A Gem of a trip-quality, clarity, color and "Cut that out!" completed 8/4
- Thread starter Diamondintheruff
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Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
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I am happy to travel with Poppa anytime, anywhere. It's just the other one that gives me some trouble.
I love her anyway though. I figure all the grief Cindy gives me is payback for all the grief I give Nanny.I wish I had pictures. But even the pictures wouldn't do him justice. I should have taken some video.
Thanks Nemo32! It's a chapter I live over and over again. For instance right now in my kitchen Jedi knight is having yet another melt down. He spilled some cereal on the table and himself and has left the table whinning to curl up in the living room floor ranting about how it wasn't his fault. I should be more invovled but DH is there.
They all were (okay towards the end of the trip Jedi got a bit better. There was even one time when he didn't have a meltdown). That's why I can't wait to go to WDW with just DH in April for my birthday. Love the kids and will probably think a million times a day "Boy they would really enjoy this" while I am down there but NO morning meltdowns.
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
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Are you always up this early by choice or your kids don't let you sleep in.
I'm usually more of a night owl but Hockey started and Jedi had hockey practise at 7am
Amazingly no meltdowns this morning before hockey. It came after. Cindy had hockey practise at 9am (much more civilized) and that is why I was up and about.
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
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Nanny did show up eventually. At least it felt like it was eternity as I sat and fumed. 
She waddled around the corner and had the decency to look a tad ashamed. I followed the if you don't have anything nice to say to don't say it philosophy and kept my distance while I cooled down.
A few other families joined us at the bus stop. There were lots of buses going to all the parks since they were all opened early today. So when the next MK bus came round we had company.
It was our first experience with the POR bus system. Since we used the west bus stop we still had to stop at the North, the East and the South. We were a full bus by the time got to the south. Not crammed in but certainly full and if you have ever had the pleasure of being crammed in on a Disney bus before than you KNOW there is a difference.
There was one (sorry Jo) British woman who did not know the difference. She was very vocal with her surprise when we did indeed stop at the south bus stop. I don't think she subscribed to the "if you don't have anything nice to say than don't say it" philosophy. Naturally there was a big crowd at the South as there always was (I suppose I should be grateful we got to get on first and always have a seat but I was still calming down and not really able to feel grateful yet.) This woman was shocked when our bus managed to swallow the crowd from the south. Now we were crammed!
We got dropped off at MK and were at the bag search by 7:55am. Considering what I had been through that morning I was pleased.
It was raining. This is a continuing theme throughout the next few days. So there was no exciting first castle sighting. I couldn't see out the bus due to the rain and the crowds and even if I could I was separated from all my family members on the bus so there was no one to share my moment of joy when I saw the castle. I guess I could have tried to share my joy with the British woman on the bus but I wasn't that desperate. Yet.
About now Cindy realized that I didn't have her stroller with us. Oops (and I wasn't going to pay opps for one either). She would have to suck it up and walk through the rain. Surprise, surprise, Cindy didn't take it too well.
Meltdown number three of the morning because I am counting my anger at Nanny being late as meltdown number two.
Cindy takes a different approach to meltdowns than Jedi knight does.
Hers are a pouting, leave me alone, I refuse to communicate with you so you will just have to guess what it is that I want and even if you do guess right I still won't tell you because I am going to cross my arms, drop my chin and give you my back. So there!
This is where Nanny redeems herself. She waddles over to Cindy (I know I already used that verb with Nanny but it was raining and damp so Nanny was stiff and the duck imagery keeps coming to mind) and somehow subdues her.
We push through the crowd (caught you there was no crowd. It was raining with a possible tropical storm arriving this p.m. plus it was open an hour early). We never saw or head any evidence of the rope drop show so maybe they didn't have one? I finally saw the castle. It was through the rain. I kept us going past the photopass photographers because I was sure we would be able to get the family castle pic done a day it was nice out. Besides we had a plan to carry out so on to fantasyland we would go.
Our plan from the night before basically went out the window. I had hoped that we would get two or three rides done before we met back at the gate at 9:45am for the family magic tour. Of course we now had an extra hour and a practically empty park so I knew that we didn't have to stick to the plan. We could wing it.
We hit the teacups first. Round and round we went. All of us rode. We took up three teacups. There was one other group in another teacup. So a total of four teacups full. We even waited for more people to arrive. The CM gave up and started it for us.
Not really a good choice for a first ride for me.
My vertigo started acting up. We were given the opportunity to stay on and ride again. Cindy wanted to. If it had of been something else I would have agreed but I needed to get off. I lied and said, "Maybe we can come back later?" Maybe it's not really a lie. We had the rest of the vacation. Maybe we could come back. However I had no intention of being part of the "we" that was coming back.
Dumbo was next. Poppa found cover from the rain and watched us. We had maybe two other elephants filled. Again we waited for more patrons. None came. We sat in our ponchos, held on to our hats (there was a gusty wind) and rode Dumbo twice. Again we were offered the opportunity to stay on for another ride. We went on to Pooh and than Pan. Again just walking on. There were lots of empty honey jars and pirate boats
The rain started to slow down a bit. Cindy wanted to do It's a small world (IASW) and Jedi knight wanted to try the brainstormer. Nanny took Cindy to IASW and Poppa took Eeoyre to the speedway ride. DH and I headed to toontown with Jedi knight.
I never even told my children about toontown last year. Even though they went past it on the train once they never clued in. They saw some pictures of Minnie's house while I was on the disboards one day and I finally spilled the beans. But I neglected to research it much. I knew it opened later so I figured we would wait for 9am and be one of the first ones in there. Well, it didn't open until 10am so we never made it. Jedi Knight took it well. We headed to the speedway to join Eeoyre and Poppa. I took some pictures. You can see the CM's in their plastic covers but the rain had slowed down some.
Nanny and Cindy had time to ride IASW and the carousal before joining back up with us. It was 9:05 am. Everyone wanted to ride Buzz and then we would grab a snack and start the family tour. Wait Cindy was missing her hat. I let everyone else do Buzz and I ran back to the carousal to check for it. Sure enough it was on one of the horses heads.
I had meant to meet up with everyone at the exit to the ride but I though since I found the hat so quickly maybe I will just check the line and see if I can still squeeze in and ride with them. That was my intention as I entered the queue. I walked right on and rode Buzz myself. I did all right I thought.
They were waiting for me at the exit. It was 9:20. We walked over to the main street bakery and grabbed a snack. Poppa bought himself and Nanny a coffee. He didn't use a snack credit for it. I had the French toast loaf. I had it last year. It was yummy!
I left everyone to finish up their snacks while I checked into for the tour. They offered me a free coffee. I made sure to tease Poppa about that later. I got our Peter Pan shaped name stickers and was told to have everyone use the facilities and wait by the garden for 10am.
The family showed up. Got washed up and name tagged up and waited as directed. We were able to put our rain ponchos away. It was still spitting a bit but with the wind it dried on you ASAP.
While I was waiting for my family to finish with the facilities a man poked fun at my nametag asking if it was "Big enough". We started conversing and soon realized that he too was signed up for the tour and consequently about to receive a large Peter Pan name sticker just like mine.
There were four families in total on our tour. So there were 15 of us with the guide. I'm going to save the description of it for my next chapter. I figure I've already described enough meltdowns for one chapter. I will leave you guessing at who has the meltdown though.
Click here for the next chapter http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=28296625&postcount=292
She waddled around the corner and had the decency to look a tad ashamed. I followed the if you don't have anything nice to say to don't say it philosophy and kept my distance while I cooled down.A few other families joined us at the bus stop. There were lots of buses going to all the parks since they were all opened early today. So when the next MK bus came round we had company.
It was our first experience with the POR bus system. Since we used the west bus stop we still had to stop at the North, the East and the South. We were a full bus by the time got to the south. Not crammed in but certainly full and if you have ever had the pleasure of being crammed in on a Disney bus before than you KNOW there is a difference.
There was one (sorry Jo) British woman who did not know the difference. She was very vocal with her surprise when we did indeed stop at the south bus stop. I don't think she subscribed to the "if you don't have anything nice to say than don't say it" philosophy. Naturally there was a big crowd at the South as there always was (I suppose I should be grateful we got to get on first and always have a seat but I was still calming down and not really able to feel grateful yet.) This woman was shocked when our bus managed to swallow the crowd from the south. Now we were crammed!
We got dropped off at MK and were at the bag search by 7:55am. Considering what I had been through that morning I was pleased.
It was raining. This is a continuing theme throughout the next few days. So there was no exciting first castle sighting. I couldn't see out the bus due to the rain and the crowds and even if I could I was separated from all my family members on the bus so there was no one to share my moment of joy when I saw the castle. I guess I could have tried to share my joy with the British woman on the bus but I wasn't that desperate. Yet.
About now Cindy realized that I didn't have her stroller with us. Oops (and I wasn't going to pay opps for one either). She would have to suck it up and walk through the rain. Surprise, surprise, Cindy didn't take it too well.
Meltdown number three of the morning because I am counting my anger at Nanny being late as meltdown number two.Cindy takes a different approach to meltdowns than Jedi knight does.
Hers are a pouting, leave me alone, I refuse to communicate with you so you will just have to guess what it is that I want and even if you do guess right I still won't tell you because I am going to cross my arms, drop my chin and give you my back. So there!This is where Nanny redeems herself. She waddles over to Cindy (I know I already used that verb with Nanny but it was raining and damp so Nanny was stiff and the duck imagery keeps coming to mind) and somehow subdues her.
We push through the crowd (caught you there was no crowd. It was raining with a possible tropical storm arriving this p.m. plus it was open an hour early). We never saw or head any evidence of the rope drop show so maybe they didn't have one? I finally saw the castle. It was through the rain. I kept us going past the photopass photographers because I was sure we would be able to get the family castle pic done a day it was nice out. Besides we had a plan to carry out so on to fantasyland we would go.
Our plan from the night before basically went out the window. I had hoped that we would get two or three rides done before we met back at the gate at 9:45am for the family magic tour. Of course we now had an extra hour and a practically empty park so I knew that we didn't have to stick to the plan. We could wing it.
We hit the teacups first. Round and round we went. All of us rode. We took up three teacups. There was one other group in another teacup. So a total of four teacups full. We even waited for more people to arrive. The CM gave up and started it for us.
Not really a good choice for a first ride for me.
My vertigo started acting up. We were given the opportunity to stay on and ride again. Cindy wanted to. If it had of been something else I would have agreed but I needed to get off. I lied and said, "Maybe we can come back later?" Maybe it's not really a lie. We had the rest of the vacation. Maybe we could come back. However I had no intention of being part of the "we" that was coming back.Dumbo was next. Poppa found cover from the rain and watched us. We had maybe two other elephants filled. Again we waited for more patrons. None came. We sat in our ponchos, held on to our hats (there was a gusty wind) and rode Dumbo twice. Again we were offered the opportunity to stay on for another ride. We went on to Pooh and than Pan. Again just walking on. There were lots of empty honey jars and pirate boats
The rain started to slow down a bit. Cindy wanted to do It's a small world (IASW) and Jedi knight wanted to try the brainstormer. Nanny took Cindy to IASW and Poppa took Eeoyre to the speedway ride. DH and I headed to toontown with Jedi knight.
I never even told my children about toontown last year. Even though they went past it on the train once they never clued in. They saw some pictures of Minnie's house while I was on the disboards one day and I finally spilled the beans. But I neglected to research it much. I knew it opened later so I figured we would wait for 9am and be one of the first ones in there. Well, it didn't open until 10am so we never made it. Jedi Knight took it well. We headed to the speedway to join Eeoyre and Poppa. I took some pictures. You can see the CM's in their plastic covers but the rain had slowed down some.
Nanny and Cindy had time to ride IASW and the carousal before joining back up with us. It was 9:05 am. Everyone wanted to ride Buzz and then we would grab a snack and start the family tour. Wait Cindy was missing her hat. I let everyone else do Buzz and I ran back to the carousal to check for it. Sure enough it was on one of the horses heads.
I had meant to meet up with everyone at the exit to the ride but I though since I found the hat so quickly maybe I will just check the line and see if I can still squeeze in and ride with them. That was my intention as I entered the queue. I walked right on and rode Buzz myself. I did all right I thought.
They were waiting for me at the exit. It was 9:20. We walked over to the main street bakery and grabbed a snack. Poppa bought himself and Nanny a coffee. He didn't use a snack credit for it. I had the French toast loaf. I had it last year. It was yummy!
I left everyone to finish up their snacks while I checked into for the tour. They offered me a free coffee. I made sure to tease Poppa about that later. I got our Peter Pan shaped name stickers and was told to have everyone use the facilities and wait by the garden for 10am.
The family showed up. Got washed up and name tagged up and waited as directed. We were able to put our rain ponchos away. It was still spitting a bit but with the wind it dried on you ASAP.
While I was waiting for my family to finish with the facilities a man poked fun at my nametag asking if it was "Big enough". We started conversing and soon realized that he too was signed up for the tour and consequently about to receive a large Peter Pan name sticker just like mine.
There were four families in total on our tour. So there were 15 of us with the guide. I'm going to save the description of it for my next chapter. I figure I've already described enough meltdowns for one chapter. I will leave you guessing at who has the meltdown though.
Click here for the next chapter http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=28296625&postcount=292
Tnkrbelle565
DIS Veteran
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Can't wait to see who had the meltdown!!
tinkermamaof2
Mouseketeer
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- Feb 28, 2007
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I'm guessing Nanny. Just because she's a slow walker.
Patti
Patti
KittyKat08
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Been reading along, can't wait to see who has the next meltdown and why. Looking forward to more pictures as well.
lazydoxy66
Live, love, and laugh!
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You should have named this TR Meltdown Memoirs. How did you keep sane? My hats off to you for managing to keep moving forward.
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
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You know that is an excellent idea.
I just might change it.As to keeping sane. I didn't. I'm just better at forgetting my own meltdowns.
I'm off work tomorrow. So there is a good chance more will be up then.
There are lots of meltdowns coming up. Wait till we get to mine on the 7th day. Even I can't figure out how to sugar coat it.
Okay so one vote for Nanny. Any other takers?
Cindy loved her doll. She got outfits from all the relatives and was in love for the whole weekend. Not so much once the week started again and with it school, dance, piano and Hockey. But she did talk about her doll (she named her Jenny) quite a bit. She had her party tonight so she is spending time with all her new goodies.
As you have probably noticed from photos Cindy is on the slender side (she soooo gets that from me LOL)and I often have to take in pants (love the slim options in some of the stores) but I didn't have to with the American Girl pj's. I had heard from some other mothers that the AG stuff runs on the slim side. I hadn't heard small just slim.
Yes, we have the new catalogue. In fact we get three sent to the house. Why I don't know? One to Cindy, one to me and one to DH. That's the one I find funny. Like DH wants an AG catalogue.
I am glad that Cindy loved her doll and the clothes. I can't wait for my DD's to arrive. Two months until Christmas. How can I wait that long!!??
Yeah, the clothes do seem to run small so I think I will not get any for my DD. She is not chubby, but not slim either. Takes after her mommy!! No sense in chancing the outfit would not fit.
I have not received the new catalogue and it ticks me off. At least the website has it all. We did get the catalogue for the Maplea Dolls, the Canadian version. They have a new doll, but she still has that same weird stare on her face. Too bad they could not make that a little different. Then I would buy Canadian!
Now to read your next installment.
Suz
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
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Tuesday August 19 2008
Spoiler Alert-I'm going into some detail about the Family Magic Tour
There we all were at 9:45 am waiting for our tour to start just like they suggested on the phone. We had even had our snack (remember my French toast loaf) and visited the washroom. I was darn proud of us. Any one that knows my family and I knows that we are not an early arrival family. I like to blame it on DH. He is always late and always has been. He doesn't stress about it he just gets there when he gets there and takes whatever consequences come with it. I can also blame it on both my DS's. They start to get anxious and worry if they are early for anything (like the first day of school or even church).
We are a theatre loving family but when Eeoyre was little (almost 4ish) he watched the Arthur television show where Arthur gets locked in the library overnight. It was Arthur I really thought it was going to be safe. Go figure. Anyhow they highlight a big red Exit sign in the show. Well to Eeoyre the exit sign did not mean a safe way out. To him it meant "Danger" and whenever he saw them (Hello do you know how many Exit signs there are?) he would go straight into flight or fright mode and there was no reasoning with him.
So even though he loved watching all kinds of shows and theatrical events he had a hard time getting past those Exit signs. So I wouldn't take him into a theatre until the show was just about to start. Flame me here if you will but he had a pacifier until he was 6 years old. (So did Cindy but Jedi Knight he's a hair twirler. Mine to be exact and would never take a pacifier. Ask Nanny. She tried and tried and tried.)
So we would arrive super late without talking about the show much and I would quickly sit us down and once it was dark I would give him his pacifier, put him on my lap and rub his back to try to reassure him he was safe. I usually went with my best friend to these events and she would take any of my other children ahead of time while Eeoyre and I scouted out the lobby or picked up treats to eat.
He would watch the shows in a half horror half enjoyment kind of way. It was like one side of his brain was enjoying it and the other was ready to flee at any given moment. He was always exhausted afterwards. Course I was too! Then he would talk about the shows afterwards like he had a party the whole time. He could recount the whole spectacle verbally until who ever was listening to him would get that eyes glazing over look. So he did like it. He always wanted to go to them until it was time to actually go to them.
But I had a reason to diverge into Eeoyre's anxious past. He couldn't handle being early for school (free time was tough for him) or even piano lessons. We had to be right on time for everything. Oh the amount of circling round and round in the car I did those years waiting for the exact right time to arrive someplace. I kind of got used to being a few minutes late for things. It's a hard habit to break.
And that is why I was sitting there all proud and puffy chested that the Diamond clan was waiting and prepared early even. I drank my "free coffee" sat down on bench and did a little people watching. To quote Martha. It was a good thing.
Soon enough our tour started. I had hoped we might be the only family that showed up and therefore have the tour all to ourselves but alas everyone showed. I have written down the name of our tour guide but I am having trouble deciphering my own writing. So I shall just call him Richard. He was from Wisconsin.
The tour started fairly normal. Richard had us introduce ourselves with our names, where we are from and who our favorite Disney characters were. Hello I am Diamond from Canada and my favorite Disney Character is Ariel. DH said Pinocchio, Cindy said Belle, Jedi Knight said a Jedi Knight, Nanny said Cinderella, Poppa said Baloo and Eeoyre said Tinkerbell. That's right folks my 9 year old son said Tinkerbell was his favorite Disney character. Richard didn't miss a beat but I could tell the other families where sizing Eeoyre up. My invisible protective force field went up. I still worry when Eeoyre doesn't respond in a typically male fashion. Every time I think I'm able to handle the fact that my son is the most masculine of boys I get thrown for a loop. I love him to pieces and I just want to keep him safe. I make eye contact with DH. I can tell his force field is up too. We are ready for any verbal abuse. Luckily none comes our way.
Richard switches gears by asking the kids what kind of weather they thought this was. They gave the obvious answers. Rainy, Windy, Tropical storm is coming etc…. The real answer was "Pirate Weather". He had the kids convinced that Captain Hook had snuck into WDW and unless we got him his stolen pirate hook back he was going to take over the magic kingdom. He does such a great job describing it he has all the kids totally taken in. They physically move closer to him. He does a stellar performance.
We take a vow with him to help save WDW from Hook's clutches. We go through a quick ceremony including throwing some pixie dust into the air and yelling "Away we go" like in Peter Pan.
Then Richard gets out his map.
We are on to our first clue. It leads us to the Barber shoppe. I am impressed with the interaction that goes between Richard and one of the Barbers. He insults the tour groups singing. Richard and the Barber banter back and forth. Again the kids are taken in. The Barber slams the door and we are off to clue number 2.
This time we must travel in character. Our favorite Disney character that is. I swim as Ariel and watch Eeoyre flying, Cindy pretending to read a book while she walks and Jedi Knight wave his light saber in the air out of the corner of my eye. Again my force field is activated, but not needed. DH pretends to poke me with his long wooden nose. He makes some innuendoes about enjoying poking me and I laugh and let the force field down. I do notice that Nanny is dancing pretending to hold up her ballgown which is slowing her normal pace to an almost turtle like trot. I laugh again and notice that we are all enjoying ourselves. It is a good moment.
Here we are surprising Sunny eclipse at Cosmic Rays.
Here we are taunting Hook and Smee from a distance.
I will leave the bulk of the tour to your imagination. I will say that the Tour was a success with everyone. We were all willing to be silly and I am glad we did it.
At the completion of the tour you are lead into this roped off section near Liberty Square going towards the Crystal Palace. I had noticed it before but never entered it. I felt like Disney Royalty when I saw where we were going and noticed the staff guarding the entrances. Just as we were arriving Wendy and Pan snuck up from behind. They surprised the kids out in front. The looks on my kid's faces were priceless. I hadn't told them we had a character meet at the end. Okay I should say the looks on the boy's faces were priceless. It was Cindy that had the meltdown.
Richard had all the kids play a form of follow the leader (which caused another force field to appear when Eeoyre was the lead. You should have seen the Ballet leap he modeled.) and Cindy was at the end of the line so therefore had to wait till the end for her turn. She sulked. She was still sulking for our roped off garden meet.
Wendy and Pan had us searching high and low for Hook's Hook.
Well guess who found it?
Jedi Knight.
He told us later that Wendy had whispered to him where it was. It was hooked it on to the back of the man's backpack who had originally made fun of my nametag. He was the youngest child there so I think that was why.
Jedi was beaming.
He got a special certificate saying he found it. Cindy went into emotional lockdown. Her hands were clenched, her arms were crossed and her chin was glued to her neck. You could almost see the steam coming off her ears as she fumed and sulked.
She was unreachable and frankly if I could have communicated with her I doubt if I would have liked what she was saying so it is just as well. Even Nanny couldn't get through to her.
We took our photo op. with Pan and Wendy without her.
I tried to get some crowd shots with her near them without her noticing.
Up next installment.
-Lunch
-Where did DH disapear to?
-I wish I had more arms.
-Maybe even a meltdown or two. Okay at least two. I'm not good at this suspense thing.
Click here for the next chapter http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=28381378&postcount=307
Spoiler Alert-I'm going into some detail about the Family Magic Tour
There we all were at 9:45 am waiting for our tour to start just like they suggested on the phone. We had even had our snack (remember my French toast loaf) and visited the washroom. I was darn proud of us. Any one that knows my family and I knows that we are not an early arrival family. I like to blame it on DH. He is always late and always has been. He doesn't stress about it he just gets there when he gets there and takes whatever consequences come with it. I can also blame it on both my DS's. They start to get anxious and worry if they are early for anything (like the first day of school or even church).
We are a theatre loving family but when Eeoyre was little (almost 4ish) he watched the Arthur television show where Arthur gets locked in the library overnight. It was Arthur I really thought it was going to be safe. Go figure. Anyhow they highlight a big red Exit sign in the show. Well to Eeoyre the exit sign did not mean a safe way out. To him it meant "Danger" and whenever he saw them (Hello do you know how many Exit signs there are?) he would go straight into flight or fright mode and there was no reasoning with him.
So even though he loved watching all kinds of shows and theatrical events he had a hard time getting past those Exit signs. So I wouldn't take him into a theatre until the show was just about to start. Flame me here if you will but he had a pacifier until he was 6 years old. (So did Cindy but Jedi Knight he's a hair twirler. Mine to be exact and would never take a pacifier. Ask Nanny. She tried and tried and tried.)
So we would arrive super late without talking about the show much and I would quickly sit us down and once it was dark I would give him his pacifier, put him on my lap and rub his back to try to reassure him he was safe. I usually went with my best friend to these events and she would take any of my other children ahead of time while Eeoyre and I scouted out the lobby or picked up treats to eat.
He would watch the shows in a half horror half enjoyment kind of way. It was like one side of his brain was enjoying it and the other was ready to flee at any given moment. He was always exhausted afterwards. Course I was too! Then he would talk about the shows afterwards like he had a party the whole time. He could recount the whole spectacle verbally until who ever was listening to him would get that eyes glazing over look. So he did like it. He always wanted to go to them until it was time to actually go to them.
But I had a reason to diverge into Eeoyre's anxious past. He couldn't handle being early for school (free time was tough for him) or even piano lessons. We had to be right on time for everything. Oh the amount of circling round and round in the car I did those years waiting for the exact right time to arrive someplace. I kind of got used to being a few minutes late for things. It's a hard habit to break.
And that is why I was sitting there all proud and puffy chested that the Diamond clan was waiting and prepared early even. I drank my "free coffee" sat down on bench and did a little people watching. To quote Martha. It was a good thing.
Soon enough our tour started. I had hoped we might be the only family that showed up and therefore have the tour all to ourselves but alas everyone showed. I have written down the name of our tour guide but I am having trouble deciphering my own writing. So I shall just call him Richard. He was from Wisconsin.
The tour started fairly normal. Richard had us introduce ourselves with our names, where we are from and who our favorite Disney characters were. Hello I am Diamond from Canada and my favorite Disney Character is Ariel. DH said Pinocchio, Cindy said Belle, Jedi Knight said a Jedi Knight, Nanny said Cinderella, Poppa said Baloo and Eeoyre said Tinkerbell. That's right folks my 9 year old son said Tinkerbell was his favorite Disney character. Richard didn't miss a beat but I could tell the other families where sizing Eeoyre up. My invisible protective force field went up. I still worry when Eeoyre doesn't respond in a typically male fashion. Every time I think I'm able to handle the fact that my son is the most masculine of boys I get thrown for a loop. I love him to pieces and I just want to keep him safe. I make eye contact with DH. I can tell his force field is up too. We are ready for any verbal abuse. Luckily none comes our way.
Richard switches gears by asking the kids what kind of weather they thought this was. They gave the obvious answers. Rainy, Windy, Tropical storm is coming etc…. The real answer was "Pirate Weather". He had the kids convinced that Captain Hook had snuck into WDW and unless we got him his stolen pirate hook back he was going to take over the magic kingdom. He does such a great job describing it he has all the kids totally taken in. They physically move closer to him. He does a stellar performance.
We take a vow with him to help save WDW from Hook's clutches. We go through a quick ceremony including throwing some pixie dust into the air and yelling "Away we go" like in Peter Pan.
Then Richard gets out his map.
We are on to our first clue. It leads us to the Barber shoppe. I am impressed with the interaction that goes between Richard and one of the Barbers. He insults the tour groups singing. Richard and the Barber banter back and forth. Again the kids are taken in. The Barber slams the door and we are off to clue number 2.
This time we must travel in character. Our favorite Disney character that is. I swim as Ariel and watch Eeoyre flying, Cindy pretending to read a book while she walks and Jedi Knight wave his light saber in the air out of the corner of my eye. Again my force field is activated, but not needed. DH pretends to poke me with his long wooden nose. He makes some innuendoes about enjoying poking me and I laugh and let the force field down. I do notice that Nanny is dancing pretending to hold up her ballgown which is slowing her normal pace to an almost turtle like trot. I laugh again and notice that we are all enjoying ourselves. It is a good moment.
Here we are surprising Sunny eclipse at Cosmic Rays.
Here we are taunting Hook and Smee from a distance.
I will leave the bulk of the tour to your imagination. I will say that the Tour was a success with everyone. We were all willing to be silly and I am glad we did it.
At the completion of the tour you are lead into this roped off section near Liberty Square going towards the Crystal Palace. I had noticed it before but never entered it. I felt like Disney Royalty when I saw where we were going and noticed the staff guarding the entrances. Just as we were arriving Wendy and Pan snuck up from behind. They surprised the kids out in front. The looks on my kid's faces were priceless. I hadn't told them we had a character meet at the end. Okay I should say the looks on the boy's faces were priceless. It was Cindy that had the meltdown.
Richard had all the kids play a form of follow the leader (which caused another force field to appear when Eeoyre was the lead. You should have seen the Ballet leap he modeled.) and Cindy was at the end of the line so therefore had to wait till the end for her turn. She sulked. She was still sulking for our roped off garden meet.
Wendy and Pan had us searching high and low for Hook's Hook.
Well guess who found it?
Jedi Knight.
He told us later that Wendy had whispered to him where it was. It was hooked it on to the back of the man's backpack who had originally made fun of my nametag. He was the youngest child there so I think that was why.
Jedi was beaming.
He got a special certificate saying he found it. Cindy went into emotional lockdown. Her hands were clenched, her arms were crossed and her chin was glued to her neck. You could almost see the steam coming off her ears as she fumed and sulked.
She was unreachable and frankly if I could have communicated with her I doubt if I would have liked what she was saying so it is just as well. Even Nanny couldn't get through to her.
We took our photo op. with Pan and Wendy without her.
I tried to get some crowd shots with her near them without her noticing.
Up next installment.
-Lunch
-Where did DH disapear to?
-I wish I had more arms.
-Maybe even a meltdown or two. Okay at least two. I'm not good at this suspense thing.
Click here for the next chapter http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=28381378&postcount=307
Tnkrbelle565
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2004
- Messages
- 8,490
Going back to read this later but just HAD to comment about you having the scary Wendy. She/He also plays Alice in Wonderland and freaks me out!!! 
Katiebell
Seriously *Ahem*
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2007
- Messages
- 1,823
Just wanted to say...don't worry too much about DS9 liking Tink. Tink is awesome. I think she is Brrt's second favorite character, after Stitch/Experiment 626, he even has a Tink mug and a Tink pin on one of his lanyards And good for him to be true to himself and be willing to stand up and be an individual -- my DS17 wears a white lab coat and jikatabi ninja boots for no other reason than he likes them 
And good for him to be true to himself and be willing to stand up and be an individual -- my DS17 wears a white lab coat and jikatabi ninja boots for no other reason than he likes them 
I'll catch up later tonight!
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,683
Going back to read this later but just HAD to comment about you having the scary Wendy. She/He also plays Alice in Wonderland and freaks me out!!!
I have to go and look at my Tea Party pictures to see if it is the same Alice.
Thanks Katiebell. I appreciate that. It's just so hard watching them choose to be vunerable.
Well Jo, we did meet up up later so I guess it was meant to be. Great minds think alike you know.
I've heard people say that before. I happen to think the AG dolls are a bit creepy. They used on in Corey in the House and pretended it was a possessed doll. I thought it was a good choice. I laughed out loud when I watched the episode.
Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,683
Off to see HSM3 tonight.
The kids are so excited. We're going with another family just the Moms and the kids.
We saw HSM2 on the blow up screen at the ASMu pool the first time. I'd rather be premering this at WDW again.
The kids are so excited. We're going with another family just the Moms and the kids.
We saw HSM2 on the blow up screen at the ASMu pool the first time. I'd rather be premering this at WDW again.
Katiebell
Seriously *Ahem*
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2007
- Messages
- 1,823
I, or should I say Jess, have so many lurkers too, I wish they'd come out on TR's and say hi
Well...could be worse...I don't know if anyone is following my TR anymore!
JK, actually...I've been kind of stuck, having a hard time writing the next part, but I think I'll try to get it done this weekend. There's some sad stuff and it's hard to write about, but important to the story. 
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