ANOTHER Adventure in Autism (4/15) A Taste of What's to Come...
- Thread starter KathyRN137
- Start date
. that was such a nice surprise. i have to say i was guessing one of two things ..... a really cool towel animal or....bugs. yuck. i am happy it is better than both of those thingsKathy, what a great update and a great cliffhanger and a great surprise!!! 
That's great that you were able to see so many shows that evening...Mermaid, Indy, Muppets (you looked like the only people in there) and good call on the outside seats at Pizza Planet - it was too hot when we were there last time that I had to sit inside. Ugh....arcade games!
What a lovely little gift basket...can't wait to see what other goodies you were left....
Sara
That's great that you were able to see so many shows that evening...Mermaid, Indy, Muppets (you looked like the only people in there) and good call on the outside seats at Pizza Planet - it was too hot when we were there last time that I had to sit inside. Ugh....arcade games!
What a lovely little gift basket...can't wait to see what other goodies you were left....
Sara
Disney Fan Shawn
Earning My Ears
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- Mar 3, 2008
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- 23
Beautiful basket! You are the Queen of the cliffhanger, though... 
KathyRN137
DIS Veteran
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- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,882
Ch. 39: Expedition Easy Does It!
Friday, Nov.11, 2007
Day 7
Upon waking his morning I began to notice some of the early symptoms of endoftripitis: repeated wistful gazing about the room, deep uncontrollable sighing, and mild stomach upset every time my husband observed that, well be going home soon, so wed better begin packing!
Not so fast, Buddy! Counting today, weve got two whole days left; its way too early to start packing yet! (Denial is a very effective emotional defense mechanism.) I decided that, for the moment at least, I would choose to live in denial.
Fiddle-dee-dee, Ill think about that tomorrow, I said in my best Scarlett OHara.
Rhett was not amused.
Arent you looking forward to getting back home even just a little bit? he asked. Truth be told, there was a teeny-tiny part of me that was willing to admit it: this trip had been the most stressful we had ever had. But, I told myself, weve got plenty of trip left!
I had done a little wastebasket digging the night before and the torn section of OP showing todays plan was safely in the front pocket of my bagallini. This morning our objective was Animal Kingdom, and there was no need to rush.
I knew that we definitely wanted to see FOTLK (Festival of the Lion King.) We also had not done the safari on our AK day earlier in the week, so that was on my list, too. Naturally, the kids would want to do EE a couple of times, but other than those three things I had nothing else planned. We would take it nice and slow today. Yesterdays easy-breezy touring had been wonderful and I did not wish to tempt fate by reverting to La Commandita.
Of all the parks, I think AK is the one that I most like to do slowly. It is so lush, green, and beautiful that it just lends itself naturally to a more relaxed pace. We were all beginning to slow down a bit, not just Aunt Rae, and I was anticipating a peaceful day followed by a quiet evening. Ed and I had a dinner date planned at Artist Point, here at the Wilderness Lodge. After a long week of All-Family-All-the-Time, we were really looking forward to squeezing in a little couple-time.
The a.m. preparations must have been uneventful and we were at the bus stop in good time. Another beautiful day was in store, but it was a bit cool yet so we were wearing our sweatshirts.
Snuggling up to Daddy:
"Cheeeese!"
View of the Lodge from the bus stop:
We were still on the bus when Aunt Rae began hinting that she was so much better that morning and that she didnt think she needed to rent a wheelchair again. Uh-oh. She stretched out her little legs to show that the swelling had gone down in her ankles. Ed and I exchanged looks that both said, No way, Jose! We had been remarking to each other before we went to bed the previous evening about how much easier it had been with AR using the chair. But, we didnt want to get into it with her with all those other folks around on the crowded bus. She would have been mortified.
As we walked the long stretch of path leading up to the main gait, however, it was obvious that although ARs ankles were less swollen, her endurance was still an issue. We had to walk very slowly and Tricia was getting antsy seeing so many guests pass us en route. We got through bag check and the turnstiles and then we drew her aside to talk while the kids watched cartoons at guest services.
Aunt Rae, your ankles are better this morning because you were off your feet so much more yesterday, I tried to reason. She tried to argue, I feel silly sitting down on the chair with all of you towering above me, she began.
Why is that any different from any other day? Ed quipped, poking fun at her diminutive stature. Ha! Ha! She playfully shook her fist at him. Youre not my favorite nephew anymore! she teased. But, we had to be firm. We reminded her about the uneven and slightly hilly nature of the trails here and I fell back on the usual tactic I employ when Im trying to get a patient to do something they dont want to: Just try it for a little while and if its not working out then well try something else.
With a sigh, she acquiesced, and we made arrangements to rent the chair. There was a lovely Christmas tree in Guest Services and I stopped for a picture. All these decorations were really beginning to get me in a holiday mood!
Then, we were off to go exploring! Catching first sight of this is always a little thrill!
How nice it was to just stroll along, taking in the sights and sounds! We usually just rush by the Discovery Island Trails, always meaning to get back to do them later and then we run out of time. Today we had them practically all to ourselves. We took our time exploring the winding paths, stopping to look at all the animal exhibits and some of the carvings at the base of the Tree of Life.
Then we drifted toward Camp Minnie-Mickey, marveling at all the delicious theme elements and spotting various birds that were squawking and cawing in the vegetation surrounding us.
We entered the queue for the 10:30 showing of FOTLK and I recalled how very disappointed I had been on our very first visit to WDW. The theater was being refurbished at the time being converted from an open-air to a closed theater and so we did not get a chance to see the show. Now, our WDW trip would not be complete without it!
The one benefit of this theater-in-the-round is that there really are no bad seats. One of the drawbacks, however, is that the bench seating is not the most comfortable. As we entered the darkened theater a CM spotted AR in her w/c and automatically began to lead us to one of the several handicapped seating areas. At first, I thought AR would object, but then she said that she really would be more comfortable sitting on something with a back to it, so she wound up using the chair after all. (Imagine that!) Ed helped her to park and I told Tricia and Billy to sit on the bench next to her so she would not feel so alone, then Ed and I sat in the bench behind them. (These were the benches that sat flat on the floor and not the risers.)
The theater filled slowly, but I suppose the first couple of performances are not the most popular, because as the CMs were closing the doors, there were still plenty of seats left. There was a notable absence of the usual chant, Please move all the way to the left to make room for those just entering the theater, and we were spared the feeling of being squished like sardines in a can. I made a mental note to try to do an early show from now on.
The pageant began and I was happy that AR was seated at a good vantage point. She always seems to get some really tall person sitting in front of her at shows and she is so short! She (and the kids) could see very well. Immediately, we were magically transported to Pride Rock:
When it came time for the finale, I was thrilled that one of the CMs invited Billy and Tricia to participate in the kids parade! This was the first time this had happened and as soon as he was asked, Billy jumped up and turned to us to see if it was all right. As soon as he saw that we were waving them off, he took off without a bit of fear!
He was having such a good time dancing and laughing and shaking his noisemaker!! And Tricia did such a good job looking after him. She wouldnt admit it at first, but later she said that she thought it was kind of random. (Current teen-speak for cool.)
We all exited the theater singing and humming. Aunt Rae was gushing about the show and about how wonderful it was that the kids were picked to participate. Billy was smiling from ear to ear and ran up to Pumbaa on the way out and petted him like a dog!
Good boy, Pumbaa, he said to the inanimate float. We were laughing about it as we made our way outside and joking that we though our dog, Aimee, made a much better pet that a stinky warthog!
We took a RR break here and when we emerged, we were surprised to see that Donald Duck did not have much of a line for his meet & greet. We hadnt met him yet this trip, so we went to say hello.
I admired the Christmas decorations at Donalds pavilion during our short wait:
Notice Ed is wearing his WDW Half-Marathon "I did it" shirt!
Aunt Rae did not feel like getting her picture taken, but Donald came over to her anyway to shake her hand and say hello, which she made her smile. The other queues for Mickey& Minnie and Chip & Dale were fairly long and since we had met these characters earlier in the week, we decided to pass on them. But they were very cute in their safari outfits!
AR said she wanted food more than photos, and so we decided to grab an early bite before the lunchtime crowds began to swell. Back again we trekked across Discovery Island to my favorite AK counter service eatery:
(Ha! Thought you were gonna get another cliffhanger, didn't cha?!)
Kathy
Friday, Nov.11, 2007
Day 7
Upon waking his morning I began to notice some of the early symptoms of endoftripitis: repeated wistful gazing about the room, deep uncontrollable sighing, and mild stomach upset every time my husband observed that, well be going home soon, so wed better begin packing!
Not so fast, Buddy! Counting today, weve got two whole days left; its way too early to start packing yet! (Denial is a very effective emotional defense mechanism.) I decided that, for the moment at least, I would choose to live in denial.
Fiddle-dee-dee, Ill think about that tomorrow, I said in my best Scarlett OHara.
Rhett was not amused.
Arent you looking forward to getting back home even just a little bit? he asked. Truth be told, there was a teeny-tiny part of me that was willing to admit it: this trip had been the most stressful we had ever had. But, I told myself, weve got plenty of trip left!
I had done a little wastebasket digging the night before and the torn section of OP showing todays plan was safely in the front pocket of my bagallini. This morning our objective was Animal Kingdom, and there was no need to rush.
I knew that we definitely wanted to see FOTLK (Festival of the Lion King.) We also had not done the safari on our AK day earlier in the week, so that was on my list, too. Naturally, the kids would want to do EE a couple of times, but other than those three things I had nothing else planned. We would take it nice and slow today. Yesterdays easy-breezy touring had been wonderful and I did not wish to tempt fate by reverting to La Commandita.
Of all the parks, I think AK is the one that I most like to do slowly. It is so lush, green, and beautiful that it just lends itself naturally to a more relaxed pace. We were all beginning to slow down a bit, not just Aunt Rae, and I was anticipating a peaceful day followed by a quiet evening. Ed and I had a dinner date planned at Artist Point, here at the Wilderness Lodge. After a long week of All-Family-All-the-Time, we were really looking forward to squeezing in a little couple-time.
The a.m. preparations must have been uneventful and we were at the bus stop in good time. Another beautiful day was in store, but it was a bit cool yet so we were wearing our sweatshirts.
Snuggling up to Daddy:
"Cheeeese!"
View of the Lodge from the bus stop:
We were still on the bus when Aunt Rae began hinting that she was so much better that morning and that she didnt think she needed to rent a wheelchair again. Uh-oh. She stretched out her little legs to show that the swelling had gone down in her ankles. Ed and I exchanged looks that both said, No way, Jose! We had been remarking to each other before we went to bed the previous evening about how much easier it had been with AR using the chair. But, we didnt want to get into it with her with all those other folks around on the crowded bus. She would have been mortified.
As we walked the long stretch of path leading up to the main gait, however, it was obvious that although ARs ankles were less swollen, her endurance was still an issue. We had to walk very slowly and Tricia was getting antsy seeing so many guests pass us en route. We got through bag check and the turnstiles and then we drew her aside to talk while the kids watched cartoons at guest services.
Aunt Rae, your ankles are better this morning because you were off your feet so much more yesterday, I tried to reason. She tried to argue, I feel silly sitting down on the chair with all of you towering above me, she began.
Why is that any different from any other day? Ed quipped, poking fun at her diminutive stature. Ha! Ha! She playfully shook her fist at him. Youre not my favorite nephew anymore! she teased. But, we had to be firm. We reminded her about the uneven and slightly hilly nature of the trails here and I fell back on the usual tactic I employ when Im trying to get a patient to do something they dont want to: Just try it for a little while and if its not working out then well try something else.
With a sigh, she acquiesced, and we made arrangements to rent the chair. There was a lovely Christmas tree in Guest Services and I stopped for a picture. All these decorations were really beginning to get me in a holiday mood!
Then, we were off to go exploring! Catching first sight of this is always a little thrill!
How nice it was to just stroll along, taking in the sights and sounds! We usually just rush by the Discovery Island Trails, always meaning to get back to do them later and then we run out of time. Today we had them practically all to ourselves. We took our time exploring the winding paths, stopping to look at all the animal exhibits and some of the carvings at the base of the Tree of Life.
Then we drifted toward Camp Minnie-Mickey, marveling at all the delicious theme elements and spotting various birds that were squawking and cawing in the vegetation surrounding us.
We entered the queue for the 10:30 showing of FOTLK and I recalled how very disappointed I had been on our very first visit to WDW. The theater was being refurbished at the time being converted from an open-air to a closed theater and so we did not get a chance to see the show. Now, our WDW trip would not be complete without it!
The one benefit of this theater-in-the-round is that there really are no bad seats. One of the drawbacks, however, is that the bench seating is not the most comfortable. As we entered the darkened theater a CM spotted AR in her w/c and automatically began to lead us to one of the several handicapped seating areas. At first, I thought AR would object, but then she said that she really would be more comfortable sitting on something with a back to it, so she wound up using the chair after all. (Imagine that!) Ed helped her to park and I told Tricia and Billy to sit on the bench next to her so she would not feel so alone, then Ed and I sat in the bench behind them. (These were the benches that sat flat on the floor and not the risers.)
The theater filled slowly, but I suppose the first couple of performances are not the most popular, because as the CMs were closing the doors, there were still plenty of seats left. There was a notable absence of the usual chant, Please move all the way to the left to make room for those just entering the theater, and we were spared the feeling of being squished like sardines in a can. I made a mental note to try to do an early show from now on.
The pageant began and I was happy that AR was seated at a good vantage point. She always seems to get some really tall person sitting in front of her at shows and she is so short! She (and the kids) could see very well. Immediately, we were magically transported to Pride Rock:
When it came time for the finale, I was thrilled that one of the CMs invited Billy and Tricia to participate in the kids parade! This was the first time this had happened and as soon as he was asked, Billy jumped up and turned to us to see if it was all right. As soon as he saw that we were waving them off, he took off without a bit of fear!
He was having such a good time dancing and laughing and shaking his noisemaker!! And Tricia did such a good job looking after him. She wouldnt admit it at first, but later she said that she thought it was kind of random. (Current teen-speak for cool.)
We all exited the theater singing and humming. Aunt Rae was gushing about the show and about how wonderful it was that the kids were picked to participate. Billy was smiling from ear to ear and ran up to Pumbaa on the way out and petted him like a dog!
Good boy, Pumbaa, he said to the inanimate float. We were laughing about it as we made our way outside and joking that we though our dog, Aimee, made a much better pet that a stinky warthog!
We took a RR break here and when we emerged, we were surprised to see that Donald Duck did not have much of a line for his meet & greet. We hadnt met him yet this trip, so we went to say hello.
I admired the Christmas decorations at Donalds pavilion during our short wait:
Notice Ed is wearing his WDW Half-Marathon "I did it" shirt!
Aunt Rae did not feel like getting her picture taken, but Donald came over to her anyway to shake her hand and say hello, which she made her smile. The other queues for Mickey& Minnie and Chip & Dale were fairly long and since we had met these characters earlier in the week, we decided to pass on them. But they were very cute in their safari outfits!
AR said she wanted food more than photos, and so we decided to grab an early bite before the lunchtime crowds began to swell. Back again we trekked across Discovery Island to my favorite AK counter service eatery:
(Ha! Thought you were gonna get another cliffhanger, didn't cha?!)
Kathy
CLAYINCT
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2007
- Messages
- 77
Woah Cathy, what are you doing up at this hour posting?! BTW, I love your TR, have been reading since your first "Adventure in Autism", and just thought I'd emerge from lurkdomn to be the first to post! LOL. Anyways, can't wait for more!
Kim
Kim
/
DisMomAmy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2007
- Messages
- 7,994
I don't think she sleeps.
I saw FOTLK with my mom last spring for the first time and I LOVED it!! I can't wait to take the family this year. It's on the top of my list. I think it is one of the few shows the kids will tolerate sitting through. Hopefully they will love it too. I took note of your early show time recommendation.
Charleston Princess
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2008
- Messages
- 21,444
What a nice morning so far at AK! Glad to hear that AR agreed to the wheelchair without much fuss! We have never done FOLTK, so it is quickly becoming a must-do for June -- your photos are great!
preschoolmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2007
- Messages
- 979
I'm loving all these updates! Sounds like a fantastic morning! I'm so glad Aunt Rae got the chair! I was shocked at the uneven ground in AK... (Very great theming, but hard walking!).
ANother great update Kathy! Don't ya just love when the husbands try to get us to pack up early? Ugh...
Glad AR decided to use the chair - AK could have been a little treacherous for her at this point in the trip!
I was able to see FOTLK for the first time this past December when I went on a short weekend girls' trip! It is so fabulous!!! I'm so glad that Billy was able to participate! I loved that picture of him at the beginning of the day while waiting for the bus - such a handsome boy!!
Can't wait to hear more...
Sara
Glad AR decided to use the chair - AK could have been a little treacherous for her at this point in the trip!
I was able to see FOTLK for the first time this past December when I went on a short weekend girls' trip! It is so fabulous!!! I'm so glad that Billy was able to participate! I loved that picture of him at the beginning of the day while waiting for the bus - such a handsome boy!!
Can't wait to hear more...
Sara
mousescrapper
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2007
- Messages
- 4,595
Another 2 great posts Kathy!The picture of you and your family in MV3D you guys look like the only ones in the theatre...that is a nice shot.
I'm so glad the lesiurly touring is working well and you had a great day w/ your DSis and family too.
AR in the wheelchair must really be helping too. We missed the tree of life trials in June I'm making sure we catch that this time in March.
The special trat basket in your room was so sweet too. Can't wait to see what else is in store!
Scrappie
Oh remind me when were the dates of this trip? just trying to figure out how soon all these holiday decorations are going up....
KathyRN137
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,882
Ch. 40: Woman Attacked at AK! (Film at Eleven…)
We opted to take advantage of the early hour and stop for lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. As I mentioned earlier, Ed and I had a 6:30 ADR at Artist Point that night and I wanted to make sure that we would be arriving there with good appetites!
No food pix (my bad), but I know that AR and I had the smoked half chicken with baked beans and corn muffin and that Ed had the BBQ pork sandwich, minus the baked beans. He hates beans. I am a lucky woman in that respect!
The chicken was so tender that I ate all of it and couldn’t finish my corn muffin, so I bagged it up to have for breakfast the next morning.Sorry, can’t remember what the kids ate, but I’m sure that Billy stuck with French fries. Somehow I get the feeling that Ed may have run over to Restaurantasaurus to get him a McDonald’s chicken nugget meal, but I’m not sure. Then again, that sounds about right because there is no way that Billy would eat a chicken leg, which is the only kid’s offering here aside from a hot dog. Perhaps that’s why there are no pictures of our food; I may have been busy if Ed was on that errand.
After we ate, however, I did manage to snap some pictures of the “view” from our outdoor table:
Our frozen lemonades were still rock-solid, so we took them along to sip as they melted. They were so refreshing! It was getting very warm now, and it was about to get even warmer because we had set our sights on Kilimanjaro Safaris next. We crossed the nearby bridge into Asia, but hung a left and headed towards sunny Africa. (So nice not to have to circle all the way back around Discovery Island now that they built that bridge!)
Do you remember me telling you about Tricia’s Three Dances project? (Probably not.) Because she was missing three sessions of folk dancing in PE this week, her teacher wanted her to do some research on some authentic dances from around the world while we were here in the World of Disney. She needed one more dance to see, so I thought that it would be great to catch Tam Tam’s of Congo, the West African dancers that performed throughout the day at the Dawa Bar.
According to the Times Guide, we were a bit early for the performance, but the seating area was already packed and I knew the walkways surrounding the covered open-air bar would become sorely congested once the dancers appeared. Ed, Billy, and AR went off to do something else…I have no recollection of what…while I slowly edged up toward the performance area with Tricia so we could get a good look.
The show began as tribal-garbed drummers came out and began their rhythmic percussion. A female performer did a brief dance and then came the star of the show. This gentleman was fantastic, such a showman! He enthusiastically recruited audience members to learn some of the dance steps, and Tricia reluctantly “volunteered” with a firm but gentle push from yours truly. “Think of how great these pictures will be for your report,” I clucked. She went, rolling her eyes, naturally, and positioned herself all the way on the farthest end of the dance line, thinking she would be less noticeable there!
She didn’t realize that the dance leader was planning to get them all very involved, and he moved them about at will as he demonstrated the various steps. He had a whistle on a cord hung around his neck that he used as he “drilled” them, probably so they could better understand his verbal directions. (He had a heavy accent, so you know he was the real thing!) The drummers were chanting and beating away, the dance leader was whistling and gesturing and passionately persuading the dance line to follow his movements. It was highly entertaining!
Afterwards, I led (forced) Tricia to approach him and ask a few questions about the dancing for her report. I had his name and the region of Africa from where he came all written down in my notes…but they are gone now. Tricia did have them for her report, though, so that was the important thing.
We collected the others and it was a short walk to the entrance to the Safaris:
The crowds were so light, they weren't even doing FastPass:
It was nice to get out of the sun and into the covered queue. The fans were going and to me it felt very comfortable, but AR shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her slight frame. We parked the chair before boarding and she transferred into the safari vehicle with Ed’s help. Uggh! Back row again!
It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!There were a decent number of animals out, but due to the bumpiness of our ride, I had my usual level of photographic success:
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(Continued next post....)
Kathy
KathyRN137
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,882
(Continued...)
Billy loved the roughness of the ride he thinks that that is what the whole safari is about!
I wonder if he even cares about seeing the animals, he just loves going air born on the really big bumps!
We decided to slow it down a bit and take in the shady Pangini Forest Exploration Trail. I will let the pictures tell the story:
As you know, Billy is very tactile-oriented, so he loved that he was able to touch and stroke so many of the exhibits!
We were in an outdoor section of the trail and the kids were looking at fish through the glass walls of the tank.
I was busy snapping away and enjoying the moment when, suddenly, the calm was pierced by a womans scream!
Oh no, it was Aunt Rae!
Kathy
Gotcha again!
Billy loved the roughness of the ride he thinks that that is what the whole safari is about!
I wonder if he even cares about seeing the animals, he just loves going air born on the really big bumps! We decided to slow it down a bit and take in the shady Pangini Forest Exploration Trail. I will let the pictures tell the story:
As you know, Billy is very tactile-oriented, so he loved that he was able to touch and stroke so many of the exhibits!
We were in an outdoor section of the trail and the kids were looking at fish through the glass walls of the tank.
I was busy snapping away and enjoying the moment when, suddenly, the calm was pierced by a womans scream!
Oh no, it was Aunt Rae! Kathy
Gotcha again!
MRYPPNS
Practically Prefect in Every Way
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 4,901
I'm hoping the scream was just for some bird poop or something like that!
I no longer chance getting the back row(s) for the safari....I now ask to be sat in row 2 or 3. I find it to be much more enjoyable of a ride....especially if you are pregnant (last 2 trips now) or have little ones with you.
I no longer chance getting the back row(s) for the safari....I now ask to be sat in row 2 or 3. I find it to be much more enjoyable of a ride....especially if you are pregnant (last 2 trips now) or have little ones with you.
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