![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I didn't have time to write a journal entry yesterday. It was a looooong day, and when it was over I just went to bed. I want to get this down before I totally lose yesterday's memories.
It turns out that the reason nobody was up and ready to go yesterday morning was that Ben had a bad night. He was up and down several times during the night and just generally did not get a good night's sleep. That being the case, neither did Sara. It was noon by the time everyone was ready to venture forth, but unfortunately that's about when the downpour started. The rain was coming down in buckets with no sign of stopping. Sara assured us that the weather patterns in Florida are such that it rains like this for about 45 minutes and then the sun comes out for the rest of the day. We decided to take a drive and maybe scout some other apartment locations.
We pretty much just headed down 192 towards Kissimmee, and didn't really find much at all besides finally locating a magazine stand that had copies of For Rent. We picked up a few of those, and since the rain was starting to clear we headed back to the hotel. It was a little after two when we headed out for Epcot. Since none of us had eaten yet, our plan was to head straight to the Electric Umbrella - a restaurant in Future World that is pretty much in the shadow of Spaceship Earth. As soon as the bus left the hotel for Epcot Ben started sobbing. He was miserable, and he couldn't explain why. We hoped that getting some fries and seeing Spaceship Earth would calm him down, but even sitting in the restaurant he was miserable. He was clinging to Sara, and there was nothing I could really do to help. Sara was obviously starving herself and I know that when she gets that tired and hungry she is not particularly pleasant to be around. She tried taking Ben over to ride Spaceship Earth, which he absolutely loved last year. While she did that I wolfed down my lunch. Mandy went of on her own for the rest of the day, not to be seen again until we arrived back at the hotel much later that night.
I knew that Sara wasn't going to want to eat a cold hamburger so I trashed it but held on to her drink, and then went looking for them. I found them at the exit for Spaceship Earth. Ben had spent the entire ride crying with his face buried in Sara's lap. The poor kid was stuck in a feedback loop, and I know that he hates being that way but can't stop himself. Still, with Mandy gone (she had been a bit of a distraction) he at least calmed down a little. Sara was initially upset that I threw away her food, but caught herself when she realized that she was just being hungry and cranky. I went back to the lunch counter and ordered her another burger, and Ben continued to calm down. When the food came out he actually ate some fries and drank some juice, and Sara ate her burger. They were both notably more pleasant once they had eaten.
After lunch we went back and rode Spaceship Earth again, and this time Ben was watching everything intently. He wasn't exactly happy, but at least he wasn't miserable. From there we went to The Living Sea, which he seemed to enjoy. He actually led us there, retracing the same route we took last year. Our next stop was The Land, which we had not gone to last year. There is a boat ride attraction there (the name escapes me), just a very calm ride through a bunch of stuff about food production and innovative holistic growing techniques. As soon as we got on the boat Ben began sobbing again. He was clearly terrified to be on a boat ride again, the shadow of Splash Mountain the day before looming large. The ride ended, we got off the boat, and he calmed down a little.
By this point Sara and I were both beginning to reconsider the notion of moving to Orlando. The whole point is to make him happy, and to use his love of the parks as a lever to help him become more socialized. The whole dream was beginning to evaporate right before our eyes.
Moving onward, we took him to Imagination. The ride had been closed last year, so once again he was trepidatios because he didn't know what to expect. It wasn't a boat ride, though, so he relaxed a little and seemed to enjoy it at least a little bit. OK, good, we were moving in the right direction.
We swung over to Mission: Space, which isn't open yet but the plaza has been unveiled and it is beautiful. This is going to be a great attraction. Ben was very patient with me, letting me take several pictures before we carried on to the World Showcase.
As with last year, we went into Mexico and took him on the River of Time attraction. It is another boat ride, but very placid with no drops or splashing. He was miserable. Right after Mexico is Norway, with another water ride called The Maelstrom. We elected to skip that, even though he had liked it last year. The ride has a part where the boat is stopped by a troll and then pushed backwards down a waterfall. It is a comparatively small drop but we just didn't see the point of trying it when he was clearly terrified of water rides.
This decision would bite us on the ass in a little while.
As we walked through the World Showcase he just wasn't happy. He alternated between being either in a zombie state or descending into sobbing hysteria. Honestly, this was exactly what I had feared would happen last year. None of the places that he had loved the year before did anything for him this year. He was plainly distressed about something, but didn't have any words to express it. We stopped for dinner in Japan, and he cried all the way through dinner and finally begged, "I want *bus*!"
We resigned ourselves to returning to the hotel early, giving him some medication to calm him down, and getting him to bed. We hoped that the entire day was a result of lack of sleep. He led us around the end of the World Showcase, but then instead of heading towards Spaceship Earth and the park entrance he pulled us back towards Mexico. When we tried to correct him and point him towards the way to the busses he was absolutely insistant that we go the other way back to the beginning of the World Showcase. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted, so we let him lead the way.
He passed by Mexico, and wanted nothing to do with going inside. Then we got to Norway, and he insisted on pulling us to the entrance for the Maelstrom. When we balked, he pulled harder. OK... As near as we can figure, he needed to retrace everything we had done last year. He rode the Maelstrom, and although he wasn't exactly enjoying himself he did seem to have an air of grim determination. The ride over, we moved on. We tried to turn him around and head him back towards the park exit, but once again he insisted on heading further into the World Showcase. As we walked around the world for the second time, he would pause occasionally to look out at the lake and just stand and contemplate the view. He still didn't seem particularly happy, but at least he wasn't crying anymore.
We finished our second lap, and this time he was ready to head towards the exit. That was when I made my big mistake. I stopped to take a picture of Spaceship Earh, and had to fiddle witht he settings on my camera when the first picture turned out awful. I thought Ben and Sara were right behind me, but when I turned around they were gone. I thought to myself that I must have spent more time taking the picture than I realized, and Ben had probably pulled Sara forward to Spaceship Earth for another ride. I headed that way, still scanning the thinning crowd ahead and behind me, looking for any sign of them. I arrived at the entrance, and asked the woman working there if she might have noticed a blond haired woman enter with a child in just the last minute or two? "Was it a little blonde haired boy? They just got on."
Ok. So the ride takes 15 minutes, and exits into a room with two exits on opposite sides of the sphere. Rather than wait outside and move back and forth between the two exits, I just went inside and waited next to the exit ramp from the ride. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later a blonde woman exited the ride with a little blonde haired boy. Unfortunately, it wasn't Sara and Ben.
Oh shit.
So I walked outside, figuring that at this point the best thing to do was just take a bus back to the hotel and hope she did the same thing. Through sheer dumb luck they were walking by just as I walked out the door. I explained what had happened, and it turned out that as I was taking the picture Ben had pulled her into a gift shop. By the time they came out I was gone. Argh. You see, when Mandy went off on her own we had given her the other two-way radio in case we were going to try to re-connect during the day. That never happened, and if we had each had our radios then we could have saved 20 minutes of grief.
We finally made it back to the hotel, and after much winding down Ben finally went to sleep. Thankfully, he slept like a rock.
The next day: Disney MGM Studios.
It turns out that the reason nobody was up and ready to go yesterday morning was that Ben had a bad night. He was up and down several times during the night and just generally did not get a good night's sleep. That being the case, neither did Sara. It was noon by the time everyone was ready to venture forth, but unfortunately that's about when the downpour started. The rain was coming down in buckets with no sign of stopping. Sara assured us that the weather patterns in Florida are such that it rains like this for about 45 minutes and then the sun comes out for the rest of the day. We decided to take a drive and maybe scout some other apartment locations.
We pretty much just headed down 192 towards Kissimmee, and didn't really find much at all besides finally locating a magazine stand that had copies of For Rent. We picked up a few of those, and since the rain was starting to clear we headed back to the hotel. It was a little after two when we headed out for Epcot. Since none of us had eaten yet, our plan was to head straight to the Electric Umbrella - a restaurant in Future World that is pretty much in the shadow of Spaceship Earth. As soon as the bus left the hotel for Epcot Ben started sobbing. He was miserable, and he couldn't explain why. We hoped that getting some fries and seeing Spaceship Earth would calm him down, but even sitting in the restaurant he was miserable. He was clinging to Sara, and there was nothing I could really do to help. Sara was obviously starving herself and I know that when she gets that tired and hungry she is not particularly pleasant to be around. She tried taking Ben over to ride Spaceship Earth, which he absolutely loved last year. While she did that I wolfed down my lunch. Mandy went of on her own for the rest of the day, not to be seen again until we arrived back at the hotel much later that night.
I knew that Sara wasn't going to want to eat a cold hamburger so I trashed it but held on to her drink, and then went looking for them. I found them at the exit for Spaceship Earth. Ben had spent the entire ride crying with his face buried in Sara's lap. The poor kid was stuck in a feedback loop, and I know that he hates being that way but can't stop himself. Still, with Mandy gone (she had been a bit of a distraction) he at least calmed down a little. Sara was initially upset that I threw away her food, but caught herself when she realized that she was just being hungry and cranky. I went back to the lunch counter and ordered her another burger, and Ben continued to calm down. When the food came out he actually ate some fries and drank some juice, and Sara ate her burger. They were both notably more pleasant once they had eaten.
After lunch we went back and rode Spaceship Earth again, and this time Ben was watching everything intently. He wasn't exactly happy, but at least he wasn't miserable. From there we went to The Living Sea, which he seemed to enjoy. He actually led us there, retracing the same route we took last year. Our next stop was The Land, which we had not gone to last year. There is a boat ride attraction there (the name escapes me), just a very calm ride through a bunch of stuff about food production and innovative holistic growing techniques. As soon as we got on the boat Ben began sobbing again. He was clearly terrified to be on a boat ride again, the shadow of Splash Mountain the day before looming large. The ride ended, we got off the boat, and he calmed down a little.
By this point Sara and I were both beginning to reconsider the notion of moving to Orlando. The whole point is to make him happy, and to use his love of the parks as a lever to help him become more socialized. The whole dream was beginning to evaporate right before our eyes.
Moving onward, we took him to Imagination. The ride had been closed last year, so once again he was trepidatios because he didn't know what to expect. It wasn't a boat ride, though, so he relaxed a little and seemed to enjoy it at least a little bit. OK, good, we were moving in the right direction.
We swung over to Mission: Space, which isn't open yet but the plaza has been unveiled and it is beautiful. This is going to be a great attraction. Ben was very patient with me, letting me take several pictures before we carried on to the World Showcase.
As with last year, we went into Mexico and took him on the River of Time attraction. It is another boat ride, but very placid with no drops or splashing. He was miserable. Right after Mexico is Norway, with another water ride called The Maelstrom. We elected to skip that, even though he had liked it last year. The ride has a part where the boat is stopped by a troll and then pushed backwards down a waterfall. It is a comparatively small drop but we just didn't see the point of trying it when he was clearly terrified of water rides.
This decision would bite us on the ass in a little while.
As we walked through the World Showcase he just wasn't happy. He alternated between being either in a zombie state or descending into sobbing hysteria. Honestly, this was exactly what I had feared would happen last year. None of the places that he had loved the year before did anything for him this year. He was plainly distressed about something, but didn't have any words to express it. We stopped for dinner in Japan, and he cried all the way through dinner and finally begged, "I want *bus*!"
We resigned ourselves to returning to the hotel early, giving him some medication to calm him down, and getting him to bed. We hoped that the entire day was a result of lack of sleep. He led us around the end of the World Showcase, but then instead of heading towards Spaceship Earth and the park entrance he pulled us back towards Mexico. When we tried to correct him and point him towards the way to the busses he was absolutely insistant that we go the other way back to the beginning of the World Showcase. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted, so we let him lead the way.
He passed by Mexico, and wanted nothing to do with going inside. Then we got to Norway, and he insisted on pulling us to the entrance for the Maelstrom. When we balked, he pulled harder. OK... As near as we can figure, he needed to retrace everything we had done last year. He rode the Maelstrom, and although he wasn't exactly enjoying himself he did seem to have an air of grim determination. The ride over, we moved on. We tried to turn him around and head him back towards the park exit, but once again he insisted on heading further into the World Showcase. As we walked around the world for the second time, he would pause occasionally to look out at the lake and just stand and contemplate the view. He still didn't seem particularly happy, but at least he wasn't crying anymore.
We finished our second lap, and this time he was ready to head towards the exit. That was when I made my big mistake. I stopped to take a picture of Spaceship Earh, and had to fiddle witht he settings on my camera when the first picture turned out awful. I thought Ben and Sara were right behind me, but when I turned around they were gone. I thought to myself that I must have spent more time taking the picture than I realized, and Ben had probably pulled Sara forward to Spaceship Earth for another ride. I headed that way, still scanning the thinning crowd ahead and behind me, looking for any sign of them. I arrived at the entrance, and asked the woman working there if she might have noticed a blond haired woman enter with a child in just the last minute or two? "Was it a little blonde haired boy? They just got on."
Ok. So the ride takes 15 minutes, and exits into a room with two exits on opposite sides of the sphere. Rather than wait outside and move back and forth between the two exits, I just went inside and waited next to the exit ramp from the ride. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later a blonde woman exited the ride with a little blonde haired boy. Unfortunately, it wasn't Sara and Ben.
Oh shit.
So I walked outside, figuring that at this point the best thing to do was just take a bus back to the hotel and hope she did the same thing. Through sheer dumb luck they were walking by just as I walked out the door. I explained what had happened, and it turned out that as I was taking the picture Ben had pulled her into a gift shop. By the time they came out I was gone. Argh. You see, when Mandy went off on her own we had given her the other two-way radio in case we were going to try to re-connect during the day. That never happened, and if we had each had our radios then we could have saved 20 minutes of grief.
We finally made it back to the hotel, and after much winding down Ben finally went to sleep. Thankfully, he slept like a rock.
The next day: Disney MGM Studios.