Rope Drop is Tip #1!! A June 2016 TR...updated 10/31 pg 19 post 373 THE END!

[ArielSRL]

I'm so behind on catching up on posts on the Dis. Work is one reason but that's all the time. The two biggies this week are Hurricane Matthew - I'm obsessed with the Matthew thread here on the Dis - and because I'm stalking all these LulaRoe parties for Halloween leggings. What is wrong with me?? I really am not into LLR. I bought some leggings but found some comparable ones on Amazon for over half the price but they don't have Halloween ones and I LOVE Halloween. So ridiculous, I know! So glad it's Friday, though! AJ turns 5 on Sunday! How did that happen???

 

[ArielSRL]

So, again, I usually update on Sunday nights but today was my oldest's birthday....he turned 5! And my CFB team (Go Dawgs!) played today instead of yesterday due to Hurricane Matthew, so my schedule is off. I plan to do it tomorrow night. Thanks, in advance, for your patience!

 

[Jfsag123]

Hahaha...sorry that was rude of me.

Oh no on the toe! Though it is kind of funny how you got hurt. *Ducks head* lol. I hope it gets better quickly! I'm dealing with *spoiler alert* a knee issue that I sustained at Disney in June and I have an MRI scheduled in 1.5 weeks! So I definitely am not anywhere near graceful, myself! And I am worried how it could affect our trip in June!

Lol! Feel free to laugh at my pain - I have to at this point!

And yikes! Ready to hear more about that injury and hoping you get good news when you have your MRI. How awful it would be to have an injury from this year's trip negatively impact next year's trip.

So, again, I usually update on Sunday nights but today was my oldest's birthday....he turned 5! And my CFB team (Go Dawgs!) played today instead of yesterday due to Hurricane Matthew, so my schedule is off. I plan to do it tomorrow night. Thanks, in advance, for your patience!

::taps foot impatiently waiting for updates:: Just kidding! I think football, a hurricane, and a kiddo birthday are perfectly reasonable excuses. Happy birthday to AJ!

P.S. I also watched some football today. Go Cowboys!

 

[ArielSRL]

Lol! Feel free to laugh at my pain - I have to at this point!

And yikes! Ready to hear more about that injury and hoping you get good news when you have your MRI. How awful it would be to have an injury from this year's trip negatively impact next year's trip.

Thanks for the concern! I apologize but it's a couple more updates til I get to the "injury".....

::taps foot impatiently waiting for updates:: Just kidding! I think football, a hurricane, and a kiddo birthday are perfectly reasonable excuses. Happy birthday to AJ!

P.S. I also watched some football today. Go Cowboys!

Thank you for understanding. And now I'm going to beg off for at least another day...

 

[ArielSRL]

Well guys, I'm getting sick and I rarely get sick. But I can usually predict when it's going to happen...when the season/weather changes - which is currently going on here in GA - and when I don't take care of myself/get enough rest. So I'm forgoing my weeknight glass of wine and my trip update tonight in favor of an early bedtime. I profusely apologize and I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow night if I feel better! Thanks for hanging in.....

 

[ArielSRL]

A couple quick June 2017 pre-trip notes: I think I may have decided to switch our arrival night DS dinner from Homecoming to The Boathouse. I've read some good reviews of both but when I look at the menus, I like more from The Boathouse (I'm a huge seafood fan). Anybody have any experiences or heard anything? Also, I think I found the title of my pre-trip report and I got the idea from @Jfsag123 's TR. How does "At Least We are All Tall Enough for Barnstormer" sound? HAHA. Ok, onto the update...

Day Seven 6/10/2016 ~ Hollywood Studios (part 2)

Last I left you, we were headed to Hollywood and Vine for an 11am lunch with some Disney Junior friends. We were doing the F! dining package here. I had heard the food was just so-so but we were going for the package and the characters. The only character AJ insisted he didn't want to meet was Sophia - "yuck" was probably his exact wording...lol - but you'll see how that went down. HAHA...

First came Handy Manny:

As you can see, Will was a little upset at first, I don't think because of the characters, though. I figured he was just being fussy...I probably had his paci - which he was still using back then - but now that I look back, he probably wasn't feeling very well.

Next up was Jake:

Looking at these photos, my poor baby looks sick to me. I guess at the time, we were just so distracted by everything else, I didn't notice til later.

I didn't take any food photos other than dessert:

Well I guess you can see one of the boys food plates in the photo. As far as the food, I agree with what I had heard...nothing spectacular, pretty much so-so, but worth it for the benefits.

Doc was next:

Even though Doc is a girl...lol...they enjoy watching her show.

And the moment you have all been waiting for...Sophia!!!




So much for "yuck" huh?? He still, to this day, says "yuck" but he looked like he enjoyed it well enough!

OK, so the drama for this meal was that we were planning to hit up Indiana Jones after our break, but since Mom, Dad, and Will had just gotten there before lunch, we decided to try for it after lunch. I checked the time of the next show (12pm) and if we hurried, we could make it. So, I mentioned that to my parents and...crickets....

Basically I was ignored. I'm sure Mom would've been fine rushing, but apparently that didn't fit with Dad's plan, so you know how that turned out. The funny thing is, that after we were done, then Dad mentioned going over to Indy and trying to get in, but by that time they weren't letting anyone in. He didn't do it to the CM, but Dad definitely grumbled about it to us. I really wanted to say that if he had just hurried a tad bit, we would've gotten there in time, but again, as is customary for this trip, I held my tongue for the sake of peace.

After this we stopped for a moment to figure out what we wanted to do. We decided we would start heading out and be back in time for the 5pm Indy show as originally planned. But I put my foot down a bit and said we would have to be back no later than 4:30 if we were going to make it. **Side note - this was when I had been planning to get back in time for Character Palooza but I think it completely slipped my mind, or maybe I just knew to not even try for it. I'll be so glad next June, when I have much more control over not just our plans, but the actual trip activities!** My parents agreed to the 4:30 and as we headed out, we made two stops. One was Starring Rolls, for some more delicious treats and the other was Mickey's of Hollywood for some shopping. In the middle of those stops, we ran into this fellow:


As we headed out of the park, I took this shot:

Time stamp says 12:52. We headed back to SSR for some rest time and finally, for the first time this trip, some pool time. But I'll save that for next update.

Up next: Day Seven 6/10/2016 ~ SSR Pool Time & Hollywood Studios (part 3)

 

[ariane37]

I hope you're feeling better! I'm getting over a cold and Chris's allergies have been bad since the beginning of Sept. Have to call the allergist and see what can be done
I like the title you and Kelley came up with for your PTR lol! Also like the change to The Boathouse. I've heard lots of good things about it and actually would like to try it myself, but the menu doesn't interest Steve so I have to work on talking him into it......
Aw poor Will's face at H&V! But definitely looks like AJ enjoyed meeting Sofia. Hope he had a good birthday also, certainly looked like it!

 

[ArielSRL]

I hope you're feeling better! I'm getting over a cold and Chris's allergies have been bad since the beginning of Sept. Have to call the allergist and see what can be done

It seems to be the season for sickness! I hope you get Chris' allergies all worked out. As far as myself, I'm still sick. I have lost my voice - which doesn't suit a teacher very well - and I have a bad cough with lots of drainage. Its worse at night, so daytime at work so far has been manageable. Thanks for asking.

I like the title you and Kelley came up with for your PTR lol! Also like the change to The Boathouse. I've heard lots of good things about it and actually would like to try it myself, but the menu doesn't interest Steve so I have to work on talking him into it......

Yeh, we were discussing her kids trying all the rides and I mentioned that we would all be tall enough for Barnstormer this year as a HAHA moment and later, I was thinking that would make a good funny title.

Aw poor Will's face at H&V! But definitely looks like AJ enjoyed meeting Sofia. Hope he had a good birthday also, certainly looked like it!

Yes, I feel a little like a bad mom that I didn't notice it sooner but he survived so I guess I shouldn't worry about it now. I'll just be more aware next year in case the wear down causes something again. Yeh, I thought AJ looked like he was having fun with Sophia. He assures me that he was not! LOL And yes, I think he did have a good birthday party.

 

[Jfsag123]

A couple quick June 2017 pre-trip notes: I think I may have decided to switch our arrival night DS dinner from Homecoming to The Boathouse. I've read some good reviews of both but when I look at the menus, I like more from The Boathouse (I'm a huge seafood fan). Anybody have any experiences or heard anything? Also, I think I found the title of my pre-trip report and I got the idea from @Jfsag123 's TR. How does "At Least We are All Tall Enough for Barnstormer" sound? HAHA. Ok, onto the update...

Lol! It's perfect. And your trip song can be "My Way" - not Disney, but sounds like it will be appropriate.

Love AJ's reaction to actually meeting Sophia - perhaps a little crush? And I don't blame you for not noticing that Will may have been getting sick. I think we all looked like that most of the time during our trip simply because we were in Florida in June. And it's easy to miss stuff like that when you've got so much going on and are outside of your usual element. I didn't even notice myself getting sick on our trip in 2015 until the end of the trip when we finally slowed down. Until then I had just thought my feeling bad was because of exhaustion or something. I would bet that happens a lot.

And OMG about your dad and Indy! Especially as H&V and the Indy theater are not very far away from each other. I hope you were able to catch it later!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Oh you are such a patient soul. I would've been all over the Disney buses by this point and just had them meet up with me when they felt like it. This is why I don't do WDW with other people.

I just binge read your report. Looks like you made the best of it! Cant wait to read your next report!

 

[vamassey1]

Looks like you finally made rope drop and got some attraction done. AJ looked like he was enjoying it. I'm so sorry Will was starting to feel bad. Being sick is bad enough but sick at Disney is worse. How frustrating to miss Indy. I hope ya'll caught it later.

I hope you're getting better. This is that time of year for everyone to start getting sick.

 

[kastoney]

How about you call your PTR unleashing the tongue?

Looks like the boys enjoyed H&V despite all those yucky girls We went when Casey was just little over 2 and were very disappointed with the food. Once they added the characters as regular meet and greets we didn't look back. Though with the fantastic package makes total sense

 

[ArielSRL]

Lol! It's perfect. And your trip song can be "My Way" - not Disney, but sounds like it will be appropriate.

OMG, I truly hope this next trip goes "My Way". There is no way it can be worse as far as my plans not being followed, right??? LOL. I think because my DH lives with me on a daily basis he will definitely be more open to following my plans. And the fact that he has no recent experience and he knows how obsessed I am (so I actually know what I am talking about!)...haha.

Love AJ's reaction to actually meeting Sophia - perhaps a little crush? And I don't blame you for not noticing that Will may have been getting sick. I think we all looked like that most of the time during our trip simply because we were in Florida in June. And it's easy to miss stuff like that when you've got so much going on and are outside of your usual element. I didn't even notice myself getting sick on our trip in 2015 until the end of the trip when we finally slowed down. Until then I had just thought my feeling bad was because of exhaustion or something. I would bet that happens a lot.

And OMG about your dad and Indy! Especially as H&V and the Indy theater are not very far away from each other. I hope you were able to catch it later!

He was so incredibly frustrating! He keeps teasing me that he is coming back next year. You go ahead, dude, but we will be leaving you in our dust!

Oh you are such a patient soul. I would've been all over the Disney buses by this point and just had them meet up with me when they felt like it. This is why I don't do WDW with other people.

I just binge read your report. Looks like you made the best of it! Cant wait to read your next report!

Thank you so much for joining! I'm not really all that patient but I guess I just new what I was getting myself into. I had hoped things would be different but from the get-go, it was painfully obvious that it wasn't going to be.

Looks like you finally made rope drop and got some attraction done. AJ looked like he was enjoying it. I'm so sorry Will was starting to feel bad. Being sick is bad enough but sick at Disney is worse. How frustrating to miss Indy. I hope ya'll caught it later.

I hope you're getting better. This is that time of year for everyone to start getting sick.

Yeh, it was a fun morning with just AJ and myself. More about the sick boy coming up. And thank you on the well wishes. I actually have gotten worst. Probably didn't help that we were all out late at a corn maze Friday night and my DH was out of town this weekend so it was just me with the boys. Fortunately I have tomorrow off for some already planned doctor's appts so maybe I can get some rest time in.

How about you call your PTR unleashing the tongue?

Looks like the boys enjoyed H&V despite all those yucky girls We went when Casey was just little over 2 and were very disappointed with the food. Once they added the characters as regular meet and greets we didn't look back. Though with the fantastic package makes total sense

Haha...unleashing the tongue! Honestly, if you met me, you would think even more of me for holding my tongue because I really don't usually do so...haha. Yeh, the H&V food really wasn't good, but like you mentioned, we did it more for the other benefits.

 

[ArielSRL]

So just a quick note before the update. I just bought my very first Disney Dooney & Bourke purse tonight! It is a birthday present to myself and I got a very gently used one off eBay to save myself some money. I got the Sketch pattern in a medium tote. I'll be sure to post photos once I receive it!

Day Seven 6/10/2016 ~ SSR Pool Time & Hollywood Studios (part 3)

So last I left you, we headed back to SSR for a break. We took a photo of all the Disney Racers we had bought on the trip, thus far - Will is obsessed with cars and trucks:

Will immediately fell asleep and AJ and I finally had enough time to check out the pool. We picked to head to the Paddock Pool because of the splash pad area. They had a little Grill area there so I thought I could grab a drink while he played. When we arrived, however, the drink choices were limited to beer and wine only. I'm not a beer drinker at all. I do drink more than my fair share of wine these days but they were out of the ones I prefer. I still grabbed one, though...lol:

AJ really enjoyed himself here and I took a video of him, sliding:

We stayed a tad longer than we were supposed to but I eventually got AJ to leave the area and head back to the room. We did all get ready to go in a timely manner and headed back to DHS, but not before I noticed how warm Will was. I ended up giving him some ibuprofen and off we went. We made it to the gates and through and headed to Indy. We did arrive on time, but just as we did, the skies opened up and it started pouring down. We got into the theatre but we were all steamy with the rain and our ponchos and Will just looked miserable. I ended up leaving the theatre and going back to the stroller to get our diaper backpack for some wipes because I thought rubbing him with the alcohol (on the wipe) might cool him down, as he was still hot.

Eventually the Indy show started but it was still pouring so they didn't even do the full show. We sort of hung out a minute to see if the rain would let up but then they began kicking people out so they could get ready for the next show. We headed toward Sunset Blvd to think about dinner (Sunset Market) and also because we had FPs for ToT.

We stopped at the bathrooms because the rain had slowed a bit but then it just started pouring again. We took cover under the FP kiosk area with several other people to just wait it out but it was very cramped in there because the CMs told us we had to leave room for any guests who wanted to use the kiosks. After a while, it wasn't letting up and the boys were getting somewhat restless. Mom and Dad told me to go ride ToT and after double checking with them, I did just that. I mean, it is my favorite ride, after all! Here is my video from the ride:

I do have another horrible ride photo that I'll post:

I look pained! But I promise, I wasn't. I really need to study up on where the ride photos get taken so I am prepared next trip...lol.

After this, I got on MDE and moved our VotLM FP to the next show because there was no way we were gonna make it over in time for our scheduled one. We decided to start heading that way, also glancing at the food lines, which were incredibly long at this point - I think it was around 6:30-7 maybe. We kind of talked on the way and pretty much decided to throw in the towel. We knew that JTA was most likely cancelled (I didn't know they did a meet and greet with Vader if that happened...or I would've been on that) and if the rain help up, Fantasmic! probably would be as well. Also, Will was really looking miserable so we decided to stop by First Aid on the way out. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad we did, as he had a 103.1 degree fever, and that was AFTER I had given him the ibuprofen earlier. My poor, poor baby.

They gave us some liquid tylenol to give him and gave us a couple syringes full more to take with us. He did end up cooling down with the tylenol and never spiked a fever again. It actually turns out he had strep but I didn't find that out til we got back home and I took him to the doctor.

We headed back to SSR and decided to have dinner at Artist's Palette again. I didn't take photos of the food but I had a Cheeseburger Flatbread and the boys shared the Nuggets meal again. No clue on the folks' meals. There was some event/activities going on this night at SSR but they had brought it inside because of the rain, so AJ wanted to do some coloring. The CMs gave him some crayons and some coloring sheets to take with him to the food area. After we had all eaten, he and I decided to take the crayons back, not knowing they had actually already cleaned up and were gone. As we were walking though, there was a standing puddle of water on the hardwood floor, right in our path. But guess who didn't notice it until she had slipped and landed right on her knee??? Yeh, that would be me. This is the injury that I sustained at Disney and am still dealing with to this day. As a matter of fact I am going for an MRI tomorrow.

Back to the actual evening though, several people came over to help me and eventually both a custodial worker and a manager type came over. The water was cleaned up, though not before another guest took photos and texted them to me, in case I needed them. The manager got me two medical ice packs, one for right then and one for later. She took my name and said she would call to check on me the next day - which she never did. My knee was bruised and sore but it really didn't bother me too much at the time. I did eventually email Disney and have been in contact with a claims person from there because my knee pain has really gotten worse - I'm actually wearing a brace any time I walk on the treadmill and I have orders for PT. At this point, the claims person said they will take care of all my out of pocket costs but I need to call him back tomorrow and check on it because he wants to wait til everything is all said and done before issuing a check, but I'm not sure how much the MRI is going to end up costing.

After all that, we headed back to the room, as it was getting late and we needed to finish up some laundry and get most of the packing done before bed, as the next day was our departure day. Boo hoo.

Up next: Day Eight 6/11/2016 ~ AoA and Departure Day

 

[Jfsag123]

Oh my gosh! You are trying to fight me for the Disney injury crown lol. I defer to you! But seriously, that sounds awful, especially if it's still giving you so much pain this far after the trip. I'm glad they are at least paying your medical bills and hope you don't have to go through much trouble to actually get the money. Good luck tomorrow. Please keep us posted!

I laughed a little too hard at your ToT ride photo. Maybe you had a premonition of the pain to come? You and that kid in the white Italia shirt are rocking some awesome disgust faces. I'm glad you got to experience your fav, though!

And I remember the rain that day. It was awful! Set my toe healing back a bunch because no amount of tape and plastic wrapping could keep it dry that day. But the dreary sky made for a cool ToT pic.

Can't believe your trip report is almost done! But that means it's almost time to get to fully focus on your next one. You're really close to getting to find out if you can switch to VWL!

 

[ArielSRL]

Oh my gosh! You are trying to fight me for the Disney injury crown lol. I defer to you! But seriously, that sounds awful, especially if it's still giving you so much pain this far after the trip. I'm glad they are at least paying your medical bills and hope you don't have to go through much trouble to actually get the money. Good luck tomorrow. Please keep us posted!

Thank you! MRI is done. I'll get the results at my follow up next week.

I laughed a little too hard at your ToT ride photo. Maybe you had a premonition of the pain to come? You and that kid in the white Italia shirt are rocking some awesome disgust faces. I'm glad you got to experience your fav, though!

It's totally ok to laugh too hard. I mean, it is seriously ridiculous. I don't think I could make worst photos, even if I tried!

And I remember the rain that day. It was awful! Set my toe healing back a bunch because no amount of tape and plastic wrapping could keep it dry that day. But the dreary sky made for a cool ToT pic.

That stinks that it had a negative effect on your healing. Yeh, the timing of it stunk the worst because it was our last park night and we were gonna go out with a bang with JTA and Fantasmic. Oh well...more to look forward to in 2017!

Can't believe your trip report is almost done! But that means it's almost time to get to fully focus on your next one. You're really close to getting to find out if you can switch to VWL!

I know, right? I was thinking I'm definitely started the PTR as soon as I finish this one, even though there won't be too much to report just yet. The timing should work out though with news of VWL - fingers crossed - and then getting those ADR plans finalized!

 

[ariane37]

I know I commented on FB but seriously Renee, I can't believe that about your knee And all this time through your TR this is the first your mentioning it! I do hope the MRI shows something they can fix easily enough and I also hope Disney comes through and does what they said they're going to do as far as covering your bills.........please keep us updated! Sewage coming through our floor and all I think your trip beats ours last Nov. for crappy stuff happening simply because of your stubborn (as mine was ) dad and the fact that this injury is lasting so long!!

Hopefully you'll get good news in a few weeks about WL for your next trip - my fingers are crossed for you!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I know I commented on FB but seriously Renee, I can't believe that about your knee And all this time through your TR this is the first your mentioning it!

Thanks for your concern! And it wasn't intentional to not mention it before now. At first I thought it would be fine but the more active I was the worst it got. I wasn't all that active this summer but once I was back at work and started working out on a regular basis, it really started bothering me. So it just never came up til now!

I do hope the MRI shows something they can fix easily enough and I also hope Disney comes through and does what they said they're going to do as far as covering your bills.........please keep us updated! Sewage coming through our floor and all I think your trip beats ours last Nov. for crappy stuff happening simply because of your stubborn (as mine was ) dad and the fact that this injury is lasting so long!!

I'm really scared it will be a tear and I'll need surgery. Hopefully it won't come to that. Yeh, that Friday night was just a perfect storm, literally and figuratively! And yes, the whole trip pretty much did not work out as planned but my boys had the best time and I was at Disney so I wont complain too terribly much...wel, I sort of have already! Lol

Hopefully you'll get good news in a few weeks about WL for your next trip - my fingers are crossed for you!!

Thank you! I really, really am hoping we get it. If we don't, I guess I'll have to decide on waitlist or trying for something else. But I'm going to try to not worry too much about it now....

 

[vamassey1]

We took a photo of all the Disney Racers we had bought on the trip, thus far - Will is obsessed with cars and trucks:

Super cut cars. They didn't have these when my son was little.

We stayed a tad longer than we were supposed to but I eventually got AJ to leave the area and head back to the room.

I think kids could stay in the pool the entire vacation.

We did arrive on time, but just as we did, the skies opened up and it started pouring down.

Oh no! What a horrible way to end your last day in the park.

Eventually the Indy show started but it was still pouring so they didn't even do the full show.

Don't think I've ever seen the shortened version.

I did just that. I mean, it is my favorite ride, after all!

Me too! I could ride it by myself and have.

I look pained!

That's just what I was thinking

My poor, poor baby.

This just breaks my heart. Sounds like first aid was great.

But guess who didn't notice it until she had slipped and landed right on her knee???

How terrible. I hope everything works out and your knee heals.

 

[ArielSRL]

Super cut cars. They didn't have these when my son was little.



I think kids could stay in the pool the entire vacation.



Oh no! What a horrible way to end your last day in the park.



Don't think I've ever seen the shortened version.



Me too! I could ride it by myself and have.



That's just what I was thinking



This just breaks my heart. Sounds like first aid was great.



How terrible. I hope everything works out and your knee heals.

Thank you so much! Yes it was a rough ending and omg I am so thankful for first aid! They helped us tremendously. I don't know why the ibuprofen wasn't working but Tylenol did the trick. The shortened Indy show just included the covered stuff....no plane or anything else "outside". And yes, I totally agree about the kids and the pool!