An APRIL Adventure in Autism: 2008 (8/8) Time to Say Good-Bye....

[eandesmom]

Wonderful update! How neat that you gave them away. I can see one of our 4 wanting to keep it as a souvenir too.

I'm impressed you were able to get an ADR that day, that's wonderful!

Keep it comin'!

 

[mousescrapper]

another great update Kathy....I'm so gald the kids love the thrill rides and Ed is so great to hang out and wait while you go...I hope soon Aldine will be excited and brave enough to join me on ToT soon!

for Billy and enjoying H&V...he looks likes he's having alot of fun.

looking forward to hearing about you own Dream Team experience and the Sci-Fi diner! way to go on being SUPER flexible!

looking forward to more as always!

Scrappie

 

[Goofster57]

Time to get of the Beach and catch up on your report

 

[KathyRN137]

DearDaisyInDurham: Aha! So that's been the problem all along! Only one of us is truly interested in being lazy at WDW!

melk: I actually got that shirt as a joke, but Ed likes to wear it, even when not at WDW! And yes, April was very nice, especially all the F&GF exhibits.

eandesmom: Sigh. Teen girls! I'll just have to roll my eyes, too!

mousescrapper: Aren't you proud of me, Scrappie?! I was really trying to go with the flow this time...

Goofster: Just print it and take it with you, Goof!
But I thought you were going to try to make it to the park this weekend??
Your DL thread needs new park pix!!


Kathy

 

[Goofster57]

Goofster: Just print it and take it with you, Goof!

I would but California needs the trees

But I thought you were going to try to make it to the park this weekend??
Your DL thread needs new park pix!!

I may try and convince Shivahn to go out to the Food and Wine Festival again this weekend, I think she could be bribed with a Bread Bowl of White Cheddar Cheese Soup......

 

[KathyRN137]

CHAPTER TEN: Dream Team Knock-Off and Drip Dry at the Sci Fi



Tricia and I giggled like... well…... like girls... as we approached the unsuspecting family to make our debut as a knock-off Disney Dream Team.

Tricia had chosen a father entering the park with two young children and there was no other parent in sight.


“Excuse me,” I said, walking up to them, a big dumb grin on my face. (Tricia had become a bit shy at the last minute, so the ‘splainin’ was all up to me!)


First, I asked if he knew what FastPass was and how it was used. He claimed that he did, but I was a bit concerned because, judging from his accent, we had chosen international visitors! I showed him the Dream FastPasses and explained how we had been given them... that we were leaving the park and did not need them... and, wouldn’t he like to have them since he was one parent with two children and the park was crowded??



The man was a bit taken aback, I could tell. But Tricia quickly chimed in that the laminated card on a lanyard meant that they could go on shorter lines for some of the rides and his son and daughter became very excited. He examined the gifts and suddenly, his eyes widened. “Thank you! Thank you very much!!” he said, genuinely. He went on to explain that his wife had not been feeling well and so they had left her at the hotel to rest, so he was on single-parent duty.



Well, I’m paraphrasing, but that was their story. They were visiting from Chile and this was their first time at WDW. “Everyone is so nice here!” he exclaimed. It felt so good to spread a bit of the magic! I asked if they would mind taking a picture with me so I could post it on my trip report and he agreed. (I think he was still a bit stunned!) Here I am with the happy family…



I'm still giggling...

The man then offered to take a picture of our family, which was very nice. Look! He even got me wearing the hat!!

Poor Billy! He hates sunglasses and there was such a glare!



We said our goodbyes and I have to tell you, Tricia and I felt absolutely high as we strolled with Billy and Ed to the bus stop. It was such a little thrill! Those Dream Team CMs must have had such a great time doing this on a regular basis during the Year(s) of a Million Dreams!


I recall that it was a fairly decent wait for the bus, mostly because by the time we finally made it back to our studio it was fairly late in the afternoon. I find that the buses are noticeably fewer during the afternoons, perhaps because of lower demand. We were grateful to hop off the bus and take the short walk to our pastel blue building nestled in the palm trees.



We all went inside and, as usual, Billy immediately took off his socks and sneakers and flopped down on his bed to watch TV. Tricia wanted to go swimming, but was disappointed when I said no. I was afraid that it had become just too late and there wouldn’t be enough time for a swim and a shower before having to leave an hour before our dinner ADR at the park. (That’s the one problem with ADR’s... they are great to have, but you really wind up planning your day around them.) That’s why it was so relaxing during the week to not have them every single day.



She pouted a bit, but I reminded her that we were planning to spend an entire day relaxing and swimming the day of the Pirate & Princess Party, so she was appeased enough that she was able to grab a book and sit out on the patio for a while without too much additional fussing. Ed booted up his laptop again and I have absolutely no memory of what I did... just that I relaxed and enjoyed our little break until it was time to start getting ready to leave again.



Another seemingly long wait for the DHS bus... although it always seems like a long wait when the other park’s buses come one after the other and yours is the last one to finally come rumbling along! We had time for a few bus stop pix...

(See Tricia trying to hide?!)



Back to the Studios we went and, Man! We had to hustle it to get halfway across the park to the Sci Fi restaurant in time! Oh-Oh. What a line at check-in! This place was packed!

Checked in, received our buzzer, and found a tiny space along one wall to wait. The crowd became too much for Billy, however, and he was getting very fidgety and wouldn’t stop asking for “Fries, please!” so Ed took him outside to walk around a bit. Tricia and I remained inside for fear of missing our table, and I’ll tell you why.


First, let me say that I’ve never seen a check-in podium as mobbed as this one was! Perhaps it was because of the hour (6:45), but I really think it was because of the vast numbers of guests without ADRs who came in to ask if they could get a table. And most of them were not happy! Many complained bitterly to the poor, beleaguered CMs that they “couldn’t get a table in any of the restaurants” and that “something should be done about it.”



Tricia found it exasperating. “Mom, don’t these people know that ADRs are done in advance? That’s why they’re called Advance Dining Reservations!” she rolled her eyes dramatically. “Really, people, you need to do your planning!” I shushed her, but Ha! This coming from the girl who forbids me to talk Disney plans until the month before our trip because “its way too early to talk about it, Mom!”



Then, even more fireworks as a woman holding a buzzer came in asking why it was taking so long. She was told by the patient (I've got to hand it to her) CM that her party had been called fifteen minutes ago but had not responded, which the woman vehemently denied and fumed about. (Despite being told she would be given the next available table for her party size.)



Suffice it to say, we were waiting a very long time. It was twenty minutes after seven... a half-hour past our ADR... and we had checked in ten minutes before that. We were still waiting and Ed was still outside trying to keep Billy occupied and his mind off of food. There was a large party who had been waiting about the same time as we had and they were getting nasty. Really nasty. Two of the adult women were giving the CMs an earful, demanding to be seated immediately because they had children with them.

“Duh, lady, this is Disney! Everyone’s got children with them,” was Tricia’s comment.

“Would you kindly keep your voice down?” I whispered. These gals looked like they were ready to brawl and I didn’t want to get involved.


Just then, Ed popped in through the door with Billy. We began discussing whether or not to bag the idea, and were just about to, when at that very moment, our buzzer began vibrating and we were whisked away from the tempest to our “dining car.” Whew!


Ed apologized to me as we got seated and the hostess dropped our menus on the table, then skated off. “I really wanted to see what this place was like, but if I had known it would’ve been such a long wait...” I brushed it aside. We were here now and that was all that mattered. Ed rarely makes specific requests for things at Disney and I wanted to make sure he got to do some of the things he wanted, and eating at Sci-Fi was one of them. (I really must’ve gotten lucky and picked up a cancelled time slot when I called earlier for the ADR.) In any case, we settled in to look at the menu.



Billy wanted macaroni & cheese and French fries! Poor thing! He was so hungry... so I let him order them both! Oh well, it’s only for vacation. I had the Reuben Sandwich and a cherry coke... I can’t remember what Ed and Tricia had, probably because I couldn’t see... they were seated in the seat behind us! (We had two “hitchhikers” in the third seat.)

We enjoyed our dinner... hunger is the best sauce, remember? I hadn't had a Reuben Sandwich in years and for some reason it just appealed to me that night. My sandwich was just okay... tasty, but nothing to write home about. I will say that the corned beef was lean, which is the most important thing to me. We watched the trailers of old “B” movies on the screen, which Billy just loved! Unfortunately, he was waving his arms around so much that he knocked over his water and, despite it being a kid’s cup it popped open and spilled all over the table!



Thankfully, our waitress had left us with a large stack of napkins on the dashboard, so I dove for them and was able to sop up most of the water before it ran off the edge and onto our laps! Thank goodness it was only water and not something sticky, because even so, both of us got a little bit wet. The waitress came with more napkins and good-naturedly helped me to clean up. I took Billy into the restroom with me so I could change his shorts. (I’ve learned from experience to always carry an extra pair when at the parks.)



We returned to our parked car and the waitress had brought Ed the check. I guess we weren’t going to get any dessert! I think Ed may have just wanted to get the heck out of there and so we did. It was a fun place to eat... but if we do it again, I’ll plan a much earlier ADR or perhaps lunch.



Outside it was now dark and, because we had not seen the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (VOLM) earlier, we decided to head on over there. I’m not sure why, but they were not doing FP at that time, despite it being rather busy, so we waited standby while the current show ended and a full second show went in ahead of us. It’s only 15-minutes long, however, so it wasn’t too bad. Plus, that put us in a great position to get excellent seats. We then enjoyed the Under the Sea tale... and if you haven’t checked out my PTR for our Halloween Trip, we just saw LM on Broadway and I posted my review! (Link in my signature.)


We stood up and Billy was still trying to catch bubbles on his tongue as we were leaving. Yuck, Billy! You catch snowflakes on your tongue, not soap bubbles!



Believe it or not, it was now after 9:30 and I remember being a tad worried because Fantasmic! was showing at 10:00. I was concerned about us getting swept up in the exiting crowds if we stayed much later. (We had just seen it a few months earlier, and no one in the family was particularly interested in seeing it again, for which I was glad.) We decided to take a leisurely walk out of the park and were on our way past the hat and the statues of the brooms carrying water when I spotted something in front of the Brown Derby that stopped me in my tracks. A caricature artist!



Every year we get shadow pictures of the kids and we had done so the past November. But back in ’05 we had caricature portraits done of the kids that I really loved:

I grabbed Tricia by the hand and told her my idea. “Let’s get portraits of Daddy and me so we can have the whole family!” She thought that was an excellent suggestion, but we were dismayed to see the CM artist begin packing up for the night! We ran up to him and asked if he would do just two more portraits and, naturally, he agreed. The children’s portraits had shown their favorite hobby, so I asked the artist to keep to the same theme. He motioned for Ed to sit down in the chair, positioned his light, and began to draw.


“Well, kids, what does your Dad like to do?” the CM asked.

“Watch TV?” Tricia ventured. Um, no….no couch potato caricatures, please!

“He likes to run in 5K races! Well, he used to, anyway…” she volunteered.

The CM laughed and so did Ed. “Don’t move, Dad!” Tricia scolded, but the artist was quickly done:

Hmmm. I think I like the first artist better.



Now it was my turn to be the model. The CM asked them what it was that I liked to do and they all laughed. I knew just what was coming! “She likes to plan going to Disney!” Tricia and Ed shouted in unison while Billy just laughed. “Yeah, she’s always on the DIS,” Tricia added. “The DIS? What’s the DIS?” asked the artist as he scratched away with his pencil.



Tricia thought it was remarkable that someone who worked at Disney didn’t immediately know what she was talking about when she said, “The DIS!”


“It’s a website for Disney fans,” I explained.


“You mean Disney addicts!” quipped Ed. The artist kept scratching away and they were looking over his shoulder and laughing. “Yeah! Oh Yeah!” Tricia chuckled, doubling over in exaggerated hysterics. “Yeah, that’s Mom!” The artist finished and I surveyed his work:

Both portraits were placed in frames and because of the glass, I made a mental note to stop in at the Hospitality House sometime and have them mailed home. (The artist’s kiosk did not have this common service the gift shops provided.) I carried the YOMD bag out of the park and we found our assigned bus stop, feeling satisfied that, other than the long wait for dinner, we had enjoyed an excellent first day.



Next up: Animal Magnetism and A Spider Scare!



Kathy

 

[maroo]

Wow!!!
What a perfect characture!!



I am sorry for your long wait at Sci Fi and it is defnitely noted!

I have been keeping up all along here but realized earlier today that I have not posted recently...sorry about that! That is a danger of DISing with an iPhone!

 

[mom2mek]

Oh my goodness! I love those caricatures! How funny!

Your dream team-in-cognito story was great! How fantastic that you made such a good impression on the international traveler!!!

The pic he took of you guys is really good, even with Billy squinting, everyone looks so happy!

Sorry you had to wait so long at the Sci-Fi! We love it there! So "Disney" to me! The people you were dealing with while waiting, so "NOT DISNEY" to me! Ugh. CM's really have a tough job sometimes!

Fabulous update as always, Kathy!

 

[Goofster57]

Here I am with the happy family…
I'm still giggling...

Making Magic for others......

That is a really cool thing you guys did

The man then offered to take a picture of our family, which was very nice. Look! He even got me wearing the hat!!

Nice family picture Kathy

(See Tricia trying to hide?!)

We see you Tricia.....

Yikes, that is a lot of people and that is just the outside

Tricia found it exasperating. “Mom, don’t these people know that ADRs are done in advance? That’s why they’re called Advance Dining Reservations!” she rolled her eyes dramatically. “Really, people, you need to do your planning!”

“Duh, lady, this is Disney! Everyone’s got children with them,” was Tricia’s comment.

Spoken like a true future DIS'er

“Would you kindly keep your voice down?” I whispered. These gals looked like they were ready to brawl and I didn’t want to get involved.

You could have taken them Kathy, you could have hit them with your planning binder....Oh wait that's Jordan

Another good family shot,

Did they check Billy's licensee before they put him behind the wheel?

I have never been overly impressed with the food, but I do love the Atmosphere

Perfect

Great update Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

You could have taken them Kathy, you could have hit them with your planning binder....Oh wait that's Jordan

My binder from November could've inflicted some serious damage! But I was taking it easy on the planning this time, so I left it at home!

BTW, have you had any contact with Jordan lately on FB? He's been in absentia here for the longest time....

Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Your dream team-in-cognito story was great! How fantastic that you made such a good impression on the international traveler!!!

Isn't it funny, I was kind of thinking the same thing. Seems nobody likes Americans... hopefully WDW magic will change their minds, one guest at a time!!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

I have been keeping up all along here but realized earlier today that I have not posted recently...sorry about that! That is a danger of DISing with an iPhone!

Hakuna Matata!!


Kathy

 

[Goofster57]

My binder from November could've inflicted some serious damage! But I was taking it easy on the planning this time, so I left it at home!

BTW, have you had any contact with Jordan lately on FB? He's been in absentia here for the longest time....

Kathy

I have, He is recovering from a gangrene appendix that was pretty bad,
He came home I think last Tuesday and is recovering.

It sounds like it was pretty bad, but he still has his sense of humor

 

[KathyRN137]

I have, He is recovering from a gangrene appendix that was pretty bad,
He came home I think last Tuesday and is recovering.

It sounds like it was pretty bad, but he still has his sense of humor

Oh my! If you "talk" to him, please give him my best!

I know he is missed here on the DIS....


Kathy

 

[Goofster57]

Oh my! If you "talk" to him, please give him my best!

I know he is missed here on the DIS....


Kathy

Will do

 

[carissanboys]

What a really neat thing for you guys to be able to give those dream fast passes away. Love that you got a picture with the family too!

People tease us because we eat all of our meals early (we're early risers too). We normally have dinner at home around 4:30. But, I'll tell ya -we rarely run into crowds because of our early meal times. That line at Sci Fi was crazy! And Tricia was so right - those people should really do some research!

Love the drawings! Do you remember roughly how long it took him to do the two drawings?

 

[KathyRN137]

Love the drawings! Do you remember roughly how long it took him to do the two drawings?

Oh it was very quick; a matter of a couple of minutes each.

I confess that I was thinking the same thing Tricia was, but I kept it to myself! I didn't want them to overhear her because it would have seemed rude.

It's difficult trying to teach a teenaged girl when to open her mouth and when to keep it shut!


Kathy

 

[jcc0621]

We have done Sci FI for both lunch and dinner. Lunch is much better The menu is pretty much the same, just cheaper prices! Jimmy loves the "movies" they show!

 

[Charleston Princess]

What a great knock-off Dream Team experience -- making someone's else's day must have been a great feeling!

What a crazy night at Sci-Fi -- when we ate there in 2007, we made a 5:00 ADR so we must have missed the packed waiting area -- thank goodness -- none of us deal well with crowds! I agree that the food was just okay, but the theming and movie clips are wonderful!

I love, love, love the caricatures! Those are great -- especially yours!

 

[KathyRN137]

We have done Sci FI for both lunch and dinner. Lunch is much better The menu is pretty much the same, just cheaper prices! Jimmy loves the "movies" they show!

Oh, Billy just loved watching the "movies" while he ate!

We'll do it again sometime!


Kathy