nwdisgal
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2002
- Messages
- 2,120
Me (DW) - late thirty something that doesn't wanta grow up, thinks Peter Pan is my ideal date, profiles as Cinderella, and a full time mother to a Disney Obsessed 9 year old child and his 13 year old sibling who gladly goes along with her younger brother's compulsion. In the corporate world, I'd be coined the Disney Event Planner. I plan everything, I pack everything, and when it comes time to disinfect the hotel room, I'm the obsessive compulsive, carrying around the container of Clorox wipes in my carry-on bag.
DH - Patient, loving, supportive, breadwinner to the Disney Obsessed son and the high maintanence DW who thinks she's Cinderella. Profiles as Aladdin, so has to put up with the fact that his DW is fantasizing about Peter Pan.
DD - She's at that uh...age You know that one where are a way of life . The great thing about being that age is that it is the smartest you'll ever be and then you start realizing how much you really don't know as you get older. So enjoy all you know while you're still thirteen .
DS - Still in the innocence of his youth and the most obsessed of our group about Disney. He is the momentum and the cheerleader for all things Disney. Thank god we have him along, other wise we'd be compulsive lounge lizards.
Day 5 -
The best decision I made was purchasing that fresh ground coffee at Starbucks for the hotel room.
Today we were not lolly gagging around in the hotel room, complaining about jet lag, and "Mom I can't get out of bed, and blah blah". No, we sprung out of bed and I was as close to a Theme Park Commando as I was ever going to be on this trip. By the way, I don't know if I mentioned or not, but while we were at the Dolphin the cheerleaders were there for most of the stay 
I have nothing against cheerleaders, but I had read some scary posts about cheerleaders gone beserk on this forum, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I kept an open mind and was very pleasantly surprised. First of all, the group at the Dolphin was very well behaved and chaperoned. A group of them even took DD under their wing at the pool (they asked her if she was a Flyer). She's really petit and they were probably eyeballing her for a potential recruitment. 
Anyway, we saw them in the lobby and elevators and stuff, and I was checking out the cheerleader hair thing, the cheerleader ringlets and the hair flip and thankful that I wasn't one of the moms having to fix their hair because I wouldn't of had a clue what to do. 
Ok, so here's the story and where the cheerleaders come in. I say to DD, "Hey, what about cheerleading at home, are you interested?" So I can do that fancy hair thing - not really, I'd subcontract it to some other mom. DD starts giving me this story about how they have tried to get something going at her middle school here and no one signs up (they'd rather surf and this and that). We load up in our rental car, drive over to Animal Kingdom and as we are pulling into the parking lot, there's a van that has "Honk if you are from Hawaii" painted on the windows. We stop in our tracks - here we are several thousand miles from our home. Turns out that the cheer team from the highschool DD will attend here was in Florida for the cheer championships and visiting Animal Kingdom that day. Small World and getting smaller.
We made it to Animal Kingdom early enough that we were able to walk onto Primeval Whirl, then over to Dinosaur with just a short wait. When we were over at Dinosaur, there was a little boy (probably about three if he was a day). He was crying and really scared about going on the ride and if his mom was getting mad at him because he didn't want to go on the ride,which just made him cry more. I am usually pretty laid back about things, but it bugged me that this lady was so bent on getting the kid on the ride.
We then headed over to Tarzan Rocks. We've seen this a number of times before and the sound system was up way too high this time. We sat way in the back, and DS was honkered down in his seat asking to leave. I saw a number of people trickle out. We made it through most of the show, but finally just stood up and left. I always enjoy that show, but it was just too loud this time. You'd think after all the rock concerts of the 80's I would have blasted my ears out long ago, but clearly I still have some hearing left.
We fast passed Safari and the kids went on Kali. Getting soaked to the skin in 60 something degree weather just wasn't my deal so DH and I stood on the sidelines and offered moral support.
It was fun though, standing on the bridge and watching them come down the rapids.
The next stop was Tusker House for lunch and sweets, and Shade Grown coffee I've searched these boards how and low for Decent Coffee in WDW. Well, I read about Tusker House and the Shade Grown, so had to try it. DH had the salmon and rice pilaf, which weren't bad. My cold chicken salad was just ok. The greens were looking pretty sad, wilted and overdressed. I think they sat too long in the queue, once those greens are dressed it doesn't take long for them to wilt. Then I had this thought that the chicken spent a life on the rotisserie the day before and found its way into the salad.
Sometimes the best things in life are the simple ones. DS asked to have a rice krispy treat for dessert. They make them fresh at Tusker Housea and we picked out one with white frosting on it, and it was freshly made and all gooey and warm and just tasted really, really yummy and buttery and sugary
- and all washed down with the shade grown latte. My favorite food groups, butter, sugar and caffeine! I was in culinary heaven on a Rice Krispy Treat 
The whole family was picking at the rice krispy treat like a flock of crows. I was the biggest crow - get away from my rice krispy ! 
I probably could have sat there all afternoon and overdosed on rice krispy treats, but it was time to head to Safari. I can still taste that treat in my head and now that I am back home trying to eat a sensible diet I am going bonkers thinking about it
We were lucky we fast passed Safari because there was quite a line to it - about a 75 minute stand by when we are arrived. On our trek we saw a variety of animals, including a number of elephants, but the impressive part was two rhinos walking within a few feet of the vehicle. That is the closest I've ever seen a rhino, or care to see them. Also, ever other time we've been at AK it has been raining. Well today was our first sunny day over the years and we saw crocodiles sunning themselves on the rocks - which was another first. DS loves crocodiles - that Peter Pan connection. There was an ostrich nest too, but mama ostrich was no where to be found. She was way down the road hanging out. It was pretty funny because the driver said ostriches normally don't leave the eggs like that.
The unfortunate thing was after we finished Safari we walked out with a mob of people and DH and DD went together one direction and DS and I went another. We ended up getting lost from each other. This is the one day none of us had our cell phones with each other
So DS and I circled around the park, and DH and DD circled and half an hour later we ended up at the spot where we'd originally lost each other and found each other - does that make sense? That whole episode was enough to scare me a bit, and we usually make plans in case to meet and didn't that day. I don't know where we were at with our heads, having a complete family airhead moment. Then DH and I start arguing with each other about who lost who and the mood at the Animal Kingdom suddenly went very sour. Finally, we decided to call a truce, chill and take a mid afternoon break, before reconvening and heading over to MGM.
We returned to the Dolphin, did a quick freshen up, and headed on the Friendship boat to MGM. That is such a relaxing ride. The bad mood from the lost in Animal Kingdom fiascal quickly left us as we headed towards MGM. DS wanted to see Fantasmic and DH had never seen it at WDW, so we had a lot to look forward to. Our goal was to make it on our favorite rides - The Movie Ride, Star Tours, ROR and TOT and do Fantasmic. We lucked out, the wait for movie ride was no more than 15 minutes. Star Tours also moved pretty quickly, but by that time we were famished. I was having another I need coffee, sugar fix. We stopped at Starring Rolls bakery and I had lox and a bagel - quite acceptable, then this yummy peanut butter bar for dessert. They had dessert wines there, but it was getting close to park Happy Hour, so we went to the Tune In Lounge. I didn't realize this but it is on the other side of the Prime Time Cafe. Last time we were in WDW, the kids and I dined at Prime Time, but DH had never been there. So we sat up at the bar and he was taking in the black and white tvs and the old shows and all the retro and telling me how cool he thought the place was. Clearly, I had not consumed enough sugar yet , so I told DH, "If you think this place is cool, wait til you try the milkshakes." So we each had a glass of wine and then topped it off with one of their hand dipped chocolate milkshakes. The bartender must have thought we were nuts for drinking and eating sugar, and he even asked a couple times, "You sure you wouldn't like to order one of our appetizers, or a dinner (i.e something sensible)?". DH was totally into the milkshake and when I in my normal food critic way, said, "Oh it takes like ice milk." He counters with "That's the way I love it, just like I used to have when I was a kid. This is the real stuff."
We headed (I should say rolled) over to Fantasmic. It was about an hour before the performance and the crowd was starting to build, but we found nice seats right in the center of the amphitheater. Fantasmic is absolutely my favorite attraction in all of WDW, and if I could only pick one thing to do, that would be it. After the show, the kids wanted to do TOT and RNR. DH had already reset his terror threshold on Summit Plummit at BB, so I nominated him to escort the kids on the ride. He gave me that "Honey I'm this and all that look." The post Fantasmic crowds were pretty heavy and I was having a bit of a panic attack going on, so I bid the family adieu and said meet you back at the Dolphin. Then I embarked on something that in retrospect I would probably never do again - by myself. I walked back to the Dolphin on the path from MGM. Now mind you, that is a beautiful path, and in daylight, it would be perfect, or at night, if DH had been with me. Here I am all by myself walking this path, and I realize it is absolutely deserted. Even though it is well lit, and we are in WDW, I'm not naive. So I am halfway down the path and I break into a dead run back to the Dolphin. The people going by on the Friendship boats are probably thinking that woman is nuts, and yes, for most of the way back I felt that way. On my journey I did run into a solo women jogger with her headphones in. Then I think maybe I'm not so crazy - at least not as crazy as she is. At least I can hear if someone is stalking me. Still I feel a great sense of relief when I hit the Boardwalk Hotel (like the Boogie Man can't jump out at me at that point). Only momentarily... I catch sight of the back of that coaster pool and the clown face at night and I'm having Poltergeist flashbacks with the clown
, so I speed it up again. I dunno. I love the Boardwalk Hotel, it is absolutely one of the prettiest hotels at WDW IMO. That clown though, he kind of freaks me out - especially in the dark.
I reach the final stretch to the Dolphin, and I have never been so happy to see a place. To top it off, a good rain starts up, so I made it home just in time. I didn't get mugged and I avoided getting wet! What more could a gal ask for?
DH - Patient, loving, supportive, breadwinner to the Disney Obsessed son and the high maintanence DW who thinks she's Cinderella. Profiles as Aladdin, so has to put up with the fact that his DW is fantasizing about Peter Pan.
DD - She's at that uh...age You know that one where are a way of life . The great thing about being that age is that it is the smartest you'll ever be and then you start realizing how much you really don't know as you get older. So enjoy all you know while you're still thirteen .
DS - Still in the innocence of his youth and the most obsessed of our group about Disney. He is the momentum and the cheerleader for all things Disney. Thank god we have him along, other wise we'd be compulsive lounge lizards.
Day 5 -
The best decision I made was purchasing that fresh ground coffee at Starbucks for the hotel room.
Today we were not lolly gagging around in the hotel room, complaining about jet lag, and "Mom I can't get out of bed, and blah blah". No, we sprung out of bed and I was as close to a Theme Park Commando as I was ever going to be on this trip. By the way, I don't know if I mentioned or not, but while we were at the Dolphin the cheerleaders were there for most of the stay I have nothing against cheerleaders, but I had read some scary posts about cheerleaders gone beserk on this forum, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I kept an open mind and was very pleasantly surprised. First of all, the group at the Dolphin was very well behaved and chaperoned. A group of them even took DD under their wing at the pool (they asked her if she was a Flyer). She's really petit and they were probably eyeballing her for a potential recruitment. Anyway, we saw them in the lobby and elevators and stuff, and I was checking out the cheerleader hair thing, the cheerleader ringlets and the hair flip and thankful that I wasn't one of the moms having to fix their hair because I wouldn't of had a clue what to do. Ok, so here's the story and where the cheerleaders come in. I say to DD, "Hey, what about cheerleading at home, are you interested?" So I can do that fancy hair thing
- not really, I'd subcontract it to some other mom. DD starts giving me this story about how they have tried to get something going at her middle school here and no one signs up (they'd rather surf and this and that). We load up in our rental car, drive over to Animal Kingdom and as we are pulling into the parking lot, there's a van that has "Honk if you are from Hawaii" painted on the windows. We stop in our tracks - here we are several thousand miles from our home. Turns out that the cheer team from the highschool DD will attend here was in Florida for the cheer championships and visiting Animal Kingdom that day. Small World and getting smaller. We made it to Animal Kingdom early enough that we were able to walk onto Primeval Whirl, then over to Dinosaur with just a short wait. When we were over at Dinosaur, there was a little boy (probably about three if he was a day). He was crying and really scared about going on the ride and if his mom was getting mad at him because he didn't want to go on the ride,which just made him cry more. I am usually pretty laid back about things, but it bugged me that this lady was so bent on getting the kid on the ride.
We then headed over to Tarzan Rocks. We've seen this a number of times before and the sound system was up way too high this time. We sat way in the back, and DS was honkered down in his seat asking to leave. I saw a number of people trickle out. We made it through most of the show, but finally just stood up and left. I always enjoy that show, but it was just too loud this time. You'd think after all the rock concerts of the 80's I would have blasted my ears out long ago, but clearly I still have some hearing left.
We fast passed Safari and the kids went on Kali. Getting soaked to the skin in 60 something degree weather just wasn't my deal so DH and I stood on the sidelines and offered moral support.
It was fun though, standing on the bridge and watching them come down the rapids.The next stop was Tusker House for lunch and sweets, and Shade Grown coffee
I've searched these boards how and low for Decent Coffee in WDW. Well, I read about Tusker House and the Shade Grown, so had to try it. DH had the salmon and rice pilaf, which weren't bad. My cold chicken salad was just ok. The greens were looking pretty sad, wilted and overdressed. I think they sat too long in the queue, once those greens are dressed it doesn't take long for them to wilt. Then I had this thought that the chicken spent a life on the rotisserie the day before and found its way into the salad. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple ones. DS asked to have a rice krispy treat for dessert. They make them fresh at Tusker Housea and we picked out one with white frosting on it, and it was freshly made and all gooey and warm and just tasted really, really yummy and buttery and sugary
- and all washed down with the shade grown latte. My favorite food groups, butter, sugar and caffeine! I was in culinary heaven on a Rice Krispy Treat The whole family was picking at the rice krispy treat like a flock of crows. I was the biggest crow - get away from my rice krispy ! I probably could have sat there all afternoon and overdosed on rice krispy treats, but it was time to head to Safari. I can still taste that treat in my head and now that I am back home trying to eat a sensible diet I am going bonkers thinking about it We were lucky we fast passed Safari because there was quite a line to it - about a 75 minute stand by when we are arrived. On our trek we saw a variety of animals, including a number of elephants, but the impressive part was two rhinos walking within a few feet of the vehicle. That is the closest I've ever seen a rhino, or care to see them.
Also, ever other time we've been at AK it has been raining. Well today was our first sunny day over the years and we saw crocodiles sunning themselves on the rocks - which was another first. DS loves crocodiles - that Peter Pan connection. There was an ostrich nest too, but mama ostrich was no where to be found. She was way down the road hanging out. It was pretty funny because the driver said ostriches normally don't leave the eggs like that. The unfortunate thing was after we finished Safari we walked out with a mob of people and DH and DD went together one direction and DS and I went another. We ended up getting lost from each other. This is the one day none of us had our cell phones with each other
So DS and I circled around the park, and DH and DD circled and half an hour later we ended up at the spot where we'd originally lost each other and found each other - does that make sense? That whole episode was enough to scare me a bit, and we usually make plans in case to meet and didn't that day. I don't know where we were at with our heads, having a complete family airhead moment. Then DH and I start arguing with each other about who lost who and the mood at the Animal Kingdom suddenly went very sour. Finally, we decided to call a truce, chill and take a mid afternoon break, before reconvening and heading over to MGM.We returned to the Dolphin, did a quick freshen up, and headed on the Friendship boat to MGM. That is such a relaxing ride. The bad mood from the lost in Animal Kingdom fiascal quickly left us as we headed towards MGM. DS wanted to see Fantasmic and DH had never seen it at WDW, so we had a lot to look forward to. Our goal was to make it on our favorite rides - The Movie Ride, Star Tours, ROR and TOT and do Fantasmic. We lucked out, the wait for movie ride was no more than 15 minutes. Star Tours also moved pretty quickly, but by that time we were famished. I was having another I need coffee, sugar fix. We stopped at Starring Rolls bakery and I had lox and a bagel - quite acceptable, then this yummy peanut butter bar for dessert. They had dessert wines there, but it was getting close to park Happy Hour, so we went to the Tune In Lounge. I didn't realize this but it is on the other side of the Prime Time Cafe. Last time we were in WDW, the kids and I dined at Prime Time, but DH had never been there. So we sat up at the bar and he was taking in the black and white tvs and the old shows and all the retro and telling me how cool he thought the place was. Clearly, I had not consumed enough sugar yet
, so I told DH, "If you think this place is cool, wait til you try the milkshakes." So we each had a glass of wine and then topped it off with one of their hand dipped chocolate milkshakes. The bartender must have thought we were nuts for drinking and eating sugar, and he even asked a couple times, "You sure you wouldn't like to order one of our appetizers, or a dinner (i.e something sensible)?". DH was totally into the milkshake and when I in my normal food critic way, said, "Oh it takes like ice milk." He counters with "That's the way I love it, just like I used to have when I was a kid. This is the real stuff." We headed (I should say rolled) over to Fantasmic. It was about an hour before the performance and the crowd was starting to build, but we found nice seats right in the center of the amphitheater. Fantasmic is absolutely my favorite attraction in all of WDW, and if I could only pick one thing to do, that would be it. After the show, the kids wanted to do TOT and RNR. DH had already reset his terror threshold on Summit Plummit at BB, so I nominated him to escort the kids on the ride. He gave me that "Honey I'm this and all that look." The post Fantasmic crowds were pretty heavy and I was having a bit of a panic attack going on, so I bid the family adieu and said meet you back at the Dolphin. Then I embarked on something that in retrospect I would probably never do again - by myself. I walked back to the Dolphin on the path from MGM. Now mind you, that is a beautiful path, and in daylight, it would be perfect, or at night, if DH had been with me. Here I am all by myself walking this path, and I realize it is absolutely deserted. Even though it is well lit, and we are in WDW, I'm not naive. So I am halfway down the path and I break into a dead run back to the Dolphin. The people going by on the Friendship boats are probably thinking that woman is nuts, and yes, for most of the way back I felt that way. On my journey I did run into a solo women jogger with her headphones in. Then I think maybe I'm not so crazy - at least not as crazy as she is. At least I can hear if someone is stalking me. Still I feel a great sense of relief when I hit the Boardwalk Hotel (like the Boogie Man can't jump out at me at that point). Only momentarily... I catch sight of the back of that coaster pool and the clown face at night and I'm having Poltergeist flashbacks with the clown
, so I speed it up again. I dunno. I love the Boardwalk Hotel, it is absolutely one of the prettiest hotels at WDW IMO. That clown though, he kind of freaks me out - especially in the dark. I reach the final stretch to the Dolphin, and I have never been so happy to see a place. To top it off, a good rain starts up, so I made it home just in time. I didn't get mugged and I avoided getting wet! What more could a gal ask for?
Go figure!
