8 + 5 = 13 Days in Disney World

[mindflipper]

I learned to keep my mouth shut on scoring at Buzz. I might have challenged NaCler with disastrous results

Which trip report will we hear about this in first - Amy's or NaCler's??? Let the race begin!

[Amy]

I learned to keep my mouth shut on scoring at Buzz. I might have challenged NaCler with disastrous results

Which trip report will we hear about this in first - Amy's or NaCler's??? Let the race begin!

Hmmm, I might have a sporting chance at this since it was early on in the trip...plus NaCler keeps jetting back and forth to WDW so he doesn't have time to write any trip reports

[MmeLeota]

Awesome trip so far Len! I finally got to catch up a bit on the forum...

Looking forward to seeing the pics!

[Len90]

Pictures will be rolling. Lots of typing to do after my exams tomorrow and before finals start next week.


Day 7: (8/25/11)

We were originally expecting this to be the day the hurricane hit WDW. Instead the storm had a change of plans and stayed out at sea with a new idea of hitting South Carolina. We knew the storm was passing by pretty close so torrential rains and winds were something to be expected. We woke up pretty early and got a quick snack, as we wanted to squeeze in some time at DHS in the morning. We got out to the boat to find they were just starting up again following a torrential downpour from Irene. When we got to the park the rain was stopping and the custodial was out in full force clearing the puddles. It soon turned sunny and got VERY humid. We didn’t care since it was a nice day and the parks were relatively empty. We accomplished TSMM with minimal wait where I had my all time low of 159,500 but still took vehicle high. After that we headed around NY Street and in search of Mike and Sully and Lightning and Tow Mater. We got our pictures and headed over to Star Tours for another flight to somewhere. It was nearing 1PM and it was perfectly sunny at DHS. Mom and I wanted to take our annual visit to the Hollywood Tower Hotel so Mark and Dad went over Animation to take the drawing class. They were first in line for the 1:30 so we had a little bit of time to spare. Mom and I had one of our best trips on ToT. We got a lot of drops and it was a really thrilling experience. We still had a bit of time and we realized that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster had a very small wait. This was my first time attempting a roller coaster with any sort of upside down element. We somehow got 1st row which is apparently the tamest but seeing a corkscrew directly in front of you is something kind of funny and scary. We both loved the trip and really thought it was amazing. We had just accomplished both thrill rides at DHS within 30 minutes and it was time to meet up and head out. I originally thought that this was my last trip to DHS so I took one last look and we headed back to the Yacht Club. There was a bit of disappointment in heading back, as we never really accomplished everything. Somehow we skipped TGMR, which we have never skipped before.

At the resort we took some time to enjoy the heat and humidity at the pool. We ran into our friends again at the pool and chatted away. Somehow I didn’t get any slide trips in and before we knew it we needed to rush back and get ready for dinner at Garden Grill. We got there just in time for our ADR and were seated in about 20 minutes. The service at Garden Grill was average and the food was good but had been better in the past. However, the characters were amazing. Somehow we managed to get into it with the characters. We had Chip throwing sugar packets at us from every table around us. Garden Grill definitely has the most impressive characters. They are VERY personable and really interact well with the guests. On the way out we went to compliment the characters to the handler and somehow both were nearby and overheard this. They proceeded to take bows and ran out the restaurant after us.

Following dinner we have made a tradition of going on Living with the Land. It is really a shame that nobody goes on this anymore as you really get to see some interesting stuff. We slowly made our way around the World Showcase going the long way around. It was really an interesting dusk with the storm out to our east. It was a bit breezy but Illuminations was still good to go. The park was empty and I was able to get a great viewing location near the Morocco restrooms about 5 minutes before the show.

Illuminations has to really be one of my favorite nighttime displays. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: It really gives the perfect ending to a day at WDW. We ended the night with a quiet walk around the boardwalk and a beer at Big River. It was August 25th and the first signs of Halloween started to come out. The merchandise for Halloween was already available at the Boardwalk’s gift shop. We cashed in our arcade cards and called it a night. Tomorrow was our last day and MK was open until 1AM for EMH. We had a big day planned and I was closing down the MK.

[Amy]

Wow Len, I didn't realize you hadn't gone on Rock n Roller Coaster before Fun, isn't it?! It's so smooth you almost don't realize you are going upside down...
Chip and Dale are quite fun. F1gment and I had a dessert at Garden Grill once and even though we were only having sundaes, the characters came and spent some time with us That would have been a sight to see, having them run out after you
I agree with you on Living with the Land. It isn't the same since they took the live narrators off the boats. But it still it fun to see everything and hear about what is growing.
Illuminations is nice, but F1gment and I miss the older show, when it highlighted all the countries. I don't remember what the show was called at the moment, but each country had their own little segment in the show. And there were lots of lasers!!
Looking forward to the photos after finals week

[mindflipper]

I think, Amy, it was called IllumiNATIONS; after all, it was "illuminating" the different "nations" around World Showcase. I know in some circles they refer to the different variations by including the year in which the new version is shown after the title, such as "Illuminations 2000" (the current version is further variation of that version).

[Amy]

I think, Amy, it was called IllumiNATIONS; after all, it was "illuminating" the different "nations" around World Showcase. I know in some circles they refer to the different variations by including the year in which the new version is shown after the title, such as "Illuminations 2000" (the current version is further variation of that version).

That's kind of what I was thinking, but don't they call the current one Illuminations: Reflections of Earth? Is it always Illuminations...and then something tagged on?

[mindflipper]

You would think after 11 years they would come up with a new variation of Illuminations by now...

[Len90]

To all of those reading, I hope you are enjoying the trip report so far. I do apologize about the length of this day. I wanted to really give everyone the idea of how my whole Hurricane Irene cancellation and rebooking went.

Day 8 (8/26/2011)

It was our final day at the parks as our flight was scheduled for tomorrow morning. We woke up to news that once again the hurricane changed it’s mind and it was going to hit North Carolina and work the shore up into New Jersey. We quickly called our neighbor to store our patio furniture just in case and proceeded about our day. Breakfast was at Cape May Café. I really was not a fan of it last year and I had the same feelings about it this year. I really think the character buffet breakfasts were just not that great this year. It really is a shame but hopefully they will improve. It was a beautiful day outside and we headed straight to the pool from breakfast. We explored the entire pool complex and I took another 7 trips down the Jib. Unfortunately I fell far short of my goal of 50 and ended with around 36 total trips. You could tell at the pool people were starting to have issues with getting back to the Northeast. I was starting to see a lot of guests on cellphones at the pool and working on rebooking itinerary. Our flight was still on schedule for the next morning so we kept going as if this was our last day in Disney World.

We headed out to EPCOT after our long stay at Stormalong Bay. We high tailed it from International Gateway to the front gate in hopes of meeting Daisy. It was just after 4 when we got to Daisy and there was a small line. Suddenly her character handler comes up and tells us the line is closed and we just missed Daisy. We tried explaining that it was our last day but she didn’t care and pulled a time guide from another guest to show the line closes at 4 sharp and we were after 4 and then turned her back on us. It was VERY unlike Disney and her handling of a situation was both rude and obnoxious. This was the first time in all of our trips to Disney World that we had such a poor experience that made us go straight to Guest Services. Managers were called down and listened to what occurred. They issued us a special pass to go to the Character Spot without waiting in line as a way to make up for it. It was a really nice gesture but we still missed out on Daisy.

By the time all of this fuss was over we had to make our way to dinner, which was back at Les Chefs de France. We had heard really mixed reviews on this restaurant but we figured we should form our own opinions. We lucked out by getting the best server in the restaurant. I have no idea why both the hostess and manager made mention of that to us. At first I assumed it was told to all tables but I was wrong. They only said it to tables sat with this server. She truly was fantastic and our drinks were kept full and we never had to ask for refills or more bread. Just as the main course was coming out I double-checked our flight status on my iPhone. It refreshed the page and in red bold capital letters I saw “CANCELED”. I broke the news to my family and we all just sat there. After a couple of minutes we decided to eat our food and start figuring out an alternative plan on getting home.

I immediately reached for my spreadsheet and got on the phone with JetBlue. Mom made the call for extending the rental car and we figured that the resort will be easy to handle upon returning back. We walked around and the rental car was extended with Alamo taking advantage of us and charging lots of money to extend the car. We questioned driving the vehicle home and they quoted us $3,000… NO THANK YOU! After about 45 minutes on hold I was able to get someone from Jet Blue. The first available flight into any local NY airport from Orlando, Tampa, and Ft. Lauderdale was the morning of September 1. This meant that we were now “stuck” in Disney World for 5 more days as I rebooked us for the late morning flight into Newark on the first. It is amazing how being prepared and organized was able to assist me with getting everything taken care of in about 45 minutes while just meandering around the World Showcase. Following the call we ended up in Future World where we decided to utilize that special pass at the character spot. The managers from earlier must have sent out an alert since the people in charge were definitely expecting us. The CMs there noticed we were upset following all the events that just occurred and gave us an amazing experience that really showcased some of that Disney magic. They created gaps to allow us to get a family picture with both Goofy and Donald and also Minnie and Pluto together.

Following the character spot it was back to the room as EPCOT was closing at 9PM and we needed to alert the resort that we couldn’t check out tomorrow as we had no place to go. On the walk back we started thinking about alternative reservations, as we knew an extra 5 nights at the Yacht Club with two rooms would be a bit hefty. Some ideas thrown around included Downtown Disney, Downtown Orlando, I-Drive, and Universal. We decided to first hear what the resort was offering before making up our minds. Disney ended up being really nice they were allowing people to stay at the discounted rates, which came to about what we had originally booked for during the promotion back in the early spring. They were not trying to price gouge or do any nonsense like that. We said okay but still were not happy having two rooms for the extra 5 nights. They informed us that we should also extend our park passes which at 9PM was only able to be done at the park still open and needed to be done that night as it was the last valid day on the card. MK was having EMH and our friends staying at the Beach Club were already there. It seemed like the perfect night to meet up and hang out.

We got there just in time for Wishes and I believe it was my third time seeing the show over the course of this stay. After the show we quickly ducked into tomorrowland and walked on to Buzz where I lost to my dad ☹. It was then off to conquer Space Mountain with mom where I finally got row 6 and loved it. After that we had to cut straight across the park to meet up with our friends at POTC. They were originally scheduled to leave a day or two after us but their flight also got cancelled and Continental was not taking any calls. They were not being rescheduled and had no idea what was going on. Their parents had gone back to the resort to sort everything out so it was only the “kids”. We all took a trip on POTC and then our parents decided to head towards Main Street to take a break and eventually head over to City Hall. That left us “kids” to be alone in the park and we set out a rule that there was to be no waiting for any attraction. Anything we went on had to be a Disney walk on. Within 40 minutes we ended up doing Pirates, Tea Cups, Speedway (each having our own car to drive), and Buzz (each getting our own ride vehicle) before we had to head back to Main Street where we did a photopass in front of the castle and parting ways at 12:30. We met back up with our parents and got our tickets extended for one more day so this way the hotel could add on day 10 in the morning or we could add it on if we wanted to.

We kissed the castle good night and successfully closed down MK after a very interesting day at the Magic Kingdom.

[Amy]

Wow ~ what a day! Isn't it great how with the technology of today, you can still enjoy your vacation while straightening out things like this?
That is really strange about Daisy and her handler. I'm glad Disney did something to accommodate you, but like you said, it wasn't Daisy I think I would have gone nuts if I wasn't getting to the park until almost 4 though
Boo to Alamo for charging you so much for extending your rental, especially since you usually go through them for your rentals right? Yay to Disney for extending you a great deal at the Yacht Club at a reasonable price!
Oh. My. Goodness. You lost at Buzz???
That's great that you "kids" got to take on the EMH at the MK. Sounds like a nice end to what was a pretty stressful day
Bring on the bonus days!! I'm still waiting to hear if you made 50 slides on the Jib

[mindflipper]

Amy, the $3,000 was not for the extension, but the cost to drive the rental car from Orlando back to New Jersey. I've done it from Atlanta to Jacksonville, but that's just two states - I guess the price goes up for nearly crossing the entire eastern USA coastline.

[Amy]

Amy, the $3,000 was not for the extension, but the cost to drive the rental car from Orlando back to New Jersey. I've done it from Atlanta to Jacksonville, but that's just two states - I guess the price goes up for nearly crossing the entire eastern USA coastline.

Yeah, no, I got that. But he said they charged a lot just to extend the rental too I'm thinking you can rent a moving truck to drive up the coast for less than that. Then you could haul back a whole bunch of stranded tourists and make some of your money back

[Mousekedude]

Wow, Len, you really went through a lot! Glad to see that some of the C.M's were able to keep the magic going for you to the extent they did though! What little bit of positiveness there was in the whole thing was definitely enough to keep the adventure tolerable!

[MmeLeota]

Wow! What an ordeal! Glad there was some Disney magic to help you along though! (even if it ended up being like paying for a 2nd trip )

[Len90]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. We planned on getting to the park a bit late that day as we wanted to really enjoy the pool to the fullest extent possible thinking it was our last day. Before heading to the park we pretty much did most of our packing so we could stay until the end of EMH and not have to worry too much about packing up for check out. It ended up being Alamo was gouging at the time it happened. A few days later they were charging just a couple of hundred dollars to drive back up. I spoke with a supervisor a few days later and they pretty much extended me out on the weekly rate that I had locked in for the first 8 days as a way to make it up to me. It was a nice gesture from them. I usually lose at Buzz as I seem to try and aim for the hard targets and usually get thrown off as our vehicle is constantly being shifted left and right.