Disney World 2021

Orlando/Kissame Florida

November 4-8th 2021

Another Tulip Travel trip was scheduled, this time it was a trip to Orlando Florida and Disney World. We had to fly. This was a first. As most people know, flying is a pain in the butt. Try flying with 24 additional people. This was perhaps one of my worst experiences with TT. All the previous trips were enjoyable, and this trip had its moments too, but there just seemed to be quite a bit more needs with this group of individuals then the last trips. 

There were accidents, and incidents, rude people and poor service from Disney. Additionally it was the coldest days Florida has had in a while and it rained for most of the trip. (It was actually warmer in NY then it was in Orlando while we were there.) 

At any rate, I survived a difficult trip and have continued to chaperone, but it really was a doozer. Let the good times be remembered despite it all. 

Our first day was traveling. We spent the entire day getting from Liverpool NY to our hotel in Orlando. Vans, planes and buses, we eventually made it. Our hotel had a nice late dinner for us of pizza an d pasta. 

The following day we headed to Hollywood Studios, in the RAIN. Cold rain to boot. After breakfast in the hotel, we had a slow start to getting out as we needed to find rain ponchos. This was a little tricky. Finally we found enough for everyone at the hotel and we were off later then expected.

We broke up into two large groups of 13. 10 Travelers and 3 chaperone. Several of the travelers had issues with walking and standing in line, but we did not have the disabilities pass for the rides. (This is something you have to preorder I guess.) We also had people that walk incredibly slow, so getting anywhere took a very long time. 1st we made our way to Frozen sign along. Even with my mask on (Required indoors) I was signing LOUD. "Let it go..."

This is a cute show where the characters sing the songs from the movie and act out the parts.  Up next we headed over to The Muppets show. 

It rained and rained and rained. It seemed like we stopped for more bathroom breaks then actually did anything in the park. After the Muppets we met up with the 2nd group and had lunch. Trying to get lunch at a fast food place with 20 + people is difficult, doing it at Disney is even harder. Waiting in line and ordering as well as all the food we had to carry back to seats that took forever to find. (This was one of the most difficult things we did at any of the Disney parks.) 

After lunch we all went to what I thought was Mickey's run away railroad, but ended up to be a movie. There were several photo opportunities at the end of the movie so we spent a long time getting pictures after the movie, plus it was still raining. 

After the movie, we made our way to Beauty and The Beast. It was raining very hard at this point and we were all wet, cold and miserable. I had had enough, but as I looked over at one of the women and watched her gigantic smile while dancing to the Beauty and the Beast songs, I was reminded why this trip was so significant. 

We were all wet, cold and tired by the time this show ended. People simply wanted to go back to the hotel and warm up. Many shoes were wet the rest of the trip. 

Back at the hotel, I assisted several individuals with showers and warm clothing before we had dinner and headed to bed.

The following day it wasn't raining but it was COLD. We took some time getting out the door and on our way this made finding parking a real pain as we had to park in the overflow disabled parking. People who needed assistance had to walk to get to a wheelchair, it was a nightmare. 

We finally got to the monorail and someone had an accident in their pants. No change of clothing. We had no choice but to get her new clothing inside of Disney. The place was so crowded and there were really not many choices for warmer clothing. Finally we found a pair of sweat pants, waited in line for about 20 minutes and found out the pants cost $95-. I was shocked, but we had no alternative. (This incident took a great deal of time away from the parks, we missed any meet and greets and were delayed a bit with this incident. 

We did get to see some of the characters at the front gate.

We then made our way over to Fantasy Land and were able to ride the teacups. 

It took forever to get on the tea cups and I was alone in the cue with 6 travelers. Noone helped us get into the cups. (I was really surprised at Disney. We had an incident earlier with a parking attendant that was a real butthole too.) 

People were getting hungry and tired at this point and we had only gone on one ride/attraction. People had been interested in the race cars, but the line was well over an hour. Instead we made our way to the

Under the Sea ride with Ariel. We waited for a long time, but everyone went on this ride and enjoyed themselves.

 Hungry we attempted to get some food, but every line was insanely long. We were suggested to use the online order, but this became so confusing, we ended up getting drinks at a stand and headed to the next attraction. 

Our next attraction (and last) was Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory. This was my favorite part of the day. I laughed and laughed.

We made our way out of this part of the park and luckily walked into the parade. 

Hi Mickey. 

We spent the rest of the day shopping. The crowds were not any better then they had been earlier in the day. We were all cold tired and ready for the park to be over. Bye Bye Magic Kingdom. I was terribly disappointed. 

Back at the Hotel, people were pooped and hungry. Dinner at the hotel was not very good, but the bed was a welcomed site. 

The following day was at Animal Kingdom. This was perhaps the best of the three days weather wise. No rain and in the high 60's. We made sure that we did not have the same problems as yesterday and packed extra clothing for people who may need it and left a little earlier. Ist up was the Bugs Life Show. This is always fun and the (Spoiler) bugs exiting the theater in the end is a fun surprise. 

We tried to get into the Lion King show after the Bugs Life, but it would be awhile, so we attempted to find a place to eat. This was not happening with out reservations. (Something to remember for yourself if you are looking for a sit down meal in any of the parks. MAKE RESERVATIONS. There is a CA fee if you do so within so many hours, but just change the time and then CA. Nothing is easy in these parks anymore. 

No lunch, but we were ready for something else to do so we made our way to the Bird show. This was awesome. (I got drinks for everyone while we watched.) 

This was my favorite part of our trip to Animal kingdom. Great show. After the show we made our way to the bathroom. (We do bathroom breaks a lot of times with these group trips).

Then we went to the LION KING show. Its still amazing as I remember from the last several times I have gone. There were some parts missing that I recall. (No monkey's and the birds did not do acrobats above our heads.)

After the lion King show we got some snacks and then headed to the Animal safari. There was a two hour wait time for this attraction. AND WE WAITED and WAITED....but we finally got on and got to see all of the animals. 

Everyone LOVED the safari and we were the last one of the day. We then headed towards the front of the park where we did some more shopping and said our goodbyes to DISNEY. 

Back at the hotel we had a few cocktails with the chaperones and had fun before the long trip home tomorrow. 

TTFN.