You may have seen the drop off centers in malls or even day cares have them. This is a kid’s paradise and parent’s dream. You walk in, sign your kids in, get a pager, and leave without them. They stay there. We like these. This one is a drop off center but tricked out. And our boys love Peter Pan, so this one really lights their world.
You enter a reception area with a desk and attendant. The reception area is themed as the nursery.
There is a door and a window. But the window is not an outside window. It is an open window into another room. And it is at floor level. And that is how the kids get into the club. They go through the window. Just like Peter Pan. There is a Pirate ship for video games.
There is a large screen for movies. There are arts and crafts areas.
They get supper in there.
So this is a really neat place for the boys. It is so neat, they didn’t even bother to say “’bye” to me. They got their nametags and took off for the window. Not even a glance backwards. (Special thanks to Intercot for the pictures of the NeverLand Club.)
So, without wife or children, I was alone. And wondering what the heck I was going to do now. Lisa would be back too soon to hop in the MK. And the other parks were too far away. So I decided to monorail around the loop and see the hotels. I was at the Poly. I walked around the lower level and then up to O’hana. And I cancelled our reservation. I thought, “May as well let someone else have our space.” Then I continued around and hopped on the monorail.
I stepped off at the Grand Floridian. This is considered the flagship resort of WDW. It is the top notch, premiere resort. It is close to the MK. It is right on the lake. It is the backdrop for weddings and other special events. And I don’t know if I would stay here. I thought about it before seeing it. But now that I’ve seen the resort, I’m not really struck by it. It doesn’t have the beauty of the Wilderness or Polynesian. It is very plain, in fact. But very upscale in appearance. I wouldn’t stay just because it didn’t seem “Disney” in my mind. It didn’t take me anywhere.
I walked around a bit and jumped back on the monorail. Next stop was the MK. Then off at the Contemporary. I had called Lisa and found out she would be headed back soon. So we wouldn’t be too far apart in arriving. I got back to the room and moped just a little more. Yes, I’m a moper. I wasn’t mad. I didn’t throw a temper tantrum or sull up. Like I would at home. I was just down in the mouth.
When Lisa arrived, she filled me in on the details. She was undiagnosed with strep. Undiagnosed means that the doc who examined her said that he could give her a strep test but it would be $60 more only to have him prescribed the same antibiotics he would prescribe anyway. This would be $60 on top of the $150 ish it cost just to see the doc. And the other $150 ish that it cost to get the antibiotics. So her little jaunt to Urgent Care was over $300. Not counting all the extra little things she picked up at the pharmacy. And the beauty of it: they didn’t accept our insurance.
4 years ago, this would have ruined our vacation. Not just the strep, but the extra expenses. But we have learned much in these last 4 years. We were prepared for this. We had made sure there was money available for an emergency like this. So our vacation didn’t even hiccup because of the medical bill. But the evening had hiccupped because of the strep.
But Lisa was determined not to let it disrupt our evening. She wanted to go do something. We decided to go to Downtown Disney and eat at Planet Hollywood. They accept the dining plan, doncha know? So we hopped on the bus and got over there. We didn’t have too long of a wait. Only about 30 minutes or so. Of course Lisa was miserable the whole time. I was experiencing a bit of sensory overload. It was loud in there. When they finally seated us, we were down on the lowest level right in front of the DJ. We ordered and had a nice meal. But I believe that was the longest time I have ever stayed in a restaurant. We were there close to 2 hours. And really didn’t do anything other than eat.
When we left, we decided to go ahead and get the boys and get to bed. Lisa went back to the Lodge and I went to the Poly. I got the boys out of hock. And we walked back over to the TTC. Along the way, they snacked on their bedtime snacks they got in the Neverland Club, chips and juice. We got on the bus and got back to the room.
Where everyone had a peaceful night's sleep.
This picture is kind of blurry but really captures some of the feeling that evening.
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