ktjoswanson
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
Chapter 4: Saturday at MGM
I’m actually going to start this chapter on Friday night. After the kids came back to the hotel room from the pool, DS felt sick.
My kids and my brother:
Sure enough, he tossed his cookies. Poor little guy! I was so upset for him. The next day was our planned day to go to MGM and I was wondering if he would make it at all. He woke up once in the night around 2 or 3 and got sick a little more. In the morning he was a little queasy, but mostly better. We agreed that DH would stay in the room with DS and I would take DD to MGM. We thought that by noon, they’d be able to make it to the park. But we all agreed – no R&RR or TOT. Poor kid!
So DD and I head out.
There is a 10 minute wait for R&RR – but she is 1/8” too short! Now I’m bumming because I have no one to swap with. Well, how self-absorbed am I? My kid’s sick in a hotel room and wah-wah – poor me. I can’t ride the roller coaster I want to. So I buck up and take her over to TOT.
Now this kid is no shrinking violet. She loves scary stuff. She loves to scare other people. She’s pretty gross in general. (Hence her fondness for Lilo and Stitch.) So I thought TOT would rattle her cage but that she’d be fine.
I could not purchase our photo from this ride because it made me feel like a bad mom. The drops really scared her! In the picture she is cowering and I am looking down at her. (Well, at least there’s proof on film that I cared that I was scarring my child’s psyche for life. Still – a good mom wouldn’t scar the kid’s psyche in the first place, would she?) So I’m feeling like an all-around loser of a mom on this day.
Sigh
Alright, next up is the Great Movie Ride. I figure it’s got to be tame. On our way there we walk right into my dad, stepmom, and brother. They’re on their way to R&RR. My dad did not like BTM the previous day at MK, so he’s going to sit out. Heh-heh-heh. This means I can ride with my stepmom and little brother! Yippee!
So we get in line and we have an absolute blast – even my stepmom who was a little anxious about whether or not it would be too much for her. I bought that picture because it’s the three of us and there have been long periods of estrangement between them and me in our lives and I think it’s pretty cool that we did this thing together. Plus, there’s 19 years between my brother and I making it hard for us to find a lot of common ground. But we found some on a theme park ride. Who knew? My brother and I waited an extra couple of minutes to sit in the front and my stepmom sat behind us. I felt slightly nauseous at one point for about 4 seconds. The rest was all good. I loved that coaster!
Then it occurred to me – I’ll bet DD told my dad about how terrified she was on TOT. So I prepared my stepmom and my brother to hear from him about how I tortured her by taking her on that thing. In my defense, I didn’t do it because I didn’t care whether or not she could handle it. I honestly thought my tough as nails kid would chew that thing up and spit it out. I told them that I bet she detailed the entire frightening encounter for him and that I felt bad about it, just so they might cut me some slack.
So now we’re off to the Great Movie Ride – just my dad and my DD and I while my stepmom and my brother go to TOT. As we’re walking up, out come a ton of characters! I got totally geeky. I really wanted DD to get a few pictures with characters that weren’t princesses and I also wanted her to have an age-appropriate moment after the mental anguish I put her through on TOT. We had to wait in line a bit, but only for a few minutes. She got to meet Mickey and Pluto!
She wanted to meet “the ducks” (she didn’t even know their names!) and Stitch. But my dad was waiting for us to go on The Great Movie Ride. So we went in there instead. There was a long line for that thing. By the time we got near the front my stepmom and brother were in line in the back! And then DH called my dad to say that he and DS were in the park, too. I was so glad. I really wanted DS to make it to this park. And it was only around 10:30, so he would still have a good long day at MGM.
So now with a few character autographs and photos under our belt and my DS beating his bout with tummy troubles things were looking up! My dad really enjoyed The Great Movie Ride and I did, too. DD was grateful there were no sudden drops. So it was okay by her.
When we got outside, DH and DS were there and I was just so happy the four us would be doing this park together. They had done Star Tours which wasn’t the best on DS’s stomach, I guess. (I never did do it – mostly because they said it was a little nauseating and I didn’t want to go down, too.) But they are both Star Wars freaks so they would’ve gone on that ride no matter what.
DH had the skivvy on the characters. They were coming back out in a few minutes! So I asked DD who she wanted to meet the most and she picked the ducks that she didn’t even know the names of over Stitch! Go figure! So we met “the ducks”
and DS got to meet his fave – Goofy. (I only have pictures of that on photopass, though, and haven't gotten my disk yet.) I thought my stepmom would be annoyed, but she wanted to try and meet the Chipmunks. So that worked out.
We all went into Narnia together which was mediocre. Then we took The Backlot Tour which DS and DH liked more than DD and I. We grabbed some lunch and then decided to split up. After Philharmagic, I really wanted to take in the Muppets 3-D movie and my dad, stepmom, and brother weren’t up for it. We decided to meet up later for the stunt show. But after the movie (which I would have liked more if I had seen it before Philharmagic and not after), I decided that DD and I didn’t need an afternoon full of stunt shows. One would suffice for us girls. So I sent DH and DS to meet my stepmom and dad and brother while we took in Beauty and the Beast.
“Four for a Dollar” knocked my socks off. Love them! I wish I would’ve bought their CD. DH loves that kind of music and I regretted not bringing him. He loves musicals of all kinds so he probably would have liked the B&TB production as well. But since I knew DS would not appreciate it and DH would pick a stunt show over a musical 9 days out of 10, I figured we had made the right choice.
Next I took DD to see The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I loved the luminescent puppets used for “Under the Sea.” It was a cute little production. I think DD would have liked it better a year ago. But it was fine. And better for her than 2 stunt shows.
We were supposed to meet the rest of the gang for Indiana Jones next. But the parade cut off all our routes. So I put DD up on my shoulders and let her catch it. It was really the only parade we caught. I could see none of it because I’m not even five feet tall. But I felt I owed her this for the whole TOT episode. She’s almost seven and I’m 112 pounds, so holding her up there was tough. But my shoulders were shored up with equal parts guilt and love. Right at the end a guy in front of us motioned for DD to come and stand in front of him. After the parade he told me that if he’d known we were there, she would have been welcome to stand there the whole time. I told him it was my own fault because I hadn’t planned on watching so we hadn’t invested any time in staking out a good spot, but that I really appreciated his kindness. What a super guy. I was feeling the co-guest magic.
So we get to IJ and DH tells me to go get FP. I’m confused because they’re for a few hours from now. He then takes them up to the FP line and we all walk in. I figured maybe he begged a CM to let us in, perhaps regaling them with the tale of DS’s sickness and how we’d really like to get in. No – he just put our fast passes with the later times underneath and flashed the ones with the current time on top. Now, if I had known this before going in I would have not walked in. (Which is probably why he didn’t tell me until after we were in.) I do not endorse any such behavior at all. But I have to admit that I was glad we were together again.
We had great seats front and center and DD was flirting with a little toddler guy behind us. And they are picking audience members to participate. DH wants this real bad. When I was pregnant with DS we went to Sea World and DH got to participate in the Shamu show. And when we were on the backlot tour he was really disappointed he didn’t get to participate in that one. So he’s waving and trying to get picked…and he does! He’s such a stinker that way. He’s got tons of charisma and he knows how to work it. They asked everyone to do the funky chicken and his was the funkiest (he can really dance – you should see a 230 pound man do the worm) so he got to act out a death scene.
DH and DS had to go back to the Star Tours store. DS had gotten a large toy in the morning so we told him he was done. DH had to get a cap and he was eyeing up a Star Wars watch. It was nice. I wanted him to have it. But I was thinking about the money. He had the cap, after all. It was like pulling teeth to get them out of there. I got mad and left and they still didn’t come. We had to take pictures of everyone on this Star Wars vehicle – don’t ask me what it’s called because I’m a bad wife and I don’t follow my DH’s and DS’s interests that closely.
After that we went into The Magic of Disney Animation and took the drawing class.
Then we got to meet The Incredibles. DH has a brother who’s just like Mr. Incredible – okay, he’s more of a cross between Sulley and Mr. Incredible. Just for reference, here is DH's bro:
So these characters were really special to us and I’m totally bummed the pictures didn’t turn out better. The lighting was really funky in there!
It was getting chilly now and I knew we would stay for Fantasmic because DS’s stomach was cooperating. The kids had sweatshirts but I didn’t so I bought one that I absolutely love. It has an ’07 applique on it and it’s so soft on the inside. And this shop had the Star Wars watch in it, too. I told DH to get it. He didn’t say much but I could tell he was really happy.
We walked through Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream and I loved seeing all the castles at the centers of all the other Disney parks all over the world. But it was too museum-ish for my kids to appreciate so we hightailed it out of there pretty quick before our whining children wrecked everyone else’s time.
We found some good pizza for dinner and got some delicious bakery for dessert. Naturally, DD dropped hers on the ground! I almost fell over and died of not-surprised. (Possibly my most over-used Disney quote in day-to-day life). DS didn’t finish his because his stomach was not 100% yet. DH got a turkey leg. We also all got delicious cookies/bakery for dessert from that fantastic place on the corner that this newbie was too stupid to jot down the name of. You know the one I mean. I think it’s sponsored by Nestle.
We bumped into my dad and stepmom there. They had parked there knowing we’d have to go by to get to Fantasmic. By this time my brother had gone to meet up with the cheerleaders from his high school (he graduated last June) who were competing. I think they were at DTD. A brief aside here: I kind of wanted to meet up with them because their coach is an old high school friend of mine. We were the dateless dorks in high school who used to spend our Fridays eating vanilla frosting on graham crackers with Ore-Ida French fries while we watched The Sound of Music. I kid you not. If her high school cheerleading squad knew this they would probably be forced to oust her as their coach. So don’t let on.
(Here is proof we were geeks - I am the second from the left and my friend the cheerleading coach is the second from the right. This is where we met - in marching band! She got a white plume in her hat for being a supreme geek i.e. sergeant of the flag twirlers. This photo was taken 7/4/1986 - I scanned the negative without turning on the option to remove dust. D'OH!)
Okay - back on topic: We all got in line for Fantasmic and, boy-howdy, was psyched for this. It was, of course, an hour before showtime and the line for TOT was only 20 minutes or so. I told DH he had to go. He was unsure if he should leave us but I really wanted him to do that ride because of the special effects. So the line moves forward and when DH comes out we’re halfway down the walkway. We’re telling him where we are, but we don’t realize he’s already walked by us! So after a comedy of errors we finally link up and go in together.
I think this might be the 1st shot of my dad I've posted. He's on the far left.
We all enjoyed this show so much but at the end we were beat and ready to go home. Plus it was a little chilly and DS was especially ready for bed. What had started out as a rocky day turned out to be truly great with a little bit for everyone.
Next up: Sunday at Epcot and Princess Breakfast. Subtitle: It is impossible for us to take a leisurely walk up to an ADR for a character meal and arrive early.
I’m actually going to start this chapter on Friday night. After the kids came back to the hotel room from the pool, DS felt sick.
My kids and my brother:
Sure enough, he tossed his cookies. Poor little guy! I was so upset for him. The next day was our planned day to go to MGM and I was wondering if he would make it at all. He woke up once in the night around 2 or 3 and got sick a little more. In the morning he was a little queasy, but mostly better. We agreed that DH would stay in the room with DS and I would take DD to MGM. We thought that by noon, they’d be able to make it to the park. But we all agreed – no R&RR or TOT. Poor kid!
So DD and I head out.
There is a 10 minute wait for R&RR – but she is 1/8” too short! Now I’m bumming because I have no one to swap with. Well, how self-absorbed am I? My kid’s sick in a hotel room and wah-wah – poor me. I can’t ride the roller coaster I want to. So I buck up and take her over to TOT.
Now this kid is no shrinking violet. She loves scary stuff. She loves to scare other people. She’s pretty gross in general. (Hence her fondness for Lilo and Stitch.) So I thought TOT would rattle her cage but that she’d be fine.
I could not purchase our photo from this ride because it made me feel like a bad mom. The drops really scared her! In the picture she is cowering and I am looking down at her. (Well, at least there’s proof on film that I cared that I was scarring my child’s psyche for life. Still – a good mom wouldn’t scar the kid’s psyche in the first place, would she?) So I’m feeling like an all-around loser of a mom on this day.
Sigh
Alright, next up is the Great Movie Ride. I figure it’s got to be tame. On our way there we walk right into my dad, stepmom, and brother. They’re on their way to R&RR. My dad did not like BTM the previous day at MK, so he’s going to sit out. Heh-heh-heh. This means I can ride with my stepmom and little brother! Yippee!
So we get in line and we have an absolute blast – even my stepmom who was a little anxious about whether or not it would be too much for her. I bought that picture because it’s the three of us and there have been long periods of estrangement between them and me in our lives and I think it’s pretty cool that we did this thing together. Plus, there’s 19 years between my brother and I making it hard for us to find a lot of common ground. But we found some on a theme park ride. Who knew? My brother and I waited an extra couple of minutes to sit in the front and my stepmom sat behind us. I felt slightly nauseous at one point for about 4 seconds. The rest was all good. I loved that coaster!
Then it occurred to me – I’ll bet DD told my dad about how terrified she was on TOT. So I prepared my stepmom and my brother to hear from him about how I tortured her by taking her on that thing. In my defense, I didn’t do it because I didn’t care whether or not she could handle it. I honestly thought my tough as nails kid would chew that thing up and spit it out. I told them that I bet she detailed the entire frightening encounter for him and that I felt bad about it, just so they might cut me some slack.
So now we’re off to the Great Movie Ride – just my dad and my DD and I while my stepmom and my brother go to TOT. As we’re walking up, out come a ton of characters! I got totally geeky. I really wanted DD to get a few pictures with characters that weren’t princesses and I also wanted her to have an age-appropriate moment after the mental anguish I put her through on TOT. We had to wait in line a bit, but only for a few minutes. She got to meet Mickey and Pluto!
She wanted to meet “the ducks” (she didn’t even know their names!) and Stitch. But my dad was waiting for us to go on The Great Movie Ride. So we went in there instead. There was a long line for that thing. By the time we got near the front my stepmom and brother were in line in the back! And then DH called my dad to say that he and DS were in the park, too. I was so glad. I really wanted DS to make it to this park. And it was only around 10:30, so he would still have a good long day at MGM.
So now with a few character autographs and photos under our belt and my DS beating his bout with tummy troubles things were looking up! My dad really enjoyed The Great Movie Ride and I did, too. DD was grateful there were no sudden drops. So it was okay by her.
When we got outside, DH and DS were there and I was just so happy the four us would be doing this park together. They had done Star Tours which wasn’t the best on DS’s stomach, I guess. (I never did do it – mostly because they said it was a little nauseating and I didn’t want to go down, too.) But they are both Star Wars freaks so they would’ve gone on that ride no matter what.
DH had the skivvy on the characters. They were coming back out in a few minutes! So I asked DD who she wanted to meet the most and she picked the ducks that she didn’t even know the names of over Stitch! Go figure! So we met “the ducks”
and DS got to meet his fave – Goofy. (I only have pictures of that on photopass, though, and haven't gotten my disk yet.) I thought my stepmom would be annoyed, but she wanted to try and meet the Chipmunks. So that worked out.
We all went into Narnia together which was mediocre. Then we took The Backlot Tour which DS and DH liked more than DD and I. We grabbed some lunch and then decided to split up. After Philharmagic, I really wanted to take in the Muppets 3-D movie and my dad, stepmom, and brother weren’t up for it. We decided to meet up later for the stunt show. But after the movie (which I would have liked more if I had seen it before Philharmagic and not after), I decided that DD and I didn’t need an afternoon full of stunt shows. One would suffice for us girls. So I sent DH and DS to meet my stepmom and dad and brother while we took in Beauty and the Beast.
“Four for a Dollar” knocked my socks off. Love them! I wish I would’ve bought their CD. DH loves that kind of music and I regretted not bringing him. He loves musicals of all kinds so he probably would have liked the B&TB production as well. But since I knew DS would not appreciate it and DH would pick a stunt show over a musical 9 days out of 10, I figured we had made the right choice.
Next I took DD to see The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I loved the luminescent puppets used for “Under the Sea.” It was a cute little production. I think DD would have liked it better a year ago. But it was fine. And better for her than 2 stunt shows.
We were supposed to meet the rest of the gang for Indiana Jones next. But the parade cut off all our routes. So I put DD up on my shoulders and let her catch it. It was really the only parade we caught. I could see none of it because I’m not even five feet tall. But I felt I owed her this for the whole TOT episode. She’s almost seven and I’m 112 pounds, so holding her up there was tough. But my shoulders were shored up with equal parts guilt and love. Right at the end a guy in front of us motioned for DD to come and stand in front of him. After the parade he told me that if he’d known we were there, she would have been welcome to stand there the whole time. I told him it was my own fault because I hadn’t planned on watching so we hadn’t invested any time in staking out a good spot, but that I really appreciated his kindness. What a super guy. I was feeling the co-guest magic.
So we get to IJ and DH tells me to go get FP. I’m confused because they’re for a few hours from now. He then takes them up to the FP line and we all walk in. I figured maybe he begged a CM to let us in, perhaps regaling them with the tale of DS’s sickness and how we’d really like to get in. No – he just put our fast passes with the later times underneath and flashed the ones with the current time on top. Now, if I had known this before going in I would have not walked in. (Which is probably why he didn’t tell me until after we were in.) I do not endorse any such behavior at all. But I have to admit that I was glad we were together again.
We had great seats front and center and DD was flirting with a little toddler guy behind us. And they are picking audience members to participate. DH wants this real bad. When I was pregnant with DS we went to Sea World and DH got to participate in the Shamu show. And when we were on the backlot tour he was really disappointed he didn’t get to participate in that one. So he’s waving and trying to get picked…and he does! He’s such a stinker that way. He’s got tons of charisma and he knows how to work it. They asked everyone to do the funky chicken and his was the funkiest (he can really dance – you should see a 230 pound man do the worm) so he got to act out a death scene.
DH and DS had to go back to the Star Tours store. DS had gotten a large toy in the morning so we told him he was done. DH had to get a cap and he was eyeing up a Star Wars watch. It was nice. I wanted him to have it. But I was thinking about the money. He had the cap, after all. It was like pulling teeth to get them out of there. I got mad and left and they still didn’t come. We had to take pictures of everyone on this Star Wars vehicle – don’t ask me what it’s called because I’m a bad wife and I don’t follow my DH’s and DS’s interests that closely.
After that we went into The Magic of Disney Animation and took the drawing class.
Then we got to meet The Incredibles. DH has a brother who’s just like Mr. Incredible – okay, he’s more of a cross between Sulley and Mr. Incredible. Just for reference, here is DH's bro:
So these characters were really special to us and I’m totally bummed the pictures didn’t turn out better. The lighting was really funky in there!
It was getting chilly now and I knew we would stay for Fantasmic because DS’s stomach was cooperating. The kids had sweatshirts but I didn’t so I bought one that I absolutely love. It has an ’07 applique on it and it’s so soft on the inside. And this shop had the Star Wars watch in it, too. I told DH to get it. He didn’t say much but I could tell he was really happy.
We walked through Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream and I loved seeing all the castles at the centers of all the other Disney parks all over the world. But it was too museum-ish for my kids to appreciate so we hightailed it out of there pretty quick before our whining children wrecked everyone else’s time.
We found some good pizza for dinner and got some delicious bakery for dessert. Naturally, DD dropped hers on the ground! I almost fell over and died of not-surprised. (Possibly my most over-used Disney quote in day-to-day life). DS didn’t finish his because his stomach was not 100% yet. DH got a turkey leg. We also all got delicious cookies/bakery for dessert from that fantastic place on the corner that this newbie was too stupid to jot down the name of. You know the one I mean. I think it’s sponsored by Nestle.
We bumped into my dad and stepmom there. They had parked there knowing we’d have to go by to get to Fantasmic. By this time my brother had gone to meet up with the cheerleaders from his high school (he graduated last June) who were competing. I think they were at DTD. A brief aside here: I kind of wanted to meet up with them because their coach is an old high school friend of mine. We were the dateless dorks in high school who used to spend our Fridays eating vanilla frosting on graham crackers with Ore-Ida French fries while we watched The Sound of Music. I kid you not. If her high school cheerleading squad knew this they would probably be forced to oust her as their coach. So don’t let on.
(Here is proof we were geeks - I am the second from the left and my friend the cheerleading coach is the second from the right. This is where we met - in marching band! She got a white plume in her hat for being a supreme geek i.e. sergeant of the flag twirlers. This photo was taken 7/4/1986 - I scanned the negative without turning on the option to remove dust. D'OH!)
Okay - back on topic: We all got in line for Fantasmic and, boy-howdy, was psyched for this. It was, of course, an hour before showtime and the line for TOT was only 20 minutes or so. I told DH he had to go. He was unsure if he should leave us but I really wanted him to do that ride because of the special effects. So the line moves forward and when DH comes out we’re halfway down the walkway. We’re telling him where we are, but we don’t realize he’s already walked by us! So after a comedy of errors we finally link up and go in together.
I think this might be the 1st shot of my dad I've posted. He's on the far left.
We all enjoyed this show so much but at the end we were beat and ready to go home. Plus it was a little chilly and DS was especially ready for bed. What had started out as a rocky day turned out to be truly great with a little bit for everyone.
Next up: Sunday at Epcot and Princess Breakfast. Subtitle: It is impossible for us to take a leisurely walk up to an ADR for a character meal and arrive early.
We are going again in June with 3 kids.. Its fun to read about others adventures in the big World
I am LOVING your TR, your enthusiasm is contagious! Just think of how much more experienced and how much knowledge you will have gained for your next trip. We are taking our 2nd trip..and well our 3rd too this year!! Disney is addicting! I am glad you relented and got your DH the watch! I loved the pic of him doing the "death scene" 
Your DD is adorable, reminds me of my own DD. She looked gorgeous after her BBB appt! Anyway, I can't wait to read more!
