Esmerelda
04-11-2003, 07:16 AM
Lessons Learned 08/30/02, Part 2
When we finally get back to the gate area, the stroller has been unloaded for us and some kind person had even assembled it for us. I was SO glad! Uh oh-it won’t move! How much more can I take? I look at everything, make her get out of the stroller so I can see if I can fix it (did you guess, meltdown #3), and I can’t find anything wrong with it. I look at everyone passing with pleading eyes, but no one stops to help. Finally I test the hand brake on the stroller handle. We never used this because it is only used when you use the big wheel in front not the swivel wheels. So 20 minutes after intense frustration, the stroller now moves. We then pick up our baggage. I tell Elayna to please get out of the stroller so we can put the suitcases on it and guess what? Meltdown #4.
At this point, I am contemplating leaving the luggage and hopping on the next plane back home, but then a skycap looks at us and asks if he can help us. We then go to the counter at Mears. The poor skycap has to wait b/c we need him to help us get the luggage to the where Mears picks up but the lady at the counter takes one look at our stroller and says “We will not be able to transport you, unless that stroller folds up pretty small.” At this point, I am about to cry. I tell her I called yesterday and they said that they had enough storage on a bus for it, but we couldn’t ride a van. Then she replies Well, maybe that is so, but we use van service to the resort you are staying at. As she sees me tear up, she says, just speak to the bus driver and maybe they will make an exception. So we go to Mears and the first two bus drivers refuse to make a stop at Old Key West. There we are sitting in the heat, Elayna is hungry, I am hungry and finally I ask the attendant what would they do for someone that is handicapped and in a wheelchair? Do they deny service? I then pull out my first letter from a doctor that says that Elayna needs the stroller for a mobility device and the attendant says you are supposed to contact us 24 hours in advance and then we will make accommodations. I then say so what do you suggest I do? Lay on a bench here for the next 24 hours and I start to tear up. Oh, have I mentioned Elayna is crying and kicking her stroller footplate because she is tired, hungry and hot and wants to go to Disney World? She yells at me right during this conversation “YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE TAKING ME ON VACATION!!!! THIS IS NOT VACATION! The attendant then asks the next bus driver if he would PLEASE take us to Old Key West and we FINALLY get on the bus (almost 2 hours after landing).
The bus driver is actually friendly and the bus was nicely air conditioned. I look at the clock though and contemplate if I dare try to meet a frind I had met on the internet at MK at 6:00 with a cranky, hot, tired, unfed child when what do you know? My decision is made for me. There is a wreck and we are caught in traffic. We are the last drop off and at 6:05 we are dropped off at Old Key West.
We go and get in a short line for check in and I actually am beginning to relax. Then they tell me they cannot accommodate my wish for a guest assistance pass because the person in charge left at 6:00.We get our room assignment and I ask the bellman if it is too far to walk to our building because I do not want to take Elayna out of her stroller again and have to fold it up. We start walking to our building, three buildings away and the bellman said, Ma’am, how are you going to get that stroller up to the third floor, our buildings do not have elevators. They had given me a 3rd floor room even though I had requested 1st floor due to medical reasons. So……..back to the check-in. They speak to their manager, making us wait for about 15 more minutes (meanwhile Elayna is finishing the last of our six rice krispie treat snacks). Finally, they come out and we get a room on the main level only one building away. We get in our room at 6:30, thirty minutes after I was to meet my friend. There was no way I could summon up the strength to go to Magic Kingdom so I did not get to meet her.
My friends from Germany asked us though if we would like to join them at Port Orleans and I said yes. We go to the food court and I asked Elayna what she wanted. She said she wanted spaghetti so I get in the longest line there is to get her spaghetti. I take it to her and guess what? For the first time in her six LONG years of life, she decides she wanted plain spaghetti, not the spaghetti with sauce on it. She complains that her tummy is hurting and she is scared the sauce will make her sick.
LESSONS LEARNED #6, #7 and #8
SIX. Ask and Demand Help. I should have asked for help when I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the stroller. I should have been more assertive with Mears.
SEVEN. Do not make plans for 6:00 PM when you do not land until 3:30 PM.
EIGHT. If your child has had nothing but a bag of double stuff oreo cookies and six double chocolate rice crispy bars they may NOT want sauce on their spaghetti!
When we finally get back to the gate area, the stroller has been unloaded for us and some kind person had even assembled it for us. I was SO glad! Uh oh-it won’t move! How much more can I take? I look at everything, make her get out of the stroller so I can see if I can fix it (did you guess, meltdown #3), and I can’t find anything wrong with it. I look at everyone passing with pleading eyes, but no one stops to help. Finally I test the hand brake on the stroller handle. We never used this because it is only used when you use the big wheel in front not the swivel wheels. So 20 minutes after intense frustration, the stroller now moves. We then pick up our baggage. I tell Elayna to please get out of the stroller so we can put the suitcases on it and guess what? Meltdown #4.
At this point, I am contemplating leaving the luggage and hopping on the next plane back home, but then a skycap looks at us and asks if he can help us. We then go to the counter at Mears. The poor skycap has to wait b/c we need him to help us get the luggage to the where Mears picks up but the lady at the counter takes one look at our stroller and says “We will not be able to transport you, unless that stroller folds up pretty small.” At this point, I am about to cry. I tell her I called yesterday and they said that they had enough storage on a bus for it, but we couldn’t ride a van. Then she replies Well, maybe that is so, but we use van service to the resort you are staying at. As she sees me tear up, she says, just speak to the bus driver and maybe they will make an exception. So we go to Mears and the first two bus drivers refuse to make a stop at Old Key West. There we are sitting in the heat, Elayna is hungry, I am hungry and finally I ask the attendant what would they do for someone that is handicapped and in a wheelchair? Do they deny service? I then pull out my first letter from a doctor that says that Elayna needs the stroller for a mobility device and the attendant says you are supposed to contact us 24 hours in advance and then we will make accommodations. I then say so what do you suggest I do? Lay on a bench here for the next 24 hours and I start to tear up. Oh, have I mentioned Elayna is crying and kicking her stroller footplate because she is tired, hungry and hot and wants to go to Disney World? She yells at me right during this conversation “YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE TAKING ME ON VACATION!!!! THIS IS NOT VACATION! The attendant then asks the next bus driver if he would PLEASE take us to Old Key West and we FINALLY get on the bus (almost 2 hours after landing).
The bus driver is actually friendly and the bus was nicely air conditioned. I look at the clock though and contemplate if I dare try to meet a frind I had met on the internet at MK at 6:00 with a cranky, hot, tired, unfed child when what do you know? My decision is made for me. There is a wreck and we are caught in traffic. We are the last drop off and at 6:05 we are dropped off at Old Key West.
We go and get in a short line for check in and I actually am beginning to relax. Then they tell me they cannot accommodate my wish for a guest assistance pass because the person in charge left at 6:00.We get our room assignment and I ask the bellman if it is too far to walk to our building because I do not want to take Elayna out of her stroller again and have to fold it up. We start walking to our building, three buildings away and the bellman said, Ma’am, how are you going to get that stroller up to the third floor, our buildings do not have elevators. They had given me a 3rd floor room even though I had requested 1st floor due to medical reasons. So……..back to the check-in. They speak to their manager, making us wait for about 15 more minutes (meanwhile Elayna is finishing the last of our six rice krispie treat snacks). Finally, they come out and we get a room on the main level only one building away. We get in our room at 6:30, thirty minutes after I was to meet my friend. There was no way I could summon up the strength to go to Magic Kingdom so I did not get to meet her.
My friends from Germany asked us though if we would like to join them at Port Orleans and I said yes. We go to the food court and I asked Elayna what she wanted. She said she wanted spaghetti so I get in the longest line there is to get her spaghetti. I take it to her and guess what? For the first time in her six LONG years of life, she decides she wanted plain spaghetti, not the spaghetti with sauce on it. She complains that her tummy is hurting and she is scared the sauce will make her sick.
LESSONS LEARNED #6, #7 and #8
SIX. Ask and Demand Help. I should have asked for help when I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the stroller. I should have been more assertive with Mears.
SEVEN. Do not make plans for 6:00 PM when you do not land until 3:30 PM.
EIGHT. If your child has had nothing but a bag of double stuff oreo cookies and six double chocolate rice crispy bars they may NOT want sauce on their spaghetti!