Disney
 

J's family has points in this Disney points system, which allows them to book lodging for, like, free. So J has convinced me that she can take me to Disney for a 5 day vacation. Because we stay free in a place that normally costs you $410 per night, and the flight is like $150. Okay. And all we have to pay for is meals, and park entrance fees, and a few extras.

(Is that a trap?)

I have never had children, so I've never participated in the Mickey Mouse world domination program. But I am an American, so it's part of my DNA to accept complete indoctrination into this tribe.

I haven't been to a theme park in 30 years. I hear this is like 4 of them right in a row. OK. With fine dining. OK. I'm down with that.

I grew up next to Hersheypark, and that was great. Except they didn't have any cartoon characters to walk around the park, so they had.... walking chocolate bars. Even now, the characters are all walking candy. Pretty scary-looking.

Never went to Disney World, however I enjoyed the hell out of Disneyland in CA. Go for it, can't hurt. ;)

It's not a trap, necessarily, but the meals will be expensive just like in any theme park. Not even overpriced, necessarily--Disney food is quite good, in my experience--there just won't be cheaper options available. Park entry tickets are also nothing to sneeze at, but if you're going to multiple parks you get some discounts. I assume J knows all the ins and outs if they're a Disney points family.

You'll have fun. Also, it's elitist and feels a little uncomfortable to go speed-walking past everyone else in line, but I HIGHLY recommend the Fast Pass for the shorter lines. Really improves things even during the off-season.

What is the fast pass? When was it created? Apparently it must be made in advance. Does it also sell out? Any time restrictions?

They've been around for at least 5-10 years, most major theme parks have them now. You pay extra to get in shorter lines that run parallel to people who paid less while they glare at you. I don't think there's a limit, they just raise the price over time if they're selling too many. At busy times there's still a line, it's just a shorter line. There are no restrictions on the pass for general use, but at Disney one of the added things is you get to make (I think) 3 appointments per day to ride something specific, and that really jumps you right to the front of the line at your scheduled time. But those are limited, and you can't show up late, otherwise you just get in the regular fast pass line.

Note to self:

Don't plan this during hurricane season

Whatchyoo talkin' 'bout Willis?

You're the one that's been planning these things?!:eyebrow:

I okayed the date is all.

Oh for shame you'd have to stay in the room with a bed and your squeeze. :rolleyes:

That when the crowds are smaller and hurricanes go elsewhere (ie head instead for the Cellar).

We are here. Short review of the first days:

Utter torture, occasionally punctuated by moments of delight.

Don't go in summer, or spring or fall, unless you are used to FL style humidity and sun.

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Today is the test, heat, humidity, humanity. Can the Toad bear the pressure or will he retreat to the A/C bathed hotel room? Stay tuned for a report or retort from our hero. Breath abatement not required. ;)

Heat index 104

J found that she is no longer able to handle the heat and walking distances, so she rented the dreaded mobility scooter on day 2.

I found that, walking next to her on day 2, I felt so sick at the end of the day that my legs were uncomfortably shaking. My anxiety then went through the roof, along with medically-assisted low blood sugar. I gave up and we both had the mobility scooter for day 3 and will do it again day 4.

This place is not for overweight and/or diabetic 55 year olds.

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That's the bad. The good so far:

Hospitality is an amazing skill and it feels like every single Disney worker has it, in spades. They simply do a marvelous job. It's kind of amazing. And you know, I have a history of cynicism that I am trying to break, because it's not a good thing.

Disney is a corporate experience so the cynic wants to tear it down. But what I found was that this amazing hospitality puts everyone in a good mood. The crowd is usually cheerful and nobody is rude. This is how life should actually be.

I was forever cynical about the movie Pandora, but the Disney world ride for it actually redeems the movie. It's a simulated ride on one of the big flying beasts in the film. Many Disney things are 3D film combined with real effects. For Pandora you mount your seat like a horse, and it vibrates, rises up in the air, tilts every which way along with the flight of the beast. Wind is blown at you, there is mist and your senses tell you, you are actually flying. 60 minute wait for a 5 minute ride... Worth it!

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Some of the restaurants are just amazing. We had the best waitress of all time in this 50's style cafe. You can see why the employees are called cast members. She acted like a mom: barked at everyone to keep their elbows off the table. ("You think you can do whatever you want?") She refused to give me extra iced tea until I finished my water. She complained when bussing a table ("Nobody get up, I'll just do all the work around here.") She then forced a customer to carry plates for her. Another customer was late getting back from the bathroom when his dessert arrived, so she just sat down and started eating it! When she saw I hadn't finished eating my green beans (You think the money for that just grows on trees?"), she took my fork and fed me two of them as if I was a little child!

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Bwahahahaha I'd have paid good money to see that!

But you see it's not you. Well, it's not all your cynicism (Disestablishmentarianism), when they treat you right you appreciate it and respond accordingly.

Thanks for the update, even Dorian was afraid to mess with your vacation so it will be cool.

I love your honesty, UT. It's brave of you and refreshing compared to the way so many people in other walks of life communicate.

I am glad you say so! That means the spirit of Sundae lives on. She would tell us anything and everything, and it told us real truths about her and about life. Her amazing ability to share brutal details was part of her gift to us. I sometimes try to approach that.

We feel shame using the dreaded mobility scooters. We did this to ourselves. But I think, after watching everyone over a lifetime, that the number of people damaging themselves, or at least not caring for themselves, is over 50%. They won’t even admit it to themselves. And they don’t even go to Disney, is how it works out, I think. But here we are, this is life, this is what it is.

The solution is not clear yet.

Life is full of precipitates in suspension.

Embrace the corporate beast. Suspend criticism and just enjoy.

Sounds like a very cool trip. Thanks for sharing it.

Maybe a mobility scooter in your future in the real world?

Don't. You are strong for owning that you needed help and getting it. And you -and probably all around you- are having a much better experience for it.

Admitting you need help, asking for it, and accepting it are the hardest things. There is so much strength here.

I don't know if it's common but my life has been a series of, oh shit what have I done, how am I going to fix/cope with this ?

9 times out of 10, I knew I was doing it and didn't much care, or didn't think it would be this bad. Wrong ever time. :o
The only saving grace is I was only hurting myself.

That is some real shit. Embracing reality is not a bad idea.

In retrospect,

It was a terrible idea to wake up at 3:30am to catch the early flight so that we could have a full day 1.

It was also a terrible idea to bear this 104 heat index all day, and then get back and set the thermostat to 68 so we could cool down, and forget about it and leave it there all night. So, no sleep, followed by terrible sleep,...

And then we had to switch to an entirely different lodge, due to the hurricane last-minuting, which threw everything out of whack again.

I spent the fourth day's hot afternoon in the room, watching the football game. Went to the park at night, after things cool down. That was much nicer, and I was able to abandon the scooter for half the time.

And then it was a terrible idea to schedule the first flight out the next morning, because that means you wake up at 4:30am for the outbound.

I'll go to work tomorrow and it will be relaxing.

Sounds like a vacation to me.

One more thing,

We flew Southwest, and even with their low fee Wanna Get Away price schedule, we were able to re-book our tickets around the hurricane TWICE.

All flights into Orlando became Sold Out, yet we got the first flight there from PHL after the storm passed. Southwest has a very good hurricane policy. Somehow they kept spots available on the Thursday flights for people scheduling around the hurricane, or something.

And I noticed Spirit and Frontier were really quick about cancelling flights into Orlando. I bet they can't as easily allow planes and crew to get stuck there.

I wonder if the airlines had enough cancellations because of the storm to give them wiggle room in shuffling people around, people who just cancelled altogether rather than just changing dates. Were the planes packed?

The plane from PHL-MCO was full; the return flight was only half full.

The flight we originally booked was a nonstop Monday morning. As the storm neared, we changed that to Wednesday morning. Then it stalled, and the Orlando airport closed for Tuesday and most of Wednesday. We had to change to Thursday morning and hope for the best.

On the Southwest website, they would list the alternative flights if you wanted to change for hurricane reasons. They have 3 non-stop (morning, afternoon, night) PHL->MCO and about 20 flights through other cities. As the hurricane neared, the flights through other cities all sold out, but SW still allowed us to select the 3 non-stop that matched our original flight if we wanted to change our plans.

I do not know how they did that, especially for a $159 Wanna Get Away ticket.

This.
I can think of some many examples of people I have known and loved who should have done this.

Sent by magick

Was Disney cool with changing your plans? I should think they would be happy you were still coming, there was probably people who only had a small window off from work who totally cancelled.

Originally we were meant to stay at this one lodge for 4 nights, but when it shifted, they could only keep us there for the first 2 nights. But this whole thing was through Disney Vacation Club, a big ol' Disney timeshare where you can use "vacation points" to go to a bunch of Disney resorts everywhere. There are 27 different Disney resorts/resort hotels in the program in Orlando. So we were able to move to a different place for the next two nights. I think J's family had to gift us more points in order to get it done.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Lodge the first two nights. It has an African theme. And giraffes and zebras and ostriches and whatnot, just grazing around outside off your balcony.

I do not ask how J's mom originally decided to invest in this timeshare situation. But this is an large and close family, and once in a while a whole bunch of 'em winds up down there all at once, which is very nice.

Post Dorian, the parks were at half their usual capacity for the next two days. People generally do not shift their Disney vacations by a half week; they move the whole thing to another month, and re-plan everything. With all the fast passes and dinner reservations and a safari at 6:30pm, it takes a lot of planning.

Sounds like a good setup to be in when someone else is doing all the bookkeeping. :haha:
I remember a foreman at boeing going down there with the kids and grandkids, all together it was 27 bodies. I can't imagine wrangling that herd through the park. He said they all stuck together moving en masse, and he was in a wheelchair so they all jumped the lines.

That's fairly common, in my experience--both the "huge groups meandering through the park together," usually wearing matching family reunion t-shirts, and also the "use the one disabled person in our group to get everyone to the front of the line" strategy. There was an expose a couple years ago about disabled folks who live in Orlando and make a living accompanying random families to the park for money so the family can skip the lines.