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autismride · 7 years

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Disney World 2016 #5

Magic Kingdom has a new "castle show." This is the show that takes place several times a day on the stage at Cinderella's castle. The previous show was called "Dream Along with Mickey." My kids were obsessed with it - looked it up on YouTube all the time. I also loved it. It was retired earlier in 2016. The new show is a Renaissance themed show. The new show is a bit more diverse, in that Qiana and several characters from Princess and the Frog are included.

There’s a separate new show on the castle stage that features Cinderella and Princess Elena. Elena has her own Disney Jr. tv show (she’s not from a movie). It was cool-both girls were strong, solved their own problems, no rescuing needed.

Todd was having a hard time. He had just started anti-seizure medication, so we were (still are) still trying to figure out what times to give him his doses in relation to side effects inhibiting his life. He still also takes Risperdal for his behavior issues. We’re still trying to find a happy balance of when because both medications make him lethargic. (As of this writing, the neurologist had added a third medication, so fighting the sleepiness is tough.) On the previous day of this trip, I gave him anti-seizure medication in the morning and when we got to the park, we watched the Castle show and we had lunch. We ate at Casey’s Corner on Main Street. We had a perfect view of the Shake It Move It parade going by. (Another YouTube obsession whenever we return home.) Then all of sudden, he just did not look right. Long story short, we had to sit on a bench while he had his head on one of our laps. That was for several hours. Whoever was with Todd, the other parent took Sean to the rides. Sean loves Hall of the Presidents. He loves the People Mover. He said, “I want to ride that again!” And again and again! Then World of Progress from the 1964 World’s Fair – he enjoyed that. It actually broke down while we were in there. The stage moves and the audience seats move. The ride/show takes you through the decades, 1900, 1920s, 1940s and then on the verge of what appears to be 1999-2000…but then it stopped. The 1940s re-started three times and they made an announcement “remain in your seats,” so something was malfunctioning with that, but it was fine. I was relieved Sean didn't get upset, as he often does when things don't go as they are supposed to. Then Todd was better and we went on the Peter Pan ride. It was cute and what you would expect from that type of ride-gently moving through the scenes and characters of the movie.

Both kids got a second wind. We had tickets to the Crystal Palace for the character lunch. That was incredible! The characters at that particular meal are the Winnie the Pooh characters. Our server was Steven. He was absolutely lovely. He just – maybe he treats every family as well as he treated us – he just embodied everything you expect a Disney experience "cast member" to be. He showed a genuine love of children and a love for the magic of the Disney experience. The food was really good. Stephen was just really taken with Sean’s enthusiasm for absolutely everything. He even brought his manager over to meet us, which was cool. Usually when we do these character meals, Todd couldn’t care less. He usually just focuses on his food. This time, Piglet came over to us and he went nuts! He gave each character a quick high five, “whatever.” Then Piglet came over and he giggled and hugged him. I told the actor, “you are the first character that he has reacted to.” It was very cool!

Next that same day, we went to Epcot because I was talked into by our concierge, and rightfully so, talked into the park hopper for two days for $1000. **&^%^ excuse my language, $1000? We have been here before and know Disney is pricey, but that's always tough to swallow. We wanted to get our money’s worth for the day. At Epcot, first thing Sean always wants to do, we went in the big "golf ball." This was a nicer experience because last time we went to Epcot and we went up in the golf ball, someone had just vomited on the ride and they said they had cleaned it up, but the ride still smelled like vomit the whole time. This time, it didn’t smell like vomit, so that was good! Then we did Finding Nemo the Ride. Todd was totally charmed. Then we did Talking with Crush, which we have done before in California at Disney's California Adventure. I don’t know how they do it – the animated Crush talks with the children and he usually picks out 1-2 adults that he’ll interact with. It’s super cute. Todd was just laughing and clapping the whole time. One thing I noticed, though, tourists for whom English is not their first language – they seemed confused by the slang, because Crush talks almost exclusively in California surfer slang.

(above - kids in front of the "golf ball.")

The Tesla thing! The Tesla ride – you’re supposed to design your own car and then you drive in it. It was a 90-minute wait. It was the longest wait at Epcot. A great feature of the Disney iPhone app is you can look to see the wait times for all rides and shows. We got one got one of the passes for Tesla that says come back at “X” time. So we did. We went into the room where you’re supposed to design your car and none of the computers were working, so everyone was just standing there looking at each other and then the cast members came back, “Ok! Now it’s time to drive the car you just designed!” This woman said, “I didn’t design a car.” The cast member said she could talk to a captain afterward and tell them she wanted to design a car. So it basically turned out to be just a ride. But it was a really fun ride! It really felt like you’re in a race car (not that I’ve actually been in one). It was a really fun, car going fast ride. The next fun ride was a space shuttle simulation and Gary Sinese is your host. There’s a “green” side which is the milder version of the ride and the “orange” version is called “G force” so we went on the green one, much to my husband’s chagrin, but the green one-there’s no spinning, no real chance of motion sickness, I thought, you know, I don’t want a kid throwing up. I don’t like spinning. So we’re going to do the green one. It was fun! It was still a really fun ride. The kids did well.

On this particular day at Epcot, we didn’t go to the "countries" because that was further out and it closes at 9. We had a full day!

The next morning, Todd, for some reason, after being so lethargic and a 12-hour day at Disney, was still up at 4:30 this morning, playing with his Kindle, laughing, jumping around, so nothing will officially wear out this kid. I went to get coffee and for a short walk. I was standing right near what’s called Half Moon Lake. Behind me was our section of the hotel…actually, Little Mermaid, past Little Mermaid is our section, which is Cars. Over to the left was Finding Nemo. To the right…I know Lion King is here somewhere, but I didn’t see it. Across this bridge is the Pop Century Resort and I was wondering…because they advertised at our hotel to try both buffets. I walked over there and it appeared to be mostly similar food-wise. One thing, when we were waiting at Disney Springs for the bus, three Pop Century buses went by before an Art of Animation bus went by. So it’s good to know that (in hindsight) you can take either. There’s a not-very-long bridge over this little lake.

More to come! :)

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