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After waiting for two years (thanks covid!), my parents and I finally got to restart our favorite tradition: taking my nieces and nephews (their grandchildren) for their first Disney trip. We had planned to take all three of each of my sisters' kids in April and August 2020, respectively, but.... Covid. When the April trip was cancelled, I was bummed - my flight and park tickets were already paid for and they were moving to Sweden, so this would be a last opportunity for a while. But I still held out hope for the August trip....which was dashed into smithereens of course.
So, finally, I got to take the youngest of my NY sister's kids for her first time, but unlike the kids on other two trips, she would be alone with us old fogeys. I flew back from Dubai while my parents slowly made their way down the east coast with their trailer. I spent two nights with my sister's family before my niece L and I would take a flight to Orlando to meet my parents. At this time, however, I was still recovering from a very intense chest cold caught on my last day in Nepal for
my EBC trip - about half of us got sick. I was working from home the whole week before, but I still had a lingering cough for the next three weeks!
My sister dropped us off at Rochester Int'l airport, which is one of my top airports ever. Super easy. My brother-in-law thought we were leaving too early because the airport is so easy - he was right! We got our boarding passes and through security in about 10 minutes total. This was her first flight, and she loved seeing take off, but our Delta flights had individual screens and she found Encanto playing on the kids selection. So she borrowed my noise cancelling headphones and was zoned in on the movie all the way to Atlanta. When we got to Atlanta, we took the train to the next terminal and the escalators up and down. She wanted to just keep riding the escalators - this was foreshadowing for the trip, I think. Kids are entertained by the simplest, cheapest things sometimes.
We landed in the evening during the start of a thunderstorm which rapidly intensified. We picked up our luggage in the busy baggage claim, and since
the Disney's Magical Express no longer operated, I had decided to get a taxi, which should only be a bit more than a shared ride (*note - it was actually a bit more). But the driver was a nice older Haitian man who drove slowly during the torrential downpour. However, he did get us lost. I think he did not believe me or understand when I told him Fort Wilderness Campground as opposed to the Wilderness Lodge. I told him to turn right, his GPS maps told him to turn right.... and yet he kept trying to go left, so we wound up going straight... through the Magic Kingdom parking lot at 10pm. He was saying he knew where he was going, so we did a giant u-turn and what do you know - you turn right! Until then, I had really liked him, but he was taking his frustration out on me.
We arrived and waited in the reception lodge because it was still pouring - rather than have my parents come get us in the dark during the rain, we just waited on a shuttle to take us to the campsite. We arrived, caught up with my
parents, and I snuggled with their dog Nikki, who loves me of course. But we made it a fairly early night as we had a long day and a long week ahead of us!
Magic Kingdom - Day 1 In the morning, we went to Pioneer Hall for breakfast, which was great! They had stopped the buffet due to Covid, but it was still all you can eat, just brought out a bit at a time, family style, so you could order more if desired. Then we got ready to go to the Magic Kingdom via boat across Bay Lake. We quickly got through the security line, as we had waited to go until mid-morning. Then we made our way to the first ride: Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney had done away with the fast pass line, which was a shame. Now you got the "Lightning" line, which you have to pay for. With the trip expensive enough, we did not do this. But ugh, the lines were just horrendous at every park due to this new thing. I get Disney lost money during Covid (at least upper management kept their inflated salaries!!), but some of the price
increases and decrease in quality was beyond disappointing. Anyway, I won't go into a tirade about how extremely disappointed I was with this much awaited and expensive trip and how I do not plan to go to Disney again for a long time... if ever. You'll see the lack of quality pop up quite a bit though in the words below....
We waited about 45 minutes for the ride, but thankfully Leona loved it! We tried to go on the new Jungle Cruise, but the line time was listed as 90 minutes. 90 minutes! For a mediocre ride. We decided to try the ever popular Dole Whip. I got us some, and it was... meh. Satisfying. At this point, though, Dad was done. He is always worried about leaving Nikki alone too long, so he headed back while the three of us waited another hour or so for the Haunted Mansion Ride, my mother's favorite. L seemed to like it, but it was such a long line and so hot. They did their best to keep you in shade, but it was miserable. Finally, we went to It's a Small World, which had a thankfully short wait of about
10 minutes, but L was not overly impressed. By then, we were over it - 3 rides on that expensive ticket, it made me physically ill. We took L to Cinderella Castle, which she had been so excited about. We tried to warn her that there was not much to see, you just walked through it, but even that was taken away! The doors were shut and... yeah, she was extremely disappointed. She was a good sport about it, but you could see was expecting a much more magical experience.
Meadow Pool So, we got back to the camper pretty easily, and got ready to go to the pool, which was right near our camper. I had bought her some water wings and we were on our way. She immediately went for the really cool slide; fortunately, the pool was not too busy at this point and she was able to down the slide about 8 times, with Granny catching her. I went down once and it was indeed fun. I think we were in the pool for about 90 minutes (hey - the length of wait time for a crap ride!), and we finally convinced her it
was time to go back and get some dinner. I said we would go to the pool everyday, which satisfied her, so I think we did not even need the crazy expensive tickets!
Animal Kingdom Mid next morning, we took the car to Animal Kingdom (my dad likes this since as a resort guest, parking is free and you don't have to wait forever for crowded buses). This turned out to be a blessing in disguise later in the day. We of course went straight to the Rain Forest Cafe (a tradition of my parents) and rather than wait 45 minutes for a table, we crowded at the bar and were lucky to snag a bar table soon after. We got a few different appetizers to share, and a kids meal for L (chicken tenders and apple and orange slices). Dad and I had a delicious elderflower flavored gin drink, light on the alcohol, but yum. Then we entered the park and went straight to It's A Bug's Life, a 4D show that is one of our family favorites, and L enjoyed too. Then we walked to the Safari ride, which only had a 15 minute wait. Yay
- so far today was a success! We loved seeing all the animals. I did note the poor girl who was our driver / guide.... she seemed to have memorized a script as she messed up a few times and was not super interesting. After this, we decided to go to the Kali River Rapids to cool off. Dad was getting tired and not a fan of this ride, so he said he would meet us on the bridge. So, Granny, L and I waited for 25 minutes and got on. L was so excited and vocal, the other occupants of our circular boat were entertained by her. She squealed in delight and was so happy that the three of us seemed to get the worst of the splashing.
I was a bit sad that we did not see dad at the bridge watching for us. As we were walking toward the exit, I decided to get a picture of the soaked L in the yellow dress I had brought from Cambodia on the bridge. At that point, a security guard asked me if I was waiting for someone. I thought he was basically telling me to move along
as it seemed to be a narrow path, but we were not in the way of anyone, so I said, no, a bit snootily and continued to take the photos. Then we were walking, looking for dad and I was like.... Is that what that guy was asking me? Did Dad fall? He had had a few falling spells the last few months, so then we were worried. Another guy came up to us and asked the same thing and once mom confirmed her name, he said "Come with me". Yikes. We came upon some paramedics and dad was sitting in a wheelchair, bandaged in various locations. They asked if he had been drinking, and I was like, we had a couple weak cocktails three hours ago, but I think it is more the oppressive heat and lots of walking! He also has thin blood and it can take a while to stop even minor bleeding, so it always looks worse than it really is, so they were understandably concerned. The one guy insisted I take him to the emergency room; due to a bad experience we'd had a few years ago in the Florida healthcare system over a broken
finger, we both were like.... really? Don't really want to... So, Urgent care instead. First, I picked up two stuffed animals for L that I had promised to get before we left; I took just her so we could hurry and on the way back a guy tried to make me go the other way because they were closing this path - I tried to explain and he was just ignoring me and kind of rude, so I just kept walking back to my parents anyway. They allowed us to take the wheelchair to the car and I drove us to Urgent care where there was a four hour wait (another line!!!) and they would not take my mom's health card for him. He insisted he was fine and once I got his promise he would go first thing in the morning, we went home. Mom took Leona to the pool and I picked up some dinner for us. What a day!
Hollywood Studios The next morning, Dad and I left at 6:30 to go to Urgent Care and were among the first people at 7am. The NP and nurse were so nice, gave us lots of bandages,
told me how to care for him, and gave us some antibiotic cream (just $15), and had him agree to go to his normal doctor when he got back home. Seems like the paramedics were overreacting a bit the day before. The people in Urgent Care did not seem concerned at all.
Today we had L wear her mother's "Bambi" dress. This was my sister's favorite dress ever when we were kids. It is a green apron style dress with Bambi on the skirt portion. We got it from Disney World in the 80's and she's kept it this whole time. Soon, L would grow out of it, so it was perfect timing!
We all took the car to Hollywood Studios, none of our favorites of the theme parks, but it had been awhile. We all agreed to stay away from the new Star Wars area though! Oh my god, today was soooooo hot. And when we parked, the attendants basically had us park at like an end corner of the lot. It was such a long walk and very exposed to the sun. I don't know why they were not running the trams, but this was just
extremely brutal. Another huge, huge check against the post-covid Disney experience.
We first went to a Frozen singalong, mainly because it was indoor seating and was starting right away. It was ok, packed. L did not sing, but seemed to enjoy it. After we got out, my parents were still wiped, so they went to catch a table at the nearby food court while I took L to meet Olaf - a 20 minute wait. She had not met a character yet and was dying to. While being excited at first, she was so shy when she finally met him. But she definitely enjoyed giving him "warm hugs". Then we met up with my parents, had a beer, and moved onto the Star Tours ride - this has been there since the park originally opened. While the line was about 25 minutes, it was shaded or indoors, so not too bad and we all loved it. We were making good progress today, so we decided to see what the Great Movie ride had become, but it was closed for a maintenance issue. So we went to Toy Story Land. So, so hot. I mean really, this is borderline dangerous.
There was absolutely NO SHADE and nowhere to sit or anything on the long walk back there and within the park itself. There is one snack bar area with some tables with umbrellas, but it was packed and had gate attendants. Essentially you have to buy something to sit. Disgusting. We got my parents sorted with drinks and, after getting compliments on L's dress, she and I continued on in search of a ride to make this horrible walk worth it. The ride to the dog roller coaster was 90 minutes. I messaged mom and said L really wanted to do it, so we would see how the line actually was and let her know. Thankfully, I think we wound up waiting about 40 minutes, exhausted, and it was a fun ride, but very short. L's first comment at the end was "was that it?"
We met back with my parents, gave up our seats to two other middle aged women and decided to get out of dodge. Another long walk back and I was getting worried about my parents, especially dad who had fallen just the day before. I told them to slowly make their way to the
parking area and I would get the car. It took me, going at a quick pace, at least 15 minutes to walk to the car (that is like a mile!), no shade, on black asphalt.... When I got into the truck and started it, the temperature showed 115 degrees. I was so over Disney at this point. I picked them up, we went back, swam again, then got ready for dinner.
Cape May Buffet We booked dinner at our favorite restaurant, Cape May Buffet, located at the Beach Club. We have been going here for years, since the 90's at least and it was always amazing. Of course Covid changed a lot of things, which mostly we understand. My parents went during Covid when they first opened back up, and said there was no buffet, just family style. The protocols are understandable, but the lack of quality is annoying, especially with the raised prices.
It was pouring, pouring rain when we arrived, so I dumped everyone at the awning entrance while I parked. There was no point in running at a certain point - I just accepted it. So, we got our table and started to get
L going. We had to pay extra for crab, yeah, ok, so we ordered 1lb, knowing we could always order more. In the meantime, we helped ourselves to the food at the buffet. I enjoyed the food fine - it was not the same as I remember, but I was satisfied and there are a lot of options. But I agree with my parents in that the quality is not what it used to be. It was especially evident in the crab legs which were not good at all. That was probably the biggest disappointment for all of us. How do you screw up crab legs at a seafood restaurant? When you're paying $60 per person base, plus another (I forget how much) for crab legs??? Thankfully, our waitress took off the crab legs, but still... we had all been looking forward to this.
Epcot The next day, same routine, but this time instead of driving, knowing the trams were not working, we decided to take the boat to Magic Kingdom and catch the monorail. Of course, the direct monorail to Epcot was not running. So we took it to the transportation center, switched and rode. Still better
than a mile walk along hot asphalt. We got the iconic shot in front of the golf ball and rode Spaceship Earth (after a 20+ minute wait). We walked past the beautiful lawn sculptures as part of the Flower and Garden festival. L and I visited a butterfly garden while my parents rested on a bench with popcorn. Another annoying thing: while sitting at the bench, L was goofing around and dropped my empty water bottle behind the bench; while I was getting sorted because my hands were full, before I could pick it up, a cleaner grabbed and it tossed it away. I did not immediately notice, but then I was annoyed! I was refilling it with free fountain water! Argh. Then we went to the Land and only had a 15 minute wait for Soaring, which we all loved! Then we got on the boat ride through the horticultural area, which my parents and I always loved but L was less impressed. We saw Winnie the Pooh playing on the grass in the distance, and finished our day on the Finding Nemo ride, which is a bit lame, but ends in a nice aquarium.
We got the
monorail and boat back and even though I was exhausted, I took L to the pool again. She was enjoying her time here and even met a few other kids to play with. We went back to get dinner (another pick up) and then she and I went to watch a movie in the campground common area: Raya and the Last Dragon. Neither of us had seen this before and we both loved it.
Magic Kingdom, part deux The next morning we took the boat back to Magic Kingdom to see the other half of the park. This was a good day actually, as we rode Buzz Lightyear, the People Mover, Tea Cups, Barnstormer and Dumbo Ride. Plus she got to meet Cinderella's ugly stepsisters. We got L a $15 balloon. $15!!!!!!! For air!!! We got back to the Fort Wilderness via boat, but decided to hangout at the tavern area to get a drink and enjoy the area on my last night. L played on the playground while dad went to pick up Nikki to bring her to hang out as well. We had a nice cleaner, an Italian guy, who was extremely chatty but very nice,
talk with us for a bit. A big thunderstorm rolled through quickly. We then went back to the camper and soon a new rainstorm came through .... and continued for the rest of the night. Just pouring rain. We let L watch cartoons while we hung out.
Airport Ugh.... at 6:30am, we were checked in and ready to go. I was hoping to pick up gifts at their big store for the boys, but did not hold out much hope it would be open, which was fine. But when I saw the store hours (9 am I think), I couldn't believe it. This is a major tourist airport and things don't open until 9am?? Weird. Anyway, going through security at Orlando airport... It seriously took 40+ minutes. There was no real line, just dozens of lines with hundreds of people. And while waiting in our line, they closed the line next to us, forcing everyone to merge (so, basically doubling our line time). And then when I was two people from the front.... they opened the line back up... and brought people FROM THE BACK to the front to merge yet again and even yelled at me for
trying to walk up. Orlando airport dropped quite a few rankings on this trip!
I hate flying in America.
Summary Anyway, this blog is very long, but is mostly for me anyway. This Disney trip was disappointing in seeing the blatant money grubbing and just a weird mesh of people - I don't know if it is because I have been gone from the US too long, or we just happened to come at a weird time. The parking was awful - no trams, no shade, and oppressively hot. For older people and kids, I think this is actually quite dangerous. The staff were one extreme or the other; the Italian guy, staff at the trading posts at the campground, our first day breakfast and Cape May servers, and people after Dad's fall were great, but most of the rest of the staff we encountered were either uninterested or downright rude.
I did love taking my niece and seeing her excitement finally, finally, being able to go to Disney like her brothers did. I loved seeing my parents.
So, it seems we had a great time despite Disney's best efforts.
Basically, the magic is
gone.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
The last time our family was at Disney World was 2005.
My nephew works for them. He is getting married on 3 December so we thought we might go again. Another nephew was the chief structural engineer on the Star Wars ride, another reason to check it out. But you are not the only one from whom I have heard bad reports about the park. So we may just skip it. Although the weather won't be bad, the high prices are ridiculous! I also hate flying in the States!