BroganMc's 2023 Spring (Tron, Cirque, Family)

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

Good morning started off early but on a better note then yesterday and he's like finally got a good night's rest on a somewhat decent mattress. Okay here's the scoop on what's going on at Saratoga Springs. I'm hearing this from the managers that Boardwalk villas. Disney decided to replace all the mattresses with a supposedly deluxe heavenly 4-in pillow top mattress at Saratoga Springs and Grand Floridian. The only problem is the mattress feels like a lumpy marshmallow. I'm not kidding guys. It is incredibly lumpy. Soft lumpy butt lumpy. So once you get in it you're not moving. Well not easily. If you're a tosser and a turner, you're not going to like this. According to Boardwalk manager, a lot of people are complaining about it and they're getting asked for their extra mattresses which they don't want to give up.

I've been real busy the first 3 days of my trip so I won't have a chance to go talk to the manager of Saratoga until Thursday. But believe me I will. This is ridiculous.

Now after about 4 to 5 hours sleep I usually wake up. You know bathroom break. a lumpy soft mattress I can't get into and have a hard time getting out of does not make this easy.

But at least I was awake. Got a little help getting out of bed around 5:30 a.m. thought I had it great head start on the day. Time for breakfast. Time to get myself in order. You know all that time that easily gets squandered and you end up being late anyway. Usually because something unexpected pops up. For me it was a banking issue that had me on the phone with my bank for about 45 minutes and made me half an hour late. God I hate when that happens.

The weather I can happily report has started to get warmer. We still war layers and packed our heavy coats for night time, but we saw actual sun today. I guess we are in Florida after all.

Cousin K and I drove over to Hollywood Studios passing his father and brother at the bus stop as we went. We were in medical overflow but still close enough to the entrance. Big lines and security to get in but it went very smoothly today.

Remember cousin K is a newbie to Disney. He's only heard about it through his family and on TV. And yesterday we took him to Epcot. So as we drove into the park today, he asked me where is Mickey mouse? He's come to Disney and he still hasn't seen the guy? I told him don't worry, now we are in the movie park and we're going to see a lot more of the fabulous five.

Since cousin K is autistic and easily overwhelmed, we decided it best to build up the excitement and the craziness of Magic Kingdom. That's why we're not going there until tomorrow.

But once in the park, we scheduled our first ride of the day to be Mickey mouse runaway railway. Then had to wait for everybody else to follow in.

I let us up to the Chinese grauman theater Where none other than Donald and Daisy were holding court in the courtyard. You know one of those stand in the grassy Knowles and interact with the crowd deals? Well I couldn't resist. I went up to Daisy and told her how pretty is a picture she looked today. We commented on how wonderful the weather was. And then I couldn't help but ask her how Donald was. Was he being a good boy? No way, she gestured. He's been very bad lately. I promise I would have a word.

Then I went over to Donald Who was dancing with some little kids. I told him Daisy told me he's been a bad boy lately. Of course he refuted that! How dare anybody say he's a bad boy. Yeah, I told him I heard he was eating the cookies again. He denied it he was an angel! Oh yeah, so why does he have that nice little round belly? I told him from now on he could have only carrot sticks and celery for the rest of the week. Oh did he pout. He stomped, glared at me and put his hands on his hips. No way was he going to behave. I told him I'd be watching!

All the crowd laughed. Even cousin K enjoy the interaction. That's how I deal with the characters. I give them the dialogue and they react to it. And Donald is always a mischievous one.

Meanwhile brother stayed in the room because he had to work today. He's got a very nice office setup. Used one of those end table that convert to desks setups and pulled it in front of the balcony doors overlooking the golf course. I left him working away and his pajamas telling his coworkers where he could be instead of tinkering away on the computer.

Because we had to wait for Mickey's runaway, the guys and I decided to go to see vacation fun with Minnie and Mickey. If you never take the time to see this cartoon, do. I think it's a really nice prelude to the Mickey's runaway railway attraction. It's all about our favorite mouse couple getting away for a fun vacation and all the things that can go wrong. We could definitely relate to that one.

Sherry joined us for Mickey's runaway. Now since I have issues boarding, I always get sent off to the 88 platform. This ride does not accept wheelchairs, but you do have plenty of time to transfer in and out. There are flaws with this. There is a nice big step down into the vehicle. Not something easily done with those with mobility issues. They do have a little yellow insert that turns the side into a bump step similar to what you see at a pool. The only problem is they're absolutely nothing to grab on to and you haven't even bigger step down from the top bump. Castor was telling me it's rarely used. What it needs is another little insert at the bottom to give you a stepping stool. Fortunately I had my cousin J to lift me in.

Now I like Mickey's runaway. It's cute. The artistry of the living cartoon is well done. But I do miss the easy accessibility of the great movie ride. That one I just drove my chair right onto the vehicle and parked. This one I always need somebody to help lift me. Makes me sad.

It was hard to choose the next ride because we had lunch scheduled at 2:30. And we weren't getting started until after 11:00. And with the heavy crowds, almost every ride was well over an hour and a half wait. So he bit the bullet and decided to schedule rise of the Resistance. That had a hefty two and a half hour wait. Meaning that we had about an hour and a half to kill before our lunch.

We debated a little bit and I decided to take the guys over to one man's dream museum. I know my uncle loves that. Heck I love it. Life and times of Walt Disney and all the memorabilia of the mouse. Plus I love the miniature models of theme parks inside.

Sherry was with us for a time and until she got a little too cold and went outside. Then she had an emergency when she went to look for her wallet notice it wasn't there! Oh dear! We didn't find out till later but she disappeared on us and ran back to the room only to find her wallet exactly where she left it. Crisis averted. Unfortunately it didn't mean she missed lunch.

Meanwhile inside one man's dream, the guys were taking their time enjoying all the display when I noticed there was a meet and greet for monsters Inc Sully. All that look like fun. A cast member named Janet, who was also a wheelchair user, was helping guide people to Sully or to the movie. I asked her how long the wait was and she said 25 minutes. Well we were about 35 minutes away from our lunch. I didn't really want to take the chance of being tied up. And I told her I would pass, but she took pity on me. She asked if it was just me, and I said yes. So then she pulled me around to the back and told me to wait. Went inside and had a word with the cast members. Then she came back out and said just stand right here and I'd be called in next.

Don't you love it when that magic happens? Completely random and so wonderful.

When I went in to see Sully I just had tow and odd how big and fluffy he was. I told him I was so glad that he was making little kids laugh because I was certain when I was a little girl he was the one hiding in my closet. We got some great pictures. One where it looks like Sully his practically swallowing me. And he is truly very soft.

I got out just in time to see that little movie at the end of the museum. The one all about Walt Disney and his dream of a playground for daddies and daughters to enjoy together. About his beginning life and his failures which led him to the mouse. It's a very nice tale. I know Walt Disney was a complicated guy and he could be a chauvinist, chainsmoker and a whole bunch of other things but at heart I think he was a kid who just wanted people to laugh and have fun. And it's because of his dream, we have Disney World to play in.

We got out in time for lunch. Turned out would just be the four of us instead of all six. Uncle Bill was our server. Nice guy. Been working here forever and is counting down the days to retirement. My uncle still hasn't beat by about 15 years but it was fun hearing his tails of work.

I picked up an extra order of Aunt Liz's chicken for leftovers and got a sampler platter for myself. I love the pot roast and the fried chicken. I'm not so keen on the meatloaf only because I had it so much as a kid I can't stand the thing. But I still am taking leftovers home. I would share the fried chicken with Sherry later in the day. A little compensation for her crisis keeping her away from lunch.

And it was finally time for Rise of the Resistance. My brother's co-workers finally took pity on him and shoot him away to go off and play. I caught him walking into Galaxy's edge.

We all met up at the lightning Lane and waited for Sherr.y to arrive by ferry. Now all this waiting around and regathering did chew off a lot of time for a day. I worried we wouldn't be able to do as much. Of course that's the risk you take when you also plan to sit down meal in the middle of your day. But it works.

They were very busy and rise. The rebel cast members were extremely excited and revved up. Had the crowd screaming and racing. It was fun. Unfortunately first order cast members were not as fun as to play with today. Well maybe it was the fact that they had a party of five scooters and one progesterian to manage. We ditched two of the scooters and we're down to three but, it gets very complicated trying to organize logistics of that group.

We ended up being put in one of the detention cells for a long time. We teased that was our punishment. See we had worked out this whole deal of pretending to speak of The upcoming rebel attack in code. Something to do with dinner will be served on time, all the elements are in place, the soldiers will love everything they get to eat, it'll blow their socks off. You know the deal. The cast members laughed a few times but I think they were a little too busy to get into the spirit. I miss that. I love it best when we got a touchy first order who gives us a hard time.

They didn't let us take a fun selfie in the hanger bay though. I thank them for that.

Well after a while of being stuck in the interrogation cell, finally the rebels broke us out. We screamed for joy because we've been there for HOURS we said. They laughed. Got loaded on our escape vehicles and off we went.

Cousin K loved all of it! He's not much of a Star Wars fan but he could not keep his mouth shut. He kept looking everywhere wondering what was coming next. It really is a well done attraction. Although I will say there's only one element I miss. The moving cannons. In early days when you went through the cannon Bay, those cannon shifted back and forth in front of your path and you had to escape it. That's why the vehicles go back and forth there. Unfortunately that mechanism broke down, or the timing of it just proved to tenuous for these GPS controlled vehicles. Certainly it would have been an accident waiting to happen if something collided. So those cannons don't move anymore. And they haven't in a couple years now. Sad. I think it made the ride so much more exciting.

But we are getting an animatronic Kylo Ren at the end who gets blown out into space. That's always fun. And I love how the vehicle gets loaded into the motion simulator then dropped two stories into flight. All that is so fun. After we got off the ride cousin K asked if we were really moving or if it was just a movie. I said nope we were absolutely moving and he got dropped.

To my delight it did not scare him. That's the thing I've been worried about on this trip. See he doesn't do roller coasters or thrill rides. Things that he cannot control. We're trying to warm him up to it, and he seems to be getting better at it. We'll see how things go as the week progresses. So far he's handled fireworks without any issue. And that was something that had him running into the house and covering his ears at home.

Of course we're trying to work the whole return time thing as much as possible So while we were in rise, we immediately booked a return time for Toy Story mania. That was an hour wait. And we ate up much of that time on rise.

Split up a little bit on bathroom breaks and reunited for Toy Story mania. Now I've been playing a little game with my brother ever since I flew down for Tron last week. He likes to take stocking photos of me in the park and then post them in our family chat group. This was my turn.

I caught him on his phone in the shade of a merchandise stand overlooking Toy Story. And I got lots of cool snaps of him which I posted. I had this great shot of him telling a story with his arms out wide, I called that his fish story. It was just a fun cute little thing we do. Any admitted I got him back. I'll just think of more inventive ways of teasing him. He deserves it.

Off we went to Toy Story mania. We were a group of six which was good because the ADA vehicle only takes six. Cousin K rode with me and I showed him the ropes. My brother wanted a contest so I also had to do my level best to beat the crap out of him. Do you know how it is to teach someone how to play the game and play to win at the same time?

I must have been a fire because my score was 196,400. The best score I've had yet. Unfortunately my stupid brother managed to eke out 199,000. Dang it!

It was getting a bit late by then and several in the group really want to get into Fantasmic. We've been hearing that the crowd is big and they always tell you to try to go in early. And I mean an hour and a half early. So after a bathroom break, that's where we went. We did schedule a return time for Slinky dog but it wouldn't have been until 8:30, when the show started. Still the park closes at 9:30 and we thought maybe possibly a few of us might be able to run out and do it at the end. At least we'd have the option.

We were put in the Pocahontas section. Wheelchair section at the back but right in the middle next to the dining package people. Now I did hear from that cast member at Sally that I can sit down in front. I just got to get there early and ask to be guided down. And we asked about it, but the customer said we couldn't come back up to go to the bathroom or get food. Not without an escort. And my group wanted to have the flexibility. Plus remember, I wanted the chance to sneak out and go on Slinky dog.

We settled in together and had our snacks. Sherry got her fried chicken. I got some corn dogs. And the guys ate leftovers. Met a nice couple from Illinois who were down with their little grandchildren. They have an RV over at fort wilderness and rent cabins for all the kids. Nice folks. They were looking after me when I went off to the bathroom later. No less than two people try to claim my spot but they kept them away.

Brother took advantage of being a pedestrian and companion by sneaking off and going to the 7:30 frozen show. Oh how I love that sing-along. And his coworkers were calling him right in the middle because the thing they had said they do for him allowing him to go off and play, they screwed up. Fortunately it was all fixed. And he had fun teasing them that he was off at playing at Disney.

We coordinated our schedules and decided as soon as the show is over, three of us would bolt and head for slinky. The other three would head home.

Now about the new Fantasmic show. I wasn't really a fan of the previous one mostly because of the wheelchair seating. You have to be in the back and it's behind most of that lighting rigging. And usually you end up on the side with a terrible view. Plus there are fireworks but it's mostly a stage show. Seem like an awful lot of effort when I really prefer something like harmonious. But I have to say I really really appreciate the improvements to Fantasmic. The laser lighting effects are so well done. The new elements with Frozen and Moana are great. Moana is especially stunning since she gets right down in the water. I don't even really miss the Pocahontas stage fight. Mulan more than makes up for that.

Now I didn't have my tripod rig up this time so I just took some video and pictures. I was getting some great video of the finale boat with all the characters coming around when Sherry tapped me on the shoulder and said goodbye. Meanwhile my brother tapped me on the shoulder and said watch out for the poll behind you. That was my cue. It was time to bolt.

So off we ran. I was escaping the theater ahead of the crowd just as the finale fireworks were going off. Made a beeline over to Slinky dog.

Park close at 9:30 and we were in line at 9:09. More than enough time to get on. Oh how I love this ride, especially after dark. It's a good old-fashioned Coney Island style coaster. I will never pass up an opportunity to go on it.

When we finished it was about 9:20p.m. Time for Leslie stroll out of the park. But in perfect time to see the movie Magic presentation on the Chinese grauman theater. Cousin J and I stopped to watch. Brother headed home to work. Or rather check in on all the things they fix while he was playing. Everybody else had gone home by bus or boat.

Cousin J help me stop off for gas at the boardwalk so I wouldn't have to worry about it the rest of the trip. And we had a good time talking about how much his brother is enjoying Disney. So much so in fact he told Sherry but not only is he having a good time this trip but he's coming back in October, and December and next March. Those are all the trips I have planned. Now I haven't actually planned for him to come so I have no idea where he's going to sleep. But it's good to know he's enjoying himself. We'll figure out the logistics later.

Unfortunately by the time we got back there was absolutely no handicap parking left. So I'm in overflow taking up two places. I'll figure out the rest this morning.

We're going to Magic Kingdom which means driving there isn't really an advantage. I'd have to park at the TTC and still take a ferry or a monorail. So I'm thinking I'll just take the bus today. We'll all take the bus today. And we'll go in our usual waves. Cousin Kay and I, then his brother and father. My brother when he can escape work. And Sherry.

We have lunch planned at be our guest today. Not quite sure what the itineraries going to be. I like to make it up as it go along. And I know this is going to be a very crowded park with lots of little kids. Very overwhelming for my cousin. And frankly for me. But we're going to do the best we can.

My brother and I also have our alarm set so we can try to get into Tron today. The plan is for he and I, and cousin J to ride it. We have three opportunities to get into the queue. 7:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and we have the option of paying for the individual lightning lane. Which I said I would pay. I know it was $20 a person yesterday. But I'm willing to do it. We'll see what happens. Currently it is 5:30 in the morning. I'm awake. But remember I tried this for Guardians the other day and it didn't work. I need my brothers fast fingers.

And the weather is supposed to be a lot nicer. More later!

Hey guys just wanted to add a little story to my trip report. This one is a lesson in garbled messages and perspective.

So remember that first day when we went off to the parks at Epcot? Our first day in town and we were discombobulated. I'd spent a very rocky night on a rough bed. So I was not in a good mood. I hadn't really coordinated with cousin Jay on what we were going to do except that I knew we had to go to the park and we had to get his brother a DAS. If you ever tried that you know there's all kinds of anxiety over how the interview will go and whether or not you'll get approved. And cousin K was on record as not wanting to travel and being a bolter. Also in order to fit all those comfortably in my van, we switched all my driving controls over for cousin J to drive. Handicap parking lot was full when he got back from the grocery store Sunday night so it was somewhere over in regular parking blocked in.

I expected I would be going at least to the car with cousin J and getting everything worked out. Instead cousin K shows up at my door ready to go. And he tells me his brother is having breakfast in the room after a nice leisurely nap. Also he couldn't remember where the car was parked.

So I spent my first morning trying to accomplish four things: find my car, convert it so that I could drive, get my Disney newmy cousin into the park, and register him for a DAS. As well as meet up with two friends and try to coordinate our day.

As you can imagine, I was not a happy camper. That's an awful lot to put on one person. So as I climbed in the car I texted cousin Jay five simple words: "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Well as you know for my report everything worked out fine. And in the car ride back from Hollywood last night with cousin J we talked about it. Turned out he had no breakfast that morning. He was rushing to get ready too. He sent his brother down to me thinking his brother knew where the car was. And his brother could easily convert it. He thought it was the most logical choice. We laughed. It's funny how perspective and garbled messages can create stress. Especially on a Disney vacation.

I see this in awful lot in the parks. People can't reach each other. They don't hear the phone ring or they don't see the text message. They're not sure which entrance they're meeting at. Somebody has to go to the bathroom and maybe they take longer than expected. Somebody is hungry. Somebody is tired. Somebody's cranky. And eventually they bicker. Usually because messages get confused.

now my family has developed several methods of dealing with these problems. We use life 360 for every trip so we can GPS track each other. That way we know if somebody is actually moving to meet up with us. We use a group text chat on Google chat so we can coordinate plans and share photos. We have one or two things that are scheduled during the day for meetups. Meals or fireworks or shows or Big rides. We try to keep an open door policy. That way if you want to join with a group, you can. But if you want to drop out, you can go off and do something else. We find that is the best way to keep stress and conflict at a minimum. And we will wait for each other, but you have to be moving. Leaving somebody waiting for an hour is not a good way to make friends.

Usually you hear the good stories of our trip. I don't like to dwell in the bad. But we do have our conflicts. Like I've said before that's why after 3 days of park touring, I give myself a day off. I love my family. I adore my friends. I enjoy sharing all these experiences with them. But I also know I need me time. We're going to Magic Kingdom today and I'm going to enjoy it. But I'm also looking forward to tomorrow when I get a free day. I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I'll just turn my chair on and roll.

I hope you all are enjoying the trip report. Time for me to take my morning shower. Got to get this show on the road!

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

Well this is the day we were building up to all week. Finally we get to see the classic Disney characters in the classic Disney park. Cousin Kay was very excited. Since we're saying at Saratoga driving to the park is not really an advantage. I didn't feel like having to park at the TTC and ride a ferry or monorail in. So we met at the bus stop and waited for the next 10:21 a.m. bus to arrive. At 10:20 a.m. a bus pulls in saying Saratoga Springs. So I don't pay it any attention thinking maybe it's just going to go to Disney Springs or the treehouse villas. Then a minute later another bus comes in parks in front of me and says Epcot. Well where is the Magic Kingdom bus?

The crowd behind me at the bus stop says oh there it is. It was the first bus saying Saratoga Springs which didn't change its sign until it parked and I ignored it. I tried to waive the bus driver down but off he went. Damn!

Now remember we have four scooters here. The logistics of getting the four of us on a bus and to a park at relatively the same time is difficult. And the stupid bus Marquis not being accurate does not make it easier. So I was not happy.

10 minutes later now all four scooters in my party have arrived and we're all waiting for a bus. Animal Kingdom comes. Hollywood Studios comes. Disney Springs comes. Finally I'm Magic Kingdom bus arrives. And I plead with the driver about our problems. So he puts in a call to notify dispatch that there are four scooters needing good magic and they need to send another bus.

I honestly don't know what would have worked better. Me and cousin K driving to the DTC and then riding the ferry over to Magic while his dad and brother rode or both groups waiting for a second bus to arrive. In the fact that it was going to be a long night at Magic Kingdom with extra magic hours, I decided I really didn't want to drive that late. This has been my third day of park touring and frankly I'm getting at the end of my tether.

So cousin K and I set off for Magic Kingdom. One of the advantages of riding the bus instead of driving is that I can sit on my phone, look up wait times and schedules and plan my day. Then I was all set when we arrived half an hour later.

Florida Sun is definitely here. Frankly it was hot during the day. And cousin K was very afraid about getting lost and separated so he stuck to me like glue. We just waited in main Street for the rest of her party to arrive. Even Sherry had to hop a bus because of the stupid Park reservations not allowing her to cross through Epcot and ride monorail.

When we arrived, oh wait a minute let me go back a minute. I've been up since 5:30 a.m. because I absolutely positively wanted to get into the virtual cue for tron's soft opening. Even my brother was up. So it precisely 6:30 a.m. I was configuring my travel party. And at precisely 6:58 a.m. I was monitoring the world clock so that it precisely 6:59 a.m. I could start hitting the join q button. And I succeeded. Group 34. Now we just configured it for everybody so we had passes for seven people. Only three of us were going to ride but I would make it a priority is the first thing we did that day.

We proceeded down main Street and due to Tomorrowland. Put the non thrill seekers on carousel progress while we went on Tron. And I have to say the second time around is even better. The ride is so smooth it's like butter. Yes it's a thrilling fun start outside and I'm sure that looks fantastic at night, but the inside is also a loads of fun even in the daytime. I definitely recommend sitting towards the back of the train so you can follow the story of the light cycles as they zip around you and crash into your light stream. I'm putting this ride on my must-do list for future. Although I will say Guardians of the Galaxy is a much more thrilling ride and longer. So if you're looking for an adrenaline rush, go for guardians. But if you just want a damn fine roller coaster, go for Tron.

After trying we also checked out the new little food stand beside it and got some of the beef and broccoli dumplings. Very very tasty. I had just read a Disney food blog review of it on the bus right in and they were definitely right. The seasoning is perfect. It costs about $9 and you get three dumplings. A perfect little sack as we walked the new walkway under Tron to Toy Story circus. I am very glad that way is open again. It might not be as quiet and secluded as the original path but it is still very cool.

Met up with the family at the train station. This is another must do for my uncle who has missed the train ever since it went down years ago. Oh heck hasn't everybody? And even saw one of the engineers I met last October and told me all about the status of the time. The only problem we had again was space for wheelchairs. We only needed one for me, but it seemed like every train was loaded. So we got on and did a round trip for all the folks with scooters.

Except for me who hopped off at frontier Town so I could make a bathroom break and meet up with everybody for our next ride of the day: Peter Pan's Flight.

Now this is a ride I just discovered I can do because they will stop the platform for me to be loaded. I do have to walk to the vehicle and yes my balance can seem a bit precarious especially on that very bouncy platform. But I can do it safely. And when I'm with family, I'll make the effort so they don't have to stand in a long line and I get to see a very cute ride that reminds me of being a little kid with my mom.

Our lunch was scheduled at be our guest at 3:15 p.m. And it was around 2:15. I figured we had time for one more attraction before we could go off for lunch. We did schedule haunted Mansion because that had a long 90 minute wait, but Mickey's Philharmagic was open seating. It's cousin J's favorite. He's a big Donald duck fan.

Now when we went in we had a plan. Four of us would go off to be our guest for lunch, and the other two would split off and do their own thing. That was the plan. Are you getting my drift?

It was about 2:45 p.m. when we left. And there's a big crowd leaving so it was a little hard to wrangle everybody. My brother's spliy off to go resort hopping. Friend Sherry was going to head to Liberty square for a snack and Hall of Presidents. And the rest of us were going to be our guest. I looked behind me and cousin J said we're all together so just go.

It wasn't until I went to check in at be our guest 10 minutes later that I realize nobody was with me! What the...?

Turn back went on the path and found my uncle sitting by the side. What happened? Turns out cousin K, Who is on the spectrum, followed Sherry because she decided on the spur of the moment to go to It's a Small World. And that's the one ride he has talked about before. He didn't mention it today but I knew he would watch the ride video and he talked about it lots when we were at home on this trip. I guess he heard Sherry was changed her mind was going there and decided he would hop along. But he didn't tell anybody not even her that he was following her.

Now we have GPS tracking on everybody's cell phone and of course we tried to call him. His brother went off looking for him. But he wasn't answering his phone and no one could find him. Fortunately I called Sherry and she looked back in the line and found him behind a whole bunch of people. Then he met up with her. The problem was they were now stuck in the wheelchair line with two scooters and an impossible way to turn around and get out. And my cousin was not going to leave no matter what anybody said. Even with his phone ringing he wouldn't even let Sherry answer it. He had one thing in mind. He wanted to ride It's a small world and the hell with the rest of us. That is the reality with people on the spectrum. They become very single-minded focused that it is almost impossible to turn their direction.

Well after about half an hour of his frantically searching for each other and trying to locate him, we at least knew where he was but we still had to spend another 30 minutes waiting for him to get through the line and go on the ride. That meant instead of being half an hour early for a reservation we were half an hour late.

The staff at BOG were great. They got us a table in the ballroom. Service was a bit slow but the food was delicious. And I meant I really was at the end of my tether. Three days of guiding five scooters through a park with six different individuals is just stressful. Everybody wants to know what's going on. Everybody has a different idea. Everybody has a different thing we think we should do. And nobody but me understands the scheduling. That is why I always plan on my fourth day I take a day off. No park touring with anybody. It's for my own sanity.

Now the meal was wonderful. It's pricey there. Over $70 per person but you get an appetizer, and entree and a dessert plus a drink. Not bad. They all had the French Onion soup but I tried the new potato leek soup. It was probably one of the most unusual soups I've ever had. A leak mash at the bottom with kettle cooked chips over top and then a potato and cheese puree poured over top of that. Absolutely delicious. Wish I'd had the room in my stomach to eat all of it but I tried my best. I would love that recipe.

Our entrees consisted of trout for some, and most of us had the filet mignon which was seasoned to perfection. I think the only thing I didn't care for on the plate were the green beans. I'm not much of a green bean fan.

Dessert was a mix of the dessert trio which included a raspberry macaroon sandwich, a chocolate mousse truffle, and a gray stuff tart.

Oh and for the little aggravation of losing my party, I treated myself to a glass of enchanted Rose wine. I highly recommend it with lunch. It is a light fruity bouquet and a sweet taste almost like a Moscato. Very refreshing. If I go back again, I might even splurge for a bottle.

With all the confusion and the delays and whatnot, by the time we finished dinner it was after 6:00 p.m. yeah we lost a good 2 hours there unexpectedly. But the next ride we had booked was haunted Mansion. So we went on that together and had fun. I even have some ride photos this time. they're really cute.

And then we split up for a couple of hours. I sent them on pirates of the Caribbean, which I don't do anymore cuz the boats are too small. And then I just went walking around main Street for a bit. It was getting very cold after the sun went down. And I found myself very tired. So while they were going on tiki birds, I went over to a quiet corner of cosmic rays and took a nap.

Brother came back from his resort hopping and we all met up at our favorite spot in Fantasyland for fireworks. I can report that cousin K is having absolutely no problems with fireworks. He's enjoying them. They don't scare him. Aren't too loud. Even when he's standing between them and they're going over his head he's loving them. In fact he's having such a good time on this trip, he told our friend that he wants to come back on every future trip from now on.

After fireworks we went on Little mermaid and then after that we went on seven dwarfs mine Train. And I mean all of us. It was cousin K's first roller coaster. And he loved it. Maybe not as much as Small World but he did enjoy the ride.

By this time it was 10:30 p.m. now the park closed at 11:00 with extra magic hours until 1:00 a.m. but I was getting pretty darn tired. So we split up again. My brother and I took the pathway under Tron from storybook circus and went to see the laugh factory. Meanwhile the guys went back on It's a Small World.

I split off on my own again only to stop on main Street for a quick photo pass shot when my brother spotted me and jumped in. He likes doing that kind of stuff. He'll stalk me in the park and take pictures of me and then send them to me. And I'll do the same to him. It's a little game we play.

The bus came right away to take me home. I was in the door by 11:45 p.m. changed for bed and went right to sleep. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.

All in all it was a good day. We did a lot of attractions. We had great food. The heat wasn't too bad although I expect it's going to be overbearing this weekend. I could have done without the split too it's a small world messing up my schedule, but we talked about how to manage that in the future.

I know those of you with autistic family members are well experienced with this. Please understand that this family member has never really left home. He worked but he would go from home to work and back again and never really traveled. That's just the way they did things when he was growing up. And his mom was his primary caretaker but she passed away 2 years ago and his dad and his brother have been trying to find their own way. His dad and brother are best friends and thick as thieves. They would often go off on their own exploring Disney. But they realize they have to make sure he is always with them. And for some reason he has really attached himself to my friend Sherry. I think it's because she worked as a special ed teacher for years and understands how to deal with those sorts of individuals. And she is a very sweet person. Plus he really really really really really really wanted to go on It's a small world.

Please forgive me for any perceived frustration I had with him. I understand it. I also have been leading this group for 3 days and I did not start out at my best. When people disappear on me and I can't bring them back, it gets extremely frustrating. It's very hard to hold my patience Only because I'm trying to make sure we maximize our time as best as possible. I did not yell at anyone. I didn't chastise him. I only vented to the people who were also frustrated with the experience. And we developed plans of how to deal with it in future.

The last thing I will report is that I finally figured out how to get in and out of my lumpy marshmallow mattress. So maybe not all is lost at Saratoga. Now it is around 8:30 and I'm hungry. I think I'll walk over to artis palette and get a breakfast to go.

Everyone else is going to Animal Kingdom today. I'm taking the day off. Where I go I just don't know yet.

I'm so glad Cousin K is having such a great time.  When reading your trip report with those moments of joy for him, it just makes me smile because it's so awesome.  I'm loving your trip report as always and admire your handling of the stress of planning for so many.  I picture you saying "Serenity now, serenity now" like George Costanza.  I can't wait to read more.

Enjoying your report, as always. Thanks for sharing!

You always write such interesting TR. Full of useful information and problem solving on the go. The constructive criticism of others is never demeaning. You aim to please. I read your TR like a handy guide and take notes on things I think I might want to experience. I was interested in your autistic nephew's reaction to the World. So happy he is enjoying the experience. I am the grandmother of two typical teenagers and two ATYPICAL children that are on different parts of the spectrum. You learn to live life differently with people on the spectrum. It is a great experience for your nephew and you are a wonderful aunt to include him on your journey.

Day 6: Family Arrives Wave #2

I added three more family members to my travel group. My sister, my nephew and his girlfriend. All arriving late on my rest day of Thursday. Time to play over the weekend.

Woke up at 6:00 a.m. again. I seem to be doing that every morning this trip. Gives me plenty of time to plan for the day. Although having more people to talk to means longer morning to get ready.

Sherry has gone off on her own Knowing that the rest of us will be in a crazy family schedule the next couple of days. My uncle and cousins have settled into a nice trio touring the parks. They are a bit of hell on wheels but at least they're together.

We set off for Hollywood Studios. My brother and the kids rope dropping Tower of Terror while I drove over to get a return time for Rise. I arrived for 10:00 a.m. which I find is a little early unless I'm going to go on a ride. The shows don't start until after 10:30. Even the bars won't open until 11:00. So I wondered around a little bit until meeting the family in Indiana Jones Stunt spectacular.

You know the one thing I learned about going to Hollywood Studios before 11:00 a.m.? Unless you're going to go on rides, there's not a heck of a lot to do. The shows don't start. The bars are not open. Very few food places are open. So you end up waiting around a lot.

That said I did get a pretzel from Mickey mouse. It was a treat. And I enjoyed a really good Indiana Jones show. Looks like they changed some of the stunts but it's mostly the same show. And I had this really cool camera rigging for my cell phone on my chair so I was able to record all of it.

Of course after the show I really wanted a drink. So my brother and I walked over to Dad's lounge, AKA the time-in lounge attached to 50's primetime, and I got a nice ice cold Moscato. Very sweet and just what the doctor ordered.

We split up again with me going to Beauty and the Beast and meeting up with my sister. I bought us each one of those nice purple 100 anniversary Minnie mouse shirts so we could twin today. I love hanging with my sis.

Unfortunately by the time we did all the shows, rise went down again. It was down for several hours in the morning. Rough day. I don't think they pay the first order enough or they have bad recruitment.

Whenever the one of the guest relations gals and she switched our rise to Millennium Falcon. My brother had it in his head that he wanted to get a video of us flying the plane. So we secretly grabbed my tripod in my phone and got an interesting picture in picture video of us flying. It's a little too dark in the cabin to see all of us but you can hear and see the journey.

I was trying to work my return time so we had his little weight as possible. We were able to go from Millennium to Toy Story mania. A rematch for my brother and I. I almost had him. Just one more 5,000 point target and I would have trounced him. And ended up very close to high between the two of us and my nephew. My top score was 194,000. He had 199,000.

By then or was very hot, bright and sticky. Time to hide inside as much as possible. My uncle and cousins arrived in the park but the 3-wheeling trio were off on their own adventures. We saw them zipping by a few times but they never heard us call out to them.

I finally managed to book Rise again with a 2 hour wait. Good for food at Backlot and a rest break. Rode was still up when we got there. Good sign. And all the animatronics were working this time, with the exception of the cannons. We have known for changes ride though. The first order guys are not nearly as much fun to play with. Maybe it's All the outages putting a focus on getting gas moving, but they don't tease as much. Now the resistance cast members are very energetic. They love breaking into the cell room and calling us all to escape.

After that the sun started going down. My niece and her husband had just arrived from the airport so my brother cut out to greet them.

We finally found my uncle and cousins. They were over by echo Lake indulging in some frozen Mickey's. It was hot for them but they managed the day. They were pretty much doing everything we did just in reverse order. My uncle said it was much easier just the three of them going around together. Probably because he got to be in charge.

My sister and I got a couple of drinks at Dad's lounge again and then went to see the Frozen sing-along show. Definitely a good way to watch this is with a frosty adult beverage.

We did not have the regular narrators so they weren't quite as fantastic but still good.

Our groups did managed to meet up and go on Slinky dog together. Cousin Ks second roller coaster. Now I love this one. Especially later in the day when the lights are all lit up and the sun is not quite blinding. My uncle loves it too. But cousin K, it was just a little too scary for him. Didn't help you went on Star Tours twice a well.

By then it was 8:00. I ambitiously booked another return time for Slinky hoping to squeeze it in before the 10:00 p.m. Fantasmic. But as soon as we were off the ride, my uncle was tired and hungry. Cousin K it had enough. So they all decided to leave. Well they went to the 8:30 Fantasmic show and then they decided to leave.

The kids disappeared to go on Tower of terror. My sister, who does not like roller coasters had disappeared before that. And I found myself on my own. I couldn't go on Star tours because I need help standing up. Which was a little disappointing to me. I'm not going to be able to do it this trip. But I went over to see Muppets instead. And then I kept wandering around into Galaxy edge. I like it all pretty at night thought I'd take some pictures.


But as I was walking by the line for rice, one of the cast members who saw me earlier stopped me. She decided to give me a little extra magic and offered me a free lightning Lane. Just me. So I jumped at it. I might not have been able to go on the flight simulator star tours, but I could do rise instead.

I was a little concerned I would have some issues with an independent transfer. My body is not at its full strength right now. Everything went incredibly smoothly for me. Not a single issue. And I had a lot of fun. I got to ride at the front row all by myself.

By the time I get off it was around 9:30. I made a beeline over to sunset boulevard to try to catch my group for the 10:00 p.m. Fantasmic show. I hopped in the standby line at 9:40pm and my group family. That consisted of my sister, my nephew and his girlfriend. The four holdouts to close up the park.

When they say the second showing of fantasmic is better because it's not crowded, they're not kidding. We were let in at 9:45 p.m., just 15 minutes before the show and I had the exact same center aisle seats I had on Tuesday night when I went an hour and a half early for the 8:30 show. Do yourself a favor. Don't go to the 8:30. Do something else and wait for 10.

Hooked up my camera rig again and film the whole thing. I have to say I am truly impressed with the improvements to Fantasmic. I didn't really care for the show before, but now it's on my must see list.

Drove home around 11:00 p.m. had a little snack and went right to bed.