A Halloween Adventure in Autism (11/7) Prayer Request for Catie (p.129)

[michellem1118]

Its easy to forget that most people don't research and plan... dare I say obsess over their park touring plans the way we do. I think that many people stumble onto the parade and try to squeeze in wherever they think they can... unfortunately some of them can be clueless as to the etiquette of the situation.

Ya know, I don't think this is it, exactly. I mean, this might be part of it - I've stumbled upon a parade or street show & tried to find a place to watch from, but I've never, EVER, tried to push my way all the way to the front. I don't think it's cluelessness about etiquette, though - I think that many people are either incredibly inconsiderate in general, or just forget that although they've paid a lot of money to "enjoy" their vacation, so has everyone else there, and that doesn't give them the right to interfere with the enjoyment of others.

There's just something about being on vacation that seems to bring out the worst in some people. Thankfully, the Disney magic seems to curb that tendency to some extent.

 

[KathyRN137]

There's just something about being on vacation that seems to bring out the worst in some people. Thankfully, the Disney magic seems to curb that tendency to some extent.

Weddings, Funerals, and Vacations!!


Kathy

 

[Charleston Princess]

Yes, sadly, there are moments, even on Disney vacations, when things are not so magical! I really am appalled at that woman -- some people leave their manners in their hotel rooms when they head to the parks!

As far as the teenage angst -- how well I know all about that! Chelsea would have reacted the exact same way as Tricia, I have no doubt!

Great pics of the parade, though!

My two kids, especially Connor, loved pulling on the rope in front of Indy! He laughed and laughed, and had to do it several times!

 

[mousescrapper]

sorry Kathy...geez...btwn the rude guest and the no sit on wall...you'd think they would put a sing there or something?

we did not have the best experience waiting on this parade either in 08...once was enough for me...and I know about "fighting" to hold your spot.

Glad it turned around and everyone enjoyed it though.

 

[KathyRN137]

...As far as the teenage angst -- how well I know all about that! Chelsea would have reacted the exact same way as Tricia, I have no doubt!

...My two kids, especially Connor, loved pulling on the rope in front of Indy! He laughed and laughed, and had to do it several times!

So true... the moods go up and down faster than the elevators on ToT!!

I love finding the little magical touches that are off the beaten path. I still have plenty of them on my to-do lists!

sorry Kathy...geez...btwn the rude guest and the no sit on wall...you'd think they would put a sign there or something?

Well, at least we were able to sit for most of our wait time. It's really such a two-sided coin when you choose to stake out parade spots... on the one side, you secure good viewing. On the other, you can get a bit antsy waiting, especially the kids. Not to mention the fact that you have to "guard" your claim from being enroached upon by inconsiderate guests.

I'm with you, J, I feel that "once is enough" for most parades!



Kathy

 

[All7OfUs]

Morning, Kathy! Just came over to say howdy.

No, I'd have been smirking too. Maybe she, naw never mind, they rarely feel guilty or "get it" afterwards.

 

[KathyRN137]

Morning, Kathy! Just came over to say howdy.

Hey there, Liesa!

Your ticker is down to "only" four and a half months!! I remember when it read two years....


Kathy

 

[All7OfUs]

Hey there, Liesa!

Your ticker is down to "only" four and a half months!! I remember when it read two years....


Kathy

I won't exactly say I'm in panic mode, but the closer I get, the crazier things are going to be with packing and moving from here. I'm sure those last few months are going to really fly by!!

 

[MEK]

That's such a shame about the parade, because I know the girls were just trying to do the right thing. They aren't old enough to appreciate how we elders covet our parade spots and we hate to see people take advantage and not follow protocol.

But I honestly believe that some parade goers are just plain ignorant to the fact that those spots require preplanning. They just don't think about it. I think the right response should be...."I am sorry, but we have been waiting in this spot for ________minutes to see the parade". 'Nuf said - a new parade goer should immediately understand the implication of that.

Good to know about the AI spot! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[KathyRN137]

...Good to know about the AI spot! Thanks for the heads up.

You're welcome! One of the great things about doing a TR is that I can help others have an even better trip by learning from my mistakes!


Kathy

 

[irish dancer]

Oh how I know that teenage response well! Tricia is just like my DD13.

We've also had an issue at DHS with someone wanting me to give up my shaded seat once, guess again buddy!

 

[KathyRN137]

Oh how I know that teenage response well! Tricia is just like my DD13.

We've also had an issue at DHS with someone wanting me to give up my shaded seat once, guess again buddy!

and


Kathy

 

[burly]

Kathy i wouldn't say we learn from your "mistakes", more like your "controlled experiments".


KIM

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Boy, your last post brought back bad memories, Kathy! We aren't big afternoon parade fans ourselves, but thought the Pixar characters would be fun. We got a prime spot sitting on the steps in front of the American Idol attraction 45 minutes before the show. It is tough for me to sit on the concrete like that with my bum leg (it starts to swell to elephant like proportions).

When the parade CMs encouraged the kids to get up and hoola hoops, etc, I took the opportunity to stand for a second. My husband and oldest ds were the only ones left sitting. In a matter of seconds our spot was taken by another family. I tried to explain that we had been sitting forever and got up to participate. They just ignored us. Luckily a family next to us had waited along with us and made room so we could all sit back down. DH and I took a kid each and had them sit on our laps. Having a ten year old on my leg is NO fun, lol, but I was determined at that point to see the parade.

My kids were a little (ok, maybe more than a little) upset with me for causing a scene and wouldn't get up to dance with the characters.

Why have a parade with audience participation when the audience is afraid of losing their well earned spots along the parade route?

The parade was okay, but most of my kids have aged out now. I doubt we will make the effort to see this parade again.

 

[KathyRN137]

Kathy i wouldn't say we learn from your "mistakes", more like your "controlled experiments".

KIM

I hope you all realize that despite my many trips to WDW I still don't know everything! I pick up some of the best tips from TRs... hopefully mine will help someone else enjoy the parade to the fullest!

Boy, your last post brought back bad memories, Kathy!...

Oh, I'm so sorry for stirring up bad memories!

I think we all have a "bad" parade experience somewhere in our otherwise magical memories!

I don't know if Billy will ever age out of Disney characters. I secretly hope he never will!!


Kathy

 

[burly]

that's so true the best tips are from Trip Reports. thanks for writing yours!

 

[praisehisname]

I'm glad you were able to enjoy the parade despite the aggravations beforehand! Can't wait to hear about dinner!

 

[carissanboys]

Sorry to hear about the parade fiasco! Looks like Billy enjoyed it though.

Hmmmmmmm - What did you eat at PT?

 

[KathyRN137]

that's so true the best tips are from Trip Reports. thanks for writing yours!

You're welcome! I love sharing...

I'm glad you were able to enjoy the parade despite the aggravations beforehand! Can't wait to hear about dinner!

Thankfully, tensions evaporated quickly!

Sorry to hear about the parade fiasco! Looks like Billy enjoyed it though.

Hmmmmmmm - What did you eat at PT?

No surprises there! I'm fairly consistant...


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter 28: You’d Better Clean Your Plate!


Monday
November 2, 2009
Hollywood Studios



Boy, this report is really moving at a snail’s pace! I will try to post more often, even if it is only bits and pieces. This next little bit is about our very early dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café!


You may recall from the PTR that Billy was fixated on seeing Fantasmic this time around. Of course, when it was time to make ADRs (back when it was during the 90-day window) there had only been a couple of showings of Fantasmic scheduled for the week... and they were all at 7pm. I had a feeling that Disney would push the show back to 8pm this week because of the Daylight Savings Time ending, but I couldn’t be too sure. Anyway, I wound up having to take an ADR for 3:50 (which was technically lunchtime, but we were using this meal as our dinner.) I tried calling back several times to see if it could be pushed back... especially once it was confirmed that Fantasmic would be shown at 8pm... but had no luck.


I wasn’t too crazy about having dinner scheduled a mere four-and-a-half hours after we had just eaten lunch, but my family loves the Prime Time Café, so there we were.

I checked in at the desk, making sure to ask for a server who likes to “play.” Meanwhile, Ed took the gang into one of the fab fifties living rooms to watch a little black & white television. We waited about ten minutes, which was fine with Billy... he had stretched out on the sofa and made himself at home while enjoying the continuously run clips of old TV shows. The girls took the opportunity to pop into the ladies’ room. They came out looking amazed and both of them rushed to share what they had just discovered.


“Mom!” Tricia exclaimed, “This restaurant has the same bathroom as the place we ate lunch!” Catie threw in some clarification with, “Aunt Kathy, they, like, share the same bathroom!” Tricia explained how they had come across their major discovery: “Catie and I made a wrong turn and we wound up in the restaurant where we ate lunch!” (Hollywood and Vine) Catie jumped in with, “It was like... Oh my gosh! Where are we?” “Yeah, it was like The Twilight Zone for real!” Tricia gushed. “Come with me, let me show you!”


Not wanting to burst their bubble, I nevertheless had to admit that I was already clued in to their secret discovery. “Tricia, we’ve eaten at both these places before,” I reminded her. In truth, they had both become annual traditions. “Didn’t you ever notice that they share the same rest rooms?” Her answer was a negative and they continued to rave about how cool it was. Seriously, these girls were more thrilled about the dual bathroom than they had been about anything they had done in the past two hours!


Our buzzer went off and we were led to... the exact same table we had been given in 2008! What are the odds of that happening? On the way to our seats I took what would turn out to be my one and only picture inside PTC. I must’ve been getting tired of playing photographer!

“Mom’s” Kitchen:

We sat down at the formica-topped table and I passed around the wet wipes. No one was going to put any of us in the corner for forgetting to wash our hands! Tricia pointed out the napkins and silverware piled in the center of the table to Catie and informed her that they were expected to set the table. This was Catie’s first time at PTC and we were hoping she would get a kick out of it, despite being pressed into service!


I must sound like a broken record, but the first thing I did when our waiter introduced himself was to clue him in to Billy’s autism. “It’s okay, you can do the schtick,” I said, “I just want you to be aware of it.” Well, either he was purposely trying to avoid upsetting Billy or he was just one of those PTC servers who was more on the low-key side, because he didn’t ham it up very much.


Ed and I ordered our usual PTC fare: Dad's Traditional Meatloaf - a blend of beef and pork topped with tomato glaze, served with mashed potatoes, and green beans for him and Mom's Old-Fashioned Pot Roast - slow-cooked until fork tender served with mashed potatoes, carrots, celery and onions for me. It was no surprise that Billy wanted “chicken and fries” (chicken nuggets) but Tricia did surprise me by ordering the same... off the kids’ menu. Not a very economical use of TS credits but hey, what can you do? Billy wouldn’t eat anything else there and Tricia said she wasn’t very hungry. To tell the truth, I wasn’t really very hungry, either, so I skipped the appetizer. Ed won’t pass up a chance for shrimp cocktail, however, so he ordered one. Catie was much more adventurous than our kids. She ordered Aunt Liz's Golden Fried Chicken - served with mashed potatoes, chicken gravy and southern greens and didn’t even take my suggestion to switch the southern greens to green beans! I was quite impressed.


Despite the very early dinner time (or very late lunch time, depending on how you looked at it) the restaurant was full. It took our server quite a while to return with our drinks and even longer to bring the food. Luckily, we had a nearby source of entertainment. There was a family a few tables over that was finishing up their meal and having lots of fun with their waitress. Judging from their accents, I would say that they were English. Judging from the boisterous antics of the waitress, I would say she was funny! The louder she “scolded” them, the more they tried to “misbehave” so they could see her reaction. When she made the father stand in the corner for having his elbows on the table, his pre-teen children were laughing so hard that I thought they would fall off their chairs. The waitress left the room and one of the kids accidentally knocked over a glass of water. Our entire section of the restaurant responded in a chorus of “Oooooooooh!!” and rocked with laughter when the waitress returned. The look on her face as she stood there, hands on her hips, surveying the mini-flood on the table was priceless. They had already paid their check so, to their delight, she “threw them out” with great indignation and a lot of fuss. It was Prime Time schtick at its finest!

Tricia caught me laughing:

Eventually our food arrived and everyone dug in. I was a bit disappointed in my pot roast... some of it was quite fatty and it’s usually so good! But, since I knew I probably wasn’t going to be able to finish it all anyway, I didn’t send it back. The rest of the family seemed to enjoy their food, except for Billy. He ate some and played with the rest, which is definitely not normal for him! He looked to me to be a bit tired, too. He left his seat and came over to sit on my lap, so I knew then that he wasn’t feeling well. Between everything that was going on during dinner I wasn’t able to take any food pix... sorry.


Our server came over and, seeing that I had left a good bit of my dinner on my plate, picked up a fork and said he would have to feed me if I didn’t finish. The girls laughed and egged him on, but when I admitted that the reason I hadn’t finished was because the meat was fatty he immediately dropped the act and asked in all seriousness if I would like him to get another plate for me. It was thoughtful of him, but I just thanked him and told him that I was full. Ed and the girls, however, were thinking of desert, so he brought the desert menu View-Master. This helped Billy to perk up a bit, not because he wanted desert, but because it gave him a chance to play with the “menu!”

Catie took this one... and yes, her pictures are still mis-dated!

Mom narrowly escapes getting fork-fed:

The longer we sat there, the more concerned I became about Billy. He just didn’t look right to me. Finally, when he asked for “the orange medicine,” I knew something was up. (The orange medicine is children’s motrin.) I really wanted to take his temperature, but since even the most well-prepared DISer doesn’t carry a thermometer around with her, I told Ed that I wanted to stop at First Aid. He and the girls got milkshakes to go and we settled the bill quickly so we could head over toward the front of the park.


We let the girls stay outside and look at pins while we took Billy inside. Fortunately for us, this was the first experience we had ever had with using a first aid station at Disney. There was no one else in the waiting room and we were greeted by two pleasant CMs, one of whom was a nurse. We explained the situation and the nurse took Billy’s temperature with a disposable “tempa-dot” paper thermometer that is applied to the forehead. It read “99.” Shoot.

I knew it.

Luckily for Billy they had the liquid children’s motrin and he was able to take it easily. We thanked them, signed the book, and left. Once outside we met up with the girls and discussed strategy. We considered having one parent take him back to Kidani while the rest of the family stayed in the park but when he got wind of it he balked... loudly. “I want Fantasmic, pleeeese!”

“Billy, you don’t feel well,” I began...

“I feel better!” he insisted. “All better now!”

Hmmm. Maybe he was getting sick, but maybe he was just tired from the long day and felt a little run-down. In any case, he seemed much perkier now that he realized we were talking about leaving the park. Ed suggested that we take it easy and just take in a few shows... that would allow Billy to sit and rest. It seemed reasonable, so we decided to play it by ear.


We turned around and went back up Hollywood Boulevard at an easy pace. We knew exactly where we were headed... there was someone that Billy really wanted to “sea.”

Kathy