Episode 19 the update in which there will be shenanigans
Once we were done meetin and greetin we surveyed our options. The weather was still really iffy and looked like it might pour any second. I had wanted to get more pictures of the topiaries for Flower and Garden, but I didnt want to risk my camera in the on and off rain showers. We decided to stick around Innoventions and try out Sum of All Thrills. Bryan had not done it yet, and Steve wanted to go too, and I thought that Mark would join them.
On our Oct trip we did Sum of All Thrills for the first time, and Mark got so caught up with the math geeky aspect of planning his rollercoaster, that he ran out of time to design it, and ended up with a much tamer experience than he planned. I thought he was going to use this opportunity to create something much bigger and badder.
Well the only problem with going to Sum of All Thrills was that it was in Innoventions East and we were currently in Innoventions West.
Meanwhile Everett spends some time checking out the firetruck
We sat around for a little bit, watching the weather, and when we saw our break, we made a run for it! The guys headed over to Sum of All Thrills, while Everett, DMom, Amy and I took in some of the other innoventions exhibits. Everett found a touch screen, which was pretty thrilling. He adores our Ipad, but we dont let him play with it all that often. As far as Everett was concerned he had found himself a HUGE Ipad and was going to keep touching it until his little fingers gave out. I have no clear memory as to what the point of the touch screen was, but it might have had something to do with disaster preparedness, since it was right near the stormstruck exhibit.
When I was able to pry DS away from the almighty touchscreen we headed over towards Sum of all Thrills.
DH had decided that he didnt want to ride after all, and took DS to check out the other exhibits. There was one where you pull a rope and a mallet smashes into a piece of plastic which was a big hit (Bad pun alert!
) , and also one where you have to jump on a sensor pad that was equally entertaining. Running, jumping, mock destruction, what more does a toddler need?
While DH was entertaining DS, DMom, Amy and I chilled on a bench to watch the insanity and wait for the guys to get off the ride. Amy and I talked about what we were going to do for dinner. There had been some discussion of Yachtsman, but at this point we were not going back to the resort to change, and we didnt want to show up all park grubby. We thought about our options in the WS, and decided on Nine Dragons, since it was the most likely to take walk ups. I know that many people do not like Nine Dragons, but I dont have a problem with it. I really enjoy their Kung Pow Chicken, and I wish my local take-out place could prepare the dish even half as well.
Amy called Disney Dining and secured us an ADR, and shortly after Bryan and Steve finished up. They both enjoyed it, but said they probably wouldnt wait in line again. That is the way I feel about it, its OK, but Id rather go on a real coaster than design a virtual one.
At this point DMom decided to take Everett back to the resort and get him dinner there. The weather continued to look iffy, so she decided to go back and just grab something for herself and DS at the food court, so they wouldnt risk being out in the rain.
It sounded like a great idea, since it was getting close to his dinnertime, and he had a big day in the parks. We sent Bryan and Amy ahead to claim our table, and DH and I walked Mom and Everett out of the park. We made sure she remembered where the car was parked and we said our goodnights. We then hurried off to meet up with Bryan and Amy for dinner. Steve also left the parks with us, because he had plans to eat with some friends off property.
DH and I used our speediest walk and made it back to China in record time. We entered the restaurant just as the waitress was taking Bryan and Amys drink order, perfect timing! We had a lovely dinner, my Kung Pow chicken was a good as I remembered and Mark enjoyed his sweet and sour pork.
It was nothing too boundary pushing, but it was good, and the service was pretty fast which really worked in our favor. Its good we decided against Yachtsman because we had plans to be at Jellyrolls right at 7 when the door opened, and Bryan and Amy wanted to go back to the resort and change first.
We were cutting it close timing wise, but it all worked out, we even had a little extra time to meet up with another old friend of ours, also named Brian. Brian had been a loyal listener to All About the Mouse and I met him at the same meets where I met Bryan. He is local also, so we would run into each other at a lot of the fan events and we became good friends. He was spending Saturday night enjoying World Showcase, so he met up with us after dinner and we walked back to the front of the park together. He decided against joining us at Jellyrolls, because he wanted to make it an early night, but he did promise to meet up with us the next day for lunch at Animal Kingdom.
Once we left the park we made tracks back to POR for a quick change before we really got our night going. I actually was pretty happy that we ended up back at the resort because all the damp and rain were making me a little chilly, and I was able to change into jeans. DH took this opportunity to make fun of me, thinking that 85 was chilly and warranted long pants, but I lived in Florida too long and my blood is too thin to worry about the teasing. I tried to justify it by telling him wed be inside in the AC, but he just shook his head!
I also did stop by my Moms room to check on her and DS, and things were going less than swimmingly. DS didnt want to eat his dinner and was being a bit of a beast. I was a little worried, and offered to stay home so my DMom wouldnt be stuck with Beasty Baby, but she wouldnt hear of it, and shooed me out the door. I was a little concerned, but I knew she could handle it, if she survived me and my two brothers, she could survive anything!
We ended up back at the boardwalk right before 7, and made our way to Jellyrolls, but first taking a picture on the over-sized couch.
We were inside Jellyrolls right after the doors opened for the night and were able to score prime tables, right in front of the pianos. Our friend Dustin is a manager there, and he came over to say a quick hello. It was a busy night, so we werent able to spend much time chatting, but it was nice to touch base again and hear about how everything was going. We werent the Jellyrolls regulars that we used to be, but it is nice to be remembered, and I hope that well be there more frequently if we move back to Florida.
The first thing we did when we arrived was move two tables next to each other. Right now it was just the four of us, but Shane and his friend Chantal would be joining us after La Nuba, and Steve and his wife were also planning on stopping by. Well, despite having had no problems moving tables together in the past, we were immediately chastised by our waitress. She definitely did not start out with us on the right foot and it only went downhill from there.
She came storming over when she saw us moving the tables, and demanded that we put them back. We told her that we had friends joining us shortly and asked why the tables couldnt be moved, and at that point she backpedaled slightly and told us that we could move them closer together, but that they couldnt be touching, ummm ok?? We agreeable moved the tables apart slightly, and I hoped that this would be the end of any hard feelings.
Unfortunately the rest of the night did not go smoothly. She did not take our drink orders (despite being the only people in the bar), and despite my repeated attempts to get her attention, she did not pay us any heed.
After about 10 minutes of sitting there like chumps, we gave up and went directly to the bar to order our drinks. Well, that got her attention, because she once again came storming over and let us know in no uncertain terms that we should be ordering drinks from her. Well, that is exactly what we had planned, and we told her that we would be happy to order from her from now on. Her service did not get any better throughout the night, so we would have to go on stealth missions to the bar to get drinks, and then pretend that we didnt have any new drinks when we saw her giving us the stink eye.
Things really came to a head when, at one point, she actually was in the process of bringing us new drinks, and at that very moment Shane was telling a big dramatic story complete with hand motions and
WHAP
knocked the tray full of drinks out of her hands, all over her, him and Steve. In his defense, she did approach him from behind, and he had no idea she was standing there right behind him. Needless to say that did not endear her to us any more, and we didnt see her for the rest of the evening- except when she brought our checks.
Waitress drama aside, we had a great time at Jellyrolls. It is one of my favorite places at Disney and a vacation would not be complete without a night there singing along and having a great time. We made sure that we went on a night when our favorite piano player, Scotty, was performing. He is just the greatest, so talented and funny, and an all around performer. When he came out to play his set we gave him a big round of applause, which he thought was very funny, since we were cheering for him before he even played anything.
here we are, post Shane's arrival but pre-Steve
We made lots of song requests, sang and danced along. Im perfectly willing to make a completely fool out of myself, and Bryan is my partner in crime. At one point the two of us were doing our very best Lady Gaga dance impersonations.
The very best part of the evening was when we got Scotty to do his Kermit the Frog sings Rainbow Connection impression and dedicate it to Steve. Steve is the host of the MuppetCast and obviously a big Muppet fan. He had never seen Scotty do the impression before, and he was really touched that we requested it just for him. Scotty is amazingly good at it, his voice is spot on and he even has the movements down pat, so that he almost looks like Muppet! The very last verse Scotty sang to the wishers, the dreamers and STEVE and we all erupted in applause, it was so much fun!
After that we decided to call it a night, we were all pretty tired and I know that Amy was really, really tired. Its not much fun being the pregnant girl in the bar, Jellyrolls is a little different because its fun just to go and watch the dueling pianos, but when the rest of your group is enjoying some vacation drinks, its tough to be left out. She was a really good sport and it was nice of her to come along and be our driver. We did have an excellent night out, but it was time to get to bed, because we had Animal Kingdom to explore the next day!
You are getting so close! I'm sure you will have a wonderful time, and just think, you could always go back with friends and family! 
It sounds like you had a great time with your friends at The Ditch. Sometimes you just have to take time to slow down and enjoy the atmosphere and people around you, instead of trying to hit all the attractions in a single day.
And then buying you that D&B bag? Wowza! You do know you hit the jackpot, right?
