Friends…. I had the worst moment I have ever had at Disney on Friday. I really can’t even believe this happened as I have always been so careful. And when it happened, I cried right there in the middle of Disney World.
So let me start at the beginning….
My husband, kids and my mother-in-law went out of town to visit family and drove my van. I don’t like driving my husband’s truck because it is hard for me to see over the hood. My mother-in-law was kind enough to loan me her car to drive while they were gone.
So I packed up my bag to go to Disney and I decided to take my personal key to her car. I left her bulky keys at home on the table in the foyer. I sat down in her car and remembered I hadn’t put on my Apple Watch and I had made a vow that I was going to wear it more often. So I got out of the car and went inside to put it on.
I had my backpack in the backseat of her car because it is so tiny and my backpack is so big. When I got to Disney, I went ahead and hit the lock button on the car door so that I could put the keys deep down in the backpack so I wouldn’t lose them. I decided to drink my water with Spark (an energy powder by Advocare) beside the car so that I would follow Disney’s guidelines about not drinking and walking at the same time.
I laid my phone down on the seat and I got the bottle of water out of the backpack, stood up and the WIND BLEW THE DOOR SHUT.
My mother-in-law has a 2020 Kia Soul. I have a 2016 Kia Sedona mini van. It is IMPOSSIBLE to lock your keys in my van. So I assumed since her car was the same make and newer the keys wouldn’t lock inside the car.
I was wrong!
I immediately started pulling on the door going “No, no, no, no, no.” and it wouldn’t budge. I checked all the doors and the hatch. Locked, locked, locked.
I started to panic. My family was out of town. My phone and ID and money was inside my mother-in-law’s card. I just laid my head down on the side of the door and prayed and cried.
I stood there for a good 2 minutes praying and crying wondering what on earth I was going to do. And wondering why, at 37 years old, I had allowed this to happen. I haven’t locked my keys in my car since high school.
And then I remembered the Apple Watch could call people. Praise the Lord it was on my wrist! And it was able to connect to the phone even though it was inside the car. I called Jason first to ask him to call people for me to find out who could rescue me and bring the other set of keys to me at Epcot.
Luckily our neighbor Elizabeth was home. She had a key to my house and agreed she would get me the other set of keys and bring them to me at Epcot. We live about 30 miles from Epcot. How nice is that???
At this point, 2 Cast Members came up to me because Guests had alerted them to a woman crying beside her car. They wanted to see if I needed any help and to make sure I wasn’t crying because I had locked my baby in the car. Oh man, that would have been awful. At least it was only keys!
They did tell me they had a Lock Smith that they could call that would charge me $75 to get into the car. Not a bad price if I had to pay it.
They told me that I could go wait in the Guest Drop Off area because it was shaded and that they would make sure the parking booth attendants knew she was just dropping off keys for a Guest.
So with my cold bottle of water in hand (thank you Jesus for that), I went to sit at Guest Drop Off and try not to let anyone else see me crying.
I was just so irritated at myself for letting this happen. It is one of my worst fears, being stranded when my husband is out of town. And here it was…happening….and it was all because of my negligence.
Elizabeth arrived (Hallelujah) with the keys and I was able to get into the car to get my backpack, phone and ID. I took a Selfie to send to my husband and friends that I had alerted.
I had debated on just going home but decided I deserved to go into Epcot and eat a little around the world.
I also went to The Seas Pavilion and watched the Manatees and Dolphins for a while.
Looking back, I can see how God perfectly orchestrated it to be as least painful as possible. I left my mother-in-law’s keys at home where they could easily be found, I went back in and put on my Apple Watch, I had a cold bottle of water in my hand and Elizabeth was available to rescue me.
So there is the story of the worst moment I have ever had at Disney. I hope it never happens to you!