Trip to Urgent Care
This one will be kind of long and I have no pictures (for a 4 hour window!), so feel free to skim over.
My husband got bit by a bug on our first park day while at Hollywood Studios. He did not see what kind of bug bit him, but he complained about it itching/hurting our first evening. Each day it seemed to get progressively worse. His ankle began to swell a bit more each day, and it started changing colors.
When he woke up this morning, three days later, his ankle was really swollen. It also had turned a darker color, almost black. I was really worried in the morning, and asked if we should take him to a doctor, but he kind of shrugged it off. However, it seemed to bother him more while we walked around this day. By the afternoon his ankle was so big it barely fit in his shoe. It was painful for him to walk and was definitely a blackish color. I suggested we at least have it checked out at First Aid before continuing on, and this time he didn't put up much of a fight. So I knew he really was in pain.
We all walked to First Aid together. It was near Crystal Palace, right next to the baby care area. I went into the Baby Center to change a diaper, but I can't remember if that was before or after we first went to First Aid. It was nice in there! There was a TV playing a Disney movie, and my daughter wanted to stay to watch. I had to convince her we could watch Disney movies at any time back home! I went back with my husband at the First Aid station. As expected, the woman who checked him out said there wasn't much they could do there besides give him ice (which they did). They thought he needed to be checked out, and gave us information for a nearby Urgent Care.
I immediately called our insurance to make sure the location was covered, and it was. The Urgent Care had a free shuttle to and from the Disney parks. I wish I had thought about using Uber instead! But they said the shuttle wouldn't take too long. I let our parents know what was going on, and we came up with a game plan. My MIL wasn't feeling great either, so she made arrangements for her sister to pick her up at the park. My parents would take the girls, while I would go with my husband to the Urgent Care. I hated leaving the girls, but also felt like I needed to go with Pat.
As far as what the girls got up to while we were gone - I know they rode It's a Small World quite a few times! And I think they made it to Winnie the Pooh. They also ate dinner and got to watch the fireworks. It was about 4:50pm when we first got to First Aid. I was most concerned about making it back for the fireworks at 8:00pm. It was going to be our first fireworks show with the girls, and I wanted to have that experience with them. I thought that we had plenty of time, but I was wrong.
I think the shuttle was supposed to pick us up at 5:30pm, but it was closer to 6:00pm before it arrived - maybe even later. It took a lot longer than the Cast Members originally told us it would, but it was out of Disney's control. My understanding is that the shuttle was owned by the Urgent Care, not Disney. We were leaving the Disney bubble
When the shuttle arrived, a Cast Member walked us to the other side of Main Street, and then backstage. We thought it would be kind of fun to get to go backstage, but we didn't see anything cool. He took us back to a bus stop area where there were other Cast Members waiting in a parking lot.
The ride was probably 15-20 minutes. The Urgent Care was pretty packed when we got there. I mentioned to the front desk that we had left 2 young kids back at the parks, and asked if they could order our shuttle back as soon as we were called back to see the doctor, since it had taken almost an hour for the first one to come. They said they couldn't, but I think they did everything they could to rush us through.
The wait was pretty quick, considering how many people were in the waiting room who all went back ahead of us. We were taken back to a "stall" - it was a big room just divided by curtains. The doctor came back, and he was friendly. He made a few jokes about Florida bugs, and showed us that his legs were covered in various bites. We told him we are used to Texas bugs, which are no joke, but neither of us had ever had a bite like this. He wasn't sure what kind of bug caused this, but said the bite was infected. My husband was given antibiotics and steroids, and then we were released to go. The wonderful lady at the front desk had called the shuttle after all! We barely had to wait at all for it to arrive.
But, we still missed the fireworks
I was almost in tears when our driver informed us that she could not drop us back off at Magic Kingdom, despite what the MK cast member had told us would happen. He had said we could come directly back, but she said she had to take us to the Contemporary, where we could walk back. I felt bad because my husband's ankle was still hurting, but we didn't have another option. We watched the fireworks going off as we were pulling into the Contemporary.
I was so sad to miss that experience with my girls, but it was what it was. We were also starving at this point - it was almost 9:00pm! I was texting with my parents and learned that they were heading to the carousel. I told them we were going to get a quick dinner at Columbia Harbour House and would meet up with them after. We walked straight there... and it was closed. I really was going to cry at this point - I had been looking forward to my vegetarian chili there for months!
We headed toward the carousel, in search of other "real" food - I didn't want something sweet at a snack cart, I wanted dinner. We saw my parents on the ride with the girls and waved hello. I told my dad we were going to keep looking for food and would text wherever we ended up. The girls were happy to see us!
We ended up at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. My husband got a burger and I got the falafel burger. I'm not sure if it was just because of how hungry I was, but I loved it! We ate so quickly I didn't even take any pictures. We could see some projections on the castle while we ate, and that was a pretty show. My parents and the girls met up with us there while we ate. You would think we were ready for bed after this adventure, but nope! We still had a free FP burning a hole in our pockets, since Big Thunder Mountain had been down. We were off to find one more ride!