“What?! No! That’s Crazy!” Feb 16 - 21, 2014 (Complete)

[geckodani]

Welcome foolish mortals!

I’ll be your host. And while not ghostly, hopefully I’ll still provide a good read, and perhaps a laugh.

The cast for this trip consists of:

Me! Dani! 31, Disney nut, grew up going to Disneyland all of the time, and now enjoy going to the World as much as I possibly can! I’m obsessed with Haunted Mansion, and enjoy traveling with my mom, the other member of this crazy crew. She’s 63, a major trooper, loves the Tower of Terror (she laughs like a maniac through the whole ride. It’s hilarious) and puts up with my obsessive desire to ride the Haunted Mansion for the eight millionth time.

This trip had its ups and downs. We had a good time, with a few unforeseen circumstances thrown in just to keep it interesting!

Mom and I took a trip back in December of 2012 (Is this Thunder Mountain or Splash Mountain?!?!) and had so much fun I wanted to do it again! We needed to go on one of my Mom’s school breaks (Detroit Public School teacher) so I picked the week of President’s Day, hoping it wouldn’t be too insanely crowded, and hoping that the weather would be good! So I saved, and I planned, and I booked plane tickets!

The days counted down oh so very slowly, until in December… we started hitting snags. We were in the middle of the worst winter in over 100 years here in Michigan.

And the week before Christmas… I hurt my knee. Badly. So badly that I needed an MRI and they were initially talking surgery and I started investigating EVC rentals. And my mom was pushed by a student at school and fell and hurt her hip, and I started investigating whether or not 2 EVCs would fit in a room in French Quarter. Let me tell you… I’ll never look at someone riding one of those the same way again. Ever. I pretty much felt like this:

And then… there was hope. The MRI came back with nothing torn. The diagnosis was – irritated iliotibial band (it runs down the outside of your leg and under your knee). I probably ever so slightly tore it, and needed to do one month of Physical Therapy… scheduled to end the week before my trip!

So, mom was feeling okay, my knee was scheduled to be okay, the trip was back on.. what could possibly go wrong?

Stay tuned for all the details, including a slew of random selfies! And gifs. Because I just figured out how to use them.

Up next: Our plane is missing, and Walt is a creeper.

Chapter Links

Day 1, Part 1: Our Plane is Missing!

Day 1, Part 2: Walt is a Creeper!

Day 2, Part 1: ♫ Welcome, welcome, welcome! ♫

Day 2, part 2: Postage Stamp Triage!

Day 2, Part 3: Very... American.

Day 3, Part 1: Fabulous Hair!

Day 3, Part 2: Who is Prince Adam?

Day 4, Part 1: Why yes, that is ice cream in my coffee.

Day 4, Part 2: "What?! No! That's Crazy!"

Day 5: Tower of Terror on Cold Meds...

Day 6: And still... no plane.

 

[pktbMouse]

laughing at Walt is a creeper and I dont know the story yet! lol

 

[katt789]

I'm in!!

 

[LovingDisny]

Hi, I love that your mom rides TOT! that is so cool. I put my mom on soarin when she was 64 and she was terrified and very mad at me when we got off

looking forward to reading your report!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[geckodani]

laughing at Walt is a creeper and I dont know the story yet! lol

Hee hee - hopefully you'll be equally amused when I explain!

I'm in!!

Yay! Glad to have you!

Hi, I love that your mom rides TOT! that is so cool. I put my mom on soarin when she was 64 and she was terrified and very mad at me when we got off

looking forward to reading your report!

Thanks for joining! And I think it's hilarious that she loves TOT so much. She just laughs, and laughs, and laughs ... and I scream my head off. She also loves Expedition Everest and Thunder Mountain. Only thing she won't do is go upside down! Soarin seems pretty tame? I'd be confused as well!

Following along!

Yay for familiar faces! Thanks for joining.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Hey Dani, looks like I found your TR just in time!!

 

[geckodani]

Hey Dani, looks like I found your TR just in time!!

Glad you found me!

 

[teekathepony]

I found you too! And not too late!

 

[geckodani]

I found you too! And not too late!

Yay! I promise I'll have an update soon!

And Wendy - thanks again for listening when I was in the middle of my freak out over my knee. You really were terrific.

 

[DanielsMom]

Looking forward to reading your trip report. I hope no EVCs are needed. My DBiL had to use one our first trip and it was inconvenient. He wouldn't have been able to do the trip without it but it is so much easier to get around without one.

 

[teekathepony]

Yay! I promise I'll have an update soon!

And Wendy - thanks again for listening when I was in the middle of my freak out over my knee. You really were terrific.

Always happy to be of service in any way I can! (Especially when it involves making someone's Disney trip easier!)

 

[geckodani]

Looking forward to reading your trip report. I hope no EVCs are needed. My DBiL had to use one our first trip and it was inconvenient. He wouldn't have been able to do the trip without it but it is so much easier to get around without one.

We did not end up getting an EVC for either of us, although in hind sight I think my mom would have benefited from one. I'll get into more detail later, but she'll go 'til she drops so as not to disappoint me, and that's not what I want. I want her to have fun, not be in pain etc. If we go again, at the very least she's getting a wheel chair just in case. She doesn't have to use it the whole time, but I think having it in the evenings especially would have been really helpful. I agree that it seems like the EVCs would make it very inconvenient. I was not looking forward to using one, and am grateful that I did not have to!

I will never look at someone in an EVC the same way ever again though. You just don't know what is going on beneath the surface!

Always happy to be of service in any way I can! (Especially when it involves making someone's Disney trip easier!)

It was definitely appreciated!

 

[geckodani]

Day 1, Part 1: Our Plane is Missing!

Sunday, February 16 dawned... well, actually it hadn't dawned yet at all! Our flight was at 8:00 a.m., and I had to pick up my mom, and drive to the airport and check in... so I was up at 4:45 a.m., far earlier than I would get up for anything other than Disney!

I scrambled to get the last minute things thrown into my carry on (86 glow sticks for 5 nights, sounds about right, right?),



... kissed my sleeping hubby goodbye and then ventured out in to the dark to pick up my mom! I had my Disney Parks soundtrack playing in the car, so we sang along with the Grim Grinning Ghosts and other friends as we drove through a landscape only Elsa could love.

We got to the airport at around 6:45 a.m. - and walked straight in to the longest line I have ever seen at an airline check in counter.

We were flying AirTran, and I was NOT impressed. The line was huge, people had already been waiting for over an hour, several of them almost missed their flights, there was no separate line for those that had checked in online and just needed to check baggage (like I had), and it was basically a huge mess.

We made it through check in and security with only about 20 minutes to spare before our flight was scheduled to leave, got to the gate and...

... there was no plane at the gate.

Apparently, and I quote, "they have located the plane in a remote area of the airport, and it should be at the gate soon..."

Okay then. All that rushing for nothing. No worries - let's take the first selfie of the trip! Yes, I know you saw this one above, but it's cute so I'm posting it again.



Half an hour later, we were finally boarding! Hooray! We can leave now!

Oh wait... we have another 30 minutes of de-icing and apparently driving the plane in circles... okay, now we can leave! Off we go!!!

And 2.5 hours later, we were finally in Orlando! We wandered down to the ME area, herded a few lost families along with us, and scanned our Magic Bands for the first time of the trip! No problems, green Mickey Head, and into line we went. We had about a 20 minute wait (I was getting a little cranky. We were supposed to land at 10:30 a.m., and we didn't land until 11:30 a.m., I hadn't eaten since 4:45 in the morning, and wanted to get to POFQ ASAP!).

At last, our bus arrived! Let's take another selfie!



Wait, that one is fuzzy, and we're cracking up. Let's try that again:



As we were walking to our seats, the lady opposite us had her foot sticking out into the aisle, and Mom tripped. She was okay, but when the video started and warned us to "Watch your step, you wouldn't want to start out your trip by falling!" (or something along those lines) we definitely had a good laugh! Our seats, sadly, left me with no good view of the WDW arch.



We stopped at Saratoga Springs and Old Key West before arriving at my beloved POFQ!

Online check in was quick and easy. I had requested ground floor, near transportation, and holy moly did they deliver. We were in room 3134, which was just past Bell Services if we went the front way, and a quick hop through the lobby if we went the slightly longer way. It. Was. AWESOME.





The Cast Member that checked us in got a very serious face and told me that she had some bad news for us. I asked if our room wasn't ready, and she said, "Oh no, your room is ready, but the pool is closed for renovations."

I replied that, "Oh, I knew that. No big deal, you've got the shuttle/golf carts taking folks over to Riverside if needed, right?"

Her face - priceless. Looked like I had just smacked her in the back of the head with a frying pan! "How did you know that! No one knows that! Everyone has been so bummed out!"

I chuckled and told her that I read several Disney forums, and that I had in fact gotten a letter from Disney letting me know that the pool was going to be closed, and it wasn't a problem. She handed us our packet, and seemed relieved that we weren't upset about the pool (Mom doesn't really swim, so it wasn't a problem at all) and we quickly tossed our bags into our room and sought out FOOD!

At this point I was ready to chew my own arm off. It was about 1:30 I think, and I was HUNGRY! We both decided to get quesadillas (no food pics, sorry. I forgot for pretty much the entire trip. Bad DISer!). We devoured them in fairly short order, and then hopped a bus to our first destination - Hollywood Studios!

Up Next - Walt is a Creeper!

 

[CinderElsa]

Following along! I love your .gif choices!

 

[geckodani]

Following along! I love your .gif choices!

Why thank you! Happy to have you. I'm definitely having way too much fun with the gifs!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

OMG this had me laughing. We had temporarily lost the plane, but good news... we found it! Yay us!

Welcome to Disney!! The absolute best part of every trip. Plus, awesome room location!

Ahh that poor CM must have been taking a pounding from other guests given her surprise.

 

[teekathepony]

"Oops, we misplaced the plane!"
What the heck kind of exclamation is that!!?
YAY for arrivals!! Love the reactions of CMs when you already know something they were going to tell you.
Glad you got such a great room!

 

[geckodani]

OMG this had me laughing. We had temporarily lost the plane, but good news... we found it! Yay us!

Welcome to Disney!! The absolute best part of every trip. Plus, awesome room location!

Ahh that poor CM must have been taking a pounding from other guests given her surprise.

"Oops, we misplaced the plane!"
What the heck kind of exclamation is that!!?
YAY for arrivals!! Love the reactions of CMs when you already know something they were going to tell you.
Glad you got such a great room!

You guys - It was so ridiculous. I mean, how the heck do you misplace a PLANE? Not impressed. And I swear we drove in circles for at least 20 minutes too once we finally boarded.

I do feel for the CMS - I think they were really getting a lot of unhappy people. I adored our room. It was such a great spot for us!

 

[rteetz]

I'm in excited to hear about your trip!

That's so funny that the CM reacted like that. She obviously doesn't see to many Disers.