The grand-parents are coming, get the wheelchair ready! March 2018 at The Polynesian

Alexsandra

Ready for the next adventure
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Hello fellow DISers!

This is actually my first pre-trip report. I usually do all the trip organizing by myself so I thought it might be nice to have someone to bounce back ideas with. My husband, as sweet as he is, is pretty fed up of hearing about Disney.
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Ok, so first let me introduce the family:

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This is my husband, John and myself. John and I both really like WDW as a travel destination but I am the "real" Disney fanatic. We have two wonderful boys (two red heads), that are extremely active and love Disney World as much as me.

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The oldest K is 10 y.o. and the youngest J is 7 y.o.

Now let me introduce my parents-in-law who are joining us on this next trip:
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This is Helene my mother-in-law with my husband

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This is my father in-law, Andre.

We actually took a trip with them to Disney back in Feb 2008 when the boys were little. Here is a picture of us back then:

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You can tell it's old because Hollywood Studios still had the Mickey's Scorcerer's Hat as its landmark.
 
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Oh, I almost forgot about another family member, this is our dog Hunter. The kids are absolutely in love with him. He is a sweetheart of a dog too, putting up with countless hugs and kisses. Here is a pic of Hunter with J.
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He is, unfortunately, not coming to Disney with us, but he will be staying at my Mom and Dad's for the week.
 
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THE PLAN
Originally, this trip was supposed to be just us and the kids. A quick week during March Break so the kids would not miss any school.
K, my oldest really wanted to check out Universal's new Diagon Alley so we were considered going to Universal Studios this time around just to change it up. We've been to Universal before, where we did 5 days at Disney and 2 days at Universal. But now with the addition of Diagon Alley and the new Volcany Bay I figured there was enough to see if we throw in a couple of pool days.


So with that plan, we started looking at flights. I usually accumulate several Aeroplan points since I fly Air Canada all the time for work. Of course the dates I wanted were not available. Its was March break after all! There was only availability to leave mid-week so the kids would miss 3 days of school. If not it was double the points which I didn't have.

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Ok, so 3 days is not so bad, right? The kids can catch up! So Mid week it would have to be. Even though I did not have enough points to fly on the dates I wanted, I did however have enough points for 2 extra travellers.

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With that new info, I called John to see if he was willing to invite his parents to come along. My mother-in-law kept mentioning how much she would love to take a trip with us again. Plus, they live far away, they don't get to see the kids as often as they would like.Another reason for my sudden generosity, is that my mother-in-law has been having a lot of health issues recently and I kind of felt that there would not be many more opportunities to travel with them again.

These past two years Helene has been suffering with crushed discs in her back that make her have pain all the way down her leg and to make matters worse, in the last year, her mobility in her right hip has deteriorated to the point that she cannot walk or sit without excruciating pain. She finally got a scan done and the doctors told her her hip is completely destroyed. The back problem they cannot fix as operating would be too dangerous but the for the hip, she is on a steady regiment of pain killers, has to get regular infiltrations, and has to walk with a cane. The doctors have scheduled a hip operation for April so at least that is good news but because of a heart problem and the blood thinners she takes, there is a higher risk with an operation of this kind.

Now, I don't want to be a pessimist, but I wanted to take this trip with Helene before her operation, just in case something did happen. It sounds horrible to say it, I know but I am seriously worried for her and my husband is too. I din't want to regret not having traveled with her once more and I know how much this would mean to her.

So we called them up to see if they would be interested. Boy oh boy, I really wasn't excepting such a big reaction! She said yes even before I had time to explain that we would be paying for their flight so all they would have to pay was the hotel, tickets and food. Well after I did finish explaining all this, she was like:
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The older our bodies get the younger our minds get! Being now in my 70's when we go to Disney I just knock the last digit off of my age! :goofy:Hope you all have a great time.
 


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In our case, we are the grandparents (red headed gma) taking/treating the kids (red headed dd) and grandkids to WDW and Fort Wilderness. We did it just before our DGS started junior kindergarten and in April will do it again to mark his sister going to start JK next fall. Last time we went our DGD was in utero
 
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In our case, we are the grandparents (red headed gma) taking/treating the kids (red headed dd) and grandkids to WDW and Fort Wilderness. We did it just before our DGS started junior kindergarten and in April will do it again to mark his sister going to start JK next fall. Last time we went our DGD was in utero
Oh my! that is a lot of redheads, LOL

That is so nice of you to treat them. It makes for such wonderful memories. I am sure my kids are always going to remember these trips with Grandma and Grandpa.

My parents surprised our kids on our last trip in 2015 and the kids were so happy. It' s fun to see how excited the kids were but especially how excited my parents were at the kid's excitment.
 


CHANGE OF PLANS

Now that I knew my parents in law were coming, we went ahead and booked the flight. We are leaving Wed. March 7th 2018 and flying back March 14th. Since we booked with points, the travel times are limited so we ended up with a evening flight on the way in and a morning flight on the way out which basically scraps the idea of doing anything on those days. That makes a total of 6 days to enjoy the vacation.

Like I had mentioned previously, we wanted to go to Universal for the week but after booking the tickets, we changed our mind. Since we all wanted to see the new Avatar Land we decided to do a split stay Universal/Disney. That way we could utilize the Magic Express on the way home. So I called up my travel agent and booked the Disney portion of the trip.

After speaking to Helene and André, we decided to treat ourselves to deluxe resort . My parents-in-law's will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary during this trip so they wanted to go somewhere special. She always dreamed of visiting Hawaii, so this gives her a chance to experience a little bit of Hawaii without traveling so far. Our usual hotel is POFQ but since the Poly is my favorite resort we decided to splurge.
Another advantage of the Poly is the access to the monorail. Since Helene will need to get around in a scooter, it might be easier with the monorail.

I'm dreaming of the Poly right now:
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This was taken from our room when we visited in 2015

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The Poly is especially pretty at night!

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Love the splash are for the kids!

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The Volcano pool, need i say more!

The plan was to do 3 nights at Universal's Cabana Bay and 4 nights at the Disney's Polynesian Resort. With our booking confirmed at the Poly, I started my research on Universal. This is were I started to encounter some problems. I realized we needed to cab our way from the airport to UNiversal and then again from Universal to WDW. Since I need to rent a scooter for my mother in law I was considering how to go about it. REnt at Universal and then again at WDW? Two seperate resrvations made little sense. If I rent at the start of our trip I would have to get her a collapsible scooter. Then we would maybe need two taxis because of the scooter, 6 people and the luggage. I could rent a van but it adds on a lot of money since I would have to also pay parking at Universal.

I left that problem for another day and started researching accessible rides and attraction at Universal. I already have a good idea of wheelchair/scooter accessibility at WDW (my dad rode a scooter the whole time on our last visit), but knew very little about Universal's accessibility for wheelchairs/scooters. I was a little surprised to find out that Universal has very little attractions that Helene would be able to partake in. She cannot ride on any thrill rides as the shaking and bumping would hurt her hip so that already eliminates a whole bunch of options. However what I was most disappointed to find out is hat Hogsmead and Diagon Alley are not very wheelchair friendly. The stores are all very narrow and I read some pretty bad reviews about accessibility overall at Universal.

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After talking to my husband, we realized that Universal might be not such a good idea this time around. Not only did it complicated things with transfers, losing a day to change hotels, it just didn't have enough to offer for my parents-in-law. By doing Disney the whole time we would have the magic express and DIsney transportation to rely on and we could enjoy more of our trip that way. We also ended up saving money. I then called up Helen to see what she thought about dropping Universal all together. At first she thought we were changing plans for her and I think she felt bad about it but after going over the reasoning behind our decision she agreed that it was best.

I called up my travel agent once more to change our reservation. Now we are staying at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort a full week and we booked a 5 day park ticket and received a free water park ticket as a bonus.Sounds like a pretty good setup!

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UP next, my touring plans and my ADRs

 
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Following along! How nice you're able to make it work for your parents in law. We took my mother in law once when our kids were younger but my Mom never made it. I regret that now but she's too up in years now for it to even be possible. One day we'll splurge on the Poly - should work out well for you staying at a monorail resort. DH and I will be at POFQ in 23 days! pixiedust:
 
Following along! How nice you're able to make it work for your parents in law. We took my mother in law once when our kids were younger but my Mom never made it. I regret that now but she's too up in years now for it to even be possible. One day we'll splurge on the Poly - should work out well for you staying at a monorail resort. DH and I will be at POFQ in 23 days! pixiedust:

23 days, how exciting! :cool1:
I love POFQ. The boat to DTD can't be beat. We wanted to stay at POFQ at first but switched to the Poly for my mother in law. The Polynesian is just so expensive! The first time we got to stay there by renting a DVC. This time we got an amazing deal through a travel agency who gets conference prices. We've used them in the past so I call them now for all my WDW trips. But even with the deal its expensive.
I am sorry your mom never made it to WDW. That's too bad.
 
Hi guys, sorry I've not written in a while. I've been so busy at work and with the kids lately. Plus I've been sleeping badly since I got back from China.

I am a buyer for a giftware company so I travel to China twice a year for 3 weeks. I actually work with my mom and we travel together along with my boss. My mom and I have been buyers for the company for 15 years and we both find it harder and harder each year. The worse part is that we have no time off after we get back.
To make matters worse, this season, my mom suffered a bout of vertigo from a sickness called Meniere disease while in China. It's an inner ear problem which causes dizziness and nausea so she was unable to work most days and was forced to take a month off work after we got back. That meant my workload doubled. Obviously it was not her fault but I needed to pick up the slack and it made me even more tired.

Traveling and jet lag is bad enough but add my already packed homelike and a crazy workload to the mix and this is the result:
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Me coming into to work looking like this for the past month!

But it wasn't all bad. On my last trip to China, I got to visit Disneyland Shanghai for the first time. Usually I have very little time for visiting but I was in Shanghai for two nights at the beginning of my trip so I was able to sneak in a visit to the park. If you want to read about my trip you can visit my blog: https://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca I will be writing up a trip report in the next few days.

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Here I am at the entrance of the park

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The Shanghai Disneyland Castle

Disneyland Shanghai was pretty cool. After riding Pirates of the Caribbean in Shanghai, it makes the Florida version seem like a joke. The special effects are spectacular and I was seriously blown away by the ride. I seriously hope they change out the one in Florida one day. The Tron ride was really cool too, totally a bad *** roller coaster! I really liked what they did in Shanghai. The park is very well laid out except for the area in front of the castle. There is a big gap and a fence to keep the spectators away from the front stage. it makes it look awkward and kind of cold. You can't see it from the angle I took the picture but in person it is really not nice. The theming is very well done in each land and the injection of Chinese culture is present while still preserving the Disney spirit.

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Check out the cool Mulan float during the parade. You see what I mean by showcasing Chinese culture? Beautiful isn't it!

Anyway, to get back to the planing of my upcoming March trip, I finally finished booking all my restaurants. I still have a very tentative schedule since I am waiting to place my FP selection to determine which park to visit on which day. This is my basic plan. I put in a few option on each day to give me some slack. Tell me what you think:

Wed. March 7th:
Flying into Orlando at 9PM.
Check in

Thurs. March 8th:
Option 1:MK
Crystal Palace breakfast at 8:30 AM
Ohana for Dinner at 5:15 PM.
or
Option 2: HS
50's Prime Time lunch at 12:15PM
Sci Fi dinner at 6:30 PM

Fri. March 9th: AK
Tusker House brunch at 10:40 with R.o.L. seating

Sat. March 10th:
Option 1: HS
50's Prime Time lunch at 12:30PM
or
Option 2: MK
Crystal Palace breakfast at 8:20 AM
BOG lunch at 11:25
Ohana' dinner at 7:15 PM

Sun March 11th:
Option 1: EP
Kona Cafe Breakfast at 7:45AM
Via Napoli dinner at 6:30PM
or
Option 2: Water park day
California Grill dinner at 5:20PM

Mon March 12th:
Option 1: Waterpark Day
Kona Cafe Breakfast at 7:30AM
California Grill dinner at 5:50PM
or
Option 2: EP
Kona Cafe Breakfast at 7:30AM
B&C lunch at 1:20
Rose and Crown pub dinner at 7:00PM

Tue March 13: MK
Crystal Palace breakfast at 8:30 AM
BOG lunch at 12PM
California Grill dinner at 5:50 am (cancel if I do it on Mon.)

Which would you choose?
 
Our trips overlap! We will be there March 8-13, staying at POFQ!! I like your option 1 plans slightly better, especially because you're starting the trip at MK. Also, don't forget the F&G booths at Epcot so you don't want too many dining plans on your Epcot day! Looking forward to hearing the rest of your plans. I hope you are getting some rest now and your mom is feeling better!
 
Our trips overlap! We will be there March 8-13, staying at POFQ!! I like your option 1 plans slightly better, especially because you're starting the trip at MK. Also, don't forget the F&G booths at Epcot so you don't want too many dining plans on your Epcot day! Looking forward to hearing the rest of your plans. I hope you are getting some rest now and your mom is feeling better!
Cool! Say hi if you see me in the park ;)

I like plan 1 better also. I forgot about the F&G at Epcot. Thanks for reminding me. I might just go ahead and cancel my ADR at Epcot. I love the freedom of walking around the world showcase and just picking up some food as a go.

My Mom is feeling better, thank you for asking. I have not really stopped at work but the Holidays are over now and hoping that it will calm down soon.

Happy New Year!
 
33 DAYS TO GO!
:cool1:

Ok so I got all my plans finalized. I had to move around some park days to get a FP for FoP. The restaurants are all booked too. I booked breakfast reservations at Kona each day but will most probably cancel some as I get closer to my arrival dates. Since it is a busy time of year, I did not want to wait and have no options open.
I also planed in a lot of rest time for the grandparents. I figured since we are paying so much to stay at the Polynesian, we'll head back in the afternoons to take advantage of the resort's amenities.
Here is our plan for each day. Let me know what you all think.
For easy viewing I put my ADR in blue and my FPs in Green

Day1: Wed -Late arrival
check-in.

Day 2: Thurs - MK day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel this one)
Head to park. Ride some headliners first thing in the morning
9:55- 10:55: FP for BTMR (for hubby, me and the kids ) and FP for Peter Pan at the same time (for the grand-parents)
10:55 -11:55: FP for Haunted Mansion

12:00: Lunch at Liberty Tree tavern
12:50 - 1:50: FP for 7DMT (for hubby, me and the kids) and FP for ET with Belle (for the grand-parents)
Head back to hotel for some R&R by the pool
5:15 Dinner at Ohana
Head to the beach to watch water pageant and fireworks.

Day 3: Fri - Pool day/Epcot in the evening
8:10 Kona Cafe breakfast
Go over to GF to work out and then head to the pool for the rest of the morning
Eat lunch by the pool.
2:00 -3:00 PM head to Epcot
2:45 - 3:45 FP for Spaceship Earth
3:50 - 4:50 FP for Mission Space (green side)
4:50 - 5:50 FP for Frozen

Walk around the World Showcase
7:15 Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel
Watch fireworks from restaurant.

Day 4: Sat - HS day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel)
11:30 - 12:30 FP for Toy Story
12:30: Lunch at 50's Prime Time
2:05 - 3:05: FP for Star Tours
3:25 - 4:25 : Fp for TOT (for hubby and kids) and Fp for V. Little Mermaid (for grandparents and myself)

5:10: Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine Inn
Stay to see Star Wars Fireworks

Day 5: Sun - AK day
Head to the park to arrive 30 min before open. Head straight to NRJ.
10:40 Tusker House breakfast with ROL dining package
12:05 - 1:05: FP for Kilimanjaro Safaris
1:45 - 2:45: FP for FoP
2:55 - 3:55: FP for KRR (for hubby, me and kids) and (Finding Neemo for Grand-parents)
Have an early dinner at Flame Tree BBQ

Watch ROL first viewing at 6:00PM
Head Back into Pandora and enjoy the rest of the evening there
Try to ride FoP or NRJ again before close

Day 6: Mon - EP day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel)
Head to Epcot early to ride TT.
9:00- 10:00: FP for Mission Space
10:05 - 11:05: FP for Spaceship Earth
11:05 - 12:05: FP for Soaring

Quick Lunch at one of the Garden Festival food carts
1:20: Beaches and Cream for dessert
Explore the rest of the World Showcase
4:00: Head back to hotel for shower and to get ready for dinner
Hop Monorail to CR
5:50 : California Grill
I planned a special anniversary surprise for my parents in law who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
Got a mini wedding cake to be delivered to our table after dinner with a bottle of Champagne.
Watch fireworks from CG

Day 7: Tue - MK day
7:50 Kona Cafe breakfast
10:25 - 11:25: FP for 7DMT (for hubby, me and the kids) and FP for Under the Sea (for grand-parents)
12:00: BOG lunch
1:25 - 2:25: FP for Splash Mountain
2:25 - 3:25: FP for BTMR ( for hubby, me and kids) and FP for Jungle Cruise (for Grand-parents)

Head back to Hotel for some R&R by the pool
Have drinks at Trader Sam's
Grab boat back into MK in the evening for food and fireworks

That's it folks!

A lot of time is spent relaxing at resort but since we've been so many times before , we don't mind missing out on some rides or attractions.
I also book a lot of sit down meals to make sure my mother in law has a lot of breaks during the day.









 
33 DAYS TO GO!
:cool1:

Ok so I got all my plans finalized. I had to move around some park days to get a FP for FoP. The restaurants are all booked too. I booked breakfast reservations at Kona each day but will most probably cancel some as I get closer to my arrival dates. Since it is a busy time of year, I did not want to wait and have no options open.
I also planed in a lot of rest time for the grandparents. I figured since we are paying so much to stay at the Polynesian, we'll head back in the afternoons to take advantage of the resort's amenities.
Here is our plan for each day. Let me know what you all think.
For easy viewing I put my ADR in blue and my FPs in Green

Day1: Wed -Late arrival
check-in.

Day 2: Thurs - MK day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel this one)
Head to park. Ride some headliners first thing in the morning
9:55- 10:55: FP for BTMR (for hubby, me and the kids ) and FP for Peter Pan at the same time (for the grand-parents)
10:55 -11:55: FP for Haunted Mansion

12:00: Lunch at Liberty Tree tavern
12:50 - 1:50: FP for 7DMT (for hubby, me and the kids) and FP for ET with Belle (for the grand-parents)
Head back to hotel for some R&R by the pool
5:15 Dinner at Ohana
Head to the beach to watch water pageant and fireworks.

Day 3: Fri - Pool day/Epcot in the evening
8:10 Kona Cafe breakfast
Go over to GF to work out and then head to the pool for the rest of the morning
Eat lunch by the pool.
2:00 -3:00 PM head to Epcot
2:45 - 3:45 FP for Spaceship Earth
3:50 - 4:50 FP for Mission Space (green side)
4:50 - 5:50 FP for Frozen

Walk around the World Showcase
7:15 Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel
Watch fireworks from restaurant.

Day 4: Sat - HS day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel)
11:30 - 12:30 FP for Toy Story
12:30: Lunch at 50's Prime Time
2:05 - 3:05: FP for Star Tours
3:25 - 4:25 : Fp for TOT (for hubby and kids) and Fp for V. Little Mermaid (for grandparents and myself)

5:10: Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine Inn
Stay to see Star Wars Fireworks

Day 5: Sun - AK day
Head to the park to arrive 30 min before open. Head straight to NRJ.
10:40 Tusker House breakfast with ROL dining package
12:05 - 1:05: FP for Kilimanjaro Safaris
1:45 - 2:45: FP for FoP
2:55 - 3:55: FP for KRR (for hubby, me and kids) and (Finding Neemo for Grand-parents)
Have an early dinner at Flame Tree BBQ

Watch ROL first viewing at 6:00PM
Head Back into Pandora and enjoy the rest of the evening there
Try to ride FoP or NRJ again before close

Day 6: Mon - EP day
7:30 Kona Cafe breakfast (might cancel)
Head to Epcot early to ride TT.
9:00- 10:00: FP for Mission Space
10:05 - 11:05: FP for Spaceship Earth
11:05 - 12:05: FP for Soaring

Quick Lunch at one of the Garden Festival food carts
1:20: Beaches and Cream for dessert
Explore the rest of the World Showcase
4:00: Head back to hotel for shower and to get ready for dinner
Hop Monorail to CR
5:50 : California Grill
I planned a special anniversary surprise for my parents in law who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
Got a mini wedding cake to be delivered to our table after dinner with a bottle of Champagne.
Watch fireworks from CG

Day 7: Tue - MK day
7:50 Kona Cafe breakfast
10:25 - 11:25: FP for 7DMT (for hubby, me and the kids) and FP for Under the Sea (for grand-parents)
12:00: BOG lunch
1:25 - 2:25: FP for Splash Mountain
2:25 - 3:25: FP for BTMR ( for hubby, me and kids) and FP for Jungle Cruise (for Grand-parents)

Head back to Hotel for some R&R by the pool
Have drinks at Trader Sam's
Grab boat back into MK in the evening for food and fireworks

That's it folks!

A lot of time is spent relaxing at resort but since we've been so many times before , we don't mind missing out on some rides or attractions.
I also book a lot of sit down meals to make sure my mother in law has a lot of breaks during the day.


I'm a grandparent and I love BTMR, 7DMT and all the other "fast" rides at WDW - would not be happy if family did those whilst sticking me into Jungle Cruise or PP :)





 
Oh it’s not me who choose to skip them. My mother in law’s hip is deteriorated and she can’t have anything hitting it. Those rides are too jarring for her. She asked me to switch them out for her. My kids do not want to miss out on their favourite rides so grandma and grandpa chose to do a softer ride at the same time so that we don’t miss out. She is a great grandma!
 
Oh it’s not me who choose to skip them. My mother in law’s hip is deteriorated and she can’t have anything hitting it. Those rides are too jarring for her. She asked me to switch them out for her. My kids do not want to miss out on their favourite rides so grandma and grandpa chose to do a softer ride at the same time so that we don’t miss out. She is a great grandma!
:thumbsup2
 

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