8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC Part 8

[Diznyfan68]

Here's a sibling WDW story that makes me laugh. Sorry it so long!! It's a blog entry that I wrote for another Disney site.

Don't Make Your Kids Eat Green Beans

How many of us remember being told – ‘You’re going to sit there until you finish those green beans. There are starving kids in Ethiopia who would love them!’ I remember that vividly. And I remember thinking “Well then why don’t you pack them up and send them over there. There’s no way I’m going to finish my green beans!” I don’t remember whose will power wore out first, but I don’t ever remember finishing my green beans either. Maybe my mind is just suppressing that memory to save me from the horribleness of it all.

With that in mind, don’t ever trust your kids. They’ll always remember how you made them sit at the table until they finished all their green beans. Then when they get older, they’ll learn that revenge is the dish that’s best served cold, not green beans. It’s been a year and a half and I still can’t tell this story without laughing.

For those that don’t know my family, which is just about everyone, during my early teen years, when we went to our tiny local amusement park, my mother was the “rider”. My father went once or twice, but mostly he just fed quarters into the water canon on the log flume.

"I don't do rides" he always said, "my back".

He wouldn't even ride the carousel. My dad, while a good guy once you get to know him, is very serious and stern. He was actually mistaken for a prison guard when I went in for emergency surgery a few years ago.

Anyway, it's January 2004. It's me on my third trip to Walt Disney World, my brother and his wife on their second, their two girls 4 & 1 and my parents on their first. We're at the Magic Kingdom for the day and the one ride my 4yo niece HAD to do was Big Thunder Mountain. She loves roller coaster so this is not a surprise.

When we get to Frontierland, my mom who can't ride the big rides anymore says she'll stay behind with those who don't want to go. So I ask, well, maybe I screamed "Who wants to go on BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD"??

The 4 year old, jumping up and down, says, "ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!!!" . . .

My brother (her daddy) says "I'll go" . . .

Then my dad says - "I'm gonna go too!!"

HUH???

My brother and I just about fell over. He hadn't been on many rides that day. Actually, from what we can remember, he’s never been on many rides at all and we don’t recall him ever going on a roller coaster before either.

We look at each other. Then we look at him. Thinking he may think it’s a real railroad and I know how he loves trains, I ask, "You do know, it's a roller coaster and not a train ride - right??"

"Yeah" he says, "looks like fun."

OK - this is about the point we begin to wonder where our real dad went to.

When we get on, my niece makes her daddy sit with Pop - she can sit with me, her rollercoaster buddy. (I love that girl!) When it's all over, my niece says she loved it. Again, we’re not surprised by that. We ask my dad how he liked it. He says it was great - what's next? So, we take him and the other over to ride Splash Mountain.

For my dad to go on these two rides is a monumental thing. Later in the evening, my brother told me that dad was "giggling" through the whole ride on Big Thunder Mountain. Dad . . . giggling . . . no way!! This Disney magic is pretty powerful stuff!!!!

The next day, we head to Disney-MGM Studios. Again, I've been there before, my brother's been there before, and then there’s dad. He doesn't have a clue what's there or what's going on. Now he should have SOME sense of the place. I’d only been talking about everything and showing them planning videos and giving them guidebooks to look at (with pictures for dad) for the past year and a half. But still, he remains totally clueless.

In the afternoon, my brother agreed to go on Rock N Roller Coaster with me. My niece wanted to go, but she was too short. And again, Dad is there with "I'll go too!!"

As we're standing out in the courtyard, I say to him "Are you sure?" as I look up over my head.

He says, "Yeah, I'll go with you guys" and doesn't notice the upside-down car I’m staring at.

The standby line is about an hour and the Fast Pass return is also about an hour, so the three of us grab Fast Passes and we meet up with the others on a bench for an ice cream break and some people watching. A couple times during our wait, my brother and I look at each other and smirk. We tune into our sibling connection, what I call ‘the green been connection’. Without speaking a word, we both know this is a good time to get one on dad and don’t say a word about what’s in store for him. During the wait, however, one of us asks Dad, "Are you SURE you want to go?"

"Yeah, I want to go."

A few minutes later, "You know it's another roller coaster right?"

"Yeah"

A few more minutes later, "And it's a ROCK ‘N’ ROLLer coaster"

"That's ok with me."

For the past 20 years, all he’s really listed to has been Classical music, but suddenly it's ok with him? Again, where's our real dad?!?

Anyway, it’s getting close to blast off time and my brother and I start removing sunglasses, loose change, hats, etc., put them in our bags and then hang them on the stroller. Basically, anything that could fall off we took off. Dad joins right in and honestly still doesn't have a clue that it goes super fast and upside down.

So, our Fast Pass time arrives, we go through the line, the preshow, and get to the take off zone. My brother and I are tucking our lanyards into our shirts when the first car zooms off. We giggle at my dad's reaction.

"Dad, you can still leave if you want to. Are you SURE you REALLY want to do this?”

"Yeah, looks like fun."

My brother and I are fighting to contain our composure at this point. Hysterical laughter is hard to contain, but don’t worry, it’s not too far away.

I make my brother sit with dad again. After they get settled in, I step down into the car in front of them and casually say, "Hey dad, what does inverted mean?"

His eyes get big and just about shouts in slow motion
" U P S I D E D O O O W W N N ".

Now my brother and I burst out into hysterical laughter. At that point we were all strapped in and ready to go; too late to change his mind now! Dad survived and had a pretty good time. He said it was a smoother ride than Big Thunder Mountain but probably wouldn't be doing it again. Even now, when we tell this story, we can't help but crack up at how my dad went on his first inverted rollercoaster at 61 years old.

Just goes to prove two things:

1. Disney magic is mighty powerful stuff if people will just let go and have fun.

and

2. Siblings can get along great - especially if it’s to pull one over on their green bean loving parents.

Great story Jennifer - thanks for sharing!

 

[pyramid2000]

hi all! gonna try to pop in here today during naptime...i could really use a nap myself! so i'm hoping the boards here will help me stay awake!
it was a very long nite last nite...my gpa had a ruptured anyeurism (spelling?) on sat morning. they did surgery, and it looked to be like he was doing ok. they expected the surgery to last for 6 hrs, it only lasted 4! they thought he'd be on a resp for weeks...he was off it in 2 days! well, yesterday he had some major setbacks. his lungs and heart were doing very well...very strong! but yesterday afternoon, his heart stopped...but he's tough and stubborn and the docs got him going again! last nite was another story...his heart kept giving out numerous times, and they've had to put him back on the vent. he's not looking good, and we were at the hosp from midnite til after 3 this am. at least he's stable today...and he's a stubborn and strong old man!! which is good for his fighting chances! please keep him in your prayers!

He sounds like one stubborn old man! I hope all goes well.

 

[maine_jennifer]

Andy....my dad had a knee replacement last year.

My mother had both her knees replaced in 2002. First one in April, then the other in June. She has other problems, arthritis, etc., but gets around great with no walker, cane, etc. She'd do even better if she had kept up on the PT exercises they showed her, but she's stubborn.

 

[PBader]

I picked up my x-rays and report this afternoon at the end of my work day. Man, my knees look horrible on the inside, actually, they don't look that good on the outside either............

Report states:

Right Knee Findings:

There is moderate to severe narrowing of the medial femorotibial joint space. There is also sclerosis involving the medial tibial plateau. The medial tibial plateau appears slighty depressed. This may be projectional. There is no joint effusion.

Left Knee Findings:

The patient is status post partial left knee replacement with prothetic components overlying the lateral femoral condyle and lateral tibial plateau. There is moderate-to-severe narrowing of the medial femorotibial joint space. There is osteophyte formation off the tibial spines and off the medial femoral condyle. There is also patellafemoral joint space narrowing.


Not sure, but I think maybe that's why my knees ache so much..........


What say you Peter???

Oh Andy, hope they get you feeling good as new soon!

 

[justmestace]

Good Boy!!

I did mention I have competative hunting dogs somewhere along the line? We can't keep small furry things for the same reason. And the cat's reason for existence is to teach the dogs to leave them alone. He (the cat) does a nice job of it - they're all terrified by him. We have a giant dog bed (5 ft x 3 ft) that will hold three large dogs, or one cat.

Well, yes, the big old boy was part Retriever...so what did I expect?
We had a kitty just like yours for years.....she could take down a critter 3 times her size. Dogs knew better than to mess with her.

 

[Diznyfan68]

Silly dog keeps going to the door and begs to go out but when I open it for her she just backs away and looks at me like "what are you? Nuts?" She then goes to one of the other 2 doors and does the same thing, like maybe it is pouring rain out those doors. She is driving me crazy. Where is Mark when I need him to let the dog out? 500 miles away of course.

Typical man - never there when you need him!

 

[Verandah Man]

Me?? LOL...I don't mind telling. I'll be 49 on March 18th.

Hey Stacey, you are in good company, my mom's birthday is also March 18th, but she has a few years on you, she will be 71 this year.

 

[captaincrash]

I can HARDLY BELIEVE IT....

I am FULLY CAUGHT UP...

Not from the first posting but from about a day and a half or so ago. I read through about 1000 postings and ... now I'm here! And I have to leave soon to get my kids and run dinner for them. My spouse is away tonight again and my daughter also has a pajama party at school tonight.

Woo Hoo!

 

[PBader]

Here's a sibling WDW story that makes me laugh. Sorry it so long!! It's a blog entry that I wrote for another Disney site.

Don't Make Your Kids Eat Green Beans

How many of us remember being told – ‘You’re going to sit there until you finish those green beans. There are starving kids in Ethiopia who would love them!’ I remember that vividly. And I remember thinking “Well then why don’t you pack them up and send them over there. There’s no way I’m going to finish my green beans!” I don’t remember whose will power wore out first, but I don’t ever remember finishing my green beans either. Maybe my mind is just suppressing that memory to save me from the horribleness of it all.

With that in mind, don’t ever trust your kids. They’ll always remember how you made them sit at the table until they finished all their green beans. Then when they get older, they’ll learn that revenge is the dish that’s best served cold, not green beans. It’s been a year and a half and I still can’t tell this story without laughing.

For those that don’t know my family, which is just about everyone, during my early teen years, when we went to our tiny local amusement park, my mother was the “rider”. My father went once or twice, but mostly he just fed quarters into the water canon on the log flume.

"I don't do rides" he always said, "my back".

He wouldn't even ride the carousel. My dad, while a good guy once you get to know him, is very serious and stern. He was actually mistaken for a prison guard when I went in for emergency surgery a few years ago.

Anyway, it's January 2004. It's me on my third trip to Walt Disney World, my brother and his wife on their second, their two girls 4 & 1 and my parents on their first. We're at the Magic Kingdom for the day and the one ride my 4yo niece HAD to do was Big Thunder Mountain. She loves roller coaster so this is not a surprise.

When we get to Frontierland, my mom who can't ride the big rides anymore says she'll stay behind with those who don't want to go. So I ask, well, maybe I screamed "Who wants to go on BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD"??

The 4 year old, jumping up and down, says, "ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!!!" . . .

My brother (her daddy) says "I'll go" . . .

Then my dad says - "I'm gonna go too!!"

HUH???

My brother and I just about fell over. He hadn't been on many rides that day. Actually, from what we can remember, he’s never been on many rides at all and we don’t recall him ever going on a roller coaster before either.

We look at each other. Then we look at him. Thinking he may think it’s a real railroad and I know how he loves trains, I ask, "You do know, it's a roller coaster and not a train ride - right??"

"Yeah" he says, "looks like fun."

OK - this is about the point we begin to wonder where our real dad went to.

When we get on, my niece makes her daddy sit with Pop - she can sit with me, her rollercoaster buddy. (I love that girl!) When it's all over, my niece says she loved it. Again, we’re not surprised by that. We ask my dad how he liked it. He says it was great - what's next? So, we take him and the other over to ride Splash Mountain.

For my dad to go on these two rides is a monumental thing. Later in the evening, my brother told me that dad was "giggling" through the whole ride on Big Thunder Mountain. Dad . . . giggling . . . no way!! This Disney magic is pretty powerful stuff!!!!

The next day, we head to Disney-MGM Studios. Again, I've been there before, my brother's been there before, and then there’s dad. He doesn't have a clue what's there or what's going on. Now he should have SOME sense of the place. I’d only been talking about everything and showing them planning videos and giving them guidebooks to look at (with pictures for dad) for the past year and a half. But still, he remains totally clueless.

In the afternoon, my brother agreed to go on Rock N Roller Coaster with me. My niece wanted to go, but she was too short. And again, Dad is there with "I'll go too!!"

As we're standing out in the courtyard, I say to him "Are you sure?" as I look up over my head.

He says, "Yeah, I'll go with you guys" and doesn't notice the upside-down car I’m staring at.

The standby line is about an hour and the Fast Pass return is also about an hour, so the three of us grab Fast Passes and we meet up with the others on a bench for an ice cream break and some people watching. A couple times during our wait, my brother and I look at each other and smirk. We tune into our sibling connection, what I call ‘the green been connection’. Without speaking a word, we both know this is a good time to get one on dad and don’t say a word about what’s in store for him. During the wait, however, one of us asks Dad, "Are you SURE you want to go?"

"Yeah, I want to go."

A few minutes later, "You know it's another roller coaster right?"

"Yeah"

A few more minutes later, "And it's a ROCK ‘N’ ROLLer coaster"

"That's ok with me."

For the past 20 years, all he’s really listed to has been Classical music, but suddenly it's ok with him? Again, where's our real dad?!?

Anyway, it’s getting close to blast off time and my brother and I start removing sunglasses, loose change, hats, etc., put them in our bags and then hang them on the stroller. Basically, anything that could fall off we took off. Dad joins right in and honestly still doesn't have a clue that it goes super fast and upside down.

So, our Fast Pass time arrives, we go through the line, the preshow, and get to the take off zone. My brother and I are tucking our lanyards into our shirts when the first car zooms off. We giggle at my dad's reaction.

"Dad, you can still leave if you want to. Are you SURE you REALLY want to do this?”

"Yeah, looks like fun."

My brother and I are fighting to contain our composure at this point. Hysterical laughter is hard to contain, but don’t worry, it’s not too far away.

I make my brother sit with dad again. After they get settled in, I step down into the car in front of them and casually say, "Hey dad, what does inverted mean?"

His eyes get big and just about shouts in slow motion
" U P S I D E D O O O W W N N ".

Now my brother and I burst out into hysterical laughter. At that point we were all strapped in and ready to go; too late to change his mind now! Dad survived and had a pretty good time. He said it was a smoother ride than Big Thunder Mountain but probably wouldn't be doing it again. Even now, when we tell this story, we can't help but crack up at how my dad went on his first inverted rollercoaster at 61 years old.

Just goes to prove two things:

1. Disney magic is mighty powerful stuff if people will just let go and have fun.

and

2. Siblings can get along great - especially if it’s to pull one over on their green bean loving parents.

Great story Jennifer!

 

[buckifan]

Silly dog keeps going to the door and begs to go out but when I open it for her she just backs away and looks at me like "what are you? Nuts?" She then goes to one of the other 2 doors and does the same thing, like maybe it is pouring rain out those doors. She is driving me crazy. Where is Mark when I need him to let the dog out? 500 miles away of course.

My dogs do that too! Like they want me to walk them out under the umbrella or something.....It's been raining here all day as well. I think they are calling for thunderstorms tonight.

 

[justmestace]

It wasn't knit. It was one of those floppy straw hats...rafia I guess? Just to keep the sun out of her eyes. She has always worn hats.

More proof that I REALLY need new glasses!

 

[The FairyGodmother]

Andy,

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on tv. But it doesn't sound too good. I am sure you are following up with your docs. Sending prayers your way for wisdom for those doctors to figure out what to do so you can be pain free as soon as possible.

On another note, had a surprise call from DD's orthopedic doctor. He called in response to a call I placed to his office to try and get DD a follow-up appointment for her MRI and Ultrasounds of her hip, sooner than a month and a half from now. He thought I was calling to try to move her test appointment. When I told him I wasn't worried about when the tests were but I couldn't understand waiting over another month to see him just to get the results, he was giving me his private secretary's number and told me to call in the am to get a better appointment at his office instead of the clinic that she was suppose to go too. How nice was that!!! I tell you at least now we have some doctors and hospital personal that have been really helpful.

 

[buckifan]

Andy,

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on tv. But it doesn't sound too good. I am sure you are following up with your docs. Sending prayers your way for wisdom for those doctors to figure out what to do so you can be pain free as soon as possible.

On another note, had a surprise call from DD's orthopedic doctor. He called in response to a call I placed to his office to try and get DD a follow-up appointment for her MRI and Ultrasounds of her hip, sooner than a month and a half from now. He thought I was calling to try to move her test appointment. When I told him I wasn't worried about when the tests were but I couldn't understand waiting over another month to see him just to get the results, he was giving me his private secretary's number and told me to call in the am to get a better appointment at his office instead of the clinic that she was suppose to go too. How nice was that!!! I tell you at least now we have some doctors and hospital personal that have been really helpful.

Well, there's a step in the right direction.....

 

[lbgraves]

ummmm that would be Black for embarkation White for PC day ...Helllooooooo

Helllloooooo! I was just doing the daily groundhog summary. This started when you were away...so get with it.

 

[Diznyfan68]

Andy,

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on tv. But it doesn't sound too good. I am sure you are following up with your docs. Sending prayers your way for wisdom for those doctors to figure out what to do so you can be pain free as soon as possible.

On another note, had a surprise call from DD's orthopedic doctor. He called in response to a call I placed to his office to try and get DD a follow-up appointment for her MRI and Ultrasounds of her hip, sooner than a month and a half from now. He thought I was calling to try to move her test appointment. When I told him I wasn't worried about when the tests were but I couldn't understand waiting over another month to see him just to get the results, he was giving me his private secretary's number and told me to call in the am to get a better appointment at his office instead of the clinic that she was suppose to go too. How nice was that!!! I tell you at least now we have some doctors and hospital personal that have been really helpful.

That's good news Laura!

 

[The FairyGodmother]

Here's a sibling WDW story that makes me laugh. Sorry it so long!! It's a blog entry that I wrote for another Disney site.

Don't Make Your Kids Eat Green Beans

Just goes to prove two things:

1. Disney magic is mighty powerful stuff if people will just let go and have fun.

and

2. Siblings can get along great - especially if it’s to pull one over on their green bean loving parents.

This reminds me of the couple we went to WDW last year. They were the family of some friend that we were traveling with. Neither family had been to Disney before so we were kind of like tour guides to them. This older man and his wife had never really even been on a real vacation before. It was so awesome to watch their enjoyment over everything we did. The smiles were so big and their eyes so bright. Even though one of them was in a wheelchair we managed to cover a lot of ground in those couple of days. Even in the pouring, cold rain. I will never forget their delight at the fireworks at Epcot or the sights and smells of Soarin'
It was like watching our kids see things for the first time.

 

[The FairyGodmother]

Time for AI

 

[PBader]

On another note, had a surprise call from DD's orthopedic doctor. He called in response to a call I placed to his office to try and get DD a follow-up appointment for her MRI and Ultrasounds of her hip, sooner than a month and a half from now. He thought I was calling to try to move her test appointment. When I told him I wasn't worried about when the tests were but I couldn't understand waiting over another month to see him just to get the results, he was giving me his private secretary's number and told me to call in the am to get a better appointment at his office instead of the clinic that she was suppose to go too. How nice was that!!! I tell you at least now we have some doctors and hospital personal that have been really helpful.

 

[lbgraves]

A lot of pictures like this one?? (Epcot, Oct 2003)

Though I have to admit this is one of my all time favorite pictures. (They're all even in step!) We're returning to WDW this year with this family. Kathy (mom to the kids on the left) and I were behind with the strollers. Our husbands have been best friends since grade school.

That is a really cool picture!

 

[brack]

Ahhhh regional slang..........

RC = South

Mark

More than likely those of us from the south would say "Coke" even for another brand.

RC (Royal Crown) is a very small market cola usually linked to a "Moon Pie". When mentioned it is: "An R o C Cola and a moon pie"