Disney Recap Days 1&2: A rough start

[Edited to add: I have added paragraph breaks in appropriate places to this blog post at least 6 times. Every time I hit "publish" they disappear. I do apologize for the seemingly endless blocks of text. I tried...] Our much-anticipated trip to Disney got off to a rather rocky beginning. We were supposed to leave on Tuesday morning, bright and early to begin our adventure. However, when we tucked little P into bed on Monday night to start dreaming her big Disney dreams, we realized that she was BURNING UP with fever. We gave her some Advil and hoped for the best. She climbed into bed with us sometime in the middle of the night, still radiating heat like a furnace. So, first thing Tuesday morning, I high-tailed it to the pediatrician. Without an appointment. Because the phone lines don't open til 9, but I know the office opens around 7:30 or 8. So, we were there at 8. The check-in ladies were not at all happy with me. When I said we didn't have an appointment, but would like to see any available doctor because we were on our way out of town, the lady placed her hand on a sign that said, "We strongly discourage walk-ins (and an extra fee may apply)," looked down her nose at me and said, "We strongly discourage walk-ins." I sweetly replied that I could see that, but we were on our way out of town and my daughter was approximately the temperature of the sun. She sternly said that she would put me down for our doctor's next appointment time (which was 8:45... FINE...still better than calling at 9 and hoping for the best), and we were seen at around 8:25. The pediatrician (and her nurse) could not have been nicer, and when I apologized profusely for the walk-in, she just kinda rolled her eyes and said, "I know you. It’s not like you do this all the time. It’s fine." HAHA!, mean check-in ladies. And no additional fee was applied. And little P did not have strep despite our worst fears and the memory of the e-mail that came from the school nurse a few days earlier warning that someone in the Safari room had been diagnosed with strep. It was apparently just a random virus that needed to run its course. So we were off. An hour and a half later than planned, but we were pretty pleased that it wasn't longer than that. The trip was rather uneventful, thankfully. We were to meet my dad (who'd been on a golf outing) in Valdosta, and he arrived at the designated meeting point about 2 minutes after we did. And that was our only stop. Once we got to Orlando, we had to pick up our tickets and find our hotels. So we did that, and then mom and dad came over to meet us at Downtown Disney, which was right across the street from our hotel. That's when things started to go downhill again. The kids saw the Rainforest Cafe and wanted to eat there. So, despite the fact that I'd been denied a reservation weeks ago, we decided to check in and see what were the chances.

Corin was told that if he purchased a VIP pass (for just $15!!), we could be seated around 7:30. SCORE! So, we laid down the 15 bucks and wandered off to look around and wait for our name to be called. When Corin went back to check at 7:30, they said they were running about 20 minutes behind and that even people with reservations were being seating 20 min late. But, hey, we had a late lunch, so we were undeterred. So, I took the kids to ride the carousel. When we checked back in 20 minutes later, we were told it would be approximately 25 MORE MINUTES before we would have a table. Seriously?

Ultimately, Corin went and got his $15 back (which was handed to him as he heard his name called, BTW), but mom and dad and I and the kids were already in line to order some dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Express. We should've done that from the very beginning. Oh, well. Live and learn. The next morning (oh, yeah. I'm still going...), we woke up at 7 to catch the 7:30 shuttle from our hotel that would deliver us to the park by 8:00 in time for the 8:20 princess breakfast that Pressley and GranNan and I had reservations for. I had been telling Pressley about the wonder of the princess breakfast for WEEKS. So, obviously, we missed the 7:30 shuttle. Our options were to drive the car (20 minutes), wait for the 8:00 shuttle, or call a cab (15 minutes to arrive, 20 minutes to drive). The choice was obvious: our best bet for making the breakfast was to drive the car, right? Corin got directions from the concierge and we were off. I will skip the part where we were both on the phone with divorce lawyers (no, not really) and get right to the part where we walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom at 5 til 9. Luckily, mom and dad had been making friends with the check-in ladies at the castle (who were, by the way, much nicer than the check-in ladies at the pediatrician) who told them that we should not worry about being lost. We should just get there when we could get there and they would get us seated at the breakfast. So, hallelujah, we didn't miss it!

The rest of the day was a blur of running hither and yon to try to figure out the best way to work the fast pass system. We really did ride a lot of rides and see a lot of stuff before the kids quit on us around 4:30. It takes a village to take two kids to Disney, so I was really grateful to have my parents with us. They did things like take the kids and feed them while I waited in the hour and twenty minute line to ride Dumbo because there was no fast pass, and dernit, it's a classic!

We stopped for ice cream on the way out thinking that there may be some revival, but alas, it was not enough, so we called it a day.

We went to dinner "off property" because the last thing we wanted to do was wait in another line, so we checked out a restaurant recommended by my cousin: Cafe Tu Tu Tango. We used to have one of these in Atlanta, but it was lost in the great demise of Buckhead. It was just what we needed: immediate seating; tapas that came out as they were ready, so we didn't have to wait long at all; good food; good service. And, there was even a belly dancer!

Stay tuned. More recap posts on the way...