Day 4 (Friday, January 29th, 2010): The Itinerary Goes Awry aka My Crabby Day (Magic Kingdom with stepdaughter and in-laws)
We woke excited to be returning to the Magic Kingdom and for seeing some of the attractions we hadn't seen on Wednesday. We were now joined by my stepdaughter, Caryn, age 17, and would be joined at the park by my husband's mother and stepfather. A bit of background:
Caryn lives in Maryland with her mom and stepdad and due to circumstances beyond our control we only see her about twice a year for a few days each. Sad, but true. When we decided to take this trip I felt we should include her for at least part of it. She's always telling us she can't come out to visit because she doesn't want to miss school and her activities, and since we were going during school time (none of our kids are in school yet) we left it up to her if and when she would want to join us. She told us that she very much wanted to join us and picked the weekend, coming out Thursday evening through Monday morning so she would only miss one and a half days of school. (She ended up missing none because there was a big snowstorm in MD at the time.) She seemed very excited that we had asked her to join us and about the trip in general.
My husband's mother and stepfather live about a half hour away from us during the spring/summer/fall and in Panama City Beach, FL for the winter. When they are near us March - November they are very uninvolved in our lives. They are both always very busy with work (that is what they tell us, anyway). Last year we saw them a total of 2 times in the 8 month they were home! Although Panama City Beach is a good 7 hours from Disney World, when my mother-in-law heard of the trip she invited herself and my stepfather to join us for a day. I was pretty angry about the whole thing, seeing that when they are nearby they can't take time out of their "busy" schedule to see us but since we were going to Disney World they could drive 14 hours roundtrip for an overnight! I kept telling myself it was only one day of our 10 day trip and to be nice about it for the kids, but it really bothered me (and my husband too). They decided to join us for this Friday because they wanted to see Caryn and because it was our only Magic Kingdom Day of the weekend and that was the park they preferred to experience with the kids the most.
And now on with the TR!:
We ate breakfast at the rental house and were on the road by 8:10am. I wasn't sure if Caryn would be good with getting up early, but she told me she got to sleep later than if she were in school so she was fine with it. We were at the turnstiles for the opening ceremonies (again, kids LOVED it!) and heading down Main Street for Tomorrowland by 9am. We didn't even step foot in this section of the park on Wednesday so were excited to see something new. RideMax sent us to the Astro Orbiter first (which in all of my 4 visits I had never ridden), where the trials of the day began.
According to our RideMax plan we were to be some of the first in line and be off the ride by 9:20am. We were the second group to go up in the elevator, but we didn't end up coming down until almost 10am!!! As soon as we got off the elevator at the top they shut the ride down. We waited, and waited, and waited.......we had no idea what the problem was. There were people already sitting on the ride waiting for it to go but it just sat there. After about 25 minutes, Rick called my cell phone to see what was taking us so long (he can't do spinning rides so had remained below and picked up Buzz Lightyear FP's). We would've just left, but there was no way to get back down due to the elevator! I was desperately wishing I had left Matthew with Rick as my arms were breaking from holding him for so long (he couldn't walk at the time). About 45 minutes after we had come up we discovered the problem: a boy about 12 had decided he did not want to ride the spacecraft with his friend but wanted his own spacecraft. The CM had counted the two boys as one rider and let on additional guests to fill the remaining spacecraft and there was now no room for them. The two boys were sitting in their own spacecrafts with the one boy refusing to move and swearing at the CM. She had to call for help and eventually a couple of other CM's came and convinced him to ride with his friend so the ride could continue! Can you believe it?!!!
50 minutes after we got off the elevator we boarded the ride, and after all that waiting I thought the kids and I were going to die while riding it! Caryn took Sam with her while I rode with Matthew and Madeleine and I seriously thought the three of us were going to fly out of the ride!!!
Having never ridden it before I didn't realize the extent of the tilt to the side! I was hanging onto Matthew and Madeleine so hard with one arm and the side of the spacecraft with the other to keep us all from flying out. It was so scary! Has anyone else ever experienced that?
Never again! (Until the kids are old enough to hang on themselves!). If there was a warning about taking young children on the ride I missed it! I was seriously scared.
By the time we came down off the ride it was already 10am. I couldn't believe we'd been in the park for an hour and only done one thing! Between that and the terror of holding the kids in on the Astro Orbitor I was not a happy girl! Rick, Caryn, Sam and Madeleine headed to the Speedway next (for some strange reason I'm afraid of little cars!) while Matthew and I went to Space Mtn for FP's. Due to the delay at the Astro Orbitor the line was now significant at the Speedway so when Matthew and I returned from getting the Space Mtn FP's we relaxed in the viewing area and Matthew had fun watching the little cars drive by.
Princess Madeleine at the wheel:
Sam and Madeleine after their drive:
Once off the Speedway I asked Rick if he had heard from his mom. Although they were staying onsite, they didn't plan to join us at the park until 10am. I didn't understand why they wanted to wait that long since they had driven 7 hours to see us and we had told them we'd be arriving for the opening ceremonies, but to each his own I guess! He called her and found out they were at the entrance. We decided to use our FP's at Buzz Lightyear and told them to meet us there afterwards. They've both been to the park before so we didn't figure they'd have a problem finding us. Buzz was great and everyone enjoyed it. When we got off there were no in-laws to be found. We waited about 10 minutes and Rick called them again. They couldn't find Buzz and wondered if we could meet them somewhere else. Rick suggested Space Mtn, since it seemed fairly obvious, so we headed there and waited some more, and more, and more......GRRRR!! I had already crossed two attractions off of our itinerary due to the delays of the morning and was not feeling too happy. Finally, Caryn, Sam and I decided to ride Space Mtn while Rick, Madeleine and Matthew waited for my in-laws.
I was a little aprehensive about taking Sam on Space Mtn., but he was just tall enough and said he wanted to ride it. When he saw that he'd have to ride on his own in front of me (as opposed to snuggled next to me) he freaked out, but once I showed him how I could hold his hand from behind he was okay. When we got off the ride I was sure he was going to tell me he hated it and never wanted to do it again, but he loved it! He couldn't wait to ride again!
When we came out from Space Mtn., my in-laws had finally caught up with us and we headed to Toontown. Sam had loved The Barnstormer on Wednesday and had been asking to ride it again. Rick got in the very long line with Sam (the plan had been to arrive at 10am when the line was still short), "Papa" stayed with Matthew and "Grandma", Madeleine and I walked through Minnie's house.
Madeleine was so excited to see Minnie's house and kept asking where Minnie was. She was VERY dissapointed afterwards when we hadn't seen her and reminded me all day that, "We didn't find Minnie!".
Once Rick and Sam got off The Barnstormer we headed to Adventureland to ride the Pirates of the Carribbean. This is one of Rick's favorite rides and he had been very dissapointed when it was shut down on Wednesday. On the way over a CM took this picture of all of us in front of the castle:
When we got to Pirates, my in-laws said they'd just wait outside (What?!) and Caryn decided to wait with them. (She was busy texting the entire day. I know this is the thing with teenagers, but it drove me crazy! We were at Disney World for goodness sakes!). I was completely confused as to why they didn't want to ride, but Rick, the kids and I had a lovely time and met up with them outside afterwards.
The plan after this was to take our packed lunch to Tom Sawyer Island for a picnic and some playtime there. We had told my in-laws several times to pack a lunch for this but they had forgotten so decided to go eat lunch on their own and meet us on the Island afterwards. We picked up some FP's for Thunder Mtn on the way and took the raft over. Big mistake! Everyone was miserable by now - too much waiting, not enough rides, mom's spirits down, etc. We waited forever to get the boat over and as soon as we had eaten our lunch the kids wanted to go back and "ride rides". They had no interest in exploring the Island and Caryn was acting bored our of her mind. We decided to just head back so Rick called his mom to find out where they were and they were on the raft over. He told them we were heading back so to just wait for us at the boat dock. Nothing was working out and tensions were running high all around so I decided to just scrap our itinerary and try to make the best of it.
The Haunted Mansion was nearby and I thought everyone would enjoy that so we headed there. Here a picture of Matthew and I in line:
Everyone seemed in better spirits after The Haunted Mansion and it was past naptime for Matthew so I suggested we split up: the kids and I (and anyone else who wanted) would head to Donald's Boat in Toontown so Sam and Madeleine could play in the sprinklers while Matthew napped in the stroller and everyone else could do what they wanted. Rick and Caryn set out together while my in-laws decided to sit with me and watch the kids play in the sprinklers. I was very surprised when Rick and Caryn returned about a half hour after we split up. Rick told me that after they rode Space Mtn., Caryn didn't want to do anything else except get ice cream and sit down (which they did). I had hoped she and Rick would enjoy the park together for a couple of hours and was really starting to feel sorry that we'd invited her. So we ALL sat, Matthew got a nice nap, and Sam and Madeleine had a blast at Donald's Boat and the playground there.
Fun at Donald's Boat:
And then at the playground:
Once Matthew woke up we decided to head to Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. On the way, Rick and Sam rode Space Mtn. together (Caryn didn't want to ride again - no surprise there, I guess, seeing that all she wanted to do at Disney World was text). When they came out Rick told me that Sam couldn't stop running down the empty FP line toward the ride and said, "My legs can't stop running because they are so excited for this ride!!".
He loved it!
While Rick and Sam were on Space Mtn., the rest of us rode the Transit Authority. I love that attraction!
We met up for Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor afterwards and halfway through the show my legs felt wet. Madeleine was sitting on my lap and had peed all over me!!! I snuck her out to take care of things and missed Matthew being shown on the screen at the end when they said, "Wanna see somethin' cute?" Rick said it was adorable and my mother-in-law told me I should have stayed to see it (like I left for the fun of it!).
It had been a long day (not to mentione that I now had pee pee pants!) and was time for our ADR at Tony's Town Square. I was looking forward to sitting down for awhile and having a nice break. I had read mixed reviews of the restaurant, but in planning for the day I wanted a sit down dinner that would appeal to everyone and Tony's seemed to fit the bill.
Coming up: Dinner at Tony's and our evening at MK
Sorry to hear about your experience on the boat with the *gentleman* in the wheelchair. As if you weren't dealing with enough at that moment.
I could picture a whole lot of chaos.
Looking forward to more.
It's hard to please everyone, I guess.
As much as I would love to see the world with my extended family, I am afraid of having the same kind of troubles you seemed to have had.
...yeah, shame on you for leaving to clean up your daughter and yourself. How completely selfish.
At least it was only one day--could have been the whole week! I am slightly nervous about having all the extra people along with us.
