Chapter Nine: La Commandita en Dino-Rama!
They don't sell tickets to the past.
-ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
Someone should really tell Alex about Chester and Hester. They’ve been selling tickets to the past, along with other prehistoric “treasures,” since 1998!
As you may have surmised, we met up with Ed and Aunt Rae in
Dinoland, USA. By now, the sun was blazing and it felt much hotter than the forecasted 76 degrees.
Our (my) goal was to tour all of Dinoland, have lunch, and then beat it back to the resort for a little rest before heading out again for the evening. Yes, we had gotten off to a bit of a late start. Yes, I hadn’t planned on the kids’ insistence on riding EE twice. But the day was still young and the crowds weren’t too bad yet, so I remained hopeful that we would be able to stick to the
OP.
Let me just pause and say a word or two about the famous OP: the
Operational Plan. I am often accused by my beloved DH, (the one who is most happy “meandering”- thank you, Buzz), of trying to push our family to tour like commandos. I thoroughly deny the charge!
Well, at least I deny it after lunchtime. In the mornings, I like to get to the parks early and do as much as possible before the lines get too long. Lunches should be taken as early as possible; again, so the lines are more manageable. After lunchtime, I’m easy….I can relax and slow down a bit. I feel that any edge we’ve gained by getting there early has dulled significantly by then.
So I guess we’re both right, I’ll admit it. I’m not a true, gung-ho commando….just a partial commando.
La Commandita, if you will.
So now, having had double helpings of EE for the kids and a generous serving of ITTBAB for the non-thrill riders, my group turned it’s attention to the delights of Dinoland.
Tricia covered half her face with her hair for the camera! I had two sets of pix; one for us and one for the report!
We all spun like a top on
TriceraTop Spin, then the kids lobbied for another attraction that is less than “attractive” to their father and AR….
Primeval Whirl. As
La Commandita, I stopped a moment to consider this. The
OP had originally called for us to attend the 10am showing of
Finding Nemo-the Musical, but it was just about 10:00 now….too late for that. A quick check of my notes showed that the next performance was scheduled for 11:30. Okay, it was do-able! The kids cheered.
Just as they had done last year when the kids and I headed to PW, Ed and AR took off in search of a cup of coffee. I do not drink coffee. They do not do mouse coasters. They went with my blessing.
Caffeine = Happy Hubby. Nausea = Unhappy Hubby. Vay a con Dios, my darling.
These scientists can smile....there not the ones being sent, spinning and dipping, into the past!
"Older than dirt??"
The kids had a blast! Billy could not stop laughing and when we were done, he repeated, “Again! Again!” I had to disappoint him, though. It’s hard enough to get to do everything
once, let alone
twice, and we had a lot more to see!
We strode down the ramp that led us right into the heart of the roadside carnival, but the games of chance held no interest for any of us. Tricia did stop for a quick peek at the pin kiosk while I called Ed to see where they were. They were right around the corner at Dino Treasures. Ed thought we might find a good bag for Tricia, who had remembered to pack her doll’s little backpack, but had forgotten to pack her own.
We met up in front of the store and I was surprised to see that their hands were empty… no coffee! “Someone told us we would have to go all the way to Africa to get it, so we just said forget it,” AR explained.
I thought they had been able to get it somewhere closer last year… oh well. We slipped inside the cool darkness of the quirky gift shop.
Now, if you’re ever in the mood to do a little browsing when you’re in Dinoland, you should definitely check out all the crazy props in Chester and Hester’s souvenir shop.
There are sight gags galore. But, we were not in the mood for browsing (much.) While Tricia found a suitable bag, I found a replacement for the WDW key chain I had purchased on a previous trip that had broken. This time I chose a sturdier model. Ed and Tricia called me over to examine a bag they had found. It was a small messenger-style bag that was covered in High School Musical designs. Tricia is not the biggest fan of HS Musical, but she was a fan of this bag, so we got it for her. Ed and I quickly transferred all of the things we had been carrying for her into the new bag and I herded the gang out into the bright sunlight. “Attractions first, shopping later,” I chanted. If we were lucky, we could do
Dinosaur and still have plenty of time to queue up for good seats at the Theater in the Wild.
A small crowd had gathered in front of the gift shop…Splash, Splatter, Dip was performing their comic acrobatics on the “asphalt” road outside. We maneuvered through the crowd and passed this interesting fellow on our way to Dinosaur!
A folk-art dino...
We passed by
Restaurantosaurus on our way and Tricia begged to go inside to see if we could find my sister and her family, who were attending the
very last Donald's Breakfastosaurus in this location. It was difficult for her to understand why we couldn't just "pop" in on a character meal to say hello!
I reassured her that we would be meeting up with her cousins very soon.
There was practically no line at the Dino Institute for Dinosaur, so we hadn’t much time to admire this big guy….
"I've got a big head, and little arms!"
We were dutifully watching the training video when we found ourselves recruited for a mission to bring back a specimen from the Cretaceous Period….a rather large specimen, I’m afraid. In the load station, Ed produced the earplugs and Billy, AR, and I squished them into our ear canals. (I found on our last trip that Dinosaur is infinitely more pleasurable for me when I am wearing these.) We soon boarded our Time Rover and were off on a rocky ride to visit the dinosaurs. Once again, the sensation of being bounced, bumped, and practically thrown out of the vehicle proved highly exhilarating and fun for Ed, Billy and Tricia (this is one of Ed’s favorites.) AR and I just hung on for dear life. Funny, everyone always seems frightened of riding Expedition Everest. I think EE is tame compared to this ride!
It was 11:10am when we joined the long line for
Finding Nemo-the Musical. We stood for about 10 minutes in the shade and then the line began to move quickly. Several CMs were on hand to guide folks onto and through the queue while the announcer overhead warned that there would be no eating, drinking, smoking, flash photography during, or saving seats for, the performance. Huh?
Since when can’t you save seats for a show? That’s a new one on me. Fortunately, we were all present and accounted for. We finally made it to the entrance.
The theater was filling quickly and for a moment I regretted taking the time to see Dinosaur. Maybe this was one of those times when standing on line for 45 minutes would have been really necessary! But in the end, we got seats that were just fine for us. We were about ¾ of the way back on the right side of the theater. And by the time we had been told repeatedly to “slide all the way to our left,” we were not so far to the right as we had thought we would be! We waited for what seemed a long time; in actuality, the show began at around 11:35.
The show was colorful, gorgeous, and spectacular. No flash photography allowed; so I’m afraid this was the best I could do:
Yes, I know, kinda blurry. Oh well, it's a wonderful show!
When the curtain closed, we teased AR that it was technically her first time seeing the show since she had fallen asleep the last time! Ed made everyone wait on the bench as the throng of guests slowly filed out. (He didn’t want AR to possibly get knocked into while climbing the stairs.) She's such a frail little thing. So we waited. And waited. Like I said, the theater was quite crowded.
We finally were given the go ahead signal and we blended into the straggling remains of the crowd as they exited the theater. The pathway was jammed with guests going to the right (Asia) and to the left (Dinoland), and with those who were just standing in the middle of the road looking at the guide map and trying to decide which way they wanted to go! It was an absolute mob scene. I would suggest that if you plan on traveling between those two lands that you keep an eye on the time. You do not want to get caught in the traffic jam when the Finding Nemo show lets out!
“Who’s hungry?” I called out. I was met with a chorus of “Me! Me!” I checked my watch: it was almost 12:20. Uggh, the counter service places would be swarming with hungry guests.
I sighed. “Okay everybody, let’s go!”
Next Up: A feast fit for ...a....a hungry paleontologist!
Kathy
No work today just play, play, and more play! I always liken it to the first day of summer vacation when I was a kid pure, hedonistic joy!
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If youre not already in on our little secret, sign up with Tour Guide Mike.
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Love the walking out in slippers thing. I've done that and even had to go in to the kids school with them on...UGH!
