Chapter 22: Finally! FantasyLand Fun!
It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.
--LEWIS CAROLL,
Through the Looking Glass, 1872
Despite my seemingly
perfect plan for us to eat an early character meal and then dash to Dumbo before rope-drop, I now found myself trapped in the line for the Ladies’ Room at the Crystal Palace while waiting for one of the few stalls to become available. The line crept along at a snail’s pace. So what if the lounge area was decorated beautifully with marble, gilt mirrors, and velvet settees! Why didn’t the Imagineers forego Victorian accuracy and add a few more stalls!
Hmpff!
I tried to relax and do some deep breathing. (Thank goodness for those bowls of prettily-scented potpourri!)
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Tricia said casually. “We can just skip Dumbo.”
Her younger brother did not concur.
“No, no, no!
First, Dumbo,
then Winnie the Pooh,
then Snow White,
then Peter Pan…..!” As far as Billy is concerned, attractions in FantasyLand must be done in just the right order or he starts to
bug, as MDF would say. Tricia was annoyed.
“Billy, you’re too big for Dumbo, anyway! Mom, why do we always have to do what he wants to! Let’s go to Space Mountain!”
“NO! NO! NO!!! First Dumbo, then Winnie the Pooh, then…..”
I rolled my eyes to the heavens, then practically pushed Tricia into the next stall that opened up. “You know we’re doing TomorrowLand tomorrow!” I retorted, suddenly realizing how funny that had just sounded….doing TomorrowLand
tomorrow….
We all took our turns and I helped Billy wash his hands. We sometimes get funny looks from the little girls when he has to be in the restroom with me…he certainly is much older than the generally-accepted toddler and pre-school boys that one typically sees in restrooms with their mothers. But I generally don’t get the same reactions from the adults….Billy’s behavior kind of speaks for itself most times. I dried his hands with paper napkins I had brought from the table (he’s afraid of the loud noise the hand-dryers make.) Aunt Rae was still, er, occupied, so I took the kids outside to wait. No sign of Ed yet, but we did run into…..
Piglet!!
I quickly explained to the CM handler that we had finished our meal, but had not met Piglet. He was kind enough to let us grab a quick pic:
Here was Aunt Rae, and a slightly red-faced Ed soon joined us after that. I think he looked a few pounds lighter, too.
By this time, my hopes for a quick queue for Dumbo were completely dashed. But, I made a conscious decision to let it go….after all, we had the GAC to help Billy get on Dumbo if we really needed it. We had just enjoyed a lovely breakfast with Pooh Bear, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and….
The theme from S.W.A.T. broke into my little positive thinking party. Ed’s cell phone! Another call from work!
(Positive Thoughts, Positive Thoughts!)
We lingered atop a little bridge to look at the water and admire the view of the Castle while he took the call.
Then, it was on to
Dumbo….finally! Billy was really chomping at the bit.
By the time we reached the queue, it was almost 9:30 and the line was l-o-n-g, well past the covered section and out into the surrounding area.
A CM was busy herding the stragglers into a somewhat orderly group. I wasn’t quite sure what to do…we’ve never used the GAC for Dumbo before and there’s no FastPass queue. We were finally able to get the attention of the busy CM and she directed us to the handicapped entrance, where we joined two other families. With each cycle, a CM let one group in, so we were able to get on the ride after three cycles, which really helped. Since it was two persons per elephant, Ed decided to let us four ride and he sauntered off to the exit area and settled on a good viewing spot.
Billy was shrieking with laughter as we took off!
Having achieved our primary objective of the morning, we moved in an orderly fashion onto
Winnie the Pooh and then
Snow White.
Aunt Rae made a strange comment about how she enjoyed these so much, why hadn’t we done these two the last time. Huh? Tricia and I looked at each other and I put a finger to my lips in the “shhh” sign. We most certainly did ride these last year, and more than once, too! How could she not remember?? Oh well, as long as she was enjoying them now!
She was moving very slowly…but denied any pain in her ankle. She wasn’t limping at all, so I rather believed her, but nevertheless, she was picking her way along very gingerly. We arrived at
Peter Pan and the queue was posted for 30 minutes, so out came the GAC once more and we joined the other guests on the FastPass queue.
As we approached the turnstile, I reminded her about the moving walkway and she suddenly became very fearful. Ed took her arm and I told her to reach out and grab the “boat” as it moved along, not to hold on to the railing, which remained stationary. (That’s how she almost fell last year.) Instead, she just clung to Ed for dear life as he and Tricia helped her into their boat. He shot me a look as I took the next boat with Billy. Sigh. If this kept up, we might be going back to the resort for a rest sooner than I had planned!
We sailed over London and NeverLand…I love this attraction! Billy laughed and laughed as Capt. Hook balanced over the crocodile’s jaws and yelled for Smee! Next, we crossed over to IASWA and found the queue to be surprisingly short.
Tricia wasn’t exactly thrilled….she really wanted to get over to the MK mountains….but AR enjoyed it immensely and Billy was entranced with the colors and the music.
“And all the dancing girls!” quipped Ed.
We had been able to do all this in just under one hour! “What’s next, Billy?” I laughed.
“Mickey’s PhilharMagic, pleeeese, Mommy!” As you wish.
I never tire of
MPM, no matter how many times we’ve seen it! It’s just so much fun; a real family favorite. After depositing our “opera glasses”
in the special bins, I told Ed that I wanted to duck into the gift shop to see if they had that Winnie the Pooh DVD that Billy had been “buggin” about the day before. Ed decided to hang out with Billy outside while the rest of us (ladies) perused the gift shop.
Success! They had the
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh DVD!!! I bought one for Billy and steered the others outside. There we found Ed and Billy with a CM, talking about this and that, but she was very interested in how Billy was managing WDW with his autistic symptoms. Her name was Angelique, and she told us that she had worked with special needs kids in the past and she seemed to know a lot about autism. I could tell that she had experience because she made a special effort to get Billy’s attention and engage him in conversation.
“What’s your favorite ride in the Magic Kingdom, Billy?” she asked.
His answer must have been a surprise. “
Hall of Presidents!” he cried, “Please!” Ed and I laughed as we explained that HOP was next on our “schedule.”
“What about the Haunted Mansion?” she continued. “That’s my favorite. Are you going to visit the
Haunted Mansion today?”
“YES!” Billy replied. “But first, Hall of Presidents, pleeeese!” We all laughed and Angelique checked her watch. “We just missed the Hall of Presidents, the next show won’t be for a half hour,” she said. “Come on, Billy, I have a special surprise for you! Is that okay, Mom and Dad?”
We nodded and followed along as she took Billy’s hand and began to walk toward Liberty Square.
Kathy
. Now Tigger, that's a different story.
What, Jordan, no comments on the CP restroom?? 
!!
