jsmla
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 4,498
Now I don't know how it goes at your house but at mine I am Santa Claus. I don't know when this transformation happened but there it is. Therefore, a belated merry Christmas to everyone. Liz and I have taken refuge with Mom for a little post-holiday R&R and are being spoiled rotten for the next few days. Sam is consoling himself with the latest in video game technology and Liz is waiting breathlessly for 9:00 pm to begin chatting on her new cell. I strongly suspect my DH is using my absence to return all of his gifts. Anyway here goes:
Me (41) Proud owner of a new electric blanket. What can I say? I married a true romantic.
Sam (16) Currently conquering some galaxy or other.
Liz (14) 4 minutes from cell phone bliss.
Mom/Grandma (whatever) Washing up from dinner (Chicken parmesan with marinara and alfredo sauce and may I say it was wonderful.)
and
Liya (15) Distributing gifts far and wide I suppose. The entire family Gorbonova is surely bedecked in Disney gear today.
Sunday November 18, 2001
The earlier downpour at the Animal Kingdom has given Mom a new lease on life. After requisitioning everyone's quarters she makes for the laundry room to dry clothes. The rest of us make quality use of our time with napping, video gaming and, occasionally, fighting.
After only a small tantrum on Lizzie's part regarding her wardrobe (her Sketchers were wet) we set off MGMwards. The weather has cleared and it is sunny and warm. Our plans for this evening include Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Fantasmic. In spite of my fears crowds appear to be light and I, blithely ignoring the parking rules, snag a spot close to the front. Staying off-site has produced a decided parking mania on my part. We snag fast passes for WWtBaM and are just in time to catch the Stars and Cars (title?) parade. Liya doesn't quite catch the concept of a parade at first but enjoys it once things get rolling and uses much film. To me it's not a patch on the old Aladdin and Toy Story parades. Coming from the New Orleans area as I do it just seems like those characters should be tossing beads or doubloons or something! After the parade the kids head off for Star Tours while I wait with Mom. Perhaps I should say that I intended to wait with Mom. Five minutes after they get in line I discover that my bag is missing. You know the one. The one with all the tickets and money in it. Desparate, I con the fast pass guardian into letting me run up the ramps after the kids. (I lied and said I'd lost a child, I never said I was perfect.) Thank goodness one of them has the bag. Things have come to a pretty pass when I'm in charge of such things.
In the Star Tours gift shop Sam makes a T-shirt purchase. The rest of us are able to resist. Afterwards we try to ride The Great Movie Ride but it is down at the moment so we decide on an ice cream break instead and while away a few moments till Millionaire time. This is a big moment for us since Millionaire is one of Liya's favorite shows. She has already declared the American version "stupid" and the Russian one vastly superior. Well, we'll see about that. Liya is seated somewhere on the other side of Liz and Mom with Sam next to me. Liz is a shameless cheater and Mom will never attempt serious play so I hope to make up for my pitiful showing at Buzz Lightyear. I am extremely gratified to find myself on the leader board, but being the gracious hostess that I am, refrain from sticking my tongue out at Liya. A few rounds pass and I notice that I have moved up. A lot. I'm number 2!!!!!!!! Now, while I'm not at all adverse to showing off in front of my family, there's no way I'm going down to that hot seat. I'd probably wet my pants. Sam and I enter into a hot dispute during which he volunteers to take my place should such a thing come to be. Once again we draw the attention of those around us (and a few seated further away!). Fortunately a sad ignorance of haute couture derails any future plans. At any rate I beat Liya!
By this time we're ready for Fantasmic. Since it's less than an hour till showtime I worry about getting seats but our luck holds. We get seated right in the middle about 10 rows up. Perfect!! Along the way Liz has acquired a 100 Years of Magic light up pin to compensate for having to sit between Liya and Mom (and thus having no opportunity to cheat) during Millionaire and is looking forward to sparkling her way through Fantasmic. Sam treats everyone but Liya to drinks (I make him go back) and we all settle down to wait for the show when what to my wondering eyes should appear but our pastor's wife, Becky. There's no way to say this without looking bad but I didn't want to spend the rest of my vacation at church. Our pastor (Bill) is a great guy but not given to laxity. (He banned Beauty and the Beast (taverns) and The Little Mermaid (seashells) when our respective kids were young). The beer kiosks at Epcot hold no temptation for him. He does, however, enjoy a good hot dog and doughnut, both of which are forbidden by his wife. She was standing four rows below us staring up into the distance. I strongly suspect he'd snuck off for a bite under some pretext and Becky was growing suspicious. At any rate she was staring pointedly in our direction as I attempted to hide behind Liz's recently acquired Harry Potter book (Oh gracious, that's probably forbidden too). This went on for at least half and hour or until it was too dark for either Bill or me to get busted.
Fantasmic was, as always, absolutely wonderful. Liya was enchanted. As a matter of fact, so was I. This is my very favorite Disney show. I could watch it over and over and over. Since it did happen to be over the kids and I headed for Rock-n-Rollercoaster. I love coasters and, as a true child of the 70s, Aerosmith. Sam is likewise a coaster and Aerosmith afficianado. I am afraid we both sang and danced our way through the line. Liz is still a little wary of this ride (and I must admit embarassed by her kin) but game. Liya backs out at the last minute, she's still suffering from post Tower of Terror stress disorder. We score the back seat and zip through LA to the beat of Walk This Way. Perfect!
All in all it's been a great night. Beautiful weather, light crowds, no pastor and very little bickering. This is what a WDW vacation is all about. Unadulterated pleasure.
Me (41) Proud owner of a new electric blanket. What can I say? I married a true romantic.
Sam (16) Currently conquering some galaxy or other.
Liz (14) 4 minutes from cell phone bliss.
Mom/Grandma (whatever) Washing up from dinner (Chicken parmesan with marinara and alfredo sauce and may I say it was wonderful.)
and
Liya (15) Distributing gifts far and wide I suppose. The entire family Gorbonova is surely bedecked in Disney gear today.
Sunday November 18, 2001
The earlier downpour at the Animal Kingdom has given Mom a new lease on life. After requisitioning everyone's quarters she makes for the laundry room to dry clothes. The rest of us make quality use of our time with napping, video gaming and, occasionally, fighting.
After only a small tantrum on Lizzie's part regarding her wardrobe (her Sketchers were wet) we set off MGMwards. The weather has cleared and it is sunny and warm. Our plans for this evening include Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Fantasmic. In spite of my fears crowds appear to be light and I, blithely ignoring the parking rules, snag a spot close to the front. Staying off-site has produced a decided parking mania on my part. We snag fast passes for WWtBaM and are just in time to catch the Stars and Cars (title?) parade. Liya doesn't quite catch the concept of a parade at first but enjoys it once things get rolling and uses much film. To me it's not a patch on the old Aladdin and Toy Story parades. Coming from the New Orleans area as I do it just seems like those characters should be tossing beads or doubloons or something! After the parade the kids head off for Star Tours while I wait with Mom. Perhaps I should say that I intended to wait with Mom. Five minutes after they get in line I discover that my bag is missing. You know the one. The one with all the tickets and money in it. Desparate, I con the fast pass guardian into letting me run up the ramps after the kids. (I lied and said I'd lost a child, I never said I was perfect.) Thank goodness one of them has the bag. Things have come to a pretty pass when I'm in charge of such things.
In the Star Tours gift shop Sam makes a T-shirt purchase. The rest of us are able to resist. Afterwards we try to ride The Great Movie Ride but it is down at the moment so we decide on an ice cream break instead and while away a few moments till Millionaire time. This is a big moment for us since Millionaire is one of Liya's favorite shows. She has already declared the American version "stupid" and the Russian one vastly superior. Well, we'll see about that. Liya is seated somewhere on the other side of Liz and Mom with Sam next to me. Liz is a shameless cheater and Mom will never attempt serious play so I hope to make up for my pitiful showing at Buzz Lightyear. I am extremely gratified to find myself on the leader board, but being the gracious hostess that I am, refrain from sticking my tongue out at Liya. A few rounds pass and I notice that I have moved up. A lot. I'm number 2!!!!!!!! Now, while I'm not at all adverse to showing off in front of my family, there's no way I'm going down to that hot seat. I'd probably wet my pants. Sam and I enter into a hot dispute during which he volunteers to take my place should such a thing come to be. Once again we draw the attention of those around us (and a few seated further away!). Fortunately a sad ignorance of haute couture derails any future plans. At any rate I beat Liya!
By this time we're ready for Fantasmic. Since it's less than an hour till showtime I worry about getting seats but our luck holds. We get seated right in the middle about 10 rows up. Perfect!! Along the way Liz has acquired a 100 Years of Magic light up pin to compensate for having to sit between Liya and Mom (and thus having no opportunity to cheat) during Millionaire and is looking forward to sparkling her way through Fantasmic. Sam treats everyone but Liya to drinks (I make him go back) and we all settle down to wait for the show when what to my wondering eyes should appear but our pastor's wife, Becky. There's no way to say this without looking bad but I didn't want to spend the rest of my vacation at church. Our pastor (Bill) is a great guy but not given to laxity. (He banned Beauty and the Beast (taverns) and The Little Mermaid (seashells) when our respective kids were young). The beer kiosks at Epcot hold no temptation for him. He does, however, enjoy a good hot dog and doughnut, both of which are forbidden by his wife. She was standing four rows below us staring up into the distance. I strongly suspect he'd snuck off for a bite under some pretext and Becky was growing suspicious. At any rate she was staring pointedly in our direction as I attempted to hide behind Liz's recently acquired Harry Potter book (Oh gracious, that's probably forbidden too). This went on for at least half and hour or until it was too dark for either Bill or me to get busted.
Fantasmic was, as always, absolutely wonderful. Liya was enchanted. As a matter of fact, so was I. This is my very favorite Disney show. I could watch it over and over and over. Since it did happen to be over the kids and I headed for Rock-n-Rollercoaster. I love coasters and, as a true child of the 70s, Aerosmith. Sam is likewise a coaster and Aerosmith afficianado. I am afraid we both sang and danced our way through the line. Liz is still a little wary of this ride (and I must admit embarassed by her kin) but game. Liya backs out at the last minute, she's still suffering from post Tower of Terror stress disorder. We score the back seat and zip through LA to the beat of Walk This Way. Perfect!
All in all it's been a great night. Beautiful weather, light crowds, no pastor and very little bickering. This is what a WDW vacation is all about. Unadulterated pleasure.
