Mom, my hands smell-A first timer's TR-Completed 4/12

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Hi there!

Thanks for mozeying on over to this trip report. What's that? You only clicked on it because the title was weird? You DON'T want to hear a long spiel of me telling you how glad I am that you came this way?
(Hey, thanks for coming!)

Anyone still there...?
One of you. Okay, that's good enough.
ANYWAY...

Hiya! Like the title says, this is indeed my first trip to the World- Disney World, that is. And my first trip report (because writing a report about a non-existant trip gets tiring after a while). So...here we go.

Hi. I'm called by several different names. I'm NotSoEvilStepmother on the Dis, Chels to my friends, and "that weird girl who wears the Mickey Mouse ears to high school" to all those that don't know me (ONCE, a girl makes a little mistake and suddenly that's what she's known for ). I'm an actress, writer, and Disney fanatic extroidinaire (do you know how many days it took to build Disneyland in Anaheim...? I do). Last year, I was able to grace the stage as the White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as well as the (last minute) Stepmother in (cough, Rogers and Hammerstein's, cough) Cinderella. Hence the screenname. Amazing how these things tie in. I was brought up on going to Anaheim for Disneyland AT LEAST once a year. That's where I learned about any and all things Disney.

I'm a bit weird.

(And, yeah, I'm a teenager but that just gives ya a new perspective on the magic. At least, that's my excuse.)

And now presenting...the parents that raised me to be a Disney freak (I don't classify myself as a freak, they do) DF, better known as Grumpy, and DM, known as Sleepy. They were those lovely parents that brought their children to California each and every year just to stand in 102 degree heat to have a picture taken with a character or ride on a 2 minute carasoul similar to those at the local fair. Gotta love 'em. Of course, they'd been just about Disney'd out by their previous three children by the time I came along so Disney fanatics still...only when they're wide awake, with a cup of coffee, and there's no lines. Yup. We used to go to DL for free until I was about 11 because of my dad's job. Those days have ended, but the want for Disney each year is still there. Grumpy and Sleepy went to Disney World once for there 20th anniversary many, many moons ago (7 night land/sea DCL...I stayed home, sick) and really didn't do much other than get sick on RnR, look at animals at AK, and sleep in. If I'd been there, it would've been MUCH different. Here's a picture of them outside of Disneyland a year ago.

Still there?

Ok, so around March or April of 2008, we found out that we had enough $$ to possibly go on a decent vacation that summer (seeing as the other 2 possible ones fell through). We toyed around with Washington, Northern CA, Rhode Island, Texas...just places we knew or were interested in going. Then...on a total whim, I suggested

Disney World.

At first it didn't seem possible that we could go at all. We had $$, Disney wanted $$$$$$$$... Finally, on a last thought, we checked expedia for a bundle for staying offsite. Wait...we could...we could almost do this. Within a few days, we had booked the air, (gulp) offsite hotel, and rental car all well within our budget (okay, almost). We ordered tickets just days later. Then we made our one and only (silly us) ADR at the San Angel Inn in EPCOT (it still confuses me why we went all the way from AZ to Florida to try their Mexican food ). As soon as the tickets arrived, I knew it was true.
We were going to Disney World.

Silly me. At this time, I knew nothing of the Dis. One night, I google searched Disney World tips. There was a discussion site on there that had 100's of pages of tips for surviving Disney World. This, my friends, was the beginning of an obsession. At first, I thought it was only the tips, but I was soon searching other corners of the website. They had a trip report board. And, hahahaha, some of them were so funny. By the time July rolled around, I was a member of the site, a lurker at most, but still a member.

I had also discovered the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Knowing we only had 6 days at the park, we were going to take advantage of their touring plans in the back of the book (it had worked REALLY well the previous August at Disneyland).

So time passed quickly as we discovered all that we could discover about this strange new world—Disney World. From the time we booked until the day we left, it was only about 3 and half months so I felt kind of rushed , not to mention that my last year at my junior high was coming to a close as well and several friends and I were splitting ways for the entire summer. Sleepy and I made several shopping trips so that we wouldn’t die in the humidity and our local Wal-Mart got to know us very well because we were always running there for something new.

Before I knew it, it was the day before the trip—July 11th. I was packed, we’d done the 24 hour check in for our flight, we’d checked, rechecked and triple rechecked our reservations, making sure the flight wasn’t cancelled last minute.

And I had nothing to do.


Tired of searching through multiple pages? Use these handy-dandy links to find your way. Brought to you by the color green. Isn't it lovely?
1. Daddy, why are they searching Mommy?
2. Are you SURE they're not following us? AK part 1
3. In the big, wet world!
4. THIS is my future? A first timer's adventures in Future World
5. Tee-hee. Protein Spill.
6. You're supposed to take the picture right side up, not sideways. And there's supposed to be more in it. My 100th DIS post!
7. Wow, My Future's looking a bit funny
8. The chapter without a title.
9. The mad search for a chocolate bar--ending the World Showcase (for the day)
10. 3...2...1... WELCOME HOME!!!!
11. Wait, Wait, I didn't see it!
12. Grim, Grinning, Ghost give great giant giggles
13. Drowned Rats
14. Gasp! We're late! Day Two at the Magic Kingdom
We interupt this trip report for a short picture break
15. Mom, My Hands Smell--The chapter
16. We encounter some sort of Marketplace
17. RUN!
18. Disney Magic
19. The Happiest Place on Earth?
20. A boring excursion.
21. Another phone call
22. Chocolate, Trolls...FIESTA!
23. Why'd They Change the Name?
24. Seeing Stars
25. Do We Make it to Fantasmic?
26. Do we REALLY have to leave?
27. Final Thoughts. Still not done yet!
28. Scrapbooking! Final post! One year since booking!

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Travel Day- Saturday, July 12th, 2008

I woke up moderately relaxed (for a trip day) at almost exactly 7 AM that morning. I was already up and about, triple checking that everything was packed by the time that Grumpy and Sleepy were up. Sleepy (who was rather sleepy that morning) and I were giddy with excitement.

We were going to Disney!!!!

Grumpy, on the other hand, was rather…dare I say, grumpy. He’s not that much of a Disney fan at all. Almost as far as a Disney-hater. According to him, he’s only on this trip to make Sleepy and I happy. Well, we were happy and were on a mission to make him happy too.

We had a…ummm…relaxed breakfast (they threatened to handcuff me to the chair so I couldn’t go to Disney World if I didn’t stop bouncing off the seat). Grumpy and I made a last minute run to Wal-Mart and the bank before going home, loading up the car and getting ready to leave. I said good-bye to my four dogs (I love ‘em all, but later in the story it gets a bit sad) and say adieu to my brothers two dogs (he was living with us at the time). And at last, we were off to Sky Harbor Airport.

It seems to be a longstanding tradition in my house to circle around the airport at least one time before finally finding our destination. The tradition stood the test of time and we only had to go around one time before finding the curb-side check-in for Continental Airlines. It was around 12:30 by the time we got to the airport. Check-in was easy and we were off to Security moments later.

We were thinking, “ok, it’s a Saturday in an International Airport right after a major holiday, there’s gonna be a huge line for Security”. What we forgot to factor in was the economy and the fact we were in the smallest terminal. There were three people in line for Security.

I’d been smart for this day and had my laptop, camera, and cell phone out and ready for it’s own bin before we got to the front of the line. I kicked off my flats and sent everything through the machine and walked through the line before Grumpy and Sleepy had even taken their shoes off. Grumpy was speedy too and we only waited for Sleepy.

We’d done our research online and found out it was basically all toll roads from MCO to our hotel so we’d need some change. But we forgot to pack it in the checked bags and it instead was in Sleepy’s carry-on. As her bag went through, the Security personal looked at the X-Ray machine. They brought it through one more time and still something wasn’t right.

Sleepy gets worried very easily, so you can only imagine her as she tried pulling her shoes on while they brought her to the side and started wiping her bag down for “the E word”. Apparently, they’d asked her if she’d had any coins but she hadn’t heard. They pulled out her stack of quarters, ran the bag through the machine two more times and finally let her go.

She was a nervous wreck for about another half an hour. We got to our gate at 1 for a 2:55 flight in the smallest terminal at the airport. So we were bored for quite a while. We amused ourselves taking pictures of ourselves and places we’d like to go.

(who’s Sleepy now?)

(hey, we’ll see Italy in EPCOT. Check.)

Finally, it was time to board the plane. Hooray. The flight to Houston seemed to last forever. But that might have been because I was so excited for Disney. Whoo-hoo. I had done my research that morning about the Houston airport so we quickly navigated around there and found our gate. The flight didn’t leave for over an hour, so we tried to go find something to eat.

Except we kept almost getting run over by over-sized golf cart. Houston probably has one of the most dangerous airports. ANYWAY…

We really couldn’t find anything that we didn’t have to go through security to get to, so we went back to our gate. Oh. They’d started boarding early. Really early. There was still almost an hour till we were scheduled to take off.

We hopped in line and got on the plane very quickly. And waited and waited and waited… Finally, the pilot came on the speaker saying that 16 passengers were arriving just a bit late on their flight so we would wait for them to join us. Five minutes later, he came on the speaker again. “Never mind. We will be departing momentarily.”

Huh? Poor 16 people. They didn’t get to go see Mickey (or other various Orlando attractions).

The flight was pretty short (considering I slept through half of it). We flew over the Gulf of Mexico, which was pretty cool seeing as I’d never seen an ocean before. I didn’t really get to see this one either, seeing as it was pitch black and we were flying hundreds of miles above. But the lights on the little boats were entrancing.

And, finally, we were at MCO airport. I hardly remember getting off of the plane (other than seeing the DME sign as you exit) or getting away from the gate. Sleepy and I made a small stop at the restroom as we headed to the “monorail”. I’d read Jordan’s (jordanyosh) TR before the trip and tried explaining to Sleepy how the bathroom-ratings worked. She really didn’t get it, but I decided that this bathroom was a 2 on the 5-flush scale. This was just about the only time we used it.

We took the little “monorail” (and I was, again, the only one who knew where it actually led…and no one trusted me) to Terminal A and grabbed our luggage. I sat on the sidelines and, between bouts of falling asleep by the suitcases (it was after midnight, after all), I stared longingly at all of the happy looking families getting in line for the DME.

It took forever to get the luggage but as soon as we did, we zipped off to the rental cars. Just to show how much we needed to save money on this trip, I’ll show pictures of where we got the car from.

It was really a nice car, though. (other than the fact it looks like every other rental car in Florida.)

And we were on our way down the highway, only getting lost twice, towards Kissimmee. Down I92, we knew we were getting close. We were looking for the Knights Inn. We saw a tall sign for it and drove right past seeing as there was no entrance sign. Then, nothing. We did a U-y and circled around again. Nothing. Once more we drove past and finally saw something hidden in the green Florida bushes. An out-of-order Entrance sign. We turned and drove slowly, looking for where it was. Next door, the Ramada was calling my name. Then we saw a small collection of really old, really run-down buildings.

“Maybe it’s behind this dump.” Apparently, my humor was not appreciated as neither Sleepy nor Grumpy laughed. Grumpy parked and walked inside to check us in. Apparently, they “lost” our reservation, but as soon as Grumpy paid $20 for something or other it mysteriously “appeared”.

Great. We drove over to our building and walked inside our room. It was hot, dirty, musty and the high cabinet tops weren’t clean. But we fell asleep, knowing that in just a few short hours (literally), we’d be on our way to the Animal Kingdom.



Up Next: Are you SURE they're not following us?

 

[L107ANGEL]

I'm in

 

[marianas00]

Subbing. Welcome to the Dis!

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Subbing. Welcome to the Dis!

 

[julezdisney]

You have great writing skills! I'm subbing!

And thanks for the hotel tip- it's not on my list anyway, but now it's def. NEVER going to be. Ever.

I came to your trippie because of your 'name'. I really AM a Not So Evil Stepmother! And my DSS and I just were laughing at a book we saw at the library titled, "The Not So Evil Stepmother"!!!!

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

You have great writing skills! I'm subbing!

And thanks for the hotel tip- it's not on my list anyway, but now it's def. NEVER going to be. Ever.

I came to your trippie because of your 'name'. I really AM a Not So Evil Stepmother! And my DSS and I just were laughing at a book we saw at the library titled, "The Not So Evil Stepmother"!!!!

Thanks for the compliment. I dabble a bit in creative writing (when I have time). Yes. PLEASE don't stay at the Knights Inn. Stay onsite if at all possible cuz it is (I'm assuming) so much more worth it. Or if you don't, then read reviews and look at pictures of the actual place (don't trust it if there's ONLY pictures of the pool). That's something we, umm...forgot to do.

Ha! An actual "Not So Evil Stepmother". I love it!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am here!!!

I need to go back and read, but I have to comment on two things:

1. My Chelsea is called Chels by her friends.

2. I played Alice in a high school production of Alice in Wonderland.

Now back to read some more...

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

I am here!!!

I need to go back and read, but I have to comment on two things:

1. My Chelsea is called Chels by her friends.

2. I played Alice in a high school production of Alice in Wonderland.

Now back to read some more...

Thanks for coming over! Hope my very short report hasn't frightened you off already.

And an announcement to all, due to the fact that high school bogs you down with so much homework it's neigh impossible to breathe, another update will not be up till Sunday night--most likely. Don't quote me on that. In the meantime, I think some music and dancing is in order

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Sunday, July 13th, 2008—Are you SURE they’re not following us?

Ah! What a lovely day! Smell the flowers , listen to the birds, hear the children laugh . Oh, wait! That’s not how the day started.

The three hour time difference between Florida and AZ didn’t entirely throw me, luckily enough. But after getting bed at eleven (home time) getting up at three in the morning was not my ideal way of starting a vacation. The alarm at the smelliest hotel in Florida went of at precisely 6 AM early Sunday morning.

UNGH!! The same noise came from both Sleepy and Grumpy. I, on the other hand, jumped out of bed, shouting “It’s time for Disney”. And they say that teenagers these days are acting more and more mature.

I had a plan today…. We HAD to be at opening at the Animal Kingdom whether we were awake or not. It took a little while to get Sleepy out of bed while Grumpy and I got ready. She was finally coaxed from coming out of the world beneath her eyelids. While she got ready for the day, Grumpy and I went down to the main office for the “all around continental breakfast” that the hotel offered. We got to the lobby, kinda hungry after not eating since before we left for the airport the morning before, and saw the “breakfast”.

Donuts. Coffee. And a very, very watery orange juice. Gross.

We grabbed one of each (nix the coffee for me, I’m way to wound up without it) and headed back to the room. And by 8:30, we were out the door and heading towards the most magical place on Earth—Disney World!!!

(After getting lost once) it only took us a few minutes to see this sign.

AH!!! I was spazzing in the backseat. It didn’t take long before we were pulling into the parking lot right in front of Animal Kingdom. Almost literally right in front, only 5 rows back. Yeah. We just missed the tram as we arrived so we walked towards the entrance and wound up beating it up there. Cool. And (with a minor pit stop from Sleepy) we were in line, waiting to enter the park. It was 8:45. Five minutes before the park was supposed to enter, they let us in and started the Opening Ceremony.

I gawked at the giant Tree of Life right in front of me. It was absolutely amazing. After all the pictures I’d seen, all the movies and videos and Travel Channel segments I’d watched, I’d never once imagined how GIGANTIC the Tree would be. Slowly, I turned to Grumpy and whispered, excitement bubbling over in my voice, “We’re at Disney.”

Then we were off!!!

The Unofficial Guide touring plan that we had for today was being edited a little bit. The first step was to get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest. So we headed straight there.

It took FOREVER to get the Fastpasses, but as soon as we did, we hopped in the 30 minute line for EE instead of going to step 2. I think we waited longer getting Fastpasses. Honestly, we were through the (excellently themed) line in less than five minutes.

Sleepy has always been one to be deeply affected by the theme of a ride. At Disneyland the year before, she’d left the line for ToT after just riding it 4 times straight. It’s a little weird. But the theme for this one had me a bit jumpy too. Not to mention listening to the screams of all the people who were riding at that very moment. I got the heeby geebies. But I stuck it out and we were on the ride moments later. Sleepy and I got the very last row. Before we took off, I breathed in and out slowly.

I could do this.

We took off.



“MOOOOOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!”

Yeah, I was the cool teenager shouting for her Mommy during the ride. But EE was AMAZING! Absolutely, one hundred percent amazing. I was having a great time, screaming during the ride (not just for my Mommy). When we got off, my legs were like jelly, but I was in heavenly bliss.

What an amazing way to start a vacation. I couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the yeti was. And then I hear what Sleepy has to say about her first ride of the week long vacation.

“I had my eyes closed the whole time. I could hear Chels screaming but I didn’t see anything. Did anything pop out?”

Ah, that’s my mother for you. We (well, mostly I) ran out through the store and into the lovely (slightly humid) air and headed straight towards Dinoland to do the premiere attraction—Dinosaur. Now this was the part I was seriously dreading.

I’m weird, I’ve admitted it. And to prove it, I’ll admit that I have always been afraid of dinosaurs. I can watch Jurassic Park with minimum flinching but the animated movie Dinosaur gave me nightmares. Am I weird? I’ll let you decide that yourself.

But when we got to Dinosaur, we saw exactly what we would be seeing for the remainder of our vacation. A giant Brazilian tour group clad in blue shirts. They were in two groups, one was waiting to get into the attraction and the other was getting off, waiting for the rest. I was afraid that the entire line in the inside would be made up entirely of the blue-shirted teenagers.

Luckily, we made it through the line in half the posted wait time, at about 10 minutes. The touring plan was working well, seeing as the Stand-By for EE was almost an hour when we got off. The attraction was short, sweet, and painless. But I’ll admit that my eyes were closed for every minute of it except for the picture (thanks to the Travel Channel, I knew exactly when it would go off). So, for your enjoyment, here’s the redneck photo we got (many more to come).

Lovely. Sleepy took another break (see a reoccurring theme here?) and then we were off towards our next ride of the day. Kali River Rapids. Ok, so the Florida heat has nothing on my own hometown. The humidity doesn’t even really affect me. But after standing outside for so long, the heat was actually getting to me (this was the worst day of the trip heat-wise…the temp. dropped at least 6 points every other day). The posted wait time was only about 30 minutes (if I remember correctly). And no one was following us so it was a nice quiet walk to greet the rest of the line (remember this).

As Sleepy and I discussed whether or not we should wear our 89 cent ponchos (from Wal-Mart!), we heard them. Singing teenagers. Singing teenagers from Brazil. We turned around just in time to see 100 yellow t-shirted Brazilian teenagers walking down to join us—and every one of them was singing some sort of theme song over and over and over again.

Funny bit of Disney magic happened as they showed up: A young female CM came up and looked at what all the commotion was. She gave a little “eek!” and turned and quickly ran away to warn the others. You can’t buy laughs like that.

After dealing with this for 10 minutes (so much for the fast-moving line now) I leaned over to whisper to Sleepy and Grumpy.

“This is more annoying that It’s A Small World.”

Well, I thought it was funny. Luckily, the line jumped forward and a few minutes later and soon we were close enough to the ride that the singing ceased. We were lucky and got placed with a family of five (I think) and a nice elderly couple. After seeing how SOAKED everyone walking off was while we were in line, Sleepy and I agreed on ponchos. Grumpy rolled his eyes at us.

The ride was a lot of fun, though I must admit that I prefer Grizzly River Run at Disney’s California Adventure to it. I like the theme they had going (however thin it was). Even through the ponchos we were wet—thanks to the high humidity levels that day. The clouds were looking a little leery on the horizon, so we ducked in to the Maharaja Jungle Trek. Oh, and as for the poncho-less Grumpy—lets just say his side of the float went down backwards.

I really liked the Jungle Trek, actually. We spent about ten minutes looking at just one sleeping tiger before moving on. We took our time knowing, that although this was our only day at Animal Kingdom, that there wasn’t much else we wanted to do. We mainly took the time to talk and dry off from the Rapids.

And then we heard them. Singing teenagers.

Before they even came around the corner, we ran out of the exhibits and into the crowds at the exit.

We went back to Asia and used our Fastpasses for EE. Again, Sleepy and I were in the back row (or second to last) and I screamed the entire time. When Sleepy got off, she said that she’d had her eyes actually open for half the ride.

Well that was something.

We backtracked to Africa and grabbed some Passes for the Safaris. Then we hopped the next train for Rafiki’s Planet Watch. There really wasn’t that much we were interested in there, sadly. We looked at the few open, behind glass exhibits in main building but not much of interest was going on. The main attraction was the characters—Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki had huge lines but poor Pocahontas had no one in her line until we left. I saw her eyeing Rafiki with envy.

The highlight of this excursion? Seeing this little guy.

By the time we were back in Harambe, our Fastpass time was up for the Safaris. So we hopped in the very short line and got goin’. We had a really funny guide but I cannot remember her name for the life of me. I didn’t get the best pictures (thanks to my somewhat less than desirable camera), but here are a few.

As we left the line, we saw THEM again—the yellow-shirted tour group. They walked past us and were gone quick enough. But no sooner did they disappear then the blue-shirts arrived.

This was just getting out of control.

“It must be a coincidence,” Grumpy said.

Sure…

We took some time to mozey around and grab a bananna to eat (see, some healthy food to make up for our donut breakfast—if only we hadn’t picked up the lemon ice ten minutes later ). We walked towards Finding Nemo: The Musical to see the next show time. It was only about 30 minutes away. They had us waiting out in the sun for about 10 minutes but soon enough we were walking quickly towards the theatre. Except, the CM at the first entrance didn’t let us go through with the lemon ice. Sleepy and Grumpy stopped to finish a bit more of it off before we entered the theatre.

And then we heard it—AGAIN. Singing teenagers. Only this time, both blue and yellow shirts came around the corner, talking with each other. E-gads! They knew each other. Quickly, I pulled the lemon ice from Grumpy and Sleepy’s hands and threw it in the dumpster, literally pulling them behind me before the tour group came up to us. As we stopped by the theatre doors, I turned to Grumpy.

“Are you SURE they’re not following us?”



Up Next: In the big, wet World!

 

[KadysMom]

Tuning in! Love the TR so far!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm in! You are cracking me up with your Disney adventures!

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

I'm in! You are cracking me up with your Disney adventures!

Thanks! Oh, there's more crackin'. Much more.

Tuning in! Love the TR so far!

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Sunday, July 13, 2008—AK Part 2, In the Big, Wet World!

So when I last left you, we were being followed YET AGAIN, by the Brazilian Tour Groups from Hell—well, that’s what I nicknamed them while standing by the doors for Finding Nemo: The Musical, at least. It was really starting to get on my nerves having to deal with 200 singing teenagers. Now, I’m gonna get a bit OT for a moment and explain that sleep is very precious in my life. We’d been up the entire day before, on planes and transferring around deadly airports. Then we didn’t get to the hotel until 2 AM, only to wake up a few hours later. I was steaming out the ears about every little thing by this time. I feel bad for Sleepy and Grumpy…having to deal with a TEENAGER going through a meltdown.

ANYWAY… It took them about 10 minutes to let the masses through the doors to see the show. Most of them, as always, did not understand that you should move all the way to the end of the row at the far end of the auditorium before parking your butt in the seat. But, my Disney-knowledgeable family moved to the far right end of the stage and sat in the last row of the first section (if that makes any sense). We were still a while away from the show, so Sleepy and I humored ourselves with taking pictures.

We caught one (slightly dark/ blurry) shot of the tour group who decided to sit RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!

Finally, the show started. Oh my goodness! I must say that this show was absolutely AMAZING! As a performer, I learn to appreciate all the small things in a performance. There was so much spectacular things going on at the same time, I wasn’t sure where to look and when. It was spectacular! Even the loud tour groups were quiet as they watched. It was a lot of fun and what an addicting song!

We left with the masses out the door only to meet a roadblock. Rain. And every single person who was stuffed into the auditorium had stopped under the awning. Pulling out our handy dandy 87 cent ponchos, we wormed our way through the crowds and stopped farther on to find our bearings. Sleepy and Grumpy asked me where I wanted to go. Hmmmm…



That’s right. I chose EE. We worked our way back down to Asia through the crowds heading the other way. When we go to the ride entrance, the Stand-By time was only about 20 minutes. Sleepy decided to step out on this ride and go explore the shops. Grumpy and I—always the thrill-seekers—entered the line, waiting anxiously for another plunge down Mt. Everest. And then we heard it, rolling across the dark sky.

Yup, thunder.

When we got to the part of the line where it winds around the shrine, we saw a flash—and not of someone taking a picture. Yep, lightning. About five minutes later, they made the announcement that they wouldn’t be able to take anyone up to Everest at this time, but we were allowed to stay in line if we REALLY wanted too (the CM making the announcement sounded peeved).
Grumpy looked at me as four dozen people made their way out of the line. His expression said “PLEASE let us go.”

“Let’s just wait a few minutes. Chances are that they’ll start it up again in ten minutes.”



“Ok, only for 15 minutes then.”

Twenty minutes later, we were still in line and we had certainly moved up—but not because the ride had started up again. The thunder kept rolling on as we waited. We called Sleepy and debated about what to do with her for a little bit. She told us to stay in line for a little while longer. Ten minutes passed, the fifteen, and then twenty-five. Finally, after waiting in line for nearly an hour, we decided just to head out of the line. I said good-bye to Mt. Everest, knowing it could be years before I saw him again.

We met up with Sleepy outside and then, I think, headed over to It’s Tough to Be A Bug. Now, don’t quote me on that because we MIGHT have done that in the morning before Nemo… but I can’t remember. Silly me didn’t take any notes on the entire trip other than the paragraph I wrote in my journal each night when I was about to pass out. But, let’s just say we did it now.
Ok, so California Adventure has the same show in “A Bug’s Land” but the last time I saw it was when it was brand new, so probably when I was ten. All I remember was that I refused to go on it again. Why, you may ask? I don’t remember. The line was basically non-existent. We’d managed to ditch the tour groups during the rain after Nemo.

For now, at least.

We didn’t get a chance to pick out different animals in the trunk of the tree because we were underground in the tight little holding room in about two minutes. In fact, the entire day we hadn’t gotten a good look at the tree. The show was pretty good but SO MANY little kids decided to have meltdowns in the middle of the show. I really felt bad for their parents, having to take everything and leave with a screaming child.

We decided after the show to just go now. We were wet, we were tired, and it was humid. We headed to the exit but before we could go, we met up with a PhotoPass photographer and had a few pictures taken (redneck style from the computer).

What’s weird is that we took a “magical” image picture with Simba in Sleepy’s arms (it was pretty funny, well, Grumpy and I were funny in it) but when we checked the pictures—it wasn’t there. I wonder if the poor photographer felt so bad for Sleepy having to deal with us that he didn’t actually take it—or if it’s a beginner picture thing. Thoughts?

We headed out and went on to the smelly hotel. I think it was worse than how we left it. Nothing was cleaned and the beds were sloppily put together (my Murphy bed wasn’t even touched). We ordered a pizza and it got there REALLY QUICK (remember this…). Later that evening, we went off to the Winn-Dixie down the road from the hotel and picked up some essentials for the rest of the trip, like, so we could eat the rest of the week.

And then we headed home and went off to bed (after watching a bit of Stacy on the Disney Info Channel…I liked her, but she scared Grumpy and Sleepy) dreaming of gallivanting off to Paris and meeting Mushu in China because tomorrow—we were going to EPCOT.

Up Next: Wait, THIS is the Future?

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I just couldn’t find enough from this part of the day.

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Ok. Not that I'm upset or anything, but a week without any comments is kind of sad. I'm hoping that people are still reading though and this will eventually grow.
And, usually Sunday is update day, but I seemed to have lost all of my notes on what we did on this day, including the Tour-Guide, so it'll be a few more days before I can get it up.
In the meanwhile, enjoy some lovely dancing/

 

[JoanieS]

Hi!! I just found you and look forward to reading more!!

 

[vdarrell]

Reading and laughing .

 

[justplaingoofy]

I was lurking... busted...

Keep going

 

[smarsha4455]

Also busted as a lurker! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Wow. Thanks for the sudden comments, guys. I'm glad to say I'm finally working on an update but school might get in the way today. So, sometime soon.

I was lurking... busted...

Keep going

I was also a lurker for the longest time on the DIS. I try not to be now that I know how awkward it feels seemingly talking to yourself.