Monday, October 23rd - Ya Know, If You Lightened Up a Bit You Might Actually Have a Good Time...
What does one do at the Animal Kingdom when the clock is ticking? Jason and I were on a tight schedule - we were meeting DISfriends for an early afternoon drink at the Grand Floridian about 1PM, so using WDW time we had to leave the AK by about 11AM. Two hours may seem excessive to you, but we had to stop at our villa and pick up a giftie for our friends and then we wanted to snack a bit at Epcot before hopping the monorail over to the GF.
Anyway, if you're ever in this predicament, allow me to suggest what you
don't do: Don't ask your parents what
they'd like to do. Just throw respect for your elders right out the window and squash any urge to compromise under the wheel of the Kilimanjaro Safari jeep. In the long run it's much kinder this way.
Why such an impolite and dare I say, rude, approach to WDW vacationing with the parental unit?
Because they'll say that whatever
you want to do is just fine.
...
...
...
Until you suggest something.
Jay and I actually headed for the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail after the safari - this is the Animal Kingdom after all, let's go see some more animals. This time we can get up close and personal - we won't just see the wildlife we'll smell it, too!
**As an aside, am I the only one here who wants to call it the Panini Forest Exploration Trail? Mmmmmm...grilled animal sandwich of your choice at the trail's end...
endangered species not eligible for eating.**
Well, Jon thought the exploration trail was a fine idea. As a man of science he is always open to new experiences and loves to learn new things, which must be difficult when you're smart enough to be a member of Mensa. Grimace, on the other hand, seems to have little or no interest in just about everything...including the exploration trail.
I think her attitude could best be summed up as this: "A walking tour...learning stuff...on vacation? Bah, that smacks of effort!"
I know, devoted friends and readers, you are probably just as confused right now as Jay and I were. We got up early and hit the Animal Kingdom during EMH so Grimace could see the animals before they settled in for their day-long siesta and now she wasn't interested in seeing them. But as far as she was concerned she
had seen the animals and there was no reason to see them again, especially on foot.
Well, then how about we wander over to DinoLand? There are some rides over there that Jon would probably enjoy and that area of the park is pretty cool.
This suggestion meets with general approval and so we set out for the land of dinosaurs, being careful to skirt around Asia altogether since we have a pretty good idea that Grimace isn't interested in the Maharajah Jungle Trek or the Flights of Wonder.
I'm admittedly puzzled because I know there is nothing in DinoLand that Grimace will want to do. I ask her if she's tired, thirsty, or in need of a bathroom break (my god...I do sound like a parent, don't I?) in quick succession to which she replies, "I'm fine, stop bothering me."
Ouch.
I retreat to the amused safety of my Bubba (that's my nickname for Jason -don't ask.
) who comforts me by saying, "You tried and you failed. The lesson is - never try."
My first attempt at "not trying" is Dinosaur, which Grimace would absolutely not enjoy. She was quite pleased to pull up a bench and let us travel back in time without her. As we were approaching the entrance to the ride we saw a woman trying to get her son to pose in front of the dinosaur out front and decided that it would be great to make Jon do the same.
Look! He's wearing the Mickey polo that Grimmie bought him the day before at DTD; isn't that cute?
I think this was the only ride during the week that we didn't purchase the photo from - it was nothing special so we actually exercised some restraint for a change. We did, however, make a generous contribution to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund and in return received a fabulous button!
As we were leaving Dinosaur guess who walked right by us with a VIP guide?
Warren Brown and Mary Meyers!
That's right - the chefs from our
bitterSweet Sundays! How cool is that? Getting their own VIP tour around the Animal Kingdom?
After Dinosaur we decided to ride Primeval Whirl, another attraction that Grimace would find less than attractive. Jay and I really like this ride - it's goofy but it's also a lot of fun in a don't-blow-chunks-on-your-neighbor kind of way. I've always wondered: if someone does get sick on this ride is the result Primeval Soup?
I'm not sure that Jon enjoyed this ride or the bad jokes as much as Jay and I did, but he was a good sport - he always is.
At this point during our AK visit I insisted that the parents join us for
It's Tough to be a Bug! Everyone loves this show...well, everyone but small children, nyctophobes, and Grimaces.
You can probably guess where this is headed, can't you? Well, to begin with she wasn't really interested in the Tree of Life. How can you
not be utterly fascinated by this? The amount of work that went into the creation of this park icon...the incredible attention to detail...the fact that there is a theater in the tree's root system...how is that not worthy of an "oooh" followed by at least one "ahhhhh" ?
She didn't like the crowd or the fact that there were so many small children; she didn't like waiting to get into the theater and she didn't like the idea of seeing something in 3-D. Then when the show started she didn't like being gassed, squirted with water, "stung" by the wasps, or the bugs who crawled under her butt. That's right - she didn't like any part of the show - didn't see any humor in it at all.
This seems like a good time for us to part ways, don't you think?
We remind them that we have dinner reservations at Victoria & Albert's for 6:30PM - allow plenty of time for soaping up and being less plain before we leave for the GF tonight!
Coming soon: Food at Epcot, drinks at the Grand Floridian, and Plankton's Great Escape!
B, I saw a commercial last night for the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. Don't forget to check it out! 
Thank you all for reading! Since I have a few minutes left before I have to get back to work I thought I'd post a few comments. I'll try to update this evening, but I can't promise anything...the old Endo-bear has been back with a vengeance this week and I may just go home and go to bed with a percocet tucked under my pillow. We'll see how the rest of the day unfolds...
I will file this away for future reference along with her other dislikes, which include sub-titled movies, classical music, meals that take longer than an hour to eat, and cleaning house.
)
pardon me. i'm a court reporter and i just had to throw that in. 
