Thursday: My husband, my mother, my son, and I left at around 2:00pm. My son fell asleep right on time as we drove north. Two and a half hours into the trip, we had to make a potty stop. The hubby came around to get our son just as I mistakenly locked the car doors. Silly me, I thought the hubby had everything with him. After all, how could he possibly come get our son, go back to get his wallet and the keys with him in tow. That's what he did and I locked us out. I took him to the potty and I then remembered we had Onstar. The hubby had already figured it out and was calling them. Just like the commercial, the door was unlocked in under 2 minutes. CLICK! Amazing! Way to save the day OnStar! I was ecstatic. We arrived at the hotel just a half hour later. Three hours of trip time. Not too bad. The weather was hideous in Orlando. I should have known then it would be a "stormy" weekend (in every sense of the word).
We settled in with all of our stuff: the infamous cooler we always carry with all of his food and refrigerated supplements, a toaster oven, and all of the other must-haves for all the just- in-case scenarios. We ordered a fridge and microwave as well. Because, you know, we don't have enough crap with us already. We all headed to Downtown Disney, after what seemed like forever in the room organizing our son's stuff, making his food (in a space of about 3" x 24"). Downtown Disney was right down the street and we made it there quickly. As we got out of the car, it started to drizzle and it never stopped. We walked to Wolfgang's and sat right away since we had reservations. Dinner was really good, as usual. My son ate his food. We had heated his food at the hotel. Afterward, we got out his DVD player as a reward. He seemed to become increasingly attached to the player as the vacation went on. The more people around, the more he used it to tune everything out. Once we finished dinner, he rode the train and the carousel. We walked around some, went to the toy store, and headed back to the hotel at about 10pm. All night long, my mother had a whole lot of opinions to share on just about everything we did or didn't do. "Put the sweater on him," "Watch his hand," "Don't do this," "Don't do that," "It's raining," "He is getting wet." Blah, blah, blah. I secretly hoped it would be the last of it, but it was not even the first of it.
Friday: We all woke up at about 8:30ish and did the usual morning stuff. We had awful coffee at the hotel. We also had to fill up the cooler with ice. The fridge was not cold enough for all his stuff, that sucked. The hubby was bickering with my mom all morning over the darn ice and what the best way was to put store his food. Oh joy! I was bickering with her to stop telling me what to do, how to dress my child, and how to f'in feed him. At least my monkey kept asking to go see the "castle." After repeating it for him constantly, he was apparently finally understanding where we were and where we were about to go. We left at 10am to Magic Kingdom. It was really ugly outside. The drizzling and 90% humidity was daunting. So much for all the winter stuff I packed. The weather channel anchor had mistakenly said it would be nice and in the 40s. Not so! We parked and took the tram. As we waited for the monorail, Kai announces he wants the "potty." I had no choice but to ask him to please hold it. Poor thing, it was probably extremely hard for him to do it. The hubby rushed to the potty with him, once in the park. Meanwhile, I went to Civic Hall to renew our Guest Assistance Card. This is the part where I heard the angels singing. Without this card, we would NOT be able to visit the Magic Kingdom at all! I always take my old one. This make the renewal process much easier. I am serious when I say this is the single most important thing we need during this trip. I would have left back home had they not issued it! Walked out, showed him the castle and his face was just in awe, that is, until he forgot about it minutes later. Sigh. We went to the tea cups for the first time. After the Pooh ride, we won Year of a Million Dreams extra hour in the park on a non-extended hours day. BUT, we gave them to some random family because our plans for that night were not to this park :( Oh well. With our guest assistance card, we were able to use the handicapped entrance, be in a separate waiting area that would not be so crowded and be allowed in first to make sure there was no breakdown for all rides. At most, we waited 5 minutes or so. The park was insanely packed though. I will NEVER again go during a long weekend for sure. No way! Headed to Dumbo. Right as they sat us in and it elevated it started pouring! Why not? Bring it on. Whatever. We got soaked. I was really trying to be positive here.Went to the carousel which he loved and finally to the Small World ride. He was now in heaven for sure. When we came out, we could not find the stroller. It was about 15 minutes, but with our son it felt like an hour. He screamed repeatedly for his "wagon" and the cast member who moved it could not find it. Finally found the damn thing as our munchkin was now in full tears. We headed to lunch at the Liberty place. While we wait, we saw The Rock!!! I forbid the hubby from going up to him since he was with about 12 family members. I did not want pandemonium for this guy. Lunch was yummy! I went back to It's a Small World and then watched the 3pm parade. He loved the last float with all the main characters.This was the first parade that he has actually LOOKED at in the 5 times or so that we have been to MK since he was born. He usually cries or buries his face in the stroller. He walked up to the castle afterward and with a very worried face asked " Mickey Mouse?" It was so cute! In his mind, this is where Mickey lives.
Friday: We all woke up at about 8:30ish and did the usual morning stuff. We had awful coffee at the hotel. We also had to fill up the cooler with ice. The fridge was not cold enough for all his stuff, that sucked. The hubby was bickering with my mom all morning over the darn ice and what the best way was to put store his food. Oh joy! I was bickering with her to stop telling me what to do, how to dress my child, and how to f'in feed him. At least my monkey kept asking to go see the "castle." After repeating it for him constantly, he was apparently finally understanding where we were and where we were about to go. We left at 10am to Magic Kingdom. It was really ugly outside. The drizzling and 90% humidity was daunting. So much for all the winter stuff I packed. The weather channel anchor had mistakenly said it would be nice and in the 40s. Not so! We parked and took the tram. As we waited for the monorail, Kai announces he wants the "potty." I had no choice but to ask him to please hold it. Poor thing, it was probably extremely hard for him to do it. The hubby rushed to the potty with him, once in the park. Meanwhile, I went to Civic Hall to renew our Guest Assistance Card. This is the part where I heard the angels singing. Without this card, we would NOT be able to visit the Magic Kingdom at all! I always take my old one. This make the renewal process much easier. I am serious when I say this is the single most important thing we need during this trip. I would have left back home had they not issued it! Walked out, showed him the castle and his face was just in awe, that is, until he forgot about it minutes later. Sigh. We went to the tea cups for the first time. After the Pooh ride, we won Year of a Million Dreams extra hour in the park on a non-extended hours day. BUT, we gave them to some random family because our plans for that night were not to this park :( Oh well. With our guest assistance card, we were able to use the handicapped entrance, be in a separate waiting area that would not be so crowded and be allowed in first to make sure there was no breakdown for all rides. At most, we waited 5 minutes or so. The park was insanely packed though. I will NEVER again go during a long weekend for sure. No way! Headed to Dumbo. Right as they sat us in and it elevated it started pouring! Why not? Bring it on. Whatever. We got soaked. I was really trying to be positive here.Went to the carousel which he loved and finally to the Small World ride. He was now in heaven for sure. When we came out, we could not find the stroller. It was about 15 minutes, but with our son it felt like an hour. He screamed repeatedly for his "wagon" and the cast member who moved it could not find it. Finally found the damn thing as our munchkin was now in full tears. We headed to lunch at the Liberty place. While we wait, we saw The Rock!!! I forbid the hubby from going up to him since he was with about 12 family members. I did not want pandemonium for this guy. Lunch was yummy! I went back to It's a Small World and then watched the 3pm parade. He loved the last float with all the main characters.This was the first parade that he has actually LOOKED at in the 5 times or so that we have been to MK since he was born. He usually cries or buries his face in the stroller. He walked up to the castle afterward and with a very worried face asked " Mickey Mouse?" It was so cute! In his mind, this is where Mickey lives.
Did some shopping and left by 4pm. Again, bickering between hubby and my mom, my mom and I, non-stop. For every decision or comment I would make, she countered with a differing opinion and it was pissing hubby off! It's hard to take in all the nice things when all of this is the backdrop. Back to hotel and took forever to get the mouseketeer to nap. We showered and left to the Contemporary for Chef Mickey's dinner with the characters. Shopped a bit, watched the fireworks from the lobby and then back to the restaurant to sit. Almost immediately the characters started to come by. No time to eat. He did not like Goofy at all! My mom, of course, wanted him to eat at that precise moment. "Who cares if the characters are here, I want to feed him." "Really? Is this what we are doing here at Chef Mickey's? Feeding him? Silly me thought it was for him to meet the Disney characters! Go figure" Stupid. My son in the mean time was too overwhelmed and hid behind the DVD player. Taking it away resulted in a floor tantrum which made every one around us miserable. It was a lose/lose situation. I think even Mickey was annoyed. But, hey, we continued to take pictures with the characters and make it the best we could. Goofy? Nope. Donald? Nope. Mickey? Nope. He would not pose, so we did instead. He did like Minnie mouse a lot. The food was pretty average. This was the worst character dinner ever. Not because of my son's lack of interest or my mother being a PITA but because they just walk around, no show or anything like that. I envied the happy families who sang songs at the dinner table, ate ice cream peacefully on Mainstreet and the kids who begged to buy stuff at the shops. It all seems so normal and so far from our relationships with our son and family circle. Anyway….
Back to the hotel, exhausted mainly trying not to blow up and ruin our vacation. I mean, my mother was on overdrive this trip. She usually has bad moments and then calms down but not this time. Had it been hubby and I alone, it would have been more intimate and a much smoother trip. To add to the fun our son had not pooped. Poop is important as well all know ! By not detoxifying, all the crap (pun completely intended) is inside of him and makes him act out. He also does more stimming and becomes very hyper. But wait, there was still Saturday to go, woohoo!!!
Saturday: Good morning to all! He woke up super irritable from the get go and no poop yet. More stimming, throwing himself full body against the bed and all that fun stuff. Left at 8am to MGM. Foggy morning and 60 degrees though the forecast was for 80s, rain and cold weather at night. Get to the Jojo character breakfast he had loved last summer. They sat us at the wrong table. Then they sat us in a table in a corner, which hubby did not want. Lastly, we get our third and final table. He ran over to June and is mesmerized, for a couple of hapy minutes only though. He wanted her for him and wants to dance with her which was great. After that, he wanted nothing to do with Jojo, Goliath and the others. Nothing. He even shoved poor Jojo and pulled Goliath’s tail (OK that part was funny)! So again, he hid behind the DVD, we adults took pictures with the characters, my mom gave her opinion of what we could have done differently and all her expert opinions and it was just such joy. Hubby sat pissed off because he does not want to be there. He wants to be home watching football. He paid for us to do this and he could care less about the characters this time around and he is about to kill my mother. I am in the middle of them both, trying to console my son and wanting to choke my mother as well. We left to the Playhouse Disney Show and IT”S F'IN CLOSED! You would think they would have told me that or I would have read that with all my Orlando message board research! Fabulous. I somehow find energy to try to make the best of our day and suggest the Little Mermaid show. We went in and minutes in he hates it and starts to scream (during the silent breaks) “WAGON! OUT! BYE BYE! ALL DONE! CAR!” We request to be let out of the auditorium and leave. He screamed all the way back to the car. Once in the car, it was like nothing had happened. The weather was getting crappier by the minute. Found a Walgreens and bought some glycerin suppositories to make him poop and head back to the hotel. All the way back, my mom continued to talk about why she thought he had not pooped, what we should have done, what he was thinking, and all the wonderful unsolicited comments. Hubby went under the covers to shut everyone out once back at the hotel. I put the suppository in and then wrote in my travel journal, my mother, you guessed it, kept whining under her breath and we all waited for him to poop.
Saturday: Good morning to all! He woke up super irritable from the get go and no poop yet. More stimming, throwing himself full body against the bed and all that fun stuff. Left at 8am to MGM. Foggy morning and 60 degrees though the forecast was for 80s, rain and cold weather at night. Get to the Jojo character breakfast he had loved last summer. They sat us at the wrong table. Then they sat us in a table in a corner, which hubby did not want. Lastly, we get our third and final table. He ran over to June and is mesmerized, for a couple of hapy minutes only though. He wanted her for him and wants to dance with her which was great. After that, he wanted nothing to do with Jojo, Goliath and the others. Nothing. He even shoved poor Jojo and pulled Goliath’s tail (OK that part was funny)! So again, he hid behind the DVD, we adults took pictures with the characters, my mom gave her opinion of what we could have done differently and all her expert opinions and it was just such joy. Hubby sat pissed off because he does not want to be there. He wants to be home watching football. He paid for us to do this and he could care less about the characters this time around and he is about to kill my mother. I am in the middle of them both, trying to console my son and wanting to choke my mother as well. We left to the Playhouse Disney Show and IT”S F'IN CLOSED! You would think they would have told me that or I would have read that with all my Orlando message board research! Fabulous. I somehow find energy to try to make the best of our day and suggest the Little Mermaid show. We went in and minutes in he hates it and starts to scream (during the silent breaks) “WAGON! OUT! BYE BYE! ALL DONE! CAR!” We request to be let out of the auditorium and leave. He screamed all the way back to the car. Once in the car, it was like nothing had happened. The weather was getting crappier by the minute. Found a Walgreens and bought some glycerin suppositories to make him poop and head back to the hotel. All the way back, my mom continued to talk about why she thought he had not pooped, what we should have done, what he was thinking, and all the wonderful unsolicited comments. Hubby went under the covers to shut everyone out once back at the hotel. I put the suppository in and then wrote in my travel journal, my mother, you guessed it, kept whining under her breath and we all waited for him to poop.
Half an hour later, there was poop! The stimming remained though which was so difficult to watch and take. It can break anyone down watching your child act like a complete lunatic! Finally, I lost it. I didn’t scream like I usually do. I just cried. So frustrated. I fed him while crying and warned them both to stay the hell away from me and leave my son and I alone. After that moment of drama for me we packed and went back to Disney though that had not been the plan, but we could not stay holed up in the room. Now, it was 80 degrees and muggy and we were wearing the 60 degrees clothing. Our parking spot was in HAPPY 79. Just perfect! Happy? God sure is funny. These Orlando forecasters have it all wrong. Went to Fantasyland and rode teacup and Dumbo where, guess what? IT STARTED TO RAIN AGAIN! Unbelievable. This time we had no hoodies on, so we were officially soaked. Did more of the same rides from the day before and ended with It’s a Small world again and he still loved it! Finished and waited 30 minutes for the castle show to start. In those 30 minutes my mother cried, said this life was a punishment for her (personal drama I won't get into here), called me inconsiderate, denied being opinionated (huh?). I ignored her and sat with my baby boy while we waited. I was hearing her complain to hubby, but I was spent. No more blow ups for me. He told her she needs to find her place and let me be the mom whether she agrees with my tactics or not. This went on the entire time. It took every inch of me to not throw her into the Disney pond. The show started and he was super happy and dancing. That is, until the witch part came out when he started crying, wanting to leave and refusing to look at the show, with his eyes shut closed. So frustrating. To add insult to injury, like I posted before, the cast kept chanting "dreams can come true" over and over which got me to choke back my anger and tears over this messed up weekend. Finished the show and did one more ride before deciding to beg the lady at the Mainstreet restaurant to move up our 7:40pm dinner reservations to 5pm. She complied, yeh! I had to pull out the "my son has autism" card so that she would understand my urgency, but whatever works at this point. Sat by 5:30pm and had a quiet dinner with a perfect view to the castle. It was a brief moment of heaven. We even saw some fireworks from the castle show while dining. That was a happy couple of minutes. I was just drained. Trying to stay positive and taking my trip in, but all the bickering made it hard.When done the hubby wanted to leave back to the hotel. I stupidly insisted we stayed, again, trying to be positive. I wanted my son to see the Spectro parade with all the lights. We walk and find a perfect spot to wait for it and it started pouring. Not raining, pouring, lightning and all. After waiting 20 minutes hopeful it would somehow stop, they announced the parade has been cancelled. Pure human hysteria. Imagine every single person at the park attempting to exit at the same time! Had we been single we would have dashed to the deserted rides. My son is freaking out because his legs are soaked and we attempted to pull out ponchos and umbrellas while running to the monorail. He hated my bright yellow poncho and my convincing him that mommy wanted to be Big Bird was not working. It was a human herd. We made it unto a monorail and followed the massive lines for the parking trams. Only 5 were working! It was about a full hour before we got on one. One hour of my son having a “I am wet, tired, no nap, annoyed, sleepy, get me the hell out of here” meltdown. His shrieks were so loud that I know everyone around us wanted to kill us. We got those "looks." We finally got on our tram and made it to the car and the hotel. Insert BIG breath here. Took turns showering and we all hit the bed and passed out. No energy to even fight anymore.
Sunday: Of course, wake up to a gorgeous morning in the 40s, beautiful blue skies and sunny. Hubby in a great mood because we are going home. I wanted to take advantage and do another park (yeah positive me), but I had it with him wanting to not be here and my mom so I bitterly agreed to leave. We still have 2 more days on our pass so I hope to use them in the summer either alone with my son or with hubby too. Home by 1pm and that was that.
