DAY 2
April 25th, 2015 - Saturday
Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours!
After Celebrate the Magic wrapped up, I decided to head towards Tomorrowland. I love doing the PeopleMover at night, and I wanted to check back on the things I'd skipped that morning.
I started out by heading for Space Mountain, but once again... 60 minutes. Hmm.
So then I thought about getting my face paint touched up, so I peeped the place where the do it, but they'd already shut down for the night.
I headed over to Buzz Lightyear, and saw a 20 minute wait time. That'll do! I pulled up to the front and inquired about taking the ECV through. It's one of those, like Pirates, where you have to transfer to a wheelchair. But for 20 minutes, I figured I could handle being on my feet. (20 mins is the most I'll risk it, though.) So I pulled over to where the CM directed me to park it. As I walked back up, she kinda paused and looked at me a moment, then said, "Wait, is it just you?" And smiled and said "Yep, just me!"
Then she shocked me when she said, "Oh! Well, in that case, c'mere!" And she took a few steps to her left... And ushered me right through the FastPass lane instead of making me wait in Stand By.
I thought that was INCREDIBLY cool of her! It was one of those moments where I wished that I carried with me something like those amazing CM Thank You cards like
@DisneyKid4Life does!
So on into the the Fast Pass line I went, which had NOBODY in it, so I quickly reached the meet-up point with the Stand By line.
My bro dawg, Buzz...
Waiting for my space cruiser of awesomeness...
My mid-field score... Okay, definitely not my best night. Not my worst either, though.
Meh. Whatever, Toy Story Mania is more my game anyhow!
Oh, and of course... my bootleg ride photo...
My face... BECAUSE DEFEATING EMPEROR ZORG IS VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS, YA'LL.
After Buzz, I started to head back to my ECV, but then it dawned on me that it was already parked in a great spot to leave it for the PeopleMover. Well, this is a no-brainer. On up the escalator I went!
Setting off from the loading platform! I just love the PeopleMover. It's so under-appreciated! I always wait until night time to do, because... lights. Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for pretty lights?
After my sightseeing trip through Tomorrowland, I popped back over to Spsace Mountain again. 30 minutes? Now that's more like it! Wait... I can't ECV through it? Ugh... Decisions... Thought process: "Can I handle it? I'm feeling good, and I have been really careful all day and conservative with my energy and pain levels, and the resort rest did help... and I really wanna ride Space Mountain... Sigh. Okay. I'll push it." So with some trepidation, on into the queue I went on foot.
Right around the 30 minute mark, just as I was really starting to hurt, I got ALL THE WAY to the loading platform... And everything just stopped. The line, the ride cars, everything but the CMs who seemed to be running around frantically.
Yep. It broke. Space Mountain broke.
15 minutes later or so, the call was made to evacuate the attraction and close it down for the night. The CMs led everybody out the chicken exit in an orderly fashion, and handed us each one of these:
I'd never seen one of those, so I thought it was really interesting! Sadly, I never did use it. I only had a couple hours left in the Magic Kingdom on this trip. Neat little souvenir, though!
And after being on my feet for 45 minutes, more than double what I usually allow myself, I was parched and still craving that vanilla soft serve that I mentioned a few updates back. I knew Storybook Treats to usually be open late (or Sleepy Hollow as a Plan B), so on into Fantasyland I went. Sure enough, all the windows were open and doing business! YAY!
Now, kids... It's time for more of what I should start calling "Rudeness Tales with Billie."
So here's the scoop: With the ECV, sometimes you have to do a little extra planning and be a bit strategic. In these types of window-service situations, I prefer to get into the line at the far end window on either side of the building. It makes it so much easier to be able to pull up parallel to the window, instead of straight forward and leaning over the center console and basket on the ECV to complete my transaction. This also makes it MUCH easier to get out when I'm done there, because I can just go forward, instead of trying to back up or turn around in the middle of lines of people. (I hope I've described that in a way that visually makes sense.)
Okay, good.
So that's what I did at Storybook Treats on this night. Instead of selecting the shortest line, I choose the line for the window all the way to the right. When there's about 3 people ahead of me, I start to pull to the left of the line a bit, to make it easier for me to pull up parallel to the window when it's my turn.
Right about that time, I hear a guy behind me say something to his family, in clear English with a UK accent, and then he pushes up into the line I'm in, standing beside me with a baby stroller. I figure he doesn't understand that I'm in that line because I'm off to the left just a little bit, instead of directly behind the person in front of me. I smile and politely say "I'm sorry sir, I'm in this line." And I was very gentle and nice about it.
So... How does he respond?
He just looks at me, and POINTS at the line to the left of us. Then looked at me again like I was completely retarded, and pointed me towards it again.
Again, I'll remind you that in my line, there were four people. There was only ONE in the line he's trying to force ME into (without deigning to actually speak to me, of course). I shook my head and continued to be nice, and to explained that I needed to stay in this line so that I could get back out easier. He still refused to move or speak.
So I continued, pointing out that the other line would probably be faster for him, since it's so much shorter... But before I could finish, he interrupted me blurted out irritably "Yes! Fine!" and jerks his stroller back and moves himself into that line next to us.
I was a bit nonplussed, really. I mean, Jersey Lady back at the PP photographer simply made a mistake and wouldn't own it. But this guy? He was just arbitrarily being an ****** and attempting to bully a SINGLE DISABLED WOMAN in the middle of WALT DISNEY WORLD. Like, seriously. Who does that?
However! Much like my last Tale of Rudeness, this story has a happy ending, and another perfect example of why I need me some of those CM Thank You cards...
By the time my encounter with Rude Dude was over, it was almost my turn. The lady ahead of me finished and walked away with her items. I did the sharp turn I was lined-up for, and pulled up to the window. I greeted the CM with a bright smile and a hello (as I always do), and placed my order... A large cup of ice water and a cup of vanilla soft serve. So first she hands me out the water, and I secure it in my ECV basket. Then she hands me out my cup of ice cream and a spoon, and as I'm just about to look for the MagicBand reader to charge it to my room... The CM smiles at me and tells me "Don't worry about it, there's no charge."
I stammered in absolute shock. I don't know if she caught what had happened with Rude Dude, or if she thought because I ordered a free cup of ice water (instead of buying bottled) that I was broke, or if she was just absolutely charmed by the super-cute chubby little scooter lady with the adorable pink face paint and sparkling Minnie Ears... I didn't ask. I just blurted out something like "Oh! Oh wow! Wow wow wow, thank you SO much!" She smiled back just as bright and said "You're welcome!" And then I pulled off into the little seating area right there, and beamed big smiles as I drank my water and ate my free ice cream.
After the disappointing Citrus Swirl earlier in the evening, then Jersey Lady, then the Space Mountain debacle, then Rude Dude... this was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. And it tasted amazing. Probably because it was free.
I left from there, and decided to do one more thing that night, and headed back into Adventureland to check out the wait time again for Pirates of the Caribbean. I took the scenic route since I had plenty of time, and grabbed a couple of photos along the way.
Tangled Tinkle Spot...
And this picture of the carousel and the backside of the Castle. I just love how it turned out...
So when I finally made it over to Pirates of the Caribbean, I was VERY pleased as I approached to see a wait time of only 5 minutes! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! I parked, and headed on into my boat for my last ride of the evening!
Yo-ho, Yo-ho! ... It was NOT a pirate's life for me. At least not on this sailing.
I don't know if this story counts as a tale of Rudeness, or just immature stupidity... But I was in the front row of a boat full of college age kids, all of whom were just acting like obnoxious little buttholes. They were loud and being ridiculous, and just barely a few minutes into the ride, the boat stops and a male CM comes on the loudspeaker inside the attraction, reminding our boat to keeps hands and arms inside the boat and out of the water of all times.
And I knew exactly why, I remembered the
news story from last Summer about a guy putting his hand in the water on Pirates, and losing two of his fingertips. So I wasn't at all shocked that the CMs there were cracking down on that sort of thing.
So we continue on, and they're still being loud and carrying on, and the boat jerks to a stop again. And there's the CM on the speaker again, very obviously more irritated this time, saying the same line. These kids thought it was hilarious. And sure enough, a few minutes later... our boat comes to a halt for a third time. And there's the CM again, pretty much BELLOWING ANGRILY the scripted line again. The kids laughed and laughed.
At this point, my enjoyment of the ride was just completely ruined, as they sucked all the magic right out of it. As we approached the platform, I damn near asked the CM waiting there if I could go again and actually ENJOY it this time... But I didn't. I think I was just done at that point.
So I left Pirates and went the long way back to the hub, through Frontierland, while contemplating all the roller coaster of highs and lows I'd experienced that day... And, admittedly, feeling a bit down that it seemed like my night was ending on a low note.
But then... Enter James.
I headed back through the hub and onto Main Street, and as I went along I was looking to see if any of the PP photographers were pointed towards Main Street instead of the Castle. They weren't, so I decided to just do a selfie. I went to back into position behind a PP photographer who was shooting towards the Castle, figuring this would give me the best chance of being centered.
As I started to back up at an angle, I had to stop quick to stop from colliding with a CM (another PP photographer) that almost walked right into the side me! He stopped too, and apologized profusely, and said he's usually much more aware of his surroundings, how he sees people not paying attention and walking to ECVs all day long and he never thought he'd be one of them, etc. I reassured him just as profusely that it was fine, that it's not my first trip with one, that I've gotten hyper-aware of my who's around me when I'm on the ECV for this exact reason, ect.
Anyhow. All of that started a half-hour conversation (about anything and everything) that went by far too quickly. His name was James from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He had been a CM for 8 years, all of that with the PhotoPass, the last 6 of those as a Coordinator in the department. He was so sweet and kind and easy to talk with, and really cute and even a little sexy with his salt & pepper hair (which also meant that he was age-appropriate for me). Oh, and I almost forgot to mention... He was single, too.
It's rare somebody captures my attentions in such a way, but James from Grand Rapids certainly made my heart go pitter-patter.
Eventually we said good night, and he went on his way, and I briefly considered running after him and forcing him to add me on Facebook or something...
Don't worry. I didn't. I promise! I behaved, and I kept my crazy under control. I just lingered where I was for a few minutes, in order to get my Main Street selfie...
It's a crappy picture. The quality sucks, and I'm looking the wrong direction, and I appear to have recently been hit by a truck. But I look SO HAPPY all the same! (Although now in retrospect, it dawns on me that apparently this is what I looked like while talking to my new CM pretend-boyfriend, so FML.)
Then as I started back towards the exit, I heard the speakers fill with music. I instantly blurted out "THE KISS GOOD NIGHT!" ...Which I had never seen, only read about. I pull a very quick (but safe) U-turn just in time to see the Castle sparkling... And as I sat there listening and watching the whole thing, I nearly teared up again with joy.
So. My night actually ended on a high note after all.
I headed to the buses, and caught my ride back to POFQ, where I finished getting settled into my room, took a quick shower, and crawled into bed, a smile on my face, and thoughts of my CM crush flittering around my head.
Up Next... Animal Kingdom!
POFQ looks gorgeous! I've never been there before.
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