For those of you who have been following, this is a continuation of my BC, Club Level Stay, trip report. If you look hard enough you will find a nugget of information about the Bus to Downtown Disney from the BC. Mostly it is about running around the parks and an incident with hot dogs.
Enjoy!
Tuesday morning came bright and early but still we had the energy to go on. Everyone was up and out the door at the appointed hour to make our breakfast reservations at The Crystal Palace. There were no beatings or other forms of torture necessary and I for one was very relieved. There is something to be said about All you can eat bacon being a great motivator for getting teen boys up early on vacation.
The bus stop was empty since we were going before park opening so I was surprised when the bus pulled up and there were a few people on it. We sat down next to an older lady and soon we began chatting about our excitement about spending another day in the most magical of parks. I asked my new found friend if she too had breakfast reservations and she looked at me funny and said no, that they had just changed the park hours and it was open earlier today. Being obsessed with my planning I was trying to figure out how I missed that announcement when it dawned on me that one of us must be wrong. Ever the font of reliable information, we quizzed the bus driver who confirmed my information about the park hours.
The thought of this lady sitting around for over an hour before the MK opened was too much for me so I asked her if she had had breakfast. Luckily she hadnt so I asked if she would consider joining us at the Crystal Palace. I was pretty sure I could get her into the park and into the restaurant and I was right! We made it past the entry CMs and crossed under the rail station when a CM wearing a navy blue uniform stopped us and asked us if we would like a ride up to Cinderellas Castle. We had never done anything like this before because we were always in a rush to get to the rides. This trip was all about trying to experience new things so we said an enthusiastic yes and climbed aboard. It was so much fun driving around in a propane powered, Main street vehicle, Tin Lizzy! It looked like a paddy wagon from days gone by. We had these huge smiles on our faces as our wonderful driver made small talk and asked about our plans for the day. As we were going around the hub near the castle we were yelling out the sides of the vehicle trying to lure prospective passengers for the trip back. There were no takers that early in the morning. Who would of thought that a simple little ride like that could be so much fun!
After saying our goodbyes to our driver we made our way over to the Crystal Palace. The nice CMs at the podium said it would not be a problem to add our new found friend to our reservation and we were seated before we knew it. As we were talking she told me that she was from a storm ravaged area on the New Jersey coastline. Her house was not damaged but some of her neighbors homes were completely destroyed. This proved to be very stressful and so she just decided to leave and drive straight down to Walt Disney World for a break from all the troubles. She was staying at The Swolphin and WDW was her magical place. She was a retired school teacher and her children were grown but she still made frequent trips to the parks because she enjoyed it so much.
I think we all got a kick out of seeing my boys interact with the characters. One of my boys is what I shall call a Poohnatic. When he was little he loved the Pooh stories my husband would read to him and even though he is older now there is a certain love that will never be lost for Pooh and friends. Its fun watching his resolve to be teenage cool melt when Tigger comes bouncing around. After breakfast my new found friend and I went our separate ways and wished each other a magical vacation. First on our list was the new Fantasyland expansion project, which shockingly enough did not prove to be a teenage boy favorite! Mom liked it so tough noogies boys! We did Little Mermaid twice and toured Gastons tavern for an early morning shot of testosterone. No one was hungry after feasting on all you can eat piglet, I mean bacon and sausage so the pork shank will have to wait until another day. I surreptitiously led the boys toward the dueling Dumbos, only to discover that the path going by the Little Mermaid ride led to a dead end due to the 7 dwarfs construction project. You'd think since there are seven of them working on it they would get it done a little faster but that doesnt seem to be the case. In any event we joined the legions of people back tracking and the boys were now much the wiser after reading a map and figuring out my intentions.
After all that Little Mermaid estrogen it was decided that we would march straight on to the Haunted Mansion and no amount of whimpering on my part could convince anyone to go on Its A Small World simply because we were passing by it and it WAS RIGHT THERE!!! No Pooh ride either or Peter Pan or Philharmagic and certainly not anything having to do with any beauties or beasts. We were going to MAN LAND, AKA Adventure/Frontierland, where there were pirates and hippos and runaway trains by God! As soon as I got the chance, I sidled up next to my Poohnatic and asked if he would consider going on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh with me. He shot me a withering look and that was the end of it. The dream had died. No more cutesy little rides with my little boys, holding on to them as they were scared of the dark. Now the only holding was going to be on Mom as she was propelled halfway out of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad car.
We ate at Columbia Harbor House and after lunch I made the boys do the Hall of Presidents because it was educational and they were missing school. I know that they secretly like this attraction because one of them heard a story where President Lincoln sprung a leak and it looked like he was shot all over again. Where they come up with this stuff I will never know, but Lincoln made it through another performance and it was time to head back to the BC for a break. We had planned to hit Hollywood Studios that night but it rained and the boys settled into the room and started doing their school assignments, which were texted and emailed to them by their school buddies. I could not believe that I didnt have to keep after them about their work so I decided not to try and tempt anybody with a trip back to the Magic Kingdom and another go around on Its a Small World.
Wednesday morning was a preprogrammed sleep in day with a leisurely trip to Downtown Disney on the dreaded resort bus. Having read up on the bus situation I knew that the Beach Club was the last resort before the bus went straight to DTD (when the water park was closed). What I did not expect was that the bus would be full and that we would have to stand for the 20 minute ride. This wasnt a big deal so we just hopped on the bus and we were on our way. On the parks buses they have a digital clock right at the front of the bus. We were on the bus when the clocked read 12:12pm on 12/12/12. You would have thought it was New Years by the way people were counting down and cheering! As soon as the ruckus died down I reminded everybody to be back on the bus for the Mayan Apocalypse which was right around the corner on December 21st.
We toured Downtown Disney and then we hopped a cab to the MK for more testosterone fueled guy rides. Later that evening the Electrical Light parade was starting and I wanted to see it but I was overruled by 4, dying of starvation, men and we beat it through the crowd to Caseys for hot dogs. I asked if somebody would look for a table while the rest of us stood in line for the food, so imagine my surprise when 5 trays were delivered teaming with food and there was nobody around to help me carry it. I was so mad I contemplated mashing all 5 trays together, one on top of the other (with mine on the top!) and plopping them unceremoniously on the table where my 4 knights in shining armor were glued to their cellular devices, BUT that proved to be too messy even for an angry mother. Those hot dog trays were loaded to the brim with gloppy toppings, fries and drinks. Bellowing in my loudest You better get you lazy buns over here N O W !!! voice, the prodigal sons came to claim their trays before I started giving out free samples to the rest of the people in line.
After that near Momma-cide I decided that it was best that we split up. I went over to find a nice place for fireworks sans family after browsing in the conveniently located clothing right next to Caseys department store that only makes sense at Walt Disney World.
During the Fireworks the boys rode Space Mountain until it broke down and they got to see it with all the lights on. This was better than the actual ride if you listened to their accounts. This lights on revelation led to a conversation later about all the stuff that must be on the floor after people lose it while on the ride. The boys were picturing cell phones and IPods while their father and I volunteered that it was probably more like toupees and false teeth. That put an end to that fantasy quickly!
Thursday would be another park day, spent at the one park that had so far not made it on to our touring schedule. If youve been keeping up with these reports you could probably do the math and figure out which one it is&. But I know most of you are in your post-holiday coma, so Ill leave you to chew on that until the next installment of my Sort of, somewhat, BC centered trip report.
~NM
Booked GV CL at YC Sept 8-13
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