Monday, October 23rd - Come on a Safari With Me!
I was remiss when discussing the events of the previous evening. My only excuse is that I was so concerned about the impact of the Cheesesteak Incident I completely forgot to tell you what happened after dinner at the Plaza.
One of the reasons I wanted to spend EMH at the Magic Kingdom was to see Wishes. While my mom doesn't get all misty-eyed and mushy-melt over Disney, I thought she'd really enjoy the show. And Jay and I have only caught Wishes one time, so we were looking forward to seeing it again - no one does fireworks like Disney.
I'd say it was about 9PM when we finally finished up at the Plaza - just enough time to get a decent viewing spot. It was a warm evening, a little humid but overall very pleasant; great weather for watching sparkly airborne explosions timed to emotionally manipulative music.
Can you imagine then, my hysterically amused chagrin when Grimace announced that she wanted to go back to the villa and watch the World Series?
How were we amused? Oh, let us count the ways...
1) Grimace doesn't like baseball. She's not a fan and doesn't follow the Cardinals or any other team at all during Grapefruit League play, the regular season, or the playoffs. This is a woman who took a book to the last baseball game she attended - 20 years ago.
2) Grimace is afraid to travel back to the Beach Club by herself. "How will I know which MK bus stop is the right one to get me back to the Beach Club?"
Read the sign. "How will I know at which stop I should exit the bus?"
Listen to the bus driver when he announces the upcoming stop. "What if a stranger sits next to me on the bus?"
We're not really having this conversation, are we?
3) Jason and I are the baseball fans of the group, but after rearranging our vacation schedules during the last two years to accommodate playoff games (see
2004: Four-game Sweep by RedSox Results in Disaster at Sea and a Whole Lot of Cheap Kahlua; and, 2005: Cardinal Cruisers Cursed as Beloved Team Loses in Postseason - There Will be No Guavaberry Solace.) we opted for a more laid back approach. We were not going to change anything we had planned just to watch one of the games. We would see of the World Series what we were meant to see and that was that. So, you can imagine how Jason busted a gut to hear my mom talk about wanting to watch the game.
4) Jon just waved cheerfully at her and said, "See you later."
Since it was obvious that Jon wasn't about to leave the MK, Jason took it upon himself to escort the wet blanket out of the park...once he stopped laughing. He speed-walked Grimace down Main Street, out the front gates, down to the bus stop holding pens, and then sprinted all the way back to where Jon and I were waiting, making it with about 5 minutes to spare. Now that's impressive!
The fireworks were incredible, but I was actually a little disappointed because the MK didn't run the standard version of Wishes. Instead they showed a watered-down version of Hallowishes. I wanted to see the original Wishes and then see Hallowishes when we attended
MNSSHP later in the week. That's how it's supposed to be, or at least that's how it used to be. Oh well, it was still worth hanging around for. And as it turned out, we didn't miss anything by not watching the second game of the World Series; other than the Pine Tar Pitching Conspiracy.
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We find ourselves now on Monday morning - it's EMH at the Animal Kingdom and we're up early because Grimace wants to take a safari, but with animals this time. The last time she visited AK it was Monsoon season in Florida and she took the safari during the warmest time of day, which means she didn't see any wildlife at all.
We shared our hard-earned vacation knowledge with her. "You have to go early - right after they've fed the animals and while it's still cool outside."
And that's why we found ourselves waiting for an Animal Kingdom bus at 8:05 AM with about 20 other people. We probably didn't wait more than 5 minutes for the bus to arrive, but it had already stopped at the Swolphin and at the Yacht Club. It was going to be a tight fit.
Once the doors were opened, Grimace bolted in front of the two families that had been waiting for the bus when we first showed up. I was mortified...this was bad vacation form indeed!
"Hey!" I called out rather sharply. "Those people were here before us; don't butt in front of them. It's not nice."
You gotta give Grimace credit - she just laughed and told one woman with a stroller, "That's my daughter, but we've switched roles and now she acts like the mom."
The ride over to AK was crowded but uneventful. I was determined that we would have some family pictures taken at the parks to prove to the world what a great time we were all having together. Here's our first attempt:
In all honesty I can say that I had forgotten about Grimace's photo-aversion issues at this point. When I did remember two days later how much she disliked having her picture taken I started pushing for group pictures just to annoy her.
Jon, Jason, and I decided that we wanted to ride Expedition Everest before taking a safari - that way we would beat the crowds when the gates were opened to the public at 9AM. Grimace doesn't do coasters so she parked herself on a bench while we went through the normal ride queue - we only had about a ten minute wait.
Here's a shot of our early morning destiny as we moved ever closer to the first adrenaline rush of the day:
I could spend a lot of time talking about the incredible theming that Disney has in place for this ride, but we only rode it one time and I'm sure we missed a lot of details. A weird thing happened on the way to the loading area - we started talking with a guest in line ahead of us who was wearing Cardinals gear and it turns out that he is from our neck of the woods. And by that I mean he lives about 5 miles from Jay and me.
**Cue cliche** It really is a small world!
The ride itself is a blast! I can't wait to go back in May and ride this baby again. I had to take my glasses off, so I can't tell you much about the visual aspects of the ride but I can tell you that from the coaster's summit you can get a great blurry view of WDW. According to Jay it's really stunning when you have 20/20 vision.
Here we are plunging towards disaster:
A few things I notice when looking at this: I appear to be wearing short-shorts even though I'm not. And while I'm having fun you will see that I am clinging to the safety bar with my patented "fun-is-fun-but-I'm-not-about-to-let-go" death grip. Although his arm is blocking part of his face, Jason has his best "Woo Hoo!" going on. And Jon looks like he is thinking to himself, "I'm getting too old for this crap."
I really like the guy sitting directly behind Jon - he appears to be having a great deal of frightening fun. The guy seated next to him looks like he's going to drop a load in his pants. I love these pictures!!
Gotta stop for the night - need sleep. Thanks for reading - safari is next and there are a lot of pictures.
Juvenile....but funny!
I will threaten you with no trippie from me come September!! 
My Giants are doing just as bad...48 hours into their season, and they are probably already mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
That was when I knew my Disney obsession was completely out of control.
