It was MGM day. Also known as the day before we leave day. Cuz I am a glass is half empty girl no matter HOW I try to pretend otherwise. I can FEEL departure day looming...hulking around in front of us...weighing us (me) down with its imminent arrival...reminding us (me) that we should be on the NINTH day of our trip, NOT the fifth...
quack.
I woke up in a grump. I hadn't slept well at all...I had some sort of an icky stuffy feeling in my head, I felt nauseous and I just wanted to holler at somebody.
BUT like a good Southern girl, I swallowed my feelings and affixed my brightest smile to my face and prepared to get my family up and at em!
Mickey helped us get moving with his daily phone call!
Teddy was immediately up and jumping around, laughing hysterically at Stitch and wanting to know what we were going to do today?!
"Is it a SWIMMING park day MissCammie?! Is it a getting wet day?!" He ran to the window to check on the weather.
"MissCAMMIE!!! It's SUNSHINING OUTSIDE!!!!"
Teddy was so looking forward to visiting Typhoon Lagoon. I had told the kids we would visit Typhoon Lagoon if we had good weather.
Apparently we would be visiting Typhoon Lagoon today.
Teddy's shriek of joy was NOT music to Sally's ears.
"Teddy...STOP Shouting. I want you to STOP shouting all the time in the morning. I don't LIKE IT when you SHOUT when I'm sleeping Teddy. I told you that YESTERDAY...I TOLD"
I cut off the tirade before she could really get going...
"Good MORNING Miss Merry Sunshine!!! Is that how we greet the day?!"
Sally nailed me with a look that was less than merry let me tell you!
"I am NOT a Merry Sunshine MissCammie. I am a grouchy cloud."
oh Sally...child you are just too much sometimes.
this required me to climb up on to her bunk and zerbert her face and tickle her until she screechlaughed.
Can y'all believe that Jay slept through all of this squealing and shrieking?
*sigh*
I looked down at Teddy and asked him to please tickle his father's feet. We had to get a move on!
Teddy crept up to the bed and his father exposed foot...he was just about to commence with the tickle alarm clock when suddenly he was grabbed and yanked under the covers by his now NOT sleeping father!
Teddy SCREAMED with laughter. Sally jumped down off the bunk and into the fray with her father and brother.
I called out warnings to not kick one another or do any damage that might hinder walking and/or seeing in ANY way.
I wonder what our neighbors must have thought! (the kids weren't actually THAT noisy...this is ME we are dealing with after all...and screaming in the morning is just plain rude!)
After a minute or so of tickling and screaming and jumping on the bed, it was time to get down to business! Today was going to be busy. The plan was to get to MGM by opening. We had to see what we could see and do what we could do lickity split! We had the first lunch seating at Sci-Fi at 11:30. After that we planned to head to Typhoon Lagoon if the weather was nice. It was, so there was no time to waste!
I put the kiddos clothes out and told them to shake a tail feather! We needed to sunscreen and get dressed ASAP!! I was going to have Teddy wear a pair of his swimming trunks and one of his under armour tees. It was fixin to be hot today! I was going to put Sally into her bathing suit under her shorts and tank, but the child has SUCH sensitive skin and she'd been in her rash guard all day yesterday so I wanted her to get a break and just wear cotton for the morning. Which meant we'd have to utilize the changing rooms at Typhoon Lagoon.
Little did I know what THAT would lead to.
*sigh*
anyhow...I put Sally into a pink tank and a pair of gray shorts. (I love pink and gray color combinations! Pink and brown too...pink is just a great color...don't y'all think?!)
Jay wore a pair of trunks too...and one of HIS under armour tees. I was in my cute little red sundress and my MINNIE DOT flip flops!!! VERY cute subtle Disney touch. Disney chic if you will...
*ahem*
We weren't totally coordinated today, but it was the last full day and I was thinking more function than form!
After everyone was sunscreened and dressed I handed out boxes of cheerios along with threats of dire consequences if the ducks got one single solitary cheerio. Then I slapped them both around with an eyebrow arch b/c I was SERIOUS this morning. I was in no mood to play. No means no.
PERIOD.
Sally gave me a sweet little smile and said,
"Okay MissCammie...we won't...but umm...I still have some fish crackers from yesterday so um...what if, can we give THOSE to the ducks then maybe...can we please?"
Sally was trying DESPERATELY to suppress a grin.
Before I could sigh out "fine", she squealed "YOU'RE the BEST MissCammie!" and leaped out onto the porch to feed the already waiting, presumptuous, shamefully gluttonous ducks.
She didn't have many crackers left anyway.
Ducks ARE my favorite bird after all!
While the kids were occupied with feeding themselves and ducks, and Jay made his ONE work call of the day...grrrr...I checked to make sure we had everything we needed for the day ahead. I packed up a swimming bag with the kids rash guards and Sally's bathing suit and towels and dry clothes and extra sunscreen. We were going to rent a locker when we got to MGM so we could stash all our extra stuff. I was loaded down enough with the regular park bag and my overly organized *coughcontrollingcough* nature would make it difficult for me to let anyone else be in charge of ANOTHER bag. so it was better to just put it into a locker for safe keeping!
With both bags packed it was time to go.
We were just waiting for Jay.
who was STILL on the phone.
his ONE call of the day...that was lasting much longer than it should have.
and since I was not feeling the best my temper fuse was a little shorter than normal.
I knocked on the bathroom door sort of hard-ish...an annoyed "rap rap rap rap"...to get the point across...cuz you can't eyebrow arch through a door!
When that didn't work I had no other choices...
I kicked the door in, grabbed the phone from my astonished husband, threw it on to the floor and stomped it to a million billion pieces.
I told y'all I was NOT in a good mood.
okay...I didn't REALLY kick the door in and smash the phone but I sure thought about it!
VACATION!! VACATION!! VACATION!!!
LAST FULL DAY Of VACATION!!
quack. quack. quack.
I decided to throw myself dramatically on the bed and cry...loudly.
Teddy came in to see what the commotion was about. Teddy loves a good commotion and he's usually the one causing it...he needed to be sure he wasn't missing something good!
He came into the room and patted my arm.
"MissCammie...are you crying? Did you stump your toe?"
"No Teddy, I'm not really crying. I'm just waiting for Daddy to hurry up and get off the phone."
"Oh...me too!"
so he climbed up on the bed next to me and we watched Stacy while I fumed internally.
Teddy waited a minute and then said,
"Do you want to sing Let it Be?"
So we sang a round of "Let it Be".
oddly enough, it helps...
FINALLY Jay was done with his phone call.
I made him lay flat down on the floor and apologize profusely for making us wait on the last full day of our cut short through no fault of our own vacation and BEG forgiveness.
just kidding.
or am I?
I rounded up Sally, we bid good-bye to the ducks...who I am fairly certain had cheerio breath... and got everyone into their shoes. It was time to go. Actually we were right on schedule. I was just fussy b/c I do NOT like the work phone calls that last too long.
I will say that it was a FABULOUS day! The sky was a gorgeous Carolina Blue, not a cloud in sight! Being that I am a very seasonal affective kind of girl, the sun cheered me considerably!
The bus ride was pleasant. No nekkid babies. Everyone seemed reasonably deoderized and well mannered. Which was good...cuz I didn't have it in me today. I was just feeling OFF my game.
*sigh*
We arrived at MGM just a few minutes after it opened. Which was fine...we weren't aiming for rope drop or anything.
As the parks go, I really like the look of MGM. Especially upon first entering the park. It's just a cute place. I love the old Hollywood vibe!!
Last year, on our honeymoon, our MGM day had been the most revoltingly muggy ick day. It was just wretched. And being the smarty pants that I am, I had worn a black polo shirt. I do NOT know WHAT I was thinking.
I ended up having to buy a tank at the park as I was fixin to melt into an ick puddle after about 20 minutes!
I made no such wardrobe mistakes on this day however. Super cute swingy red sundress. AND it wasn't all that humid, so we were all set!
We entered the park and Jay went over to rent a locker and grab a kid transporter. (we'd gotten kind of addicted to having the kid transporter...it's a very handy things to put stuff on...I would even considering renting a kid transporter without kids! JUST KIDDING...sort of...)
*ahem*
While we waited for Jay, Sally wanted to know if Scarlett O'Hara was from Disney! Earlier in the year I'd been really ill and was pretty much couch-ing for days. Gone With the Wind had been on TCM and I'd settled down to watch it. (one of my favorite books and movies of all time!). Sally had sat down with me and dang if that child didn't watch the ENTIRE movie with me. Sally is really moved by characters like Scarlett O'Hara. She appears to be well mannered lady, but she's got fire in her eyes and is tough as nails to the core. I think that's who Sally is. She's a fighter underneath and it won't do to mess with her unless you want your hat handed to you...but you'd never know it unless you had the misfortune to cross her.
anyhow...she'd been intrigued with the whole movie and movie stars of that time. Sally was feeling the MGM vibe too!
Teddy was stoked to see Lightning McQueen!
Jay arrived and the kids hopped in to the kid transporter and we were off. We strolled a bit. We stopped and had a photopass picture taken.
here's teeny us...and Pal Mickey! I actually tried to make it bigger but photopass pics give my computer fits. So...it is what it is...y'all get it.
*image*
I actually came in to the park on a MISSION. Jay and I had missed The Great Movie Ride last year and I wanted to go on it! I had a need!!!
So we headed in that direction.
It was nice to get out of the heat of the day and at least wait in line INSIDE!!
We watched the queue movie and Sally jumped up and down when she spotted Maria from the Sound of Music!! (This was another movie I had introduced the kids to a few months before. Sally had been just as obsessed with The Sound of Music as she had with Mary Poppins! She is a MAJOR Julie Andrews fan!!)
It wasn't long before the line was moving and it was time to hop into our "conveyance" and ride The Great Movie Ride!!!
It was okay.
I wasn't blown away.
Jay wasn't over impressed.
The kids weren't bouncing out of their seats.
at least now I know! The live action mixed with the static scene to scene stuff made for a slightly cheesy ride. Or I was just being judgmental b/c I didn't feel good.
it could have been that.
probably was...
Sally loved the Wizard of Oz part! Dorothy Gale is yet another character that appears to be nothing more than a good little girl...but it turns out that she's pretty tough and she stands up for what's right. Dorothy is Sally's kind of girl!
follow the yellow brick road!
blurry picture of Dorothy and the Tin Man (Sally and Teddy's Halloween costumes the year before!!)
Over all it was an okay ride. Teddy had LOVED the part with the Alien. It had freaked me out a bit actually...Aliens coming down from the ceiling aren't my idea of fun!
but we had survived it!
Out in the sun once more, Jay decided we should hit Star Tours ASAP. So we headed down the street towards Star Tours.
The line was non existent, which was AWESOME!!
We parked the kid transporter and hurried through the queue as Teddy exclaimed over all the SPACE stuff!
It wasn't two seconds before we were watching the pre-flight stuff and getting on the ride! Jay led the way with Sally right behind him, followed by Teddy and then yours truly. I made sure that Teddy was buckled in tight and settled back to wait.
It just so happened that a little boy not much older than Teddy came storming into our row, yelling all the way.
"I'M NOT GOING TO SIT WITH YOU STUPID HEADS BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE YOU!" He plunked down in the seat next to me. It appeared that the rest of his family was sitting in the front row.
wha?
He was really small too, and TICKED OFF. And he was crying a little bit...And just sitting there...not buckling his seat belt. My "social worker" twitch was starting up and I kept waiting for the mom to turn around and check on her son. She turned around all right...to address ME.
She gave a big smile and said "SORRY YOU HAVE TO SIT BY THE CRY BABY UP THERE!" Then she chuckled and made a sad face at her son and turned back around.
seriously. That's what she said...and did.
I was so horrified...outraged...appalled...and every other adjective might explain my feelings of WHAT ARE YOU DOING LADY?!
I had actually heard this family arguing before we got on. It clicked in my head all of a sudden. This little boy had NOT wanted to go on the ride and had been told that he WAS going on the ride and could sit by himself if he was going to whine.
*sigh*
Y'all know how I feel about kids going on rides. We required Sally and Teddy to go on every ride they were tall enough to ride. So I get that. But this didn't feel that way. This child was isolated from his family...and being MOCKED on top of that. I mean, Sally may cry and we'd still make her go on it, but we'd hold her hand and encourage her the whole way.
This just felt mean.
and I didn't feel good...and i had a headache. And now I wanted to unleash some violence on somebody.
So I turned to the little boy and I asked him if he was ready for a fun ride.
He shook his head and said that they had JUST been on that ride and he didn't like it. His tummy hurt and he felt dizzy.
great. this kid was going to throw up.
But the ride was starting and there wasn't a thing I could do for him. I did introduce him to Teddy though...which seemed to help a little. Teddy started chatting away, working his magic. I ended up switching seats with the little boy so he could be next to Teddy. I had to do this lickity split b/c the ride was fixin to start! so we switched and then I buckled him in and buckled myself in and prayed that I wouldn't get barfed on!
I actually really like this ride. But I was a little annoyed so I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have.
Teddy LOVED it!! He laughed and squealed the whole way. As I'd hoped, Teddy's exuberance had rubbed off on his new friend. I kept glancing over at him and he was smiling and matching Teddy squeal for squeal.
Thankfully nobody got barfed on. Our little friend had actually enjoyed the ride and was chatting away to Teddy when the lights came up.
We all filed off the ride and the child's mother came to collect him.
Teddy gave his new friend a high five as the mom was approaching.
She gave her son a disdainful look and said "Oh SURE...you'll have fun for other people but not for us..."
<- THAT is the emoticon version of an eyebrow arch.
and I slapped the lady around a little bit with it.
there were really no words to say. I just wasn't up to it and I doubt she'd even get it.
so I bid farewell to Teddy's new friend and told him rather pointedly that I hoped his tummy felt better and his dizziness went away.
Then I turned around and politely stomped towards the exit.
I mean REALLY.
Teddy was further thrilled with the Star Tours dump shop! He ran from here to there, exclaiming over this and that. Sally and I wandered and let the boys get their Star Wars geek on.
Actutally I had loved Star Wars when I was little...Jay says I didn't like the REAL Star Wars or even know what Star Wars even WAS. He had decided this after I had revealed that to me Star Wars was connected to a video I had seen when I was REALLY little. It was called "Ewoks Battle for Endor". I had been in LOVE with the Ewoks. Jay says that movie IS NOT a Star Wars movie. At ALL. He has made me watch all the original movies...the enhanced, newly restored versions....complete with originally deleted scenes. Which he pointed out...along with all the things that were ADDED that were not in the original versions.
super fun.
*ahem*
Jay has thing for Star Wars.
clearly.
as Sally and I waited, we found ourselves drawn in by a conversation going on between a young boy, his father and a CM.
(Not that we were being nosy...we just couldn't help but hear it!)
The CM was asking the boy a series of Star Wars questions. He was around 9 or 10...the questions sounded really complex. It seemed that if the boy answered five questions right, the CM had some sort of a prize for him. The dad was grinning from ear to ear, clearly proud of his young son's Star Wars knowledge.
They were on the final two questions...one of them in which the boy had to name some obscure character that had originally been a big part of the film but cut b/c George Lucas had liked the look of another character better...something like that.
The boy had thought for a second and then answered confidently. The CM smiled and said, "Okay...this is the last one...if you get this question, YOU are the MASTER of Star Wars knowledge!"
He asked the most random question I have ever heard in my life...something about the relationship between two characters and the name of their resulting 18th cousin once removed...something random like that.
The dad's smile said that HE knew the answer. So he said to his son...
"Come on son...you know this...I know you know this...just think about it..."
it was so sweet. They were BONDING big time.
The light bulb went on in this child's mind and his eyes lit up.
He gave the answer fairly confidently.
The CM was silent for a second.
then exploded with
"YOU GOT IT!!!"
Sally couldn't contain herself. She jumped up and down and applauded!!
The Dad shook hands with the CM and he hugged his son and told him what a good job he'd done.
It was like we'd just witnessed an Olympic moment in Star Wars trivia!
yup...lots o' men and boys getting their Star Wars GEEK on!
(not that Girls don't like Star Wars just as much as guys...it's just that Sally and I were the ONLY girls in the place at that moment and we weren't AS in love with Star Wars as everyone else in the place seemed to be!)
Finally Jay and Teddy had their fill.
We headed back out and loaded up the kid transporter. I had wanted to get a picture of the kids on the...Return of the Jedi Bike...thingie...
but there were roughly 84,000 kids waiting.
and I SO was not in the mood to wait.
I WAS in the mood for a Diet Coke though...so we stopped by a cart to grab one, along with some water for the kids and Jay. (I actually do drink water...sometimes...I do. I swear...)
*ahem*
We decided to head towards Muppet Vision by way of the Streets of America set...and oh my word...THIS is the sight that greeted me...
SAM CHAMPION!!!
Oh my how MissCammie loves her some Sam Champion!!! For a long time he was the Channel 7 Weather man...the ABC affiliate here in the Tri-state area...along with being on Good Morning America. I looked forward to the weather report every evening...until he left evening weather reporting to focus on GMA. Which was sad for me b/c I am a Today Show girl...though not so much into Al Roker...although that Matt Lauer is pretty darling as far as Morning show hosts go!
sorry...digressed...
Moving right along...as fate would have it...I was able to meet Sam Champion!!!! I have a friend who works for ABC and I was meeting her for lunch one day. On our way out she says "Oh, I want you to meet Sam..."
Sam? You don't mean...Sam CHAMPION?! What a name...*sigh*
He was chit chatting with a camera man when we walked up and my friend introduced us.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that he just as nice as he can be. Very friendly. He's not one of those "Feel free to bask in the glory of my celebrity while I graciously allow you grovel at my feet..." types. He actually asked us where we were going for lunch! Poor Sam...I think he was hungry!
All in all he is the nicest man ever. Seriously. I was BLINDED by his twinkley smile and those blue blue eyes.
be still my heart.
He just OOZED kindness...
Sam Champion. He's good for what ails you!!!
and since this chapter seems to have gotten rather long...I'll end it right here!
Up Next...The Muppet Movie and Sci-Fi dine in theater!
It is wicked hot here in Jersey! I love your TR, can't wait for more. By the way, I agree, clowns = creepy, but my darling son looks for them to show to me. And my DH is worse. One Halloween, we went to a haunted house. It was dark and we were holding hands, I got tapped on the shoulder and turned around to find he had passed my hand to a clown
