One helluva Goofy trip.
We should have known better. We should never have taken the second trip. Our first vacation had been so amazing—everything ran like clockwork and all had been right with the world—why did we tempt fate?
Because we were glutton for punishment.
Like all seemingly well-meaning parents, we decided to take our kids BACK to Disney, because, well, once was not enough. And so we ventured back in the month of May because it suited our schedules. We had taken our first trip in October a year and a half before.
As soon as the plane landed, it was all downhill from there.
On Day #1, my daughter became ill. It was one of those 48-hour viruses, but it was enough to send us back to the hotel with a puke bucket next to her bed. She recovered pretty quickly from vomiting, but then was weak and couldn’t eat.
On Day #2, my son came down with it. We had just gotten off a ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, when he threw up in a bush. (Sorry about that, Disney cast members). In essence, we suffered two full days of the barfs, and at that point the weather was good.
Raindrops the size of small pancakes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
On Day #3, the storms blew into town. It wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill rainstorm. We were there, so the weather gods called for a Tropical Storm. And a Tropical Storm it was. Blustery winds and torrential rain blanketed Orlando, and we were the idiots out in the rain, attempting to make the most of our day at Animal Kingdom. I think we were four of about 50 people at the park that day. At one point, we lost my daughter for about 30 seconds when Pocahontas was saying hello to folks and signing autographs. I’d never want to repeat that feeling of not knowing where your child is, but she had turned to see her, and we lost sight of her. But only momentarily. The picture you see here is us standing in Animal Kingdom, drenched, wearing ponchos that actually did do their job. So you see, there was a bright side.
On Day #4, we went back to Magic Kingdom to finish it up. The weather was still disgusting and we were wearing our ponchos. As we waited in line to get Mickey and Minnie’s autographs (because that is of vital importance), my daughter started screaming in pain that her ears hurt. Three hours later, The Swan sent a doctor to our room where he pronounced she had a double ear infection. He gave her medication immediately, and told us we may not be able to fly home the next day because her ears might hurt on the flight home.
On Day #5, we flew home. We totally went against the doctor’s recommendation. We knew if we stayed one day longer, something else was bound to be a disaster. We had to leave the bad karma behind. In essence, we said, “screw it,” and decided that particular trip to Disney was a comedy of errors.
When we look at our photos of the trip now, however, we seem to remember the good times and good fun that snuck up on us between all the “other stuff” that tried to bring us down.
We might go back, but not anytime soon.
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Today’s daily post prompt was as follows: Murphy’s Law says, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Write about a time everything did — fiction encouraged here, too!
