After Everest, it was time for me to let them loose. So I let them on their own with explicit instructions to be ON TIME for our ADR at Prime Time at Hollywood Studios. I had to decide what to do next. The original plan was to hit the MK and get a much needed haircut at the barbershop. My leg was hurting a bit and a headache was building so what did I decide to do? Go back to MY GV and relax. The haircut could wait.
This is what I did.
Yes we were at Disney and part of me was saying that I should be in a park for our only park day for this trip. My decision to go back was based on that I loved the room and while we will do it again sometime, who knows when that would happen. Thought about going over to ESPN to invite people standing in line to join me at the GV to watch the games. It would be BYOB and of course they would have to pay a cover charge. This would be a serious party room.
They were off on their own and decided to hit Dinosaur. From all accounts, a good time was had by all on the ride. The following pics are from shutterbug.
They had a CM take this one. Notice the look on the guy on the bench next to them. “Teenagers, why does it always have to be teenagers” (another movie reference).
They then went to the arcade area and tried a couple of games. The strategy was to all play a game at the same time to better ensure that one of them would be a winner. 6 won both times and donated her winnings to DD and 5.
As an aside, my dad worked the New York State Fair and he would take my brother and I every day and let us loose on the place. One of the many things we would do in addition to watching the pigs at feeding times (which was hilarious) was to play the arcade games. I became an expert at the game where you roll a ball into a maze of holes to advance your horse to the finish line. Passed that skill onto DD and she is a killer at the game but they did not play it this time.
Their winnings get to know one another.
Meanwhile I was back lounging at my spacious GV having a great time watching football. All too soon it was time to meet them at the Studios for lunch. When I exited, the boat was pulling in so decided to rest the leg and take it over. One of the Captains was getting some of the birds to eat out of his hand. This crow he said was his favorite.
After entering the Studios I dialed DD to see where they were. She informed me that the herd was still at AK and they were waiting for a bus to take them to HS. WHAT? I was totally ticked off. I tried to explain to her that you cannot get a bus directly from one park to another and they would have to go to a hotel then get on a Studios bus and there was no way they would make it in time for our ADR. “Yes we will.”
Steam was coming out of my ears and I decided to have a smoke. Yes, I know, BAD. I quit a while ago, picked it up again and was in the process of quitting again. After everything that has gone on, I postponed the quitting until probably next week. Don’t judge me and for all of you out there that do not smoke, NEVER have a cigarette.
After leaving the smoking area I thought the heck with them and headed to get a fastpass to ToT. Walking down Sunset Boulevard mumbling curses under my breath, I look to my right and see some kids sitting on a bench. Hey, that looks like 4. Concentrate a little bit which is hard to do when steam is coming out of your ears and recognize that it is the little monsters.
It seems they saw me come in and at the suggestion of one of them (guess who) they decided to stalk me and pull this stunt on the benevolent person that decided to take them all to WDW. If she ever has children, may they be as much a PITA (pain in the ***) as she is to me.
While they were sitting on the bench giggling over their stunt, they struck up a conversation with one of the Streetmostphere Characters and told her what they were doing. She said that he must see you. I guess I was looking directly at them but again it is hard to see with all the steam coming out of my ears. A good laugh was had by all and we headed to Prime Time. I silently vowed to get even.
On their viewing bench. Aren’t they adorable? NOT.
We headed down to get our fastpasses to ToT. There was a show going on in the street so I gathered the kids tickets and let them watch the show. We then pull into Prime Time on time and I told the kids to have a seat in the waiting area. At the hostess station I let them know we were here and asked for a server that would give them the most grief. After a little while, DD’s party was called.
Somebody is getting picked on
They posed with the glamour girl.
It was funny that on the way out we saw a similar show by these guys. When the one that does her high pitched scream did it, a balloon popped. Perfect timing. Another one of the actors ran to get the remains of the balloon and they proceeded to have fun with that.
Waiting to be seated
The bar
The kids got a kick out of the TV shows
We were seated and “mom” came out. She was fantastic. Of course she starts right away and who does she pick on? Me. I was chastised for chewing gum and was made to spit it out. 1 was looking at her phone and was told that we do not Google here. I normally keep the receipts and would have gotten her name from it but it seems it got lost. I did comment on the way out how fantastic she was but should have filled out a comment card. Sorry.
What sweet children. NOT.
“There is no Googling in here dear.”
We ordered. Again I do not remember what everyone had but DD split a peanut butter shake with someone which was a major hit. 6 and I had the fried chicken, DD and 1 (they are vegetarian) ordered the mac and cheese and 4 had the pot roast. My drink was a vodka and tonic and when mom brought it, she said that she told the bartender that I had 7 teens with me and they “made it extra strong.” No food porn, I forgot to take pictures. Me bad.
Lunch was great. Everyone seemed to like their food and the fried chicken was excellent. Mom periodically told them to get your elbows off the table. 2 ratted out someone for an infringement of the rules and mom shot back and said something like, “So are you are little miss perfect? We do not like tattletales.”
While we were waiting for our food, we were given a task. Name 11 parts of the body that are three letters. Warning: Do not challenge these kids to answer a question. Immediately someone was assigned to write the answers down and everybody brainstormed. They then started to put down answers in French and Spanish. Mom nixed that idea. They had all of them but one. Frustrated to the max, two of them excused themselves to, “go to the restroom.” Actually they left the restaurant and called a friend. He looked it up on the computer and gave them the answer. Can you name all of them?
After surprising mom with all the answers, she then asked us to name the 8 Presidents whose last name is one syllable. Since I am a history buff, that got my competitive juices flowing. It was the same question she asked the table next to us and between the two of us we got them all. Give you a hint, one of the more obscure ones was Polk.
2 did not eat all of her peas and carrots so mom played the airplane game. I missed taking a picture the first time so asked mom do it again. Revenge is mine.
A couple of desserts were ordered to be split up among the girls (sorry don’t remember what). Mom brought out a cupcake to celebrate DD’s 16th and announced it to everyone. The tables around us sang happy birthday. When mom brought out the cupcake she told DD to make a wish. I told DD to make a wish about me. She immediately came back with, “Are you sure you want me to do that?” Smart *** again. Wonder where she gets that from? Mom nearly fell on the floor laughing. So did I.
Some brownie thing I think
Presenting the cupcake
Mom reacting to Smart ***’s “Are you sure comment.”
They asked mom if we could take a picture with her and she brought them out to the lobby area. In the meantime I was signing the check and she was shouting, “Come on dad we want to take a picture of YOUR kids.” I am sure there were looks all around waiting for the father of this brood. Used the TIW card and they added the 18% tip. Mom got a bit more than that for a good show.
Bye mom, we miss you already
As we left the restaurant they were playing the “Time of your life…Celebrate...” over the speakers. Must have been residual smoke from Illuminations because my eyes misted a little. All was well with the world.
From there we headed to R&R coaster which had a 70 minute wait. I hate waiting in lines but gave in to them. A mistake. Try waiting in line with 7 teens for an hour. They decided to sit on the floor when the line stopped and were obsessed with the marble things that are on the door. Headache. DD, 1 & 2 zipped when the door opened after the pre-show and wanted us to move ahead of everyone in front of us. Told someone to call them and that they were not getting on the ride without us or they would not get the FP to ToT. We eventually met up and got in our limo. To their defense, the CM told them we could move up and when we got there he said, “finally the party of eight.” 5 was directly behind me and from the moment we took off until the ride was over, there was an ear piercing scream coming from behind me. Funny, but I may have permanent hearing loss.
For some reason they decided throughout the trip to take pictures of their shoes
We then headed to our fastpasses to ToT. ToT was a short wait and we were soon walking to the elevator loading area. This then became a pain. DD turned into the choreographer of where we would sit for the picture. When we got to the front of the line, one of the elevators went down and they needed to unload the people already seated. More time left for further discussion. She kept insisting that we could all ride on the back row and I explained to her that you couldn’t. She was convinced and said to me, “Yea, I own you.” Give me a gun. They finally figured out who was sitting where and we were loaded. Oh and I was right. We could all not fit in the back row. “Yea I OWN YOU.” Good ride with many big drops. Bought the picture and if I can scan it, I will post it.
By then I had enough. My leg was acting up a bit and my head was pounding. Left them again to their own devices and their plan was to eventually head over to EPCOT. Made a mistake that was in my original plan which was to take them to the animation show and have them all be taught to draw a character by an actual animator. DD is pretty good at art and we have wanted to do this for some time. With my skill, it would have looked like a stick figure Mickey. I forgot to do it however, which was good luck for the CM that was there at that time.
The boat was nowhere to be seen so I hoofed it over to the Boardwalk. They soon came by to unload their stuff on their way to EPCOT.
Made it back to the Boardwalk without incident.
Ah, welcome home
I love this place.
There is our room!
If you look at the B the awning underneath it is off our living room. Did I just say our? The balcony to the left on the floor above was DD’s baclcony.
Am out of pic space and am leaving it here for now and will pick up on the last part of the day and the drive home. May be a day or two.