Trip Report ... Treacherous Highway, Sick Dog, and Injuries

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

First, if you want a trip report with a huge amount of photos, this won’t be it. We’ve been to WDW so many times that I don’t take a lot of photos – just enough to document us being there and new things we haven’t seen before.

This trip was delayed for a year because I injured my knee and had to undergo surgery in October 2008. The knee hasn’t been at 100% since, but it’s something that I just live with. I was very upset that I couldn’t make the trip last year, but we rescheduled and planned to celebrate my birthday (a big one) in WDW this year.

Thursday, November 12 - we both had to work a half day before we could leave for vacation. I’m a low carber, so bacon is a frequent snack for me. While getting ready to go to work that morning, I put several strips of bacon in my purse. At the last minute I lost my glasses … so I went rummaging in my purse for them. I got to work and couldn’t find my bacon. Apparently I knocked it out while looking for my glasses. I just prayed Kassie didn’t find it before me.

Schnauzers are scavengers (and also prone to pancreatitis, which is caused by too much fat in their diet).

I got home from work and immediately started searching for the bacon, but I only found slivers of saran wrap in the living room floor. Bad, bad news. Is she going to be sick?

We left Piedmont NC about 2:00 praying that Kassie would be okay. Overnighted at Cracker Barrel in Savannah, GA. We woke up at 4am and decided to hit the road again. I-95 10-12 miles before Darien to Brunswick, GA, was treacherous because of the road construction. Got through Jacksonville in record time (who else would be on the road at this early hour!) After stopping for breakfast and a few more hours on the road, we arrived at our first destination – Bay Lakes RV Resort in Polk City, FL. We’re in the market for an RV lot in Florida and had been reading about this place for awhile. As with every other resort we’ve visited there were pros and cons, but I must say they have an unbelievable clubhouse!

Saturday, November 14 - Kassie was beginning to show symptoms of pancreatitis. About 1am Sunday morning it became apparent that she was really sick. We took turns sitting up with her all night. I got online to locate an emergency veterinary clinic.

Sunday, November 15 – We took Kassie to Veterinary Emergency Care in Lakeland. Dr. Mattson was great. $400 poorer and armed with medication, prescription food, and Kassie who had been pumped up with IV fluids, we were finally on our way to WDW. We arrived about 10am and requested a site in the 700 loop.

The front desk knew about my birthday celebration and gave me a packet which contained a 20% off Photopass order coupon and a picture of Mickey standing in front of the castle.

We asked for the 700 loop and were very pleased that we were assigned to 730. However, we arrived at our site to discover two SUVs parked there. A quick call to the front desk and we were reassigned to 732. As it turns out we liked 732 even better. It is a little smaller and less level than 730, but there were fewer pine trees to contend with.

By the time we were on our site and had our basic hookups completed it was 11am and we still hadn’t had any breakfast, so we went to Trail’s End. I know there have been lots of complaints lately, but we didn’t see any difference in the breakfast food. It was still a great value for the money compared to the rest of WDW.

Neither of us really feels like we are in WDW until we see the Magic Kingdom, so off we went while our neighbors on 734 (Camelot822 who isn’t very active here but promises to be soon) were busy setting up their awesome Christmas display. Someone else has already posted pics, but her display wasn’t finished. Here’s the latest as of 11/20 – sorry they’re blurry – I didn’t bring my tripod:

Note the movie screen to the left of the door – she’s showing continuous Disney movies.

But have you seen the rear of her moho? Check this out:

We couldn’t believe the crowds in the MK!

After dinner we went to the Meadows Trading Post hoping to snag some remaining Fort Wilderness logo merchandise … but we only got one T-shirt. Very disappointing since we usually spend quite a bit on FW logo items. Can’t believe Disney decided to discontinue Fort items. Wish we had stocked up more last trip!

Monday, November 16 – Kassie is much better this morning. We again headed out for MK. Crowd was a little lighter than yesterday. One of my coworkers worked in the MK for years before moving to NC and asked me to look up one of her friends who is an attractions coordinator and give something to her. I kept asking around and found a cast member who was willing to help me locate the friend. My code words to the friend were to be “are you the best Pirates trainee ever?” Thanks to the friendly cast member we finally found the friend, asked her the question, delivered the note, and she was just overcome! She told me I had provided a magical moment to HER! How cool is that!

A couple of photos from Frontierland:

We went back to the moho to rest and have an early dinner, then back to MK for EMH to see Spectromagic for the first time. We were huge MSEP fans and were so disappointed that the parade was shipped overseas. We’ve been to WDW several times since but have never seen Spectro because we were sure we’d be disappointed in it.

Well, it was quite an eventful night! We were walking down Main Street enjoying the sights. The lights had just been dimmed for the start of the parade, and I couldn’t see the curb in front of me. I took a step and my bad knee just collapsed under me. I fell, hitting the pavement first with both knees, then my hands, and finally my forehead. I was too afraid to move for a few moments. Then I finally rolled over and immediately started crying because I was terrified that I had reinjured my knee. Someone nearby went for help, and a few minutes later paramedics came with a stretcher to check me out. They took my vitals, asked me lots of questions, and wrapped my knee in ice. They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I knew if I had reinjured the knee I probably wouldn’t have any symptoms for 48 hours. And the only way to correctly diagnose it is with an MRI, which I really didn’t want to be subjected to at that point. So I signed a release saying I had refused to go to the hospital. At that point I was upset that I was missing Spectro, so a cast member wheeled me backstage (very interesting ride) and further up the parade route so I could at least see part of it. Then another cast member wheeled me to a special viewing area for Wishes where only cast members are allowed. Very cool. They took really good care of me.

As to Spectro, DH said it was better than he thought it would be. I wasn’t as impressed. Nothing will ever take the place of MSEP. Part of my feelings were based on the fact that Spectro is filled with so many of the newer characters that I just don’t identify with.

We’d not seen the castle decorated for Christmas in years … it was so beautiful!

After a quick stop at the ice cream parlor (sugar-free raspberry sorbet is delicious), DH pushed me out to the boat ramp, got me on and off the fort boat, and pushed me to our site. Thank goodness we had a site that doesn’t require a bus ride too! I kept my knees packed in ice for a good while and finally went to sleep, but pain kept waking me up.

Tuesday, November 17 – not feeling up to doing a park this morning. Spent the morning with my knees iced down again. Camelot is so nice – she arranged for someone to pick me up some ace bandages and even let me borrow her Verizon card to get online, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it to work with my laptop.

A funny thing happened this morning. A lady on our loop saw our DISBoards sign and thought it meant we were WDW Board of Directors members. She visited us to register her complaints.

After lunch we went to EPCOT. DH was wonderful – he pushed me all the way around World Showcase. BTW, there were very few people at EPCOT today. A great day to visit!

The most beautiful Christmas tree we found in all of WDW is located at the American Adventure:

I have learned a great deal of respect for physically challenged people. I had no idea how difficult a wheelchair is to maneuver. Making all those U-turns into restrooms was the biggest challenge. I came home to the moho with really sore upper arms and elbows. I expected to see some bruising in the morning.

Wednesday, November 18 – My last day of not being an old lady -- although I felt old because my upper body was sore from pushing myself around in the wheelchair. After breakfast at Trail’s End we went looping. Seems that Disney is filling up certain loops and leaving others nearly empty. Was surprised to see how few campers were actually here. Many of the cabins look like they haven’t been used in months. Went to DHS late in the afternoon to see the Osborne Family Lights. This was our first time, and it was amazing!

We went to the concierge at 9:35 to purchase MVMCP tickets for the next night. He informed DH that he was busy closing his books from HDDR and couldn’t sell him tickets – that he could have earlier but not now. DH was very upset, since the Fort advertises concierge services until 10pm!

Thursday, November 19 – I’m now old. It’s a difficult fact to accept. I’m still 30 at heart … well, maybe 40. It’s not a number – that doesn’t matter to me – I guess it’s how society perceives people my age that makes me feel old.

DH was upset again because it had been 3 days since I had my accident in MK and no one from Disney had bothered to contact me as promised to see how I was getting along. After breakfast in the moho we again went to the concierge to purchase tickets for tonight’s MVMCP. David told her what happened with the concierge last night. She called her supervisor, who in turn called another person … end result, we were given free tickets to the party! What a birthday gift!

We went to EPCOT about 9:30. Only 14,000 people were there. It was really nice not to have to battle crowds. Stopped by Mouse Gear to purchase my birthday ears. Had a wonderful lunch at the Chefs de France. Food there is always great. I’ve never had “Happy Birthday” sang to me in French before. I often laugh when eating out that someone needs to roll me out … but this time it really happened. Did a little shopping to spend my $79 gift card. It was great having so many cast members wishing me happy birthday. While in the UK area we saw Tigger, Pooh, and a Photopass photographer coming out from a cast members only gate. They saw me sitting in my wheelchair with my birthday ears and came over to wish me a happy birthday. They were on their way into one of the shops and made this detour just for me. Had several photos taken. I had a magical moment too! It’s always amazing to me how most of the WDW cast members go out of their way to make special memories for the guests.

As a side note, it’s disheartening to see how other guests treated people in wheelchairs. It seemed that few people have any regard for physically challenged guests. I can’t believe how many people jumped in front of us in line, cut us off, gave me funny up and down looks, etc. I had bandages on both legs … wasn’t apparent something was wrong, or wasn’t it just that they didn’t care about anyone but themselves? I wouldn’t be in this chair if I didn’t have to … I didn’t choose to get injured the second day of my vacation … I’d much rather have been up on my own two feet walking around like most others … and what about the people who are permanently in chairs? They are valuable human beings, worthy of just as much respect as the rest of society. This was a real eye-opening experience.

Went back to the moho for a little down time, then off to MVMCP. I was so excited! DH, being a wonderful guy, is also a penny pincher. If I hadn’t asked for MVMCP tickets as my birthday gift, he would never have consented to attend. This was my one chance!

The crowd was light. This was just a few minutes before starting time for the parade:

Overall my impression of MVMCP was that it was okay. Glad I attended once, but I wasn’t dazzled by the parade or the other activities. My feelings would probably have been different if I hadn’t viewed everything from that chair.

Friday, November 20 – Our last day in WDW. We spent the day in the MK. It was a sad day knowing that tomorrow we would be starting the two-day drive home. I tried walking the park for the first time since my fall. I was past the 48-hour mark for a cartilage tear to begin to show symptoms, so I felt okay with the knee. Went to the MK and caught some of the attractions we missed earlier. Did some shopping and had lunch. It was nice to be out of the wheelchair. I’d missed getting around on my own two legs, although the chair experience taught me to be grateful for the bad knees I have! At least I can walk on my own. Went back to the moho to start cleaning and bring the slides in.

Camelot discovered a hidden Mickey in the bruise on my left shin … how funny! It’s actually a lot more obvious on my leg than it looks in the photo:

Friday, 11/20 -- Went back to the MK for one last visit … so sad to leave … tears … then a bright spot! Got a call from a friend of mine in the Orlando area who was tent camping at the Fort with her son. It was great to spend some time with Lisa and Jack:

Going home --

After breakfast at TE on Saturday we finished packing up and left Disney property about 11:00. Kassie was the only one in the moho who was enjoying the ride. DH and I were fantasizing about going over to the east coast for a few days and then checking back into the Fort. Overnighted at CB in Savannah again and arrived home Sunday afternoon very tired but with great memories.

Summary:

This was a difficult trip, but many people from the veterinarian to our neighbors at the Fort really went out of their way to make this a wonderful week for us. Disney personnel never did check on me – I guess they figured I wouldn’t hold them responsible since I signed the release. A couple of people at the Fort jokingly told me I should sue Disney and they would give me 732 for life – wouldn’t that be something! Special thanks to Camelot (left below) and her friend on the right (sorry I can’t remember her name) for all that they did during the week to make this trip easier for us; to Judy for purchasing the ace bandages; for our neighbor on 734 for the use of her golf cart; to all the other wonderful people camped nearby who expressed so much concern for me; and to all the WDW cast members for making this a truly magical birthday!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Thanks for sharing! It great that you were able to have a good time with all that happened.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

LIKE!!!