Magic Kingdom- February 17, 2026

Today's version of the abbreviated blog:  (More details will follow later)

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Bus to Magic Kingdom (Emma went to Epcot on her own)
• Early admission because we're in a Disney hotel (First two hours were a lot of fun, but the crowds continued to grow.  We've heard this week in Feb is one of the biggest attendance weeks now, and we believe it after today.)
• Tea Cups 1st (Abby's choice)
• Carousel next (also Abby's choice) 
• Small World- Julie's choice but Abby loved it
• Julie went to Haunted Mansion, Scott and Abby went on Small World a 2nd time (Abby's choice)
• new Country Bear show.  Saw Big Al out front while we were waiting (Scott was wearing his Big Al "Blood on the Saddle Tour" shirt, but didn't expect we'd meet him today.)
• took a rest break- saw characters go by in a "cavalcade", mini-parade
• lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus - Scott had Buffalo chicken flatbread
•  Mickey's Philharmagic 3D movie (Abby hated it)
• Peoplemover
• Carousel of Progress
•  Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan's Flight (1st  Lightning Lane, finally opened at 2:20)
• Dumbo ride with playground for Abby
• Journey of the Little Mermaid (2nd Lightning Lane, opened 3:20, ride was temporarily broken so wait was long in spite of having Lightning Lane)
• picture taken with Ariel (Abby gave her a collection of shells; still have to get watermarks removed from pics)
• Winnie the Pooh ride- (3rd Lightning Lane, opened at 5:10, also was temporarily broken but not as long as Little Mermaid) 

     At this point, the plan was to go get our picture taken in front of the Castle by a PhotoPass photographer partly because Scott had already paid for the service and partly because they do such a great job.  After getting the picture taken we were going to ride the Monorail together all the way to Epcot.  Scott would then pay for a Park Hopper pass to join Emma in the park while Julie and Abby rode a bus back to the hotel.  All of this didn't happen.

    We were next in line to get our picture taken by the Disney photographer, and Scott was walking forward to get into place.  His foot got caught in the trolley track in Main Street.  He went tumbling forward trying to catch himself, but couldn't.  Instead, he hit the ground hard, hurting his left side pretty bad.  His face was scratched up, his left hand was hurt (most especially his pinky), his left knee was scraped and his ribs were probably bruised too.  He heard the camera smash as he hit the ground (though that later proved to be relatively easy to put back together).  A group gathered around him to see if he was okay.   At first, he was embarrassed,  and tried to say he was fine, but as he sat up, he felt dizzy and a little nauseous.  It was then that he decided it was best to take the advise of the cast member and go to first aid.

    Shout out here to Emily, the PhotoPass photographer from Massachusetts, who aided Scott and helped him to the First Aid station.  Thanks for being so helpful.  "It's what we do," she humbly said when Scott thanked her.  We appreciated her help anyway.  Thanks also to Ashley, the RN from Ithaca who was the person running the first aid station.  She checked Scott's vitals, including his sugar level just in case.  She assumed that hydration was part of the problem and she got him a low-sugar Powerade.  She also brought some things to clean and bandage his face  She got him some Tylenol, an ice pack and a cold compress.  Maybe most helpful of all, she took the three of us to the area in the back where he could rest and recover.  Well, at least the inside of the first aid station is a place at Disney that we had never seen before.  (Side note, apropo of nothing: Scott and Julie both agreed that Ashley looked and sounded like Aunt Jenny.)  

     When he was feeling a little more like walking, she gave us a wheelchair to take to the front gate.  He didn't ride in it, but he pushed it instead, giving him a little more stability.  From there, we took a bus to our hotel.  The bus to All-Star Music was leaving first, so we got on that and then walked to All-Star Movies.  Abby hit her head pretty hard on the bus window too because she was nodding off to sleep as the bus went over a bump,  It was after 7:00 by this point, and we still hadn't eaten dinner so Julie put a mobile order in and went down to get it.  Then we waited for Emma to get back.

     More will be posted later. 

 

To Disney- Monday, February 16, 2026

 We're probably going to have some shortened blog entries for the next couple of days.  We're expecting some pretty full days.  

In the meantime, here's some highlights:

• St. Augustine Beach- on the beach in the morning
• Stop at Buc-ees in Daytona Beach- Julie called it "If Bass Pro was a gas station"
• Lakeland Antique Mall- a bit disappointing,  New location, but not as good as last time.
• Tried to find parking at Disney Springs, but couldn't
• Went to hotel (All-Star Movies) and room was available.  Had late lunch at the hotel
• Scott and Abby went swimming in the Fantasia pool
• Emma went ahead to Disney Springs
• The rest of us went to Disney Springs a little later.   Very crowded.  Did a little shopping at the World of Disney, but decided to try someplace else for dinner.
• Took the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter resort.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, but we didn't realize that it is Mardi Gras eve.   It was crowded here too.
• Emma stood in line a long time for beignets, only to have her order taken by another person named Emma.  Our Emma ended up with six instead of three though.

Scott will probably be using the time that we are driving back to New York to try to fill in a lot of details.