Before the trip even materialized, we knew it wasn’t going to be as planned. My mother, who I never remember being sick when I was younger, had an emergency appendectomy after her appendix burst in early November. My parents still made the trip to Florida in December; Mom decided she needed to spend some time recuperating in a warmer climate. A few days later, we arrived in Florida, but things were not perfect at our location. John had said he was not feeling well, before he went to bed the first day we had arrived. He had the sniffles and was feeling blah. We told him it was probably from all the running around from the last couple of days (Christmas and the trip and all). The next morning he woke up saying he felt tired, but he was ready to head out to breakfast.
We went to 'Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast! (This is a character breakfast hosted by Lilo and John’s favorite, Stitch.) Since it was only our second trip to Disney together, I had shirts made for the occasion. They said The Glover’s After Christmas Getaway 2005. (I know there is no way that John would wear a shirt like that today, but I think the shirts made that trip even a little more magical for all of us and at that time, I think he thought it was neat that people were reading his shirt and thinking it was a big deal also.) When we got to breakfast, John mentioned that he wasn’t feeling great, but you couldn’t tell it by the way he interacted with the characters. He laughed and giggled through the entire meal and ate quite a bit. After eating, he waited to say hello to Mickey who was greeting people as they came into the restaurant. It was then that he started looking a little peak-ed. By the time we got his picture with Mickey, he said he wasn’t hungry anymore. Our plans after that were to head to The Magic Kingdom for the morning and enjoy some after Christmas scenery. We jumped on the Monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom. When we got there, John didn’t look good at all. Feeling his forehead, his mom declared he had a fever. When the little man asked if we could just head back to the room, I knew it was serious. We walked from the Monorail station to the boat dock and took a boat back to the Wilderness Lodge, where we were staying.
After falling asleep on the bench waiting for the boat and then sleeping on the boat ride back, we put him to bed and while Heather stayed with him, I searched for some children’s Tylenol. John slept for the next 24 hours. While he slept, we enjoyed hanging out in the room. We took turns going to the Mercantile and getting food and reading materials. The next day, we were supposed to meet my parents, my sister, and her family in Sea World. We a little worried that instead of meeting them, we would be finding a doctor to take John to, as his fever didn’t seem to break. But as will happen in Disney World, the next day, Magic happened. John’s fever wasn’t just lower, it was gone completely. I called my sister and told her we were on for meeting up at Sea World. John was going to get to meet his cousins.
When we got there, and found them in the parking lot, they were two people short. My parents, who had driven all the way from West Virginia, decided not to make the trip north to Orlando. My mom was feeling a little rundown from their travels and her surgery. As disappointing as that was, John was still excited to meet his cousins, Lauren and Leslie and his Aunt Sue and Uncle Ron. The girls and John bonded immediately. It was like they had been family all their lives. They laughed and ran all around the park together until they had tired us out. One of the highlights was feeding the dolphins. They all enjoyed that very much. When we returned to Wilderness Lodge late that afternoon, John was tired but still feeling good. So, we headed to the Magic Kingdom that night for some Disney Christmas Magic.
John and Heather both loved the snow falling from the sky on Main Street USA (of course I did too). We had a great time that evening and the next couple of days flew by without any more incidents or illness. I look back on that trip and have to smile, I wonder if we were anywhere else, if John would have gotten better as quickly as he did. Was it Disney Magic? Of course I think it was. Disney Magic is an amazing thing!
Contributed by Bruce G., husband to Heather, proud father of John, and creator of The Unknown Magic Within Walt Disney World
Check out other wonderful Disney memories from Bruce:
- The Best Thing I've Ever Seen at a Disney Park
- Disney Pools, Fun for All
- Bruce on 'growing up Disney'
It's funny how the trips that go wrong are our most vivid memories. And we usually remember them fondly. Thank you for sharing yours.
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