It was indeed a magical evening, made more so by the fact that the night unleashed and revealed Dannys inner child even more, when at midnight, on our third ride down Splash Mountain, in the middle of December, at midnight (can you say COLD???) he finally confessed that he adores water rides. Water Rides? The Brit likes water rides? Really? Who knew? God is good.
And then God got better because it was very late when we were finally launched out of the Briar Patch, all of my plans were magically fulfilled, there were no more races to be run and so I let down with a large secret sigh and we all sauntered very slowly back to Main Street, where the snow was still falling,
the castle (foo-foo and all) was lit in more colors than the rainbow
and we felt as if we were the only six people in the World!
And now that Ive FINALLY finished Day 5 I can botch it and scarper! Though there are four more days to come!
DAY SIX
THE LIMINAL DAY OR NOT THAT I AM TELLING YOU HOW TO SUCK EGGS OR ANYTHING
Remember how the Hebrew people escaped from slavery, made it to the desert and then got a bit grumpy about the faire (lots of lots of manna, otherwise known as crusty fungi)? This was the emotional equivalent of DAY 6. No warfare, no bombs, not even a real honest-to-God outburst, just lots of low level grumbling that all worked its way out by the end of the evening, but which, like all wilderness journeys, is pesky in the middle.
First, we were tired. A few people might relate. I mean I absolutely adore introducing dear friends to the full WDW experience; its my idea of good times, but everyone and every group needs some down time and such was built right into the schedule. We had run ourselves into the magic carpet with yesterdays festivities and the morning was the time to rest and renew. We didnt even have to see each other until mid-afternoon, a goal which was accomplished with much ease. Gwen and I braved the pool (burrrr, but its such a terrific pool), the kids never surfaced until after noon and there were rumors that Danny and John went shopping (remember Dannys goal was seven Disney Xmas hats, one for each memorable day), but what I will most fervently deny is that there were any return trips to France.
Second, Gwen and I adore the Brown Derby; we think its one of the best kept Disney restaurant secrets and Im not bashful about what I like, so everyone was way up for a terrific dining experience and we tried, we really did. Look at all of this trying:
I mean after all of that trying the heat on the kitchens accomplishments really should have cooled. Plied and pliant we were willing to be wowed. And we tried, ordering steak, fish, chopped salads and grapefruit cake, all the solid standards for which the Brown Derby is known and personally prized, but to very mediocre results.
I blame it on the Flying Fish. Coming out of nowhere, like a sprinter stealing the yellow jersey while attacking the Alps, they simply set the standard way too high. It was all good, but not nearly good enough and the grumpies, instead of being banished in the company of fast friends and good food, seemed to intensify, rather than lift.
All of which carried over to the next event that, again, was fine in and of itself, but was simply carrying more weight than it could bear. Which is to say we love WDW, but after decades of visits, we love WDW in a certain way. With absolutely no apologies I readily confess that I am always searching for ways to do the World with the least hassle and the most comfort, so it was with great glee that I learned from our
travel agent that she was hosting a private dessert banquet to precede a special seating of MGMs Fantasmic.
Cool, I thought, and jumped at it. Not trusting that the British boy, at this point in the holiday, would have already been seduced by the Worlds many charms, still thick in the planning stages, I told the TA to count us in and following on the heals of a less than stellar dinner, which we had already tried to redeem with grapefruit cake, we were off and running to a pre-Fantasmic dessert banquet, which was truly lovely and so absolutely unnecessary. Hungry can be redeemed with good food. Feeding grumpy only deepens the disquiet, so much so that by the time we were seated in the special section, which could not have been more distant from the action, I knew we were in trouble. We needed some pixie dust and we needed it now and it just was not delivered. Ive read it over and over again and I believe its true, some people get Fantasmic and some dont. Neither Danny nor John got it and at THAT point in THAT day I lost what I used to get.
We were tired, we were disappointed in The Brown Derby, we were way too full and we were unmoved by the cosmic battle waged within the interior world of one warped Mouse, but in spite of all of that, as promised, the day was redeemed. Following a rather bizarre route through the back channels of MGM back channels which are different and even more strange than the usual back channels taken while enjoying the Fantasmic dinner package the bizarreness of which was heightened by security halting our forward momentum while handling one of those awkward security problems which happen, but are never acknowledged, we literally fought our way to the Osborne Family Lights, like Salmon making their way up stream in one last desperate attempt to weight life with enough meaning to achieve something transcendent. Like the Hebrew people finding the Promised Land. Like Lucy finally performing in Rickys club. Like Dorothy feverishly clicking her way back to Kansas, we struggled onwards and upwards until we were suddenly and dramatically delivered from our fleeting grumblings and delivered back the magic that is Disney.
Not one of us has seen the light(s), and now we did.
OH,WE SAW LIGHT(S) INDEED!!!
But I'll stop nagging. 
- had to do it.
Hmmm I was going through my e-mail and my saved threads. 
Geez, have you forgotten us? Do you no longer love us? Did you get spirited off to another planet? 
Viki, our trip is in November. You only have five more months to finish. 
I poked, proded, teased and cajoled!
Can't wait for more!
