ANOTHER Adventure in Autism (4/15) A Taste of What's to Come...

[Montana Disney Fan]

Ed looks as happy on Triceratops Spin as I do!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

Ed looks as happy on Triceratops Spin as I do!!!

Oh, what you Daddies have to suffer for your offspring!!


Kathy

 

[Hedy]

Glad to see Tricia's got her priorities in order. And I love how in both the TR and the AG pics she's posing for TR appropriate pictures. Maybe she could post a section sometime, although I know she's a busy girl.

 

[jcc0621]

Ed looks as happy on Triceratops Spin as I do!!!

Jim gets that same look

Oh, what you Daddies have to suffer for your offspring!!
Kathy

Might as well do something right

Great update Kathy. You sure got alot done in such a short period of time.

 

[jordanyosh]

Primeval Hurl is one of my favorite rides.

I agree w/ you wholeheartedly about getting stuff done early. I try to schedule lunches no later than 11:45am.

 

[jordanyosh]

Glad to see Tricia's got her priorities in order.

Spoken like a true bag lady.

 

[KathyRN137]

I agree w/ you wholeheartedly about getting stuff done early. I try to schedule lunches no later than 11:45am.

Ah yes. But to quote yet another favorite of mine, Robert Burns:

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley.

Sometimes, Jordan, we must bend like reeds in the wind....

Kathy

 

[askelton]

I think EE is tame compared to this ride!

Kathy

I couldn't agree with you more! Dinosaur is not one of my favorites. Nor is Primeval Whirl for that matter. Shame on my for thinking it was a kiddie ride. Give me EE or TOT any day.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We never got to see Nemo, the line was the longest of any attraction. I hope we can catch it next year, it looks fantastic!

 

[KathyRN137]

Halloweenqueen: The "secret" may be hit or miss, depending on the crowd. It's always worked well for us!

Hedy: Tricia always reads my updates, but so far she hasn't wanted to post on her own. We'll see...

mrsksomeday: The kids and I love coasters, but it took me three trips to WDW before I would try TOT!!

Jordanyosh: AK is so beautiful; I would have taken 1000 pix if I had the time!

DisMomAmy: Oh, I was holding on tight to that camera on EE, believe me!

Jen32113: Hope you're busy having an awesome trip right now!

beckanoah: DL is just going to whet your appetite for WDW even more, you know!

mousescrapper: Oh, did I scream! Like ten girls! And the screams sound even louder inside the mountain!

jcc0621: You will love EE; it's a real thrill but definitely not as scary as some of the big coasters out there! It's the Disney theming that makes it so awesome.

MDF: We do have a lot of the same pix, but yours always look better!

askelton: Hey, If I go on Dinosaur for Ed, then shouldn't he go on EE for me?? Hmmmm....


Thanks to all for reading!

Kathy

 

[DisMomAmy]

Thanks for sharing your Nemo pictures... I didn't take any out of fear that my flash might go off by accident!! I really enjoyed the show- even if Zachary almost fell asleep!

 

[Goofster57]

Sorry fellas, no pix of the Disney Girl Gone Wild...

And you call yourself a Trip Report writer....

After taking our orders for appetizers, Anas spent a few minutes talking to Tricia about Rakessa, what we traditionally call belly dancing. He took out a pen and wrote out the name of the dance in his native language, then wrote out Tricia and Billy’s names as well. He gave the paper to Tricia and she was very excited to have such a personal souvenir to add to her report.

That was nice….How did her report go?

For our entrees, Ed chose Chicken Kabobs, AR had the Roast Lamb Meshoui, and Tricia and I had the Couscous. (She had hers with vegetables only; I ordered mine with vegetables and lamb.)

I never knew they served food there...

which boasted two large decorative cowbells suspended from wrought iron hooks near its entrance. Tricia, of course, ran up to each and game them a whack. They made loud clanking sounds quite satisfying to the ears of an eleven-year-old!

Hey this kid at heart loved doing that too...


Wow the Villas look great; we have stayed in the lodge a few times but have never been to the villa side of the tracks.

Too bad about the groceries mix-up, did you check first to see if they got better stuff?..

Sigh! Is there any sweeter time of the vacation than the moment when you first wake up and realize that you are in Disney?

That is one of the best feelings in the world..

Love the views you had

Oh “angels of the morning air”, won’t you lend us your wings?

Been there done that, I so feel your pain...

Just an aside: It’s a funny thing about some people at the resort bus stops. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that perhaps the folks who were already waiting at the bus stop when they arrived might be entitled to getting on the bus before they do. I mean; I’ve seen more courtesy on a New York City subway platform than I’ve seen on occasion at Disney resorts.

I usually get kicked in the shin by Sorceress because I can’t keep my big mouth shut when this happens....

Of course, that impression changed once we were funneled through bag check and moved toward the turnstiles. Since it was already past nine o’clock, and we were heading for Everest, we opted to use the “secret” entrance.

We love the “Secret Entrance”

I really liked the Nemo show, most of our party sleep through it also.

Primeval Hurl…Not Happening

Kathy, great up-dates

 

[mousescrapper]

Congrats on reaching your 1000 th post, awesome that you did it!


La Commandita---love it! I totally endorse that

Thanks for the tip on ear plugs for Dinosaur, wrote that one down. And yes I so agree on the EE/Dinosaur comparsion. Although I have yet to ride EE, I just do NOT enjoy Dinosaur. It is one of my DH's favorite rides too, we'll see who he tempts to ride it in June...not me

Still loving the report and you're getting closer to your Marathon weekend at the Poly...can't wait to hear about that too.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Tricia always reads my updates, but so far she hasn't wanted to post on her own. We'll see...

Since you read the updates, Hi Tricia!! I would love to hear your thoughts on the trip, I bet you would do a great job .

 

[KathyRN137]

Hedy: Tricia always reads my updates, but so far she hasn't wanted to post on her own. We'll see...

Tricia here and yes, we shall soon see!

 

[Hedy]

Tricia here and yes, we shall soon see!

Can't wait, Tricia!

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter Ten: Trouble's a brewin'....


Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night.
-JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ, screenplay, All About Eve



Still Sunday, 11/4, The Animal Kingdom:


It was a short but slow trek from the Theater in the Wild to the closest counter service eatery, and we soon found ourselves on the front porch of Restaurantosaurus. You may not consider a Disney-themed McDonald’s to be the most exciting choice for lunch, but I knew there would be something on the menu that everyone would eat and I just wanted us to finish and get back to the resort fairly quickly for our break. The Studios would be closing at a very early 7:30 that night, and I hoped we might get the chance to do a tiny bit of touring before dinner and Fantasmic.


My theory went something like this: The Studios would be open until 8 or 9 for the rest of the week, with double showings of Fantasmic as it got closer to the busy Veteran’s Day Weekend (which, by the way, was also Super Soap Weekend.) I figured that it would be less crowded at the Studios that night, since most folks would see that they could get more time there if they went later in the week. Would my reverse psychology work? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see!


As anticipated, the lines at the counter were staggering. Everyone stood back and read the menu posted high above the bustling kitchen’s window, and then gave their orders to me. I kept Tricia to help me carry the food while Ed took Aunt Rae and Billy with him to search for an empty table. About five minutes later, he swung back around and told us where they had found one… all the way off in that little auxilliary room that feels like a tiny airplane hangar. We had been seated in that same room a few years back when we had attended Donald’s Breakfastosaurus, so I knew exactly where they would be.


I do hope Donald finds the Tusker House to be more conducive to hosting guests at his special meal. While we did enjoy meeting him and his friends, I felt that Restaurantosaurus was too noisy and spread out for good character interaction. We may have to try the Tusker House version next time!


Tricia and I waited patiently for our food and, after a slight Mother/Daughter battle of wills, (she wanted to carry the tray with all five of the large, uncovered drinks, I was afraid she might spill them), we balanced our heavily-laden trays and navigated our way through the obstacle course of strollers, wheelchairs, tables and chairs and made it safely to our table. I set my tray down on the metal table, pulled out my metal chair with a loud scraping sound, and sat down. We had the usual assortment of hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers….unremarkable, except for the fact that AR was one of those who was eating chicken fingers. For the second day in a row she was eating foods with gluten that she had been avoiding for over a year.


The reason for this was simple…Aunt Rae had decided that the gluten-free diet was not doing her any good (read: she was not gaining any weight and was still anemic.) Last year, at the age of 76, her doctor had sent her for a barrage of tests and a gastroenterologist decided that she was gluten intolerant, despite the fact that she had no unusual GI symptoms. She had faithfully followed the diet (I know; I’m the one who usually takes her shopping at Whole Foods) and had not gained any weight or improved her red blood cell count.


“That doctor is a quack,” she said. “I’m on vacation and I’m going to eat whatever I want!” She dug into her chicken fingers meal with great delight. Oh well, I thought, she’s a big girl; she can make her own decisions. We ate a leisurely meal (whether we wanted to or not) and left the restaurant at around 1:30. A woman at a nearby table had asked if she could have one of our chairs when we were done and she practically pounced on it as we stood up. There was literally not another empty seat in the room!


We strolled outside and took a rather unhurried walk back to Discovery Island. Aunt Rae was moving rather slowly, much slower than she had during our trip last year. She denied feeling much arthritis pain in her ankles, claiming that the Advil she had taken that morning had helped a lot. But, it seemed to be more of an endurance issue to me. As much as she tried to conceal it, she was just petering out and it seemed like the perfect time to go back for a rest. I recalled that she hadn’t been able to sleep much the past two nights and I hoped she could recharge her batteries a little back at the Villas.


There was just enough juice left, however, for her to want to do a bit of shopping on the way out of the park! Although she had purchased a strap for her ever-present water bottle before we left home, she did not care for it and decided to get a clip-on bottle holder for her bag. Tricia, as always, took advantage of the opportunity to peruse the pin display.

She had yet to actually purchase any pins…she was just getting a feel for what was available before she made her choices.


We cruised through the turnstiles and over to the bus stop. It was a bit of a wait, and AR was glad for the bench nearby. She looked very tired. Happily, we had an uneventful ride back to the Wilderness Lodge.


I mentioned to the group that I wanted to stop by the concierge desk to check on something. To my surprise, everyone wanted to come with me! It was now about 2:30 and our dinner ADR was for 5:10. I hoped that it would be enough of a break. There was no one in line at the concierge desk and Ed gave the kids a few more pennies so they could make wishes by throwing them into the little bubbling spring:

I turned my attention to the issue at hand, which was a little question I had regarding our Dining Plan credits. When I had purchased the sugared almonds for Ed the previous afternoon at Epcot, I had noticed that the receipt showed only a small number of snack credits remaining. I had been under the impression that I had requested the Dining Plan for our entire stay, so there should have been many more credits left.


The CM at concierge explained that, since we had what amounted to three separate reservations (DVC points /cash/ DVC points), we only had credits for the nights of each reservation attached to our key cards. When I received new key cards, I would receive more credits. No problem. “And I’ll get the cards when I come to the desk on Friday, right?” I said in passing. “Oh, no,” she said, matter-of-factly. “You need to pick up new key cards on Thursday morning.”

Thursday?? I was a bit confused. Remember how I told you back in Chapter Three to mark that the CM checking us in had instructed me to come back on Friday? “No, its Thursday,” the current CM confirmed, looking at her computer screen. Oh, okay then, will do. I scooped up the others and Tricia and I took a quick turn through the Mercantile while the others went on ahead. We wound up not buying anything. Cute stuff, though! And there was a lot of Christmas merchandise for sale! What extraordinary willpower we had!

We strolled over to the Villas and Tricia was full of chatter. We decided that this would be a good evening for Jessica, her AG doll, to join us in the park. Since we were really just doing dinner and Fantasmic, we would not have to take her on any rides. We came to our rooms and Tricia set about choosing an outfit for Jessica to wear that night. Then she flopped down on her “bed”, now made up as a sofa, and read her book. Billy had kicked off his socks and sneakers and laid claim to the sofa in the living room while he watched Playhouse Disney on the TV. AR dozed in a chair. I went to her and touched her on the arm. She opened her eyes and I suggested that she go in and actually lay down on her bed so she could elevate her feet. She declined and then sat watching Billy watch TV for a while before she started nodding off again. I went into our room to check on Ed. A soccer game was playing on the TV, but he was fast asleep on the bed. The antibiotics and pain meds he was taking (after getting his tooth pulled) must really have been knocking him out, and I was glad that he was getting a little shut-eye. I really wished that AR would do the same….


Next Up: We trip the light Fantasmic.


Kathy

 

[Hedy]

When you talk about AR eating gluten, I hear the horns of doom: wha-whhha-wuhh.

 

[Goofster57]

all the way off in that little auxiliary room that feels like a tiny airplane hangar.

We always sit on the patio area across from Dinosaur,

I find it funny that we travel 3,000 miles and eat at McDonald's...

“That doctor is a quack,” she said. “

Sounds familiar, my Dad currently has this opinion also...

Tricia, as always, took advantage of the opportunity to peruse the pin display.

Decisions….Decisions...

She had yet to actually purchase any pins…she was just getting a feel for what was available before she made her choices.

Now that is a smart pin shopper...

I really like the lobby...

Tricia and I took a quick turn through the Mercantile while the others went on ahead. We wound up not buying anything. Cute stuff, though! And there was a lot of Christmas merchandise for sale! :Santa: What extraordinary willpower we had!

Impressive will power ladies….could you bottle some of that up and send it to my girls?...

 

[jordanyosh]

AR...eating forbidden stuff...sounds dangerous if you get my drift.....

It's hard to see once vibrant people slow down. My dad is mentally still so sharp, but physically he's declining pretty rapidly. He'll be 84 in March.

I love the WL. The lobby itself is somewhere to hang out.

I sense some issues coming up w/ the DDP credits, switching out etc.....