Lions, and Tigers and MIL - Oh My! Day 3, Part 2 About This Page:

[luvnwdwgal]

Looks like you had a pretty nice day, other than that rude CM. Looking forward to more!

[Singermom]

Day 2, part 2 – Kona Café, Spectromagic, Wishes

Cast Members:

Me – age 38, WDW planner – 6th trip to WDW
MIL – age 62 – many trips to WDW
DS7 – older ds, age 7 and ¾, 3rd trip to WDW
DS4 – younger ds, age 4, 3rd trip to WDW


When we arrived back at the resort, MIL couldn’t make it back all the way to the room and had to take a breather in the lobby. It was already nearly 3:30 and I wanted to get into the pool before the sun went down much farther so I headed up with the kids to get changed. Since the day was so warm, the pool was quite crowded despite being the largest on property. We splashed about for an hour before returning to our room to prepare for the evening.

With all our exertions, everyone was ready for dinner. MIL expressed an interest in trying Kona Café which is one of my favourites so I readily complied by making a ps. This time we got the car and took advantage of the valet parking privileges available at all the other resorts. Since we would be visiting MK within the 3 hour limit, we were able to park our car just once and have easy access to and from MK on the resort monorail. Actually, I don’t think there is any limit on the parking for valet as I only assumed there was a 3 hour limit. In fact, the valet at the GF (later in the trip) specifically informed us that we could go the parks if we wanted to. The food at Kona Café was delicious as usual though they changed and removed some of my favourites off the menu. DS4 had his usual chicken fingers while the rest of us split some appetizers and an entrée. For appetizers we had the seafood dumplings (the kids especially, even ds4, loved this), the crab cakes (they used to be much bigger and set on toast rounds with more of the tasty sauce), a pear, blue cheese salad (this was MIL’s favourite dish of the the whole trip). For our entrée we chose the macadamia crusted mahi served with a mushroom risotto. DS4 loved the fish, ds7 did not care for the crust, MIL and I both enjoyed it a lot. I did miss my old favourite – spicy shrimp and scallops over salad – it’s been replaced with another shrimp/scallop pairing but with a wasabi sauce – yuck! Although we were pretty full, I had to order another favourite – caramel banada crème brulee. I have to admit I was a tad disappointed – the custard portion was overly firm for my taste.

Now we just had enough time to hop on the monorail to MK and grab a spot for Spectromagic. Since it was pretty close to parade time we stayed near the train station. We were about three rows in so it was not great viewing for the kids at first until MIL spotted a closed ‘hot dog’ stand which was being used as a perch. We got the kids up on that (I stayed right next to it so they couldn’t tumble off) and the got a somewhat decent view. DS4 was thrilled again with the characters – it was so cute to watch him waving to everyone! While I enjoy Spectromagic, I still pine for the old Electric Main Street parade – the music is so much catchier than just hearing all the same Disney songs. After the parade, it was only a half hour until Wishes so we stayed in the same area. I actually found a curb spot right in front of the castle! It seemed like a great spot until several people stood right in front of us. This was okay for me, but now the kids could barely see. I hoisted up my hefty 4 yo for a better view and ds7 angled himself so he could see. Earlier I had mentioned our rude CM encounter of the day and now we had our rude park patron. The man in front of us actually lit up a cigarette in that crowd! Even though I complained about the smoke blowing into my kids faces he continued to ignore us and smoke away. It was impossible to step away and locate a CM so we had to endure his obnoxious behaviour. Well……sort of endure. I finally pulled out ds4’s light sword toy, stuck it in ds4’s hand and proceeded to continuously jab the offender in the back while watching the fireworks and pretending be totally unaware of ‘our’ offense. He finally got the message and butted out his cigarette – lol! I was totally awed by Wishes – so superior to Fantasy in the Sky. This was ds7’s favourite fireworks show of our trip over Illuminations.

After the show, we were fortunately ahead of most of the crowds so we had only a short wait to get on the resort monorail and back to our resort. MIL and ds4 got ready for bed but ds7 wanted dessert so we headed back down. First though, we stopped by Arusha Savannah to take advantage of the night viewing offered with the infra-red goggles. It was very interesting to view the savannah under the artificial moonlight conditions. If we didn’t have a dessert mission it would have been lovely to linger in one of the rocking chairs surrounding the firepit. Today ds7 selected a pawprint brownie form the Mara (very dense and chocolatey) and I purchased a mickey rice-krispie treat dipped in chocolate for later. While ds7 was having dessert we got a call from MIL – which unfortunately leads to a part 3 for today.

[LizardCop]

Great updates... I'm afraid to hear what's next...

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Looking forward to more

[luvnwdwgal]

Uh oh....a MIL call. Anxiously awaiting your next installment!

[Stephanie P.]

Uh oh - come back and tell us what that phone call was about!

[dsnytina]

This cannot be good!
Loving every minute of it - please hurry back with more!
Tina

[Singermom]

Day 2, part 3 – The Endless Night

Cast Members:

Me – age 38, WDW planner – 6th trip to WDW
MIL – age 62 – many trips to WDW
DS7 – older ds, age 7 and ¾, 3rd trip to WDW
DS4 – younger ds, age 4, 3rd trip to WDW


While we were blissfully digging away at dessert, MIL had been busy cleaning up after ds4 who had thrown up all over the bed. I quickly threw the remains of dessert into a bag and returned quickly to the room. The scene was not a pretty sight (nor a pretty smell!) - ds4 was asleep on the other bed but MIL was obviously close to losing it herself! She had called housekeeping to clean up the mess which is still all over the bed. I quickly gathered up all the sheets to minimize the mess and housekeeping soon came. Unfortunately, the mattress had also gotten soaked so maintenance had to be called to bring up a new mattress. I have say I was very impressed with AKL mousekeeping throughout our visit and especially appreciated them tonight. Considering the awful mess they were all very considerate and quiet about their business.

While we were changing sheets, ds4 got up again and threw up. I knew now that it was not a one time reaction to over-eating or indigestion but a stomach bug or worse. After getting the made re-made, I settled ds4 back into the bed and got ready for bed myself. From the time I hit the bed, he commenced to wake up and retch every 15 to 20 minutes – this lasted nearly 3 hours. Though I knew that the best action is to keep the stomach empty, I was a bit worried about dehydration so I gave him one teaspoon of flat coke. Big mistake – it just started the whole cycle again. I became quite concerned at that point as I had never seen him react so strongly to a stomach virus. So I called the emergency number for his pediatrican group. I received a call back within 10 minutes and was advised to go to the emergency room if the vomiting continued. The intervals between bouts were starting to lengthen and I was torn between getting him checked out and getting him up possibly unnecessarily and interrupting much-needed rest. However, at 3 am when he retched again I called the front desk to find out how to get to the emergency room. I was advised to call 911 and learned that Disney pays for the ambulance! I was relieved to not have to drive in a strange city with a sick child by myself. I quickly dressed and then called 911. I was informed that first a person from the hotel would arrive and then a number of security personnel prior to the ambulance arriving.

Sure enough, within about 5 minutes there was knock at the door. I’m not sure if they were hotel security or a police officer since they were in uniform. I was asked to describe the situation and they took pertinent info about ds4 down. A few more people came up to check out the situation – all responded extremely professionally and very quietly so as not to disturb the other guests or sleeping MIL and ds7. Finally the paramedics arrived in the room. Somehow I had expected them to arrive with a stretcher to transport ds4 but they wanted to do a preliminary examination first. The two paramedics asked me questions, listened to ds4’s heart, breathing and generally checked him over. I had been worried about dehydration but apparently it takes 24 hours before dehydration begins (less time with diarrhea – thankfully non of that). DS4 slept soundly throughout the entire exam. The paramedics decided he was in no imminent danger and recommended bringing him only if he did not improve by evening the next day or got worse. Their suspicion was either food poisoning because of the frequency of the retching or possibly the copious amounts of pool water he had ingested. They also gave me the number to a 24 hr/ 7day a week doctor’s group that would make in-room visits and prescribe any necessary medications. The paramedics were so nice and reassuring that my stress level went down several notches after their visit.

Although MIL did wake up during their visit, ds7 had slept through the entire drama! After all the security personnel left, I fell exhausted into bed (though not before MIL let me know that the reason he was sick was I tired him out too much!) next to ds4 making sure to turn off the alarm. We would not be getting up for EE at AK tomorrow!

[ecuagoddess]

oh no- poor baby! i'm really enjoying your trip report so far, buu i'm so sorry about your son. it's great that Disney handled the situation so professionally. i hope he makes a full (and quick!) recovery, and you are able to enjoy the rest of your trip!

[Stephanie P.]

Wow - that is awful, but I'm glad I read that, so that I know what happens in those situations. I hope he gets to feeling better in the next installment!

[pparm]

I'm so sorry that your son was ill. I hope to read that he recovered quickly!
Paula ºOº

[Colexis Mom]

Wow, what a night! Sounds like they were quick to respond though! I hope everyone is doing better by morning, and you are able to get some sleep

[Joy J]

So sorry to hear that your DS got sick like that during your holiday. However, it is reassuring to learn how well Disney handles such emergencies when they occur. I hope that your DS bounced back quickly and was feeling much better by the next day.

Joy

[luvnwdwgal]

I hope your son was better the next day! Kudos for Disney in handling the situation so well!

[Stephanie P.]

Can't wait for your next installment!