The Chipmunks Might Be Cute But The Squirrels Are Nuts!

[Applemomma]

The bad mommy moment wasn't too bad assuming you weren't yelling.

Yelling no...hissing through my teeth...yes

 

[Applemomma]

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted in our window by these cute little guys!

Here’s a closer look!

With a quick bite to eat at Everything Pop it was into the swimsuits and jumping into the computer pool for our little group. Well, actually I believe we hit the Computer Pool, the Hippy Dippy Pool AND Goofy’s Geysers all within an hour.

A word about the communal pool experience…. I’m not a fan. Something happens to people sense of personal space when they get into the pool. Games of “throw the nerf ball as hard and as fast as you can” and “see if we can jump over people” may go over well if you are in your own backyard watering hole but not with 100 other people in the vicinity people!! The lifeguards are the unhappiest looking people in the entire World! I suppose they have seen it all and much, much more so they don’t bother laying down the law for such minor things. There were a few times I pulled the kids out and at least once that a lady, who had obviously reached her boiling point long before I had chewed out some teens in a different language but good! They were throwing themselves around the pool with no regard for little kids and I had moved mine to the opposite side in a hurry but my moving must had been the kicker for the lady because she was loudly hollering and pointing at me. “You jerks made that lady feel like her kids were going to get hurt” is another one of those understood-in-any-language phrases.

Okay….vent over….

This particular swim was cut short by the lifeguard himself who had been listening intently to his two way radio and stood to inform everyone that due to electrical activity in the air the pool was closed. And then the skies opened up…

Being good rural folk and never ones to be threatened by a few raindrops and thoroughly refreshed from our time in the pool we regrouped, open up our dollar store rain ponchos and headed to the buses. Didn’t make it though…..electrical activity was a bit of an understatement and the amount of lightening we would have had to brave crossing to the buses was a bit much so it was back to the room to wait it out. Didn’t have to long to wait though and it wasn’t very long before we headed out again.

The girls wanted to head back to the Magic Kingdom so, lessons learned, I let them take the lead and we got in line and within short order were on our way. It rained off an on all the way there but about 20 feet off the bus the sun came out and we had no need of our rain ponchos for the rest of the day! I think I carried those things all week more then we wore them…oh well better to be prepared.

Main Street was very uncrowded, because of the passing storm, so the CM’s had lots of time for the kids.

We hadn’t had a chance to ride the Tea Cups so that was first on the girls list. I think we rode these three times over the week but this first time I didn’t go full throttle on the spinner…I left that experience for later in the week!

After they studied the map they decided Mickey’s ToonTown was the next thing to do and they stopped long enough for mommy to take a picture…..see how I wrecked someone else’s photo by sticking my kids in there?

Minnie’s house was first up and while you can see the backyard was pretty quiet, inside was nuts so we had to keep moving and not stop for pictures…..dang…I think I do take some later in the week though.

Next, we get in a line not knowing what it’s for and it’s a Princess Jackpot!!

In case I don’t get on here for the next few days I just want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and all the best of the holidays. God bless!

 

[Ricky's Girl]

Enjoyed the update!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I look forward to reading more about your trip when the "holidaze" are over.

 

[winkers]

I have also uttered the "were at disneyworld, you can't act like that" speech to my kids!


Merry Christmas!

 

[DL55]

Another enjoyable installment.
I'm not crazy about hotel pools just for that reason. I hate being splashed when it's not my idea.
I still love the teacups, the faster the better!
Merry Christmas!

 

[Applemomma]

It’s a Princess Pallooza!

Before we completely leave Minnie’s Country House behind I need to tell you about my “99% nearly sure must have been them” celebrity sighting. As we were leaving Minnie’s garden I turned to look behind me and the fellow behind me HAD to have been Dave Marx of PassPorter fame! The woman behind him looked for all the world like his wife Jennifer. I wish now I had had the presence of mind to ask them it they were really them and tell them how I loved their book. Oh well….perhaps they are reading this (you never really know do you?)

With my game plan of letting the kiddies take the lead, L saw one of her favorite things….A STORE! Otherwise known as Toontown Hall of Fame. Promising them they could look around in a minute I steered them towards the queue for autographs told them to get their books ready.

Waiting outside the doors to the inner sanctum it occurred to me that there were two lines and I had absolutely no idea who we were standing in line to see! Rather then ask we decided to let it be a surprise. Imagine our thrill when the doors opened to…..PRINCESSES, people!! And not just any princesses but Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle! WAHOO!!

This room is great! With only a few people being let in at a time, the heavy curtain draped walls keeping the sound out and the reverent silence of all us “star struck” adults, you really feel like you are having a private audience with royalty. And I spotted my first Disser there, though I didn’t say anything. I can’t remember his official screen name but it was Tim that used to post to the “Pic of the Day” thread that is in love with the mice from Cinderella and the little dolls. He was getting his pic taken with one of his dolls and the princesses. I had a hard job explaining to my eldest why I was tickled to spot Tim.

Side note…..One of our favorite things to do, became watching other little kids with the characters, especially toddlers. Too cute!! I think I could spend the whole day people watching the kids with the characters and people walking up Main Street for the first time…can’t beat those smiles!!

After convincing my youngest that she absolutely could not spend every cent she had brought with her in the Hall of Fame shop we started to wander back to the castle. I realize now that the day was really starting to wear on the kids but I just couldn’t resist one more “Do you want to try Splash Mountain?” No. “Do you want to go on Goofy’s Barnstormer?” No. “Do you want to go look for the hidden Tinkerbell?” No. Humph.

I did manage to get them in the line for Peter Pan, which lasted all of 20 minutes until L decided it was a dark ride and there was no way she was going on it. Well that was 20 minutes we won’t get back but, oh well.

So, it’s off to stake out a spot to watch the fireworks. Now here’s a “learned the hard way” tip. If you don’t want trees in your view for the fireworks you must stake out your spot in FRONT of the Castle about an hour sooner then we did….not on the benches on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. If you want to be able to here the voices in Wishes stake out your spot in FRONT of the Castle not on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. BUT if you want your kids to get a good view of Tinkerbell flying overhead then sit on the stone bench between the moat and the castle, behind the garbage can, on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. Very cool….looked like Tink has the funnest (I know that’s not the correct way to say that…most fun? job with the most fun? most funnest job? Dang…).

Now here’s where I made another rookie mistake. Learn from me people!! This was a Magic Kingdom EMH (that’s extra magic hour for resort guests for all those family members reading that don’t have the benefit of Dis Knowledge) but I figured that meant less people going home. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! So we joined the hoard of people heading for the exit and by this time L was extremely tired, and who could blame her; long drive, followed by another travel day, followed by late night, followed by heat. I picked her up just past Walt’s statue and she was asleep by the time we hit Casey’s Corner. And let me tell you folks, for those of you that don’t have one, the average six year old is no light weight. For some reason at this point R was bright eyed and bushy-tailed and thought her little sister falling asleep on me was extremely cute….until I made her carry my Overland Donner bag (yes, I have one…I am a Diser in all aspects – lime green, focker watcher lanyard….the works.).

Okay, so the entire host of resort guests stayed for EMH; they can’t all possibly be staying with us at Pop Century could they?

Apparently they were……

When we got to the line it was already approximately 400 people long….and no bus….and all the way back beyond the queue area….and did I mention no bus? And no where to rest sleeping “suddenly gained 40 more pounds” L? But it what’s a mom to do but avoid the, with out a doubt, “freak out by waking her up to try and stand on her own” scene that would have undoubtedly happened. And by nature, being someone who usually just goes with the flow I figured that we’d just have to stand there and wait, since walking all the way back to the resort was just slightly out of the question.

Then I turned around, and folks, it seems that there were collectively approximately 1,400 people as dumb as me because that’s about how many were in line! There had to be 1000 people behind us….and no, I’m not exaggerating. So R and I contented ourselves with being smart enough to get in line when we did, and say a few prayers for patience for the 1,400th person in line. I’m not sure if this was a usual thing for the Pop line or not, but during the week I heard people talking about “The Great Pop LineUp of Sunday Night” as though it was. Stories of people line jumping after jumping the fence and running through the swamp to the beginning of the line were common, though we saw none of that because at that point the buses started rolling in and the line started chugging right along. We actually made it to the beginning of the line just as the current bus was almost to capacity, but chose to let people behind us go ahead because I knew there was no way I could stand all the way to Pop with the “rapidly getting heavier…my arms are about to give out” monster child my arms were wrapped around. That made a few people extremely happy and I feel like I spread a little Disney Magic by such a simple thing. Another couple behind us thought that was an excellent idea since they too were loaded down with luggage and sleeping babes. So if you were 403-410th in line….you’re welcome.

Side note on bus drivers and manners…..one thing the girls and I noticed a lot during the week is that there was a decided lack of pleases and thank you’s, especially for the folks that get you to and from the parks. Now maybe we are just sensitive to it because, you know we Canadians are a polite people (ahem), but once I had pointed that out to the girls they went into “grateful overdrive”. By the end of the week L was thanking everyone from the bus drivers, to the CM standing at the turnstile, to the lifeguard.

You could tell by the reaction of the bus drivers when we’d say thank you that it didn’t happen for them a lot….and man they put up with a lot! To the bus driver that pulled my ride home up to me the night of the “1,400 collectively leaving the Magic Kingdom at the same time” line, I simply said….”My hero”.

Another tip….bring a cell phone. Makes it much easier to call Daddy to meet you at the bus stop so you can hand off sleeping 120 pound child the minute you step off the bus. Ahhhhhhhh

So with a quiet late night swim in the computer pool for the eldest and I, our first official day in the World was done. And I may have set a new DisBoards record for how many installments it takes to get through one day….

Next up it’s supposed to be our Animal Kingdom day….and a word of warning…if you don’t like to look at people’s pics with their kids and characters you may want to skip the next chapter in our ongoing saga.

 

[DisneyJo]

Sounded like a great fun packed day, even with a few moans

BTW we always say thankyou to the bus drivers

 

[winkers]

The ride home always seems to be the worst!
I love town hall and getting to meet the princess there.

 

[DL55]

What a busy day! Over all it sounded like you had a fun time. At the end of the day waiting even 5 min for the bus feels like forever. Hopefully the waits for the buses weren't so bad during the rest of the trip?
Oh boy I love pictures of other peoples kids with characters! I love the ones with the princesses.

 

[Applemomma]

Well, I’m sure you’ve all experienced the trial and tribulation of spending countless hours pondering when to go to what park, which day. If you are like me you’ve charted the fireworks, parades and emh’s to figure out where to be when. You have decided for months which day of your vacation will be devoted to which park and heaven help us all if we deviate from that plan because the rest of the vacation will NOT accommodate a sudden change in direction. Yah right…..

After the meltdown/bad mommy moment of the first full day my plan went out the window. Within reason of course because I still had to contend with dinner reservations (remember we were on the FREE dining plan and planning to take full advantage!) and there were some events that I most definitely wanted to see. But apart from that I vowed to “go with the flow”.

So on this, our Animal Kingdom day, when we rounded the corner and saw the bus pulling away from a line up that was at least 3 more buses in length I refused to burst into tears. By this time we had discovered the short cut to the buses ….(if you are in the 80’s or 90’s at Pop go under the Big Wheel and cut in behind the building….go to the very end of the building and then cut right across the parking lot and viola! You’re at the Animal Kingdom bus stop….you’re welcome) so I had a couple of minutes to regroup and suggested to my little group that we just jump into the shortest line. The only thing I had really planned to do that day was catch Spectromagic and most of our planned meals weren’t scheduled until later in the week so Daddy could be with us. A fairly easy day to switch gears and a chance to put those Park Hopper tickets to work.

Upon reaching the buses it was fairly obvious that the Epcot line was the shortest and thus we claimed our spots in line behind some very sweet elderly ladies who chatted with the girls and gave them big hugs. They were great and full proof that Disney is for any age.

A side note about waiting for wheelchairs and scooters before boarding the bus yourself. We really only waited a few times for this and it seemed that it depend on the age of the bus how quickly they loaded. My girls were great and patient, realizing that these folks would give a lot is they could just jump on the bus as easily as the rest of us. I imagine that the worst part for these folks is having all of us STARING at the process of getting them on, only because we’re bored and it’s as close as we can get to entertainment right now. I never in the week saw the infamous “one person in the wheelchair boards and 15 family members get on with him to”. What I did find incredibly annoying is the families (there’s always one) that get mad and very vocal with the bus driver when they are not allowed to use the wheelchair access ramp to load their minibus of a stroller and accompanying luggage for that one tiny individual they are carting around. I do understand the need to feel like you are bring enough to cover all of your bases in the parks but really…I’ve had two kids and I can’t fathom bring the whole nursery, including playpen with me, on public transportation. Pack lightly folks. Of course I think these are also the same families that always seem to be in line, two people ahead of me, at Counter Service restaurants chewing the cashier out for something out of her/his control….but that’s another vent in itself.

After not too long of a wait to board a bus we arrived at Epcot, and may I just say that the bus area of Epcot is showing its age. Not so much futuristic as 70’s, in my humble opinion. Once again our tickets worked like a charm and I decided to put another DIS horror story of problematic tickets out of my head.

I loved this park! I love the music when you enter and the architecture of the entrance! I defy anyone to enter that park in a bad mood and make it past Spaceship Earth in the same mood.

Had to stop for the requisite picture….

We did have one solid plan for Epcot. We knew we had to ride Soarin as my parents had been here just this past winter and the girls knew that this was their grammy’s favorite ride. So following all the signs we headed in that direction.

But wait! What’s going on in there? Behind some windows we could see CHARACTERS! It was the Character Spot and we had to check it out….get your autograph books ready kids! The CM at the door said it was a 30 minute wait but that was 30 minutes in the air conditioning….we could handle that. Plus, as I explained to the girls the line was not really that long. I said look at the strollers and mentally remove them. Now take out the grownups and remove them because most of them are there with their kids, now add a few more adults back in because yes, there are adults who stand in line for autographs by themselves and someday I may be one of them, and suddenly it doesn’t seem like there are that many people in line ahead of you. And to be able to get 6 characters at once a 30 minute wait is a small price to pay!

But before we get to those pics I must tell you about my first “embarrass my children” moment of the day which happened right here. As we are entering the building a lady, pushing a stroller, grabs my arm and gives me the “look”. Many of you know it, some of you have used it….it’s the “I’m watching you” look from the movie “Meet the Parents”. It’s MomToMy2Kids! She had forgotten her focker lanyard at home but I was proudly sporting mine. If that makes no sense to you let me just sum it up by saying that several hundred people on the DIS boards collectively purchased “Focker Watcher” lanyards to help identify other DISers in the parks. We quickly compared our Overland Donner bags and proclaimed our love of them and then carried on our separate ways. My eldest asked if I knew that lady and I said kind of….again trying to explain about the DIS. It was like meeting an old friend and for the rest of the trip my kids actually got into looking for Lime Green Mickey Heads and lanyards for the rest of the trip.

Okay….fair warning….here’s the pictures……

Next up we go Soarin over California and meet the creature responsible for the title of my trip report.

 

[DL55]

Sometimes you just have to "go with the flow" especially if there are three bus loads ahead of you. Good idea-- change parks.
Cute pictures.

 

[DisneyJo]

Great photos and the lanyard worked

 

[Applemomma]

Sometimes you just have to "go with the flow" especially if there are three bus loads ahead of you. Good idea-- change parks.
Cute pictures.

Thanks!

Great photos and the lanyard worked

It did indeed! This won't be the only DIS sighting as a result of the lanyard

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

I know I read Dave and Jennifer Marx were in the world around the same time as you - so you quite possibly did spot them! Schweeeeet!

I love that you got "The Look" from another DISer because of your Lanyard! That's how my stalker errrr.... DIS friend found me at Epcot! LY, Jo!

Your character pics are adorable, as are your girls!

 

[MinnieMommy]

Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?


Because they like to hold us hostage in Canada! No seriously....it's because of the taxes...we have really high sales tax in most of Canada, 14% in Nova Scotia, so there's that on top of fuel tax, airport tax, air you breath tax....etc...etc...

A fellow bluenoser lovin' your report! Thanks for sharing!
Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[Applemomma]

A fellow bluenoser lovin' your report! Thanks for sharing!
Can't wait for the next installment!

Welcome neighbor! Which part are you in? We're in the Valley but desperately wishing for warmer climates right now.....tired of shoveling yet?

 

[DisneyJo]

That's how my stalker errrr.... DIS friend found me at Epcot! LY, Jo!

Hey you loved being stalked

 

[Applemomma]

Don’t you just hate having to stop to eat? And don’t you just hate how cranky kids get the longer you force them to go without food? So in the effort to avoid the type of circumstances that could lead to another unfortunate “bad mommy” moment I grabbed fast passes for Soarin and led the kids into Sunshine Seasons. And after 20 minutes of them wandering around trying to decide what to eat we sat down and filled up. I was still trying to master the art of “dining plan” ordering (kindly refrain from making fun please….) but the CM helped me figure it all out.

For those of you that like looking at food pics I snapped a couple…..

My asian chicken bowl (I think that’s what it’s called) was excellent. For some reason I didn’t take a picture of R’s lunch but that could have been because our Croc friend, Felix, was hungry that day too and gobbled it up….here he is eyeing L’s “make your own sub”…..

We still had quite a bit of time to kill before the fast pass could be used so we wandered through the building and headed outside to the ice cream cart for some dessert. Ice cream carts might rank up there on the list of top 10 attractions in Walt Disney World for my youngest.

Here’s the balloons in the Land pavilion….

The gal at the ice cream cart was very pleased when L pronounced ItsaKaDooZie correctly (said it was the first time in days) and L is still taking about that! Small things…..

On our way to a spot of shade to eat our ice cream we come along a squirrel. A sweet innocent squirrel laying flat on his belly in the shade trying to cool off.

“Awwww….take his picture Mommy!”

“Just a second sweetie, Mommy’s tryng to open L’s ItsAKaDoozie”

“Oh look Mommy! He’s looking at us! He’s coming towards us!”

Suddenly the squirrel doesn’t have that sweet innocent look anymore. Suddenly he seems downright demonic! There’s an odd look on his little rodent face and if you drew one of those little cartoon lines between his eyes and where he was staring at it would go right to……you guessed it….the ItsAKaDoozie.

Demon squirrel suddenly makes a dart at L, and it’s fairly obvious he didn’t give a hoot that it was three times the size of him or that it was being held tightly in the fist of a 6 year old. He had full intentions of running up her leg and grabbing the thing, humans be damned! Run, girls, RUN!

I kid you not….we ran like fools from the little crazy rodent and thankfully some big burly men got between us and him stopping him in his little paw tracks. Whew! Finished the ice cream off in record time while R stood facing the direction we had come from, giving us a play by play of where the rodent was. We fully expected him to circle around behind us and pounce again.

On the way back into the Land Pavillion we saw him again but he had no interest in us since we were by then ice cream-less. We took this shot and warmed some other folks that had just uttered the words “oh cute squirrel” that while the two chipmunks back in the Character Meet and Greet were cute, this squirrel was definitely NUTS!

 

[bensonmum]

Lovin' it. Can't wait for more!

 

[DL55]

Ah, but he is cute just nuts for ice cream (who isn't?).