Well hello! Long time no talk. Truthfully, there’s not been much to say since January. Kids continue with school (and went back full time a few weeks ago). Boy took his SATs and gets his results next week while Girl got her acceptance notice to the local community college she’ll be attending the first two years of The University Years. I’m back at work 5 days a week while Denis is still alternating his work days between office and home.
We used our tax refund and stimulus money to get some stuff done around the house. We put a ceiling fan in Girl’s bedroom, we had a large dead tree removed from our backyard, we had a cracked window in our TV room repaired, and ordered a part to repair our wall oven, which started malfunctioning a few months ago. I think we did a couple other things but I can’t think of them right now. But let’s just say lots of small locally-owned business enjoyed receiving our money.
This past week Boy and I have enjoyed being on a long overdue vacation. My parents gifted him with a Disney cruise for his 16th birthday (similar to the England trip they gave to Girl for her 16th), which we were supposed to take in March 2020, but obviously it was cancelled. It was re-scheduled for April 2021, but in February they announced that cruises were going to remain a no go until more people had the vaccine.
At that point I told my mom to get the refund for the cruise and consider using those funds to let us go to Disney World for the Spring Break week, since the parks were open (at 35% capacity to keep crowds down). She agreed and with the help of their trusty travel planner, we had reservations for four days at Disney and two days at Universal Studios. I found a cute 2-bed 2-bath house on VRBO to rent for the week so that we could have privacy, space and a bit less potential COVID exposure.
On Saturday April 3, we spent 9 hours in the car driving from our house to the rental house just south of the Disney parks. The little house was super cute – plenty of room for the two of us to hang out without feeling like we were on top of each other the whole week. That first evening we just unpacked the food we brought with us for the week, and crashed on the sofa to watch TV before turning in early since the week got started on Sunday.
On Sunday morning we wished each other a Happy Easter as we drove over to Universal Studios for the first day of fun. We got in the park relatively fast and began riding rides. The last time Boy came to US was on an 8th grade band trip in early 2018. During that trip he rode four rides in total over the course of two days at the Universal parks because the lines were so ridiculously long (I remember when we were there that the line for the Hulk rollercoaster was 3 hours long). This time around we rode 8-9 just on the first day, which made it an incredibly successful day from his point of view.
On Monday we headed to the Islands of Adventure side of Universal and while we didn’t ride as many rides, Boy did finally get to put his Harry Potter wand to good use in Hogwarts (something he didn’t get to do at all during the band trip when he originally bought the wand).
We declared Tuesday our day of rest when we literally did NOTHING all day, and Boy declared it good. Our feet were killing us from averaging 15,000 steps each of the prior two days (to give some reference, on a work day I normally only go 3,000-4,000 steps). I was also working on a nice sunburn around my neck and shoulders.
Thanks to that day of rest we hit the ground running on Wednesday and headed straight to Hollywood Studios to check out the new Star Wars stuff. We only got to ride one of the new Star Wars rides because the other one had only a virtual line that you had to sign up for at 7 a.m. At 7:00:10 they were full. Not kidding. But we rode a few other rides, such as Toy Story Mania (one of my faves), the Aerosmith rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror.
Thursday was Magic Kingdom day and we quickly remembered that this park is NOT for teenagers. It is definitely geared toward little kids. But Boy rode Space Mountain twice, which was a win.
Friday we hit Animal Kingdom. This was the park we were looking forward to the least, since our memories are of walking and not doing much at all other than the Everest rollercoaster. This time around upon arriving we walked straight to Everest, which only had a 20 minute wait when we got there. SCORE! We then headed over to Pandora (the Avatar area) where I used my disability pass (more on that later) to get a return time for the Flight ride. We then hopped in line to ride the River ride.
Or so we thought. For 60 minutes we waited in line and then had a terrific time…on the Flight ride. Once we got off we went to return to the Flight ride for which we had a specific ride time, only for the Boy to quickly realize that we were dummies and originally got IN THE WRONG LINE. We had meant to get in the River ride line after we received our return time, but got in the Flight line when we didn’t mean to (the socially distanced lines were winding and very confusing). *lol* Boy was so disgusted with me he refused to do the River ride. I don’t blame him. At that point we went to sign up for a ride time for the Safari then grabbed some lunch. After lunch we went back, and within 5 minutes we were on the Safari ride, which was a nice way to finish the day.
Saturday was our last day, and we got to sleep in late since Epcot didn’t open until 11 a.m. We headed straight for Test Track to get our return time since the wait was already 70 minutes by the time we got over there. We then rode Mission Space on the Mars side, during which I felt so motion sick after we hit g-force and became weightless that I actually grabbed the bag and experienced the act of hurling. Thank heavens I did not eat breakfast that morning, so my stomach had no contents to dump into the bag, but I was nervous when my stomach heaved nonetheless! Boy felt great and immediately hopped in line to ride the “Mission to Earth” side, which is the more gentle side of the same ride. We then hit Test Track and the ride that is inside the Epcot ball (which I can’t remember the name of) before skipping out.
Neither one of us was interested in the Food Around the World part of Epcot (he’s a cheeseburger, nuggets, pizza kind of kid), and let’s face it – we were TIRED after several days of being in the sun (on Epcot day it was over 90* when we ARRIVED at the park) and riding rides. It’s a good thing we didn’t stay all day though, because at some point after we got back to the house a torrential rainstorm started and lasted for a good 30-45 minutes before taking a break. It would have been miserable to be at the park during that storm, even if it did cool down the temps!
Both Disney and Universal did well with their COVID precautions (lots of hand sanitizer, lots of spacing on the rides themselves, as well as markers on the ground to indicate 6 foot spacing) and Boy was very good at getting people to not crowd us in the line (his method was foolproof and never failed the entire week). The low capacity also helped – most of the time the lines were only 20-40 minutes long other than a few beloved rides that were more like 60-70 minutes, which still isn’t bad!
Today is Sunday, and we’re hitting the road early hoping to miss most of the rain being called for today. Our skin is still pink from the sun, and we’ve created lots of fun memories. It was a great week. I’m just glad that Boy was finally able to go on his birthday trip after a few false starts. Having said that, it’ll be good to be home.
What is a Disability Pass and Why I Needed One
Since my surgery in 2014, I have had complications when I stand for long periods of time. I’m convinced it’s a hernia as a result from the surgery (and have a doctor’s appointment this very week to find out if I’m right). I’m fine when I’m walking, but when I stand for long periods of time, my left side aches and causes tremendous pain.
I had originally planned on taking some sort of portable chair with me to Disney. I found a backpack that could double as a seat, but the folks I talked to weren’t sure security would let it through the gate. A Disney expert then recommended I get the Disability Access Pass. I initially balked, because it is for people with legitimate medical issues, but the person I emailed with said that what I experience sounded like a legitimate reason to get one.
I held off the first few days of the vacation, but by Thursday I knew I needed to give in and get one. I could make it to about 1 p.m. most days before I could barely stand anymore. I wish I had gotten the pass at the beginning of the week instead of letting my pride get in the way. All I had to do was go to Guest Services (which is at the front of all Disney parks) and tell them I needed one. A brief history of my issue provided, and the pass was mine. I’m sure grateful I had it the last two days of the vacation when my stamina was at its lowest point.
