Mini TR for another Boston Road Trip - updated Nov 22

I will just....sit in a corner and weep while they go on rides lol....or I guess I can try single rider or try to book same day FP's for whatever I can get

You don't have to do this. If you can't talk the CM into letting you ride, then insist that they buy your drinks while you wait. Or your snack that you need while you wait. It'd be the right thing to do.

We do have one non-park day planned for the week that these friends will be with us, so I think we'll plan it for that day

Good move!!

They liked it but found it just too damn far to walk to everything on the ship.

Soo, they've never been to Disney where the walks are approximately 12,000 times longer?

Starting to get a little anxious over here because a) Coronavirus and b) WTH was Disney thinking opening MMRR in March right after ROTR??? So now....to get IN to the park at all do we have to be there at 4am? And with all those PEOPLE...ugh....who knows...things are changing daily...I know...right now I'm going with the WASH YOUR HANDS approach but...it's also hard not to feel some anxiety about travelling at all...

Take some hand sanitizer, if anyone sneezes or coughs in your direction, spit on them, don't touch the rails or anything else, ever, and don't worry. (Most of that is good advice.)
 
then insist that they buy your drinks while you wait. Or your snack that you need while you wait. It'd be the right thing to do.

Oh I like this idea!! Good tip!!

Soo, they've never been to Disney where the walks are approximately 12,000 times longer?

Well for Disney my mom actually rented a scooter so that will save some of those steps....

Take some hand sanitizer, if anyone sneezes or coughs in your direction, spit on them, don't touch the rails or anything else, ever, and don't worry. (Most of that is good advice.)

So far so good...although my mom is considering just hanging with us and not doing parks now...because she is definitely in a higher risk category due to being 80...but she had really wanted to do MK and Universal parks....but doesn't want to take too much risk...so we will see...TBD
 
Hi gang...thought I'd check in with a semi live report...as usual it's as much for me to remember what I've actually done during this trip...as to amuse (or annoy) anyone reading lol!!

March 6 - we flew from YYZ to MCO. Flight arrived into MCO around 1pm (half empty flight I might add...perhaps due to the virus that will not be named). We bathed in Purell as we got off the plane and quickly picked up our baggage and headed to Budget rent a car where we were issued a great Dodge Caravan. Because we weren't entirely sure if dogs were permitted in said van, my daughter waited off to the side as I secured our ride...and during the drive out of the parking lot, she discretely hid the dog under her legs in front of her :) Made it to our nice Air BnB house in the Windsor of Westside development. It's about 45 mins from MCO but only about 20-25 mins to the parks. The house is great, I could live here! After dropping daughter and dog at the house, I skipped out to Publix to stock up on some essentials...including all the soap and toilet paper I could find...(which was not much). That night, my DD and I headed over to DS. Man was it crowded!! We had planned on trying for some kind of quick service dinner but the lineups and just navigating the walkways was more than we could handle after a long travel day...so what did we do? Sprinkles cupcake sundaes for dinner of course!!! My DD had red velvet ice cream with chocolate cupcake and I had banana cupcake with Capn' Crunch ice cream. Best dinner ever!!

March 7 - had lazy morning unpacking and getting organized, and then our friends arrived around noon - we'll call them T and M. Also, the dog walker that I had arranged came over for a little meet n'greet with our pooch, Snickers. They got along great! At 4pm we headed back to the airport to pick up my DS who was arriving, then we headed right to DS for our dinner reservation at House of Blues and also to activate our Canadian resident tickets and magic bands. We waited a bit for guest services and had hoped to get an earlier time for dinner but no such luck. My DS was very tired after his long travel day, and also 2 hr time difference due to his coming from Mountain time zone...so he took an Uber back to the house and would forage for food there. We wandered aimlessly at DS among the crowds until it was time to eat at House of Blues. We were all very tired at this point....I am not even sure what everyone ate...but I had some kind of chicken sandwich which I remember being good, and M had these giant nachos...and I recall my DD had fried chicken and there was this little container of some kind of condiment that we couldn't identify. It tasted a bit like icing? We finally asked what it was and it was a sweet butter?? Because you need to add extra butter to your fried chicken??? Hmmm found that one a little confusing...must be a southern thing...?

March 8 - First park day...MK!!! Got up early...dragged everyone out of bed and headed to MK! Got a great parking spot in the Aladdin lot, and was looking forward to the monorail...which was...not an option...so boat it is!! Soon we were through bag check and ready to rope drop....the plan was for T and my DD to hoof it to Mine train while DS and I and M headed to Peter Pan. They waited about 20 mins for Mine Train and we got on PP in about 10 minutes...I was concerned that even with rope drop...so many people were there...I guess that's March in Disney...We had a fun first ride. We got everyone back together and then got in line for Buzz. As we were waiting, we realized that we actually had FP's for Buzz later. My DD then made an unfortunate mistake...(and I learned not to let my 14 year old into the FP app...) in trying to change our FP for buzz...she inadvertantly cancelled our FP's for Space and Jungle Cruise for later in the day...UGH!! Sadly not much was available instead other than IASW so we went with that. We cruised around the park...had a pretzel and some other snacks...I tried the Olaf strawberry lemonade ice pop...good..but not really Olaf themed other than the wrapper which was a little disappointing. We rode Winnie the Pooh...Pirates, Dumbo, IASW, Peoplemover of course, Barnstormer, did some shopping. Tried to ride Under the Sea but it kept going down and waits were stupid...ended the night with a little shopping and trying to beat the crowds out of the parking lot!! Great day 1!

March 9 - Epcot day! Got up early again - M, T and DD RD'd Test Track and and my DS and I RD's Frozen. After that DS went to get breakfast and I got Schoolbread...yum! Epcot was quite confusing with all the construction, I really had a hard time getting my bearings in Future World. We then took a spin on Soarin' even though we had FP's for later, we hoped to ride it twice. After Soarin', were gonna do the Land but it had a 30 min wait!! You know it's busy at Epcot when.... Oh well. Later. Did a little touring and eating in WS next. I tried the grilled lobster tail and orange wine slushie at Citrus Blossom I think it was called!! I thought this was fantastic, but I love anything lemon and orange. We shared some ravioli and tacos and other random snacks around the world. Oh and the Frozen italian margerita was great too. We made it about half way around but then had to turn back since it was time for our SE FP that we didn't want to miss since it will be going for refurb soon. I wonder what they will do to it? Took a spin on that...wish I'd remembered to take off my hat...the pictures don't turn out with hats I have found....oh well. After that we rode the land and then our second ride of the day on Soarin and also went on Nemo. Had hoped to ride Figment but even that had a 30 min wait, so we skipped it and did some more eating and drinking instead! Called it a day around 4:30pm because we knew we had a crazy early morning next day.

March 10 - got up crazy early to try to get on ROTR at DHS. Got to the park at 6am and there was already a crowd forming at security. Got through it relatively quickly and found our spot in line for the tapstiles. They started letting people into the park at 7am. Went to secure our rope drop position near the bridge into SWGE to try to RD SR. Parked it there as we got nervous about waiting for 8am when the boarding group process would begin. There was a crazy nervous energy about the crowd. At one point I decided to go grab a cinnamon roll at a cart because it had no line...so I did...but then after ...I had a hard time locating my friends in the crowd...finally my friend T's HM ears helped me out and I was back in the middle of the crowd with them, app primed and ready to try for a group. At exactly 8am, our friend M with the fastest phone managed to get on, and in seconds we had secured boarding group 51!! Cheers and boos went up in the crowd as people realized the wait was over and you either had it or you didn't!! Immediately after that, the crowds started moving in a steady stream right to Smugglers Run. Since I had chickened out of this last July at DLR, I decided to brave it, and I was so glad I did, it was a lot of fun and did not make me sick as I had feared! I was a gunner and got a bit tired of pushing the buttons, but it was a good time! We then browsed the shops a bit and had a Ronto Roaster for breakfast. At that point, we stopped to discuss our options because we had the Fantasmic Dessert party planned for that night and did not know if we would last the entire day without a break, but weren't sure what to do because with our Rise boarding group 51, we had no idea when it would be called. We chatted with a CM who said it would likely be at least 2-3 pm. My DD and I decided we needed a break since it was not even 10am and we were tired already. Our friends didn't want to leave since they only had one HS day, so we parted ways. We had such a good parking spot that DD and I decided to Uber home instead for a break and leave the car where it was!! We took about a 2 hour break and waited until they were at boarding group 30 and then headed back to the park. We probably could have stayed home another hour and still made it but didnt' want to cut it too close. We got back to the park, I think we had a snack and then went on Star Tours. Then we found out @chunkymonkey and her DH were headed back to HS to ride MMRR. We met up with them for a super quick Hello outside MMRR. They then were headed out of the park and it was almost time for our ROTR ride that we had waited all day for so could not miss!! We headed over to ROTR and OMG I went to scan my MB and IT WAS NOT ON MY WRIST!! I think it fell off when I took off my sweatshirt!! Moment of panic but thankfully the CM said, do you have a pass or ticket? Which I did have, and thankfully still was carrying in my wallet because of the AP discounts on merch...so all was not lost and we got into the queue for ROTR at last!! I think my whole family would have disowned me if we had not gotten to ride at that point after getting up at 5am and waiting all day!! Phew! We went through the queue which was really cool...although I fought hard to resist the urge to touch ANYTHING!! I was a little nervous about the drop on this ride that I had heard about because I am such a ride wuss but I knew I HAD to ride this ride. I'm SO glad I conquered my fear and went on...what an amazing ride...with and amazing preshow and everything. I hope I get to do it again on this trip...though I don't know if anyone will want to get up that early again. I wonder how long it will be such a ...production...to get on this thing? Anyway...after that...I went and got a new limited edition MMRR MB...even though I have yet to ride this ride...we walked around some more after that...grabbed some dinner - pizza, and then we had our TSMM and Alien Saucers FP's...both a lot of fun. After that we had our Fantasmic Dessert party. Because of the damn germs that I won't mention....it was not a buffet, but rather they handed everyone take out containers containing fruit, cheese, crackers and a bunch of different desserts. They were all pretty good, and I totally get the need to not do this as a buffet...but I would have preffered to choose which desserts I wanted because there was some waste and would have preffered more of some things and less of others...oh well. We got our seats and waited a bit before the show. We were amused by the pop-ified versions of Disney songs and it became a game to identify them as they came on. After a fun show...we headed out of the park with the hordes and back to the car.

March 11 (today) we have a non park day. My mom is arriving so I will head to MCO to get her and have her added to our rental car. She has decided she probably won't do theme parks due to the damn virus...I don't blame her because she is older and though she is healthy, a risky think with it being so crowded at the parks right now. It's sad because she really wanted to go to Universal and MK on this trip (and we broke the bank on tickets which I doubt we can get any refunds on...) but it's a risk that she doesn't want to take and I can understand that. She had even rented a scooter...we haven't cancelled that because she wants to try riding it around to see what it's like anyway...In any case, she will get to spend some time with our family and friends and do some meals with us etc. We had some special meals - Garden Grill and 50's Prime Time booked in parks...I'm not sure if she will come to those and just avoid rides, or not...we will see how she feels about that. I don't want to push her into anything but I know she is sad about it too.

That's all for now folks!!
 
Because of the damn germs that I won't mention....it was not a buffet, but rather they handed everyone take out containers containing fruit, cheese, crackers and a bunch of different desserts.
Sounds like you've had a great trip so far! I'm glad you were able to get on ROTR! I'm hoping to get on in April, but my Mom and Aunt won't want to get up that early with me, so I'm sure I'll be flying solo!

Just wanted to point out that the Fantasmic Dessert party is always the take-out boxes, so you actually didn't miss anything in the experience after all. We've done it twice before, and while I agree there are some things I really like and some I could do without, it's kind of nice to be able to take your treats to eat at your seat. I also LOVE that blue margarita--yum!!
 


(half empty flight I might add...perhaps due to the virus that will not be named).
:sad2:
But... probably so.
We bathed in Purell as we got off the plane
That sounds... decadent.
and during the drive out of the parking lot, she discretely hid the dog under her legs in front of her
:laughing:
The house is great, I could live here!
Great!
That night, my DD and I headed over to DS. Man was it crowded!! We had planned on trying for some kind of quick service dinner but the lineups and just navigating the walkways was more than we could handle after a long travel day
Whoa! Really!
That doesn't sound... pleasant.
the dog walker that I had arranged came over for a little meet n'greet with our pooch, Snickers. They got along great!
So glad to hear that. :)
there was this little container of some kind of condiment that we couldn't identify. It tasted a bit like icing? We finally asked what it was and it was a sweet butter?? Because you need to add extra butter to your fried chicken???
That's... weird. On fried chicken??? Unless... were there rolls or bread?
was looking forward to the monorail...which was...not an option...
Why? Down? Or too crowded?
They waited about 20 mins for Mine Train and we got on PP in about 10 minutes...
Not bad at all!
My DD then made an unfortunate mistake...(and I learned not to let my 14 year old into the FP app...) in trying to change our FP for buzz...she inadvertantly cancelled our FP's for Space and Jungle Cruise for later in the day...UGH!!
Oh, no!!!!
After Soarin', were gonna do the Land but it had a 30 min wait!! You know it's busy at Epcot when..
Wow. Nope!
I tried the grilled lobster tail and orange wine slushie at Citrus Blossom I think it was called!! I thought this was fantastic,
Weren't they good???? ::yes::
then had to turn back since it was time for our SE FP that we didn't want to miss since it will be going for refurb soon.
Yeah, I'm gonna miss "Thank the Phoenicians!"...
Took a spin on that...wish I'd remembered to take off my hat...the pictures don't turn out with hats I have found....oh well.
Ah! Good to know.
Had hoped to ride Figment but even that had a 30 min wait,
:sad2:
Got to the park at 6am and there was already a crowd forming at security.
Not at all surprised.
I had a hard time locating my friends in the crowd...finally my friend T's HM ears helped me out
:laughing: So that's what those are for!
we had secured boarding group 51!!
Yay!
Smugglers Run. Since I had chickened out of this last July at DLR, I decided to brave it, and I was so glad I did, it was a lot of fun and did not make me sick as I had feared
Good. :)
We had such a good parking spot that DD and I decided to Uber home instead for a break and leave the car where it was!!
:lmao:
That just strikes me as funny. But I do understand the reasoning.
Then we found out @chunkymonkey and her DH were headed back to HS to ride MMRR. We met up with them for a super quick Hello outside MMRR.
Nice! Quick little DISmeet. :)
We headed over to ROTR and OMG I went to scan my MB and IT WAS NOT ON MY WRIST!! I think it fell off when I took off my sweatshirt!!
:eek: Oh, no!!!
Thank goodness you had your ticket!!
After that we had our Fantasmic Dessert party. Because of the damn germs that I won't mention....it was not a buffet, but rather they handed everyone take out containers containing fruit, cheese, crackers and a bunch of different desserts.
Um.... that... yeah, not great. What if you wanted more of something? I guess... you couldn't? Totally turns me off of wanting to do it again if it's like that.
She has decided she probably won't do theme parks due to the damn virus...
:(
I'm sorry to hear that, but... I completely understand. We just canceled our cruise, yesterday, because of mom.
 
I've been following along with your trip on FB and it looks super fun so far! How are you finding things in the parks with the virus? Are things getting sanitized more regularly? I am heading to NYC with my boys on Saturday and am a little worried but as long as Canadian Public Health does not have a travel advisory for the US, we are going.
 
Just wanted to point out that the Fantasmic Dessert party is always the take-out boxes, so you actually didn't miss anything in the experience after all. We've done it twice before, and while I agree there are some things I really like and some I could do without, it's kind of nice to be able to take your treats to eat at your seat. I also LOVE that blue margarita--yum!!

Hey thanks for letting me know. I had thought this one was a buffet, maybe I was thinking of another one. In any case, it was fun, but not sure I'd do it again for the money.

That's... weird. On fried chicken??? Unless... were there rolls or bread?

No...there were no rolls or bread - and we asked the waiter about it and she said that is indeed for the fried chicken...weird.

Weren't they good???? ::yes::

I love shellfish with lots of lemon normally, so this was perfect for me, I could have had several more easily.

That just strikes me as funny. But I do understand the reasoning.

re: leaving the car and ubering home for a break , yeah it was silly, but we were glad at the end of the night when we had a short walk and none of that parking lot tram nonsense at the end of the night...

Um.... that... yeah, not great. What if you wanted more of something? I guess... you couldn't? Totally turns me off of wanting to do it again if it's like that.

Yeah I don't think I'd do that one again.

I'm sorry to hear that, but... I completely understand. We just canceled our cruise, yesterday, because of mom.

Sad too, but I totally get it.

How are you finding things in the parks with the virus? Are things getting sanitized more regularly? I am heading to NYC with my boys on Saturday and am a little worried but as long as Canadian Public Health does not have a travel advisory for the US, we are going.

Parks are super busy, I think everyone is trying to use up their park days before they close. I found it busier today since they made the announcement that they were closing end of day Sunday than it was before. I think you will be find going to NYC, you are just as likely to catch it in Toronto.
 


No...there were no rolls or bread - and we asked the waiter about it and she said that is indeed for the fried chicken...weird.
Weird!
I love shellfish with lots of lemon normally, so this was perfect for me, I could have had several more easily.
Me too! It was good!

re: leaving the car and ubering home for a break , yeah it was silly, but we were glad at the end of the night when we had a short walk and none of that parking lot tram nonsense at the end of the night...
Yeah, I figured that out. And... if it made for an easy egress at the end? More power to you. :thumbsup2
 
March 12 - yesterday was our Universal day. My mom changed her mind back and forth multiple times as I knew she would and ultimately decided that since she was already here and survived the plane ride, that she wanted to go to the parks after all. She had rented a scooter which is actually good for keeping a little bit of space between you and the masses. At the theme parks...you really would never know there is anything going on other than lots more sanitizing happening all around and more dispensers of sanitizer and wipes around, and lineups for sinks in bathrooms (which is scary in itself because shows how much people were not washing hands before...but I digress) We had a really great day. Crowds seemed bad, but wait times were really manageable at US and IOA compared to Disney. We had Express pass but it was really only needed on a couple of rides. I don't know if this is a comment on the Disney FP+ system or what, but we could be a lot more spontaneous with our day and that was quite freeing. We started out at IOA where half of us lined up for Hagrid's ride, and the rest of us went on Forbidden Journey - I didn't chicken out this time either, and it was a lot of fun. We spent some time in Hogsmeade, then rode King Kong and Spiderman, some of us went on Hulk (not me) and then we took the Hogwarts express, which was I think worth the (crazy) price of the 2 park ticket needed to be able to ride. We then spent some time in Springfield and had Krusty Burgers for lunch, then hit up Men in Black and the Simpsons ride. I actually felt a little queasy after that one, even though I've gotten a bit more adventurous on this trip than previously. Two parks in a day I find is a lot though, and it was hot out. We lasted until around 4pm and then called it a day. I think we got (mostly) our money's worth on that though.

Today we decided to do our MK day as scheduled because it's our friends' last day here with us. Again, you'd never know there is a pandemic going on, it was rammed as everyone tried to get one more day in. My DD finally got to go on space mountain and BTMRR and my mom got her IASW fix, and we all got to do Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, so I'd call the day a success. My son went back to the parks tonight to try to take some photos of the nightime show with his tripod because we aren't sure if today will be our last park day or not...we are debating whether or not to tempt fate as parks are open for two more days. We have FP's for AK tomorrow and MK on Sunday and also BOG breakfast and Hacienda for dinner - and we've never seen the new EP nighttime show.

That said...I don't know if I'm tempting fate by going to parks for two more days...buttt...if we haven't been exposed already...who knows...it's a tough call since we are here anyway. I am currently on hold with WestJet trying to change our tickets from March 22 to March 18 because we would feel better just being in our home country as things start to get crazier. I'm a little worried because my son's boarding school in the US is closed until at least April 18 and he will be at risk of messing up yet another year of high school. They are going to be doing stuff online, and I just hope he has the self discipline to keep on top of it without any actual classes. (the reason he is in boarding school in the first place...sigh...)

So...this may have been our last parks day...maybe not...I'm not entirely sure.....
 
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My mom changed her mind back and forth multiple times as I knew she would and ultimately decided that since she was already here and survived the plane ride, that she wanted to go to the parks after all.
Glad she decided to go. :) I'm sure she'll be fine.
She had rented a scooter which is actually good for keeping a little bit of space between you and the masses.
Very good point!
lineups for sinks in bathrooms (which is scary in itself because shows how much people were not washing hands before...but I digress)
:scared:
I don't know if this is a comment on the Disney FP+ system or what, but we could be a lot more spontaneous with our day and that was quite freeing.
I totally agree. I found it much more relaxing. And no ADRs too! Just... go eat when and where you want!
We started out at IOA where half of us lined up for Hagrid's ride, and the rest of us went on Forbidden Journey - I didn't chicken out this time either, and it was a lot of fun.
Which one did you do?
some of us went on Hulk (not me)
That ride is a bit intimidating. Front row is pretty fun, but... the back row beat the heck out of us and I won't do that again.
we took the Hogwarts express, which was I think worth the (crazy) price of the 2 park ticket needed to be able to ride.
::yes::
Did you ride in both directions?
the Simpsons ride. I actually felt a little queasy after that one,
I felt that too. And I've heard others say that about that particular ride.
My DD finally got to go on space mountain and BTMRR and my mom got her IASW fix
Yay!
and we all got to do Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, so I'd call the day a success.
I'd say so!!
That said...I don't know if I'm tempting fate by going to parks for two more days...buttt...if we haven't been exposed already...who knows...
The risk is still very low. That might change, but... right now... the risk is low.
I am currently on hold with WestJet trying to change our tickets from March 22 to March 18 because we would feel better just being in our home country as things start to get crazier
Oh, no.
I looked at the wait time the other day and it was... nine hours. Hope you'll get through.
I'm a little worried because my son's boarding school in the US is closed until at least April 18 and he will be at risk of messing up yet another year of high school.
Oh, geez. :(
 
t the theme parks...you really would never know there is anything going on other than lots more sanitizing happening all around and more dispensers of sanitizer and wipes around, and lineups for sinks in bathrooms (which is scary in itself because shows how much people were not washing hands before...but I digress)
That is the part that freaks me out....some people are so dirty!
We started out at IOA where half of us lined up for Hagrid's ride, and the rest of us went on Forbidden Journey - I didn't chicken out this time either, and it was a lot of fun.
One day I am going to get to IOA. :)
Today we decided to do our MK day as scheduled because it's our friends' last day here with us. Again, you'd never know there is a pandemic going on, it was rammed as everyone tried to get one more day in. My DD finally got to go on space mountain and BTMRR and my mom got her IASW fix, and we all got to do Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, so I'd call the day a success. My son went back to the parks tonight to try to take some photos of the nightime show with his tripod because we aren't sure if today will be our last park day or not...we are debating whether or not to tempt fate as parks are open for two more days. We have FP's for AK tomorrow and MK on Sunday and also BOG breakfast and Hacienda for dinner - and we've never seen the new EP nighttime show.
I would still go to the parks.... you are there anyways. That being said, I cancelled my NYC trip for the twins graduation and am rescheduling for August.
That said...I don't know if I'm tempting fate by going to parks for two more days...buttt...if we haven't been exposed already...who knows...it's a tough call since we are here anyway. I am currently on hold with WestJet trying to change our tickets from March 22 to March 18 because we would feel better just being in our home country as things start to get crazier. I'm a little worried because my son's boarding school in the US is closed until at least April 18 and he will be at risk of messing up yet another year of high school. They are going to be doing stuff online, and I just hope he has the self discipline to keep on top of it without any actual classes. (the reason he is in boarding school in the first place...sigh...)
My boys don't do well with online learning either. Jack is at Trent in 2nd year and the university is suspending classes, then going online as of next Wednesday. He is still in Peterborough but I want him to come home. In times like this these, I want all my chicks in the nest. I hope you get home sooner than later and stay safe. :hug:
 
Fingers crossed you're able to change your flight to an earlier one - I get wanting to be in your home country right now. That said, I think everyone everywhere is taking lots of precautions at least. Enjoy your last bit of time in Florida and get home safe :goodvibes
 
Which one did you do?

I went on Forbidden Journey - it was a lot of fun!! I would totally ride that again! Next time, if the world doesn't end!!

Did you ride in both directions?

No, I had hoped to do that but we ran out of time (and energy) I hear it's different in reverse and would have liked to see that but oh well.

The risk is still very low. That might change, but... right now... the risk is low.

Yeah, we decided to count our blessings, and stop going to parks for however long we are still in Florida. Just seems like the responsible thing to do and sends the message to the kids that we are trying not to panic, but taking this seriously.

I looked at the wait time the other day and it was... nine hours. Hope you'll get through.

I did manage to get through yesterday in about an hour, and we now have tickets for Wednesday to go home, but now everyone wants to push our luck and see if we can get on a flight Monday, so...am on hold yet again. At least it's sunny and warm.

I would still go to the parks.... you are there anyways. That being said, I cancelled my NYC trip for the twins graduation and am rescheduling for August.

Nope. Decided to quit while we are hopefully still ahead and not infected!! Too bad, we never made it to AK, that was supposed to be today, and we are missing a BOG reservation dammit, but hopefully we'll get another shot someday.

I hope you get home sooner than later and stay safe. :hug:

Thanks. In any case we'll be home Wednesday, which is already sooner than planned, but the anxiety of being here is tough, and hoping we can change to even earlier...on hold again.

Enjoy your last bit of time in Florida and get home safe :goodvibes

Thanks. At least it's sunny and warm...but even that isn't enough to make you forget that it's Armageddon out there. People were packing up cars all around the subdivision that we are staying in and it's pretty creepy.
 
I went on Forbidden Journey - it was a lot of fun!! I would totally ride that again! Next time, if the world doesn't end!!
It's a fun ride. They both are. :)
No, I had hoped to do that but we ran out of time (and energy) I hear it's different in reverse and would have liked to see that but oh well.
::yes:: It's different. Both fun.
I did manage to get through yesterday in about an hour, and we now have tickets for Wednesday to go home, but now everyone wants to push our luck and see if we can get on a flight Monday, so...am on hold yet again. At least it's sunny and warm.
Well... good... and good luck!
 
Aw, Kathy. I"m so sorry your trip is being cut short due to this whole mess. Just awful. :( I hope you can go back soon and have a re-do! At least you got to get into some sun and fun for a while and what you did get sounded amazing!! Boarding Group #51 is awesome and YAY you still had your ticket on you. Phew!!!

I'm sad you didn't get to AK. :( Maybe you can make it to the EPIC Trip next year and get to see it!

Happy you could re-schedule your flights too. I think things are so out of control it IS best to be near your own home now. Most everything is shutting down around here now including grocery stores closing early. Scary for sure.
 
Thanks. At least it's sunny and warm...but even that isn't enough to make you forget that it's Armageddon out there. People were packing up cars all around the subdivision that we are staying in and it's pretty creepy.
No, even that doesn't make up for what feels like all of us living in some sort of movie right now. Please keep us posted and let us know you get home safe!
 
Thinking of you - and hoping that you can find a way to self-quarantine when you get back home so you don't expose your local community, since you won't know if you are sick until you've already been home for a while. (((hugs)))
 
Hi everyone!! Thought I'd check in since I left you hanging!! Here's how the rest of our trip played out thanks to Coronapocolypse....

I last left you I think March 1 when we had a great day at US and IOA. My friends T and M were due to come home on March 14, and my mom had only been with us for one day. At this time - all the US parks were still open, so we decided to brave one last day - March 13 - at MK, because other than US, that was the thing my mom really made the trip for - to go on IASW seriously and relive my childhood with me and her granddaughter. So, call us reckless...but we went to MK on Friday the 13th during a global pandemic. I really hoping that we don't regret that. In any case, the parks were still open and while things were getting crazy...in Orlando, I guess everyone was in denial because it didn't seem all that bad, and I guess...in WDW there always seems like hope and an escape from the real world so...there you have it.

By end of day on Friday March 13, the reality had started to sink in, even in Orlando and WDW. The announcements had been made that DLR was shutting down, followed by the announcements from WDW and US that their parks would be closing as of Sunday March 15 at the end of the day. At that point...we didn't know what to do. Our friends T and M had their planned flight home on the evening of Saturday March 14, and we had planned to hit AK that night, the only park that we had not yet visited on the trip. We had hoped to do the safaris and we had FP for ROL because my son wanted to take night time pics and my mom hadn't seen it. We decided to wait on making a decision on that until the afternoon when our friends were due to leave. We had a relaxing morning, and decided to go to Target to check out their selection of Disney merch. As I write this it's very surreal to think that just a week ago things were getting crazy for us but life was still relatively normal, went to Target, had breakfast....went about our day. We found some cute Disney pj's and other random stuff. Of course Target was already out of toilet paper and sanitizers and looked a little picked over, but nothing too crazy.

We lazed around the rest of the morning. By about noon though...more and more dire stories about thoughts of borders closing and rising panic....we decided that not only would we not tempt fate by visiting any more parks...but we decided to try to get an earlier flight home. AT this point, we were originally planning to fly home on Sunday March 22 - yesterday. Last time I was here on the DIS was when I was on hold and managed to change our flight to Wednesday March 18. I felt ok about that until Saturday March 14 evening when more and more scary news started showing up, so I decided to call WJ again and see if anything could be done to get us home even sooner. After a lengthy hold, I finally got through and we were very lucky, we managed to score 4 seats home on Monday March 16 - AND we got to go on the WestJet Disney Frozen themed plane to boot!! It was a long process to get us booked, and also had to book a ticket for my son, since he was originally scheduled to fly back to his boarding school in the US on Sunday as well, but now had to come home with us. I managed to get all of us tickets home without paying any extra money for my son's ticket because prices had gone down so much. I also had to wait on hold for another long stretch to make sure that my dog could be on the flight with us!! Finally got that done - that was Saturday night...so we still had one more day in Florida.

At this point, I had to ridiculously take my son shopping to the outlet mall. I know it sounds crazy, but because my son had been at boarding school, and his whole wardrobe was there, he only had summer clothes and one pair of pants with him. No coat, or warm clothes...and he would be coming back to Toronto in March - which is NOT really spring by any stretch so. Had to get him a jacket and some hoodies and jeans. I knew that once home he would not be going out much, but needed something. We were very careful and sanitized and stayed away from everyone at the outlet mall, which was pretty dead by this point anyway, scored a great parking spot!!

Sunday we decided again, no more parks, even though this was the last day the parks were operating. We gave up our BOG breakfast and our La Hacienda dinner and decided not to tempt fate. If we hadn't caught the virus yet, we were done taking chances. We decided to go to the beach in Cocoa Beach instead. I know there were scenes of idiot young people all over beaches in Miami and FLL...thankfully...it was NOT like that at all. We kept our distance, got an umbrella, and sat there for a few hours of sunshine therapy. It was lovely and I did not want to leave. But leave we did, at a decent hour because it was a long drive back to Kissimmee where we were staying. We got back late afternoon and packed up our stuff. Ordered dinner on DoorDash from Ford's Garage which is supposedly a Florida legend. The food was really good, I would love to eat there in person one day.

Monday March 16 - got up early, checked out a week early from our Air BnB house, and headed for the airport. We had to hide the dog again as we returned the rental car, but I don't think in these times anyone was watching too closely. We made sure to stay far away from people at the airport, bought our own snacks so we didn't have to get anything on the plane, used our last wipes to disinfect everything we touched on the plane, and were very happy to be home in Canada a few hours later.

At customs they asked us where we had been etc. I was actually nervous to tell them we had been at the theme parks. They didn't actually ask that specifically but they asked where we came from and we said Orlando. Then they gave us a pamphlet about self quarantine and asked us to acknowledge that we are supposed to self quarantine for 14 days and did we understand. We said yes, and were on our way.

We got home and of course my 17 year old son wanted to go see friends. It's heartbreaking because he was been away at boarding school for a long time, and was desperate to see people. I really had to lay down the riot act for him - and yes, before anyone says it...I know he can be a vector and spread the disease etc, and I told him all that. And because he is a selfish teen...he only hears what he wants to hear. I basically had to threaten him that if he leaves the house other than to walk the dog, he will not be allowed back in because he is putting his family and community at risk. I am hoping that sunk in. For the rest of the week he has been staying in and relatively compliant, but now he rarely leaves his room. Oh well. I will take that. I haven't shared that much about my son here, but let's just say...he has some mental health issues and challenges which are the reason he has been in the US so long, first in treatment for mental health issues, and then at a mainstream boarding school, and we did not expect to have him home until at least a few more months...and we had hoped to have more of a plan for when that time came.....

But.....as we all know...mother nature had other plans for all of us!! So we are here...trying to make the best of it...my daughter is handling it pretty well. We have baked some cupcakes and done all kinds of things around the house that we have put off for years....and just trying to be grateful that this is happening now, when we have food, and heat and even companionship available to us online. It's still pretty lonely, but tolerable because of that.

I hope everyone's safe and fed and coping ok!! Hang in there!!
 
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Aw, Kathy. I"m so sorry your trip is being cut short due to this whole mess. Just awful. :( I hope you can go back soon and have a re-do! At least you got to get into some sun and fun for a while and what you did get sounded amazing!! Boarding Group #51 is awesome and YAY you still had your ticket on you. Phew!!!

I'm sad you didn't get to AK. :( Maybe you can make it to the EPIC Trip next year and get to see it!

Happy you could re-schedule your flights too. I think things are so out of control it IS best to be near your own home now. Most everything is shutting down around here now including grocery stores closing early. Scary for sure.

I am hoping I can get back soon too and do AK, and ROTR again...it was so awesome. I do hope I can get to the Epic trip next year too, you guys all seem like so much fun.

No, even that doesn't make up for what feels like all of us living in some sort of movie right now. Please keep us posted and let us know you get home safe!

Thanks!! Yes, home safe and sound. Still feel like we are living in a disaster movie though. Surreal. I find it hard to even concentrate on TV and movies now because they are life "pre-COVID19"

Thinking of you - and hoping that you can find a way to self-quarantine when you get back home so you don't expose your local community, since you won't know if you are sick until you've already been home for a while. (((hugs)))

Thanks. Yes, we are doing our best to self quarantine. We have one more week to go, but I have a feeling Toronto may be on total lockdown before that, so who knows how long. I actually am sort of hoping that they put us on lockdown because then my teenagers will have the directive from someone other than me, who they don't want to listen to on a good day! But also, I think this would pass faster if they just shut down everything completely for a few weeks. Who knows. I'm no scientist!
 
Thanks. Yes, we are doing our best to self quarantine. We have one more week to go, but I have a feeling Toronto may be on total lockdown before that, so who knows how long. I actually am sort of hoping that they put us on lockdown because then my teenagers will have the directive from someone other than me, who they don't want to listen to on a good day! But also, I think this would pass faster if they just shut down everything completely for a few weeks. Who knows. I'm no scientist!
Was happy to see your update. It definitely has been surreal. Glad you put your foot down with your son - at least you had the directive from when you got home to fall back on, and not just because you said so. Here in Illinois, we have an official Shelter in Place directive that started on Saturday night, but I know that people are still getting together. My kids are doing ok with it - they are pretty tech savvy, so they already socialize with their friends online anyhow. It wouldn't surprise me much to see Toronto with a similar order soon.
 

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