Chapter 6 I Control My Temper and our final Day at WDW
Our cast of characters includes:
Me, Brad 42 yr old WDW nut,
My Wife, Cheryll - Lets just say she a wee bit older than me
My Daughter, Samantha - 7 year old 4 time WDW vet
My Stepson, Justin - 24yr old who I first took to WDW when he was 8.
My Mom, Jeanna - 61 yr old saint.
My Stepdad, Steve - 62 yr old uber saint
My Sister, Kristy - 39 yr old military wife
My Nephew Matthew - 16 yr old. Typical 16 yr old.
My Niece Megan - 14 yr old. See above.
My Niece Riley - 5 yr old daredevil
(Ok, this long, but its the finish of the WDW portion)
Yep, after waiting nearly an hour, some guy RAN up and stole my viewing spot when I turn around to hug my wife.
He then motioned his whole family up to join him.
It was 5 minutes to Illuminations.
Now, I am a remarkably laid back guy. I hardly ever raise my voice.
Ever.
Im one of those bleeding heart liberal types who believe that any problem can be sorted out rationally without violence and an amicable resolution can always be reached.
I am very conscious of retaining my temper in traffic or wherever while my daughter is around as well.
Anger is ugly.
I quickly assessed the situation.
Not only was my family, including my 7 year old daughter watching, but so was his family and little children. There were 3 kids and a wife, all nicely and neatly dressed and blonde. I mean ALL of them were blonde. Mom, Dad, Kids: all remarkably blonde.
Too Blonde.
I didnt want to get bent out of shape in front of my and his kids, so I calmly said, Excuse Me, but I have been standing here for nearly an hour saving our spot.
Maybe he didnt see me. (Of course, if youve been following this TR and seen my picture, then you know thats not possible). I appealed to his sense of right and wrong.
Thats when this Nazi told me to go %@#! Myself!!!!!!!
Yep.
He dropped the F Bomb in front of his family and mine and everyone else around!
Game Over
I dont think I have ever had such an extreme turn in emotion or temperament.
I instantly closed the gap between me and the guy.
Somehow though, instead of raging, I got calmer. I realized that he just gave me the upper hand.
While directly in his face I said, I do not appreciate your language in front of my or your children. I would suggest you leave before I call security.
I then noticed my wife and stepson at my back as well as the father from the group I had been standing next to all this time.
The guy just turned and left!
I turned, and my wife gave me the you-lucked-out-of that-one look. I thanked the guy next us. He said he was ready to help if needed. I shrugged and pointedly said toward my daughter, Fighting never solves anything.
I was SUPERDAD!
But, man, I really wanted to punch that guy in the throat.
The drama subsided just as Illuminations started and my adreneline level was through roof.
After Illuminations, we made the long trek back to the parking lot.
Someday we are going to be smart enough to stay at the Beach Club, or at least watch from Mexico or something. That walk back after a long day is a killer.
The next morning was our last in WDW. We werent sad as usual since we were going on a
Disney Cruise the next. Well, Samantha, Cheryll, and I were anyway. We would be driving Justin to the airport early in the AM while the rest of the family stayed one more day.
Since Cheryll and Samantha had not been to MGM yet, thats where we went. We took Megan and Matthew with us as well. I honestly dont know where the rest went.
We were to meet for an early dinner at the Liberty Tree in the MK at 4:30. With the
DDP, all of our desired dining times were gone before we could make ADRs so we took what we could get. Steve really wanted to eat there, and since we couldnt get into Chef Mickeys, it would be a good character meal as well.
At MGM, Cheryll got to ride ToT, and then the teens watched Sam so we could ride together.
Samantha was having nothing to do with it.
Sam outside Pee Wee's handprints
We went on the GMR, and our gangster was AWFUL. He delivered his lines as if he was flipping burgers at McDonalds and his overbearing Mom was his shift manager. He completely dropped character between lines and acted as if he was going to fall asleep.
This was at 10am.
Uh oh,
FORCERANT
Look, I know the GMR is dated, and I know the live interaction is lame, but HOLY CRIPES man, you are a Disney Cast Member. The only way that ride interaction works is if the CMs are completely invested in the dialogue, not matter how bad it might be. Sure the adults will roll their eyes, but there are kids on this ride that WANT you act and tell the story. I almost stopped a CM after the ride to complain and ask him to be removed, but I dont want to Mr. Negative. I bet this guy would have hammed it up more if hed seen me at Epcot the night before!
And were back.
Saw the Muppets again. Ahhhhh. How can anyone not love this movie?
We really wanted to see the new Lights. Motor, Action show, so Justin and Matthew ran ahead to get in line.
We ate a quick lunch at Pizza Planet and, you guessed it, they were pushing the desserts!
So we moseyed over to the stunt show only to find the crowd being loaded inside already.
We called Justin and he and Matthew were already seated. They were saving seats for us in the 3rd row! Unfortunately, we were herded like cattle to the opposite side and up.
Way up.
Ah, no big deal
The show was much better than I expected. Samantha, in particular, loved it.
She was even able to get her picture taken with some of the drivers.
I was a bit troubled about just how excited she was to get this picture taken.
Ive got a few years more before shes drawn to guys in fast cars.
Dont I?
Please say I do.
Uh oh, it was 3. Our dinner ressies were for 4:30.
Wed better hurry.
We rushed back to the WL.
This was waiting for us:
It was then that I noticed the teenagers and Justin moving VERY slowly.
It seems they didnt want to eat at 4:30 or at The Liberty Tree.
Samantha wanted to go back to Toontown.
Cheryll wanted to take a nap.
Hmmm. I might be facing a mutiny here. Didnt they know I was Superdad?
I reminded everyone that the rest of the family was waiting for us.
So they begrudgingly trotted down to the boat dock.
And we waited.
And waited.
It was now 4, and we called the rest of the family to say we were doing our best to get there. I suggested asking them at the LT if there was any times later in the day.
No was the quick and somewhat rude response from the LT wait staff. Ok.
We decided to take the boat to the Contemporary and then hop on the monorail (we hadnt ridden the monorail yet anyway.)
So now the group said, lets not eat with them. They were not going to hold a bigger table at the LT, there was no way we could make it in time, and tempers were flaring. Why make things worse?
Well, a quick call to my sister informed Matthew and Megan they HAD to eat with them.
(Gulp)
So once we hit the MK, they had to run to the LT. We calmly walked there with the knowledge that we would not be eating at the LT.
We got there after a leisurely stroll, and I went in to apologize to the rest of our family and ask them to meet us in Toontown after they ate.
I got Samantha to ride Goofys Barnstormer for the first time. Riley had already ridden it 5 times. Sam is just a bit of a scairdy cat. She screamed the whole way, but we had fun.
We spent a lot of time building Potato Heads, then Sam wanted to play in Donalds Boat, which she did. I figured that Cheryll and Sam missed a lot of play time while she was sick, so I wasnt going to impose any kind of timetable for either one of them.
We met up with everyone else at the Teacups. All tempers were now soothed and Sam rode them twice, once with me, and once with her cousins. (I can only do 1 Teacup ride a trip)
We did Buzz and Stitch as a family. Cheryll and Justin went on Space Mountain. Then we went to Splash Mountain. Sam and I waited while Cheryll rode with everyone else. There was no line so everyone wanted to go again, but it was now 8 and I wanted to get a good spot for Wishes. So Sam and Cheryll and I left Justin and the rest to ride Splash 5 more times in a row. My Mom who was the degenerative back issue only rode once, and 5 year old Riley had to be dragged off or so I am told.
We go a decent spot near the front of the castle.
MK Fireworks with Cheryll and Sam ore our special time and we always save the last night at WDW for them. Cheryll acts like a little girl when Tink flies. I am in awe of the artistry, and Sam likes the pretty lights. 15 minutes until Showtime, Sam announced that she was STARVING.
(Sigh)
Ok, we still had 8 CS credits and wed be wasting them, so I made my way through the parked crowd to Caseys for some hot dogs. Of course I couldnt just get hot dogs. I got cracker jacks and fries and drinks at the insistence of the guy behind the counter. While I was there the whole crew broke into Take Me Out to the Ballgame and threw out crackerjacks too.
Carrying a huge tray full of food across the sea of parked people was a nifty accomplishment in and of itself.
Sam nibbled a hot dog and ate a few fries.
We completely wasted all that food.
(We did keep the Cracker Jack packages to eat while on the cruise.)
Wishes was amazing as always, and we all got something in our eyes.
This was the first time I didnt have that sense of melancholy leaving the MK on the last night. We knew that tomorrow wed be on the Wonder, so we left the park tired, but with a sense of excitement for what was to come.
At the boat dock, we met up with Justin and Matthew. Everyone else had already gone back. Justin announced that now HE was hungry. Matthew was hungry too, and truth be told, so where Cheryll and I. How we were hungry after all we had eaten in the last 4 days is a mystery, but we were exhausted and famished (neither of us ate the hot dogs we got.) We still had TS credits left so, on a lark, I checked in at the Whispering Canyon to see if it was possible to get seated.
It was 9:40.
Unbelievably, they let us in, and we had the BEST meal of our trip so far. Our server was great, and we had so much fun. Justin, the vegetarian was now completely off the veggie wagon and swimming in an animal flesh stream as he ordered the all you can eat skillet omeat. We had appetizers. We had dessert. I had beers. We got 24 ketchups on the table.
We laughed a lot.
It was a fantastic dining experience for al of us.
We had to be up at 6 to get ready to get Justin to the airport and drive to Port Canaveral so everyone was in bed by 11:30.
I sat out on the balcony for a bit to reflect.
There was so much we didnt do, and Sams health was a concern, but it was a great trip.
I took the final beer out of the fridge and saw those leftover cheesecake pieces luring me seductively. Ive never seen a woman sexy enough to entice me to cheat on my wife, but I have seen more than one dessert that has tempted me to cheat on my diet.
I would leave them there.
Im not going to leave beer, but Ill leave the cheesecake.
Id become The Bloat, and now it was time to Float.
Come join us in the DIS Disney Cruise Forum for the continuation
Thanks for writing.
