Biscuit's Grand Adventure | An epic tale three decades in the making!

[AshClan]

Learning from my mistakes, I have taken a completely different approach to this trip. Rather than mapping out our days attraction by attraction, I am simply mapping out which parks on what days and creating a list of “tops” for each park. I’m also building in a day and a half as simply “open”.

The second thing I learned on this vacation is that grandparents are an excellent commodity to have when touring with little ones. To that end, I have recruited mom and dad to join us this summer for the first four days. This means 1 thing to me. NO TEACUPS! Nana (as Mom has taken to being called these days), has volunteered to take the girsl! YIPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEE! My stomach is safe to enjoy me some O’hana!

Finally I learned to never hug a character without permission, never attend events featuring horses without proper medication, never walk around in the heat without eating, never watch a baseball game when rain is the forecast, never eat 17 Krystal cheeseburgers in one evening, and never take vacations too seriously, otherwise you’ll miss the point all together.

All very valuable lessons. Sounds like you are on the right track with this trip. Your "which park which days" and "top attractions" strategy is perfect. Though I may be biased, as that's my method of planning. The more you go, the easier it gets. And grandparents are clutch. Not something I've done (in WDW, anyway), but with little ones it is a WONDERFUL way to give yourself a lil break. So good call on that one!

As far as the Krystal lesson? Well, I would've thought that would be obvious, but I'm glad you at least learned your lesson after making that horrible mistake once.

You forgot one other thing that you learned. It's pronounced Kiss-IM-ee!

 

[burly]

OOOOhhhhhh Pictures...........

 

[chicagoshannon]

Ooh can't wait for the pictures!

My parents will be joining us on our trip in May. We love having the grandparents along to help!

 

[whogirl'smom]

Great ending to a great trip! Being a planner at heart, I have to have a rough (or semi-polished ) idea of what I'll be doing when. Each trip is a learning experience, so we've done different "plans" each time and this next trip may even involve our good friends and their dd coming with us! That would involve the mother of all disney planning notebooks!
Everybody needs to plan (or not) their own way and sometimes I wish I could be more laid back, but then I remember the Disneyland trip with dh for a day back in 1999....Got there at 10:30 in the rain, puttered from this land to that and then STOOD IN LINE 2 1/2 HOURS for the now-defunct Rocket Rods. Not gonna happen again.

Can't wait for the next tripette in this report!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

As far as the Krystal lesson? Well, I would've thought that would be obvious, but I'm glad you at least learned your lesson after making that horrible mistake once.

I have an unfortunate propensity for self injury.

You forgot one other thing that you learned. It's pronounced Kiss-IM-ee!

Yowsers! How could I forget that one?

OOOOhhhhhh Pictures...........

Coming soon...VERY soon.

Ooh can't wait for the pictures!

My parents will be joining us on our trip in May. We love having the grandparents along to help!

Thanks for posting and Welcome!

Great ending to a great trip! Being a planner at heart, I have to have a rough (or semi-polished ) idea of what I'll be doing when. Each trip is a learning experience, so we've done different "plans" each time and this next trip may even involve our good friends and their dd coming with us! That would involve the mother of all disney planning notebooks!

Everybody needs to plan (or not) their own way and sometimes I wish I could be more laid back, but then I remember the Disneyland trip with dh for a day back in 1999....Got there at 10:30 in the rain, puttered from this land to that and then STOOD IN LINE 2 1/2 HOURS for the now-defunct Rocket Rods. Not gonna happen again.

Great point - I think there is no one "perfect" approach - everyone has to do what works for them. As to 2 1/2 hours waitign for a not so nifty attraction, well all I can say is that I feel your pain.

 

[Mrs. The King]

I remember that we ate dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus.

I love the insane amount of seating up in that joint. Four chairs for every rump!!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

I love the insane amount of seating up in that joint. Four chairs for every rump!!

What more could a weary jiggler aske for?

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Had to kill this post as I'm clearing out my Photobucket account and needed the space. (It was either that or lose park pics.)

Coming up on Episode 20 - High School Seniors Storming the Castle!

Click Here for the Next Episode!http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30852721&postcount=218

 

[chicagoshannon]

Thanks for the pictures. Who's the girls sitting next to you?

 

[bedillamouse]

Loved the JoJo Circus Reference!!! My girls were big fans when it was on the Disney Channel at a decent time.

gotta love your disclaimer about your mom's hair!!! I always say the camera never does a good enough job taking an appropriate picture....my hair always looks better in person!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Thanks for the pictures. Who's the girls sitting next to you?

I went back and added a caption.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Loved the JoJo Circus Reference!!! My girls were big fans when it was on the Disney Channel at a decent time.

gotta love your disclaimer about your mom's hair!!! I always say the camera never does a good enough job taking an appropriate picture....my hair always looks better in person!

For some reason my multi quote isn't working. Glad you liked the JoJo shoutout. My mom really does look quite different now. But then again, so do we all. My sisters are all grown up and married. I'm sure I'll have lots of pics of the parentals this summer.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Great summary and thanks for the picture, GB.

Looking forward to Trip 5

 

[joleen76]

I am loving your TR .....errr.... I mean multiple TR's. I can relate to all the Texas references. Although the past 4 days have been more like Florida than Texas here. It's been raining non-stop.

Your 80's vacations take me back. My grandmother to my sister and I to Disneyland when I was in the 6th grade. It was only two days, but I never forgot it!

Carry on my friend carry on!

 

[cruising spud]

GreatBiscuit,

Thanks for the pictures. Now I have a true visual of what the Disney cast had to deal with eons ago.

Not trying to be nosy (okay, maybe a bit), but are you still in touch with Pete? If so, does he remember your Disney adventures?

Thanks again,
Cruising Spud

 

[PrincessV]

So what did I learn on this trip? (Why do I suddenly envision scores of people popping out of their cubicles, building me a stage and singing “Hey Biscuit what do you say? We all want to know what your learned today.”)

Yeah, thanks a lot for that one - I'll be hearing that running around my head for a couple days!

You can’t really plan for other people without sitting down with them and coming to a consensus ahead of time.

I’m also building in a day and a half as simply “open”.

I'm so glad! Some of the most fun I've had occured on open days.

To that end, I have recruited mom and dad to join us this summer for the first four days.

Aww, that's going to be great for everyone!

Finally I learned to never hug a character without permission, never attend events featuring horses without proper medication, never walk around in the heat without eating, never watch a baseball game when rain is the forecast, never eat 17 Krystal cheeseburgers in one evening, and never take vacations too seriously, otherwise you’ll miss the point all together.

Really? I think I'd have to suggest "never eat 17 Krystal cheeseburgers at ANY time of day."

This was fun GB! Looking forward to the next one...

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Great summary and thanks for the picture, GB.

Looking forward to Trip 5

Hey BSG! Glad you enjoyed. T5 is on the way momentarily.

I am loving your TR .....errr.... I mean multiple TR's. I can relate to all the Texas references. Although the past 4 days have been more like Florida than Texas here. It's been raining non-stop.

Your 80's vacations take me back. My grandmother to my sister and I to Disneyland when I was in the 6th grade. It was only two days, but I never forgot it!

Carry on my friend carry on!

Howdy and welcome! It has def been a wet week here in Tejas. Hopefully it will be a bit better this week.

GreatBiscuit,

Thanks for the pictures. Now I have a true visual of what the Disney cast had to deal with eons ago.

Not trying to be nosy (okay, maybe a bit), but are you still in touch with Pete? If so, does he remember your Disney adventures?

Thanks again,
Cruising Spud

Unortunately no. It has been about 10 years since I last talked to Pete. I've tried to locate him on various social networking sites, but to no avail.

Yeah, thanks a lot for that one - I'll be hearing that running around my head for a couple days!

No problem. Glad to help!

Really? I think I'd have to suggest "never eat 17 Krystal cheeseburgers at ANY time of day."

I'd probably suggest that be more like an annual quota.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Episode 20 - High School Seniors Storm the Castle

There is one footnote to Trip 4 which may be worthy of mentioning. I had an opportunity to take a second trip to WDW that same summer, but declined. What could possibly prompt any sane and reasonable human being into doing such a thing? Logistics.

My high school band was going to Magic Music Days. The schedule was as such: Friday - last day of school. Sat Night - band plays at graduation. Sunday morning - band returns to school at O'Dark thrity, loads up on charter busses and heads out. Monday Morning - arrive in Cocoa Beach. Spend day beaching & eating. Monday night - attend some sort of musical/symphony something or other. Tuesday - load busses at O'Dark forty five and drive to Magic Kingdom where band will perform in a parade and spend the day in the park. Wednesday: Kennedy Space Center. Wednesday Night - Load busses and return home for Thursday night arrival. This wonderful and exciting excursion was ours for only $900! WOOHOO! Or not. I decided fairly early on that this was a definite no-go. Even before my summer plans were known.

Did I miss not performing in the parade? Not really, I was never that big on marching in parades. Did I miss not touring Disney with my friends? No. Because I did. One summer later. Behold! Trip number 5 is alive!

Summer 1991 was a busy time. I graduated from high school in June, was preparing for college in August, and had about a bazillion and one things to get done that summer. One of those things was a return to Orlando. I and several of my friends attended a week long youth conference in Orlando that summer. After spending a week doing service projects and various other activities, our final fling was a day in the Magic Kingdom.

Unlike my unfortunate encounter with "The Others" in trip two, this time around I was with a group that was actually excited to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. I did NOT recreate the plan, although Pete (who of course was along for this trip as well) brought it up often. Having spent a week with little or no sleep, we were a bit run down by the time we hit the park, but all it took was a glimpse of the castle and I was ready to go. We arrived around ten-ish and were staying until they closed the place.

Pete and I were in a park group of about 7 or 8, and pretty well stuck with the same people the entire day. I cannot recall our exact touring order or even all of the attractions we took in. There are a few details though that I CAN relate. Our overall group (about 40) hung together until we were inside of the park, then we broke into our designated park groups. We only had one sponsor-mandated check in time, and it was around 5 or 6 PM. My group and I then headed down main street on our way to Tomorrowland.



We started off (of course) with Space Mountain, skipped the Carousel of Progress,and may or may not have done anything else in Tomorrowland. I don't remember doing anything there until later that evening.

After returning to earth, our group headed for the teacups. I have a grainy, dark photo of said attraction that could not be salvaged to the point of posting, but picture a group of teens twirling and you are pretty well there. After departing the teacups, we headed this way:



Mr. Toad was passed over and the next stop was Snow White's Scary Adventure.



I remember this for two reasons. One, it was the only time I ever rode this, and two, we had a camera flash war inside that resulted in no usable photos and several blown pupils.

Obligatory shot of the castles bum:


Then it was on to lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus, followed by a ride on It's a Small World. Why you ask would teenage boys voluntarily get on this attraction? There were girls in our group. Pretty girls. Thus we went along. This led to much drama during the next several hours. It went something like this. Boy A liked Girl B, but she ignored him because she knew that Girl C was actually interested in Boy A which he did not pick up on until later that day when Boy D changed places with Girl C so she could sit by Boy A while Girl B moved to sit by Boy E, who was actually interested in Girl F who was touring with group 2 and had spent the morning holding hands with Boy H, but was upset because he was flirting with Girl I, so Girl F moved to group 1 for the rest of the day. All of which makes me EXTREMELY thankful that I am no longer in high school.

After leaving Fantasyland, we headed over to this place.



Then we hit up Big Thunder Mountain and while our train was climbing the hill I turned around and snapped this:



What up with the cranes you ask? They were building Splash Mountain.

By this time I was tired. DOG tired. Our last service project had been planting trees in some park in Orlando. A week of no sleep, hole digging and park walking had drained my of all I had to offer. I needed to relax a bit, recharge the batteries so to speak. It was then that the memory of trip three came wafting back into my mind. Realizing that we were near the Hall of Presidents, I recommended it as a place to take a break. As soon as we sat down, I was gone. OUT. Dead to the World. I missed the ENTIRE show. The power nap did me good though and I was soon ready to strike out for more adventure.

After checking in with our sponsor types, we headed for a bite to eat. I am pretty sure that we wound up at what is now the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station. I don't remember if it was called the same thing then or not. After eating, I'm pretty sure that we hit up Pirates. During the parades and fireworks, we toured multiple attractions (Space Mountain & Big Thunder Mountain a few times each) and finally drug ourselves to the vans after the parks closed.

All in all it was good trip, but I was so tired from the rest of the week, that I really don't remember that many details. At some point during the day, I passed my camera to someone to take this:



This was my final trip as a "youth" and in a way it signaled the end of an era. For five years I had been blessed to make an annual trip to The World. Life and its ensuing responsibilities would soon change that. When I returned again, I would be a far different person than the boy who was crossing the Seven Seas Lagoon on that muggy July night. The next time I set foot in the Magic Kingdom, six years later, I would be on my honeymoon with the love of my life.

Coming up on Episode 21 - How I was christened "Great Biscuit" and Boy Meets Girl.

 

[jcc0621]

This wonderful and exciting excursion was ours for only $900! WOOHOO!

Gee, that sounds like alot of fun

Summer 1991 was a busy time. I graduated from high school in June, was preparing for college in August, and had about a bazillion and one things to get done that summer.

OK, this just made me feel really old

Then it was on to lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus, followed by a ride on It’s a Small World. Why you ask would teenage boys voluntarily get on this attraction? There were girls in our group. Pretty girls. Thus we went along. This led to much drama during the next several hours. It went something like this. Boy A liked Girl B, but she ignored him because she knew that Girl C was actually interested in Boy A which he did not pick up on until later that day when Boy D changed places with Girl C so she could sit by Boy A while Girl B moved to sit by Boy E, who was actually interested in Girl F who was touring with group 2 and had spent the morning holding hands with Boy H, but was upset because he was flirting with Girl I, so Girl F moved to group 1 for the rest of the day. All of which makes me EXTREMELY thankful that I am no longer in high school.

This whole thing made me becasue it is soooo true

The next time I set foot in the Magic Kingdom, six years later, I would be on my honeymoon with the love of my life.

Coming up on Episode 21 – How I was christened “Great Biscuit” and Boy Meets Girl.

Can't wait

 

[Backstage_Gal]

This led to much drama during the next several hours. It went something like this. Boy A liked Girl B, but she ignored him because she knew that Girl C was actually interested in Boy A which he did not pick up on until later that day when Boy D changed places with Girl C so she could sit by Boy A while Girl B moved to sit by Boy E, who was actually interested in Girl F who was touring with group 2 and had spent the morning holding hands with Boy H, but was upset because he was flirting with Girl I, so Girl F moved to group 1 for the rest of the day. All of which makes me EXTREMELY thankful that I am no longer in high school.

LOL!

Tomorrowland Noodle station only came into existence 2 or 3 years ago, I think. Haven't actually been there yet. I did condiments there too once upon a time, I think, before it changed. I DO NOT volunteer anymore for cross-u shifts, getting too long in the tooth.