do it with Jaden. I thought my sisters could use some kid-free time to explore WS, so I told them to go off and have fun for a couple hours while I hung with the kids. They felt bad, but I told them not to worry. DS wasn't leaving my site no matter what so they might as well have some fun. So, we went to Mexico for the mission. This was based on the fact that it was inside and air conditioned. It also didn't mean that we had to walk through the whole WS to do it.
They both loved it soooo much!!!! DS could do this all day
After the Perry mission (which was one of the most fun things we did all week), I knew DS would love to go and spend a bit of the money he brought with him. We decided to head over to Mouse Gears for a little shopping. First we took some pics though...
Mouse Gears was a blast. Jaden spent his $20 very quickly and then Auntie Vicky was feeling very generous. I bought him some fun stuff for himself and then he picked up some gifts for his mom too. DS had about $160 left to spend (because he just never got to during the week) and he wanted to shop for everyone.
I just have to say.... I don't know if I've ever been so proud of him. He had no desire to buy a thing for himself. Instead he spent a very long time looking for gifts for aunts, uncles, grandparents, and his dad. He even saw Jaden looking at a case for his iPod, and he asked me if he could buy the case for him ($32...holy high-prices!!!). I noticed that DS seemed to like the case so I picked it up for him as a surprise as well. DS never bought himself anything there.
As we were leaving he gave Jaden the case (Jaden was soooooo happy!). Then Jaden came over to me and said he wished he could buy DS something. I gave him the case that DS didn't know I had bought and let him give it to DS. DS was so surprised and just thought it was crazy that they had bought the same gift for each other.
So cute!
After that, we met up with Carolyn and Jen again, and it was time to say goodbye. I know I had said we were ready to go, but after the best day of the whole trip, I was honestly sad to go.
We hugged a million times not knowing when we would all see each other again.
I gave Jen as many tips as possible to help her make the best of the rest of her day. They planned to head back to MK to watch Wishes before going back to POR for the night.
Carolyn, AJ, and me got on the bus back to POR and we were running a little later than expected! I ended up literally running back to Jen's room to grab our carry-ons while Carolyn and DS took a last stroll through the gift shop and filled the mugs.
I ran into Jen's room and just had to stop for a second to take this pic. This is the cutest towel animal ever!!!! It was just about a week until Easter at this point I think.
That's also DS's naked dino from Build A Dino in the back
After that we boarded ME and eventually got on our flight back home. It was pretty uneventful since DS slept through it.
I'm glad that ultimately he was okay, and that Disney did the right thing with the cab fare and the room (even if they had to be bullied into it!). My mom got what they thought at the time was meningitis when we were there on a trip when I was 11. My sister and I didn't find out until years later that while we had been at one of the water parks, Disney had actually had her taken to the hospital and back! Luckily she was fine, although she missed out on a chunk of the trip. 
