All of you reading this tripe will be familiar with what I am about to say: Prior to this trip, I had carefully, reasonably, and logically decided where we should go on any given day. Some of those decisions were somewhat dictated by external events, like what ADRs I had secured (although I did try to work the ADRs around my days, rather than the other way around), but MOSTLY I had to accommodate a meeting with my (heretofore mostly imaginary) friends, and NoFear's Birthday extravaganza. BUT, the whole time I planned the trip, I felt like we were not going to get to spend enough time in either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom. I love both of those parks, for different reasons. I would still put MK in first (who doesn't?), but Epcot is a REALLY close second. Really. Hair of the teeth close.
So, I was torn in deciding where we should end up after breakfast. Do we stick around Epcot or try to make it over to MK? Originally, we were going to spend just a little bit in future world, then get the girl over for a castle view. But, in the end, we couldn't bring ourselves to leave Epcot.
As I have said before, we ended up with a late start. Which was even later because I kept waiting for the BIG bathroom stall to change the Princess. Lesson learned. Next time I'm stripping her in the middle of the ladies room, and then using the small bathroom for it's intended purposes.
Am I the only one that can just feel the sands of time slipping away from me when I'm at Disney? Every moment I am just sitting around and WAITING makes me a nervous wreck. I think that is the definition of a Commando.
I really wanted to avoid Commando on this trip, too. But it is just SO HARD when there are so many things I want to do and not nearly enough time to do them in. I think this is the reason that I want Annual passes so badly next fall. So that I, too, can Whirlwind trip, and maybe feel like it is NOT going to be FOREVER before I can come back. And wonder if they will even have the same show/ride/exhibit when I return.
So, we finally left Norway and headed back to Future World. I knew enough to try and catch one of the first shows of TurtleTalk.
Now, since we were kidless last year, we had never toured WDW with a stroller. Or experienced stroller parking. But I had read. I knew. I was prepared (I thought).
In the world we live in, though, I confess, it is difficult to accept the concept that in a place as seemingly impersonal as Disney World, that you can trust your fellow man enough to just leave a personal possession (like a stroller) sitting outside and still expect it to be there an hour later when you come back.
In fact, B was NOT really willing to accept that concept. BUT, he was not given the choice. We were there. We had our own stroller. I tied a blue ribbon to it to differentiate it from the other black double strollers (also an excellent tip). I tried to get B to go agree that one of us should run into the Land for Soarin' Fastpasses. He wanted to stick together. He DID try to walk past the attendant out in front of the Living Seas, though, and she made him turn back. Because of the stroller.
And then it began. The explanation and angst about stroller parking. It went something like this:
Me: Just park the stroller over there.
B: Huh?
Me: We aren't allowed to take the stroller inside. We've got to leave it out here.
B: But, won't someone take it?
Me: No. Do you see the other 200 strollers out here?
B: But, are you sure someone won't take it?
Me: No. But there's nothing we can do about it if they do. And we have to leave it.
B: Are you sure?
Me. Yes. Park the frickin' stroller! (NOF)
I should mention that throughout this conversation I was also trying to get him to move out of the middle of the walkway.
Which some of you will find funny. Others will probably throw eggs in his general direction. What can I say? I tried. He also had the AWFUL tendency to stop in the middle of the path. Drove me nuts. And, since I'm confessing anyway . . .my mother (once she arrived) had a difficult time finding smoking areas. There. I feel so much better for having got that off my chest.
Anyway. I finally convinced Boost to abandon the stroller to the fates and go inside. I have to say, I think that conversation cost us getting into the 10:20 Turtle Talk. But. No biggie. We were FIRST in line for the 10:40. Or, at least I was, with the kids. Once we got the stroller parked, B decided that he should go back to the Land for Soarin' fastpasses. Which I agreed was an EXCELLENT idea. Wish I'd thought of it myself.
And B made it back before the start of the show, and got to duck right up front with us. (I don't think that counts as line jumping, do you? We DID wait the whole time, he is only one person, and everyone should have a designated fastpass fetcher. Right?)
B and I had skipped this the year before, since we were without kids on that trip. And since the Living Seas was completely CLOSED last year while we were there. I've gotta say, tho', I think I would have enjoyed this just as much without the kids. It is really well done. Very amusing. Cute. Classic Disney Magic.
In short - DUDE, get your fins out and swim on over there. Check it out. It's totally awesome.
I especially liked how NoFear kept yelling out her name, every time Crush called on someone else. Not yelling really loud, just loud enough that her mama, who knows the exact tone of her voice, could tell who it was and what she was yelling. She's only four, she's just learning that not EVERYONE is COMPLETELY focused on HER at EVERY given moment. She thought the show was great. And especially liked how Crush was talking to HER.
We took the obligatory Bruce the Shark ZZUBing humans pictures:
Our morning marched on: a glance at the tanks, bathrooms, and then on to Soarin'.
Where we had our first "child swap" experience. And NoFear had to get measured.
Now, I don't know if I mentioned this before (I really can't remember), but NoFear was just BARELY making the 40" mark. That crucial 40 inches. I had been measuring her all summer. Seeing her height creep up and up and up. But it was going to be close. About 1 month before the trip I started making her practice getting measured. Standing up straight and tall. And just a teensy bit on her toes. And measuring her in each of the pairs of shoes we were taking with us. She was 39 3/4 inches barefoot. I believed we were fairly safe for all the rides.
However, I really didn't want to think about how big of a meltdown we would have if she stood in line for a ride and then DIDN'T get to ride. Tragedy. Of Epic proportions.
This was to be the first test. And, we thought, a GREAT first ride experience at Dizzy World. B and I both LOVE Soarin', and we knew that the girl would too. We showed our fastpasses. NoFear stood up straight for the measure, and the attendant at the entrance handed me a rider switch pass. I headed off to the exit while Boost and NoFear went off for flight school.
Okay, now the following happened all week (except at Expedition Everest, but more on that in 5 months when I get to that part of the story), so I don't know if we were cheating the system unintentionally. BUT. Whenever we had fastpasses for a ride, but then did rider switch, they only took fastpasses from the FIRST group to go through. So, when we were four adults, one child, and one infant, and left TWO adults behind for the first ride, then we only had to hand over three fastpasses. Leaving us with two fastpasses. And a rider switch pass, which gets up to four people on the ride. Are you following the math here? Essentially, not that we did, but we could have wrangled TWO rides for EACH of our party members out of ONE set of fastpasses, because of the presence of the Shrimpster. If you need a more detailed explanation of how that could work, send me a PM and I will prove to you how Maelstrom Math works.
Now, I point out also that doing rider switch can eat up a LOT of time. Just sitting and waiting. And we all know how I feel about that. BUT, if someone LOVES a certain ride, the system has an apparent flaw which can be exploited.
If you're into that kind of thing.
Which we weren't.
Also, it does give one an opportunity to get a good shot of little ones. Just sitting. And Waiting. See?
In the end NoFear settled for getting THREE rides on Soarin'. And then we decided to leave. Or at least I decided to leave. B decided the kids needed to see the Timon, Pumba, and Simba movie about the evils of man. Nuff said. Then we left.
To eat lunch.
In FRANCE.
Next Chapter:
Magical Croissants? (Page 15, Post 221)
thanks for sharing...it reminded me of our earlier
