I hate photobucket--it takes every picture that's taller than it is wide and turns it on its side! So frustrating! So I could only post one picture from this night.
So after that cheery ending to the last chapter, things improved.
We decided to try for two more princesses, Mulan in China and Snow White in Germany. Thatâs where she lives. Who knew?
On the way there we stopped in Mexico for a boat ride. J thought it was great. M was obsessed with the fact that she didnât remember the ride being like this at all.
âWhy is Donald Duck here?â she kept asking. âHow does he fit with Mexico?â
Beats me.
Next we tried Maelstrom â which is a fastpass, you know, but who knows why? â and J and M both hated it. M was obsessed here with how scary everything in Norway was, even the movie. Honestly, I never noticed before how strident some parts of it are.
âThese people all look so unhappy,â she kept saying. âAnd the music is so gloomy.â
Norway wasnât a hit, in other words.
We did all like the gift shop, though.
By the time we got to Mulan, her line was full, so we decided to seek out Snow White across the world in Germany first. J spent the whole time playing with a little boy and his sister, who were in front of us. Thankfully, no one tried to cut the line, so I was able to keep my mouth shut.
Well, thatâs not true. Tons of people tried to cut the line, but the line attendant was very good at keeping everyone under control. After all, this is Germany. You VILL stand in a straight line. Germany is all about order. My daughter thinks the Norwegians are grim; she should go to Germany. Except for Bavaria. Thatâs a fun place.
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Snow White was sweet; Photobucket won't let me post a picture of Mulan, for some reason.
We high-tailed it back over to Mulan and waited for her to come out for her next set. The Chinese acrobats were doing their thing, but I donât like them as much since they got rid of the younger kids and now have older peopleâin gymnastics, youâre âolderâ at 20 â doing the routines. I tried to see a bit of the show but the bushes were in the way.
We had a great interaction with Mulan â Snow White was also very sweet, I forgot to say, not German-acting at all. But we had a whole night of characters still to seeâwe were eating at the Garden Grill!
Our first dinner here, on our trip with Mâs DH, was great. Everybody actually had a very good time, even Mr. Grumpy. For whatever reason, this time wasnât quite the same. Maybe itâs just that you canât go home again. It wasnât our waiterâwe had the exact same guy we had last time. I love it when that happens at Disney!
The food was the same, too, so it wasnât that, either. The characters were good â well, as good as characters that donât talk ever are. J had a good time; she loves Chip and Dale. It was fun, just not as much as we remembered. Maybe we were charactered out.
Whatever it was, we both walked out thinking it hadnât been the same. We did have time for a quick flyover with Soarinâ before the fireworks, though, so that made up for it.
We left early to catch the monorail before the crowds descended on it, because J is not a fan of Illuminations; it's too loud. And this is another area where M just canât get past the fact that itâs nothing like it was in the 90s, so she doesnât like it either. I love it, but I see it at least three times on my trips with DH. So we left.
And hereâs where the evening really went sour.
The monorail was closed.
OK, no really big deal, weâd have to take the bus. Queen M wasnât happy about unloading the stroller and riding the bus, but weâd make the best of it.
âThere will be a bus,â the monorail-guarder guy told us.
If only it had been this easy.
We asked the first knowledgeable-looking person we saw at the bus stop where we should get the bus to the Contemporary, since the monorail was closed. He directed us to a number, where we obediently stood. It was only when we boarded the bus that I realized it was going to the TTC, not to the Contemporary.
Well, I suppose that made sense. Thatâs where the monorail would have taken us, too. So weâd have to get on a monorail after the bus. We would have had to do that anyway.
Life was still good.
Naturally, J fell asleep on the bus, which was jam-packed with fellow monorail exiles as well as people heading back to the TTC. Well, that was okay. We were getting on a monorail next and could put her in the stroller, which we did.
Then we got on our monorail. Not crowded at all, it was lovely. Leaving a bit early was a good thing.
We stopped at the Polynesian first. And we waited. Then we waited a little more. Finally, we moved down the track to the Grand Floridian.
And thatâs where we came to a standstill, somewhere between the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian. We sat and sat and sat. A man came over the loudspeaker and said we were delayed for traffic. Then he said we were delayed some more. Half an hour passed. Then he said we were going to stop at the Grand Floridian and weâd all have to get out.
And walk home, I guess.
Another monorail had broken down at the MK station. We asked how we were going to get home, and he said theyâd send a bus.
Oh, no, not another bus. Oh, yes.
There were about 12 of us, a little rag-tag band of monorail exiles, slinking through the Grand Floridian on our way to the buses. The main elevator was broken, so M and I had to trudge around to the other elevator, so we lost our group and were afraid theyâd all hop on the bus and leave us there.
We shouldnât have worried. Buses came. Buses went. We asked each one, like the Little Engine who could,
âPlease, oh, please, Mr. Bus Driver, could you please take us home to the Contemporary? Our little coral monorail has broken down and we need to get home before morning.â
They all refused us.
The mood was getting ugly.
Finally, a bus came who was willing to take us home. I donât know where it came from, but none of us really cared by that time.
We took J from the stroller and got on the bus.
By the time we got to the Contemporary, I was beginning to wonder if weâd boarded the Flying Dutchman. This bus took the longest, most convoluted route imaginable back to the Contemporary. I didnât think weâd ever get there, but obviously, we did.
We said good night to our fellow exiles and trudged up to our room. J never moved a muscle as I deposited her in the bed. You know where Queen M went.
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