Episode 11: the update with some new happy haunts
Once we arrived in Frontierland, I left my mom and DH to park the stroller and order the food, and I went into to get us a seat and get Everett settled and eating. I was a little worried that Disney would be enforcing the “no seats until you have food” rule, but there was nothing in place to that effect.
Pecos Bills was an absolute Mob scene, and Everett and I hunted and hunted for a table. I found an abandoned high chair, and not wanting to potentially loose it, I dragged it behind me while we were on the hunt. I’m sure we were quite a sight, Everett on my hip and me dragging a high chair behind us, but a Mom’s got to do what a Mom’s got to do!
I soon saw a family getting up to leave and made a bee-line for the table. Whew, just in the nick of time, because another family was also descending like the vultures we are. I thought I was going to have to pull out my no-nonsense voice because the family actually looked like they were going to sit down anyway, but they eventually moved on, defeated.
I got Everett into the high chair with no major malfunctions and he was happily eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich in no time. We were having a lot of trouble with Everett suddenly becoming a picky eater right before we left, so everyday I packed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, along with one of the Gerber yogurt blends (the kind that doesn’t need to be refrigerated- and no, I don’t know what is in them, I chose not to look at the label, ignorance is bliss), some graham crackers , dried fruit and raisins. These were all his tried and true favorites, so I figured he would at least get one good meal, even if he refused to eat any of the Disney kids meals.
We usually fed him his brown bag meal for lunch, because he is generally in a better mood and open to more adventurous eating at dinnertime.
This plan actually worked out great, because by the time that Mark and my Mom arrived with the food I had finished feeding Everett, and I was actually able to eat my food- WHILE IT WAS STILL HOT! It was like a Disney miracle.
Bryan and Amy also joined us after they received their food and we tucked in. I don’t usually take food pictures, so forgive me, but it was a pretty generic Disney burger. What I really love is the cheese sauce. Let me wax poetic about the cheese sauce for a minute- oh delicious cheesey/chemical goodness, I love your melty texture and your bright, not found in nature, orange hue, I could consume vats of your gloriousness, piping hot…
Anyway, enough of that.
Remember when they removed the cheese sauce *shudder* those were black days in our house…
Really, now back on track
DH knows my passion for melted cheese, so he brought plenty for me to consume with my fries and burger, he can be such a considerate husband.
Once we had all finished up Everett was teetering on the edge of meltdown land. I knew that he was really tired, and would fall asleep as soon as we got him in the stroller. My mom offered to walk around with him, which wasn’t really a sacrifice, because it meant that she could shop to her hearts content.
I got Everett all settled in the stroller and off they went, disappearing into Frontier Mercantile before I could even wave goodbye.
We sent a quick text off to Shane and Steve, and told them to meet us by Haunted Mansion because we were ready to take our chance with the happy haunts and I was dying to see the new queue. **Spoiler Alert** If you do not want to see pictures of the new queue, skip ahead now! I know that I didn’t read anything before we left because I wanted to see it all for the first time in person.
While we were waiting for Steve and Shane, Amy started to feel a little bad. I don’t think that lunch was settling right and she was getting heartburn. She had some problems with heartburn before, and decided that the best course of action was to go back to the resort and rest, so she would hopefully be feeling better for that evening.
I felt really bad that she was going, and offered that maybe we should all go back with her, but she refused. She insisted that we stay and have a good time, and if things got worse she would call us.
I still felt bad, but knowing that there was nothing I, or any of us, could do we got into line for Haunted Mansion. When we came up to where the line broke, we requested the interactive queue and we were sent to the left. If we had decided against seeing the new queue we could have walked right on, but being Disney nerds, we wanted to leave no (grave) stone unturned.
The first thing we came across were some of the new statues, they were very cool and all had their own epitaph a la the classic gravestones.
Speaking of which, I was really happy to see that the classic gravestone were still used throughout the queue, I was a little worried about that when I first heard that they had been removed. Once thing that does worry me though is that some of them are very close to the guests, close enough to be touched and possibly vandalized. I hate seeing where people have jammed gum into the wood carvings at Expedition Everest, I would be devastated to see gum on “Good Old Fred- A great big rock fell on his Head’s” grave stone.
Next up with a large crypt, that was very cool. If you touched the sides you could hear music playing, and as you came around the front it was modeled to look like a pipe organ. If you touched the keys of the pipe organ it would play, which I thought was endlessly entertaining!
DH with Shane in the background
Next up was the crypt of the mariner from the oil paintings that used to be in the hallway, before they changed them to the ones that transform with the lightning. I’m sure you all remember them, they were the ones that had the eyes that follow you. I think they can still be seen on the walls above where you enter your doombuggy.
The crypt was really cool because it leaked water, and you could hear the mariner talking.
Since DH is a navy man, I made him pose for the picture.
After that we encountered the grave of Prudence Pock. It had modeled bookshelves on the sides, and if you pressed the books, they would pop out for the guest on the other side! It also featured a really neat interactive feature, where you could “help” Prudence write some new verses and get over her writers block. It was very clever, but hard to get a good photo, so you’ll all just have to go see for yourself.
Shane and Bryan trying out the books
Another really neat addition was the wedding ring embedded in the pavement. You all might remember the previous “wedding ring” that really was just a piece of an old pole. Well this one is legit, and I love to see the imgaineers pay homage to old traditions.
They also expanded the graveyard up the hill, which looks super cool. It really adds depth to the whole graveyard scene.
Once we explored the new queue, we entered the old classic attraction. There were a few surprises inside as well, because Disney installed the new next-gen hitchhiking ghosts. They are now interactive, and my ghost made my head explode! It was a neat new feature. I have to say that I LOVE all the changes that we made, Disney hit a home run!
After our adventures with the happy haunts, are group split up even more. Steve and Shane decided to head over to Animal Kingdom, and Bryan said that he’d join us on Space Mountain, but then was going to go home to be with Amy.
We said good-bye to Shane and Steve, and the three of us headed into Tomorrowland. I stopped to take some photos along the way
If you look carefully I accidentally lined up the picture so that one of the light fixtures covers up the "O", so the sign just reads "DUMB". I'm sure thats the way some families feel after standing in line for an hour!
I really wish we had gotten to take Everett on the teacups, I think he would have loved spinning as fast as humanly possible
I love these palm trees...
so much I made Bryan pose next to one with me
We had our fastpasses from earlier in the day, so we were able to get right on. I do love fastpass, but one day I want to wait in the standby line, both for Space Mountain and for Soarin’ so I can try out the games.
We had a little surprise when we got on Space Mountain, the lights were on in the tunnel for the TTA, so the interior of the mountain was partially illuminated. It was neat to see the track and everything, but it did really impact the theming. It was nice to do once, though, and gave me a stamp on my Disney geek card.
I did take a redneck photo of our Space Mountain experience. I can’t understand why they take the photo where they do, at the most interesting part of the ride. The next time I’m going to fake being all scared, at least then the picture would be a little more exciting.
not the best redneck photo ever
After getting off Space Mountain Bryan was getting ready to leave, and Mark decided that he wanted to go back too. He had been battling a cold and wasn’t feeling so hot. He wanted to take a nap so he’d feel better for that night.
Before they left I made them stop with me and get Buzz fastpasses so I could ride with my mom and Everett later on in the day and then I was on my own. What to do next?
I'd love to do it again, but mostly for the empty Main Street!
How funny about your DH, you know, if Everett doesn't stop rubbing food in his hair, maybe I should consider a buzz cut! 
