CleveRocks
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster worshipper
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
- Messages
- 9,589
DAY 2 Monday, May 9 ("There's No Crying in Disney World!")
Since my kids are usually up by a little after 7:00 a.m., I went to OPR before anybody woke up to get them Mickey waffles to surprise them (we'd told the kids about them for weeks, and they were excited by the idea). Even though OPR opens at 6:30 a.m., the Mickey waffle place doesn't open til 7:00 a.m. I passed the time by enjoying some real Southern grits (obviously much better than the Quaker instant kind I make at home in New Jersey).
When I got back to our room, the kids were still snoozing and my wife was awake but in bad pain. Her eyes got worse overnight. She was almost unable to open her eyes. They hurt all by themselves, but light made the pain very much worse. She couldn't put her contact lenses in because she couldn't open her eyes wide enough, and her vision is so poor that she can barely see without them. So living a Catch-22, she had to wear her glasses (always a last resort for her) so she could see at all, and thus couldn't wear the sunglasses that would have helped shade her eyes from the sun. Add on to this that my 5 year old son refused to get out of bed and was completely unreasonable. My plan to be at the Magic Kingdom gate for park opening fizzled into arriving at about 10:00 a.m., AND the kids barely nibbled on the Mickey waffles that I waited so long for. By the way, on Day 6 I learned that the kids Mickey waffles (2 small ones instead of 1 large one) come with bacon or sausage, which was never told to me the other mornings. As for the grown ups, we began getting our money's worth on our grocery delivery and had grapes and bagels with cream cheese for breakfast.
Finally, the Magic Kingdom. We zipped through stroller rental because we already had our pre-paid ticket. We began walking down Main Street, I'm marveling at the Castle, I try to arrange the kids for the traditional Cindy's Castle in the background photo, and BAM, my brand new digital camera is broken. There's nothing but white on the LCD screen, except for a black area in one corner where I see the inner pane of glass is broken (the outer pane is intact). We bought the little $350 baby specifically for this trip, GONE. I was bummed to say the least. I went to a vendor and paid $17 for a 27-exposure disposable, and tried to make the best of it.
Cinderellabration is about to begin, so we wait a few minutes. My MIL sits behind the Walt and Mickey statue, my wife is shading her eyes off to the side in what looks like a bus stop or small pavilion, and my FIL is minding the kids in the stroller while I run back to the photo shop in Town Square trying to, I don't know, pray to Lord Kodak that it's all just a nightmare. Anyway, I get back to find that my FIL moved closer to the street so he could get closer to the stage to see the show that just started, but in the process he moved the kids in the stroller such that they couldn't see the stage anymore (he was right behind a crowd of people, but back where my MIL was there was no crowd and hence the kids in the stroller could see better back there). I brought this to his attention and he told me they can see fine. I kneeled down to put my eyes at the kids' eye level, and I couldn't even see the bottom half of the castle let alone what was happening on the stage. The kids had a fantastic view of the back of a very attractive woman (and I won't go into more detail because I realize most of you are women and really wouldn't appreciate any more description here), but I assumed they'd rather see the action on the stage. I brought this to FIL's attention but he responded that the kids could see just fine (he was watching the show, not the aforementioned woman), and this is sadly typical for both of my in-laws, if they don't experience something then no one else does, either.
I went to where my wife was standing, spied a decent view, and went back for the kids. My wife and I each held one for the last few minutes of the show.
We next went to Mickey's Toontown Fair, one of the other WDW locations my son couldn't stop talking about all Spring. Just as he planned, his first stop was a ride on Goofy's Barnstormer with his zayda (pronounced ZAY-duh, what my kids call my FIL). Lisa took Mollie to see Minnie's house, and I went with Ben down to the playground. I thought he seemed like a giant in there, and it was the next day or so when I read that that playground has a 40 inch MAXIMUM height. Oh well, at least he didn't hurt anyone. Ben said he didn't want to go into the houses or judge's tent to see any characters, so it was off to Fantasyland.
Fantasyland. CROWDS. Finally, my chance to put all that FastPass theory into practice. I got us all FastPasses for Winnie the Pooh, and then took the plunge and got into a posted 40 minute line for Dumbo. I was dejected. All the learning, all the planning. I knew better than to get in line for Dumbo around Noon. I knew it was something to run to as soon as the rope dropped in the morning, but as I explained earlier that wasn't to be. So here I was wasting time with every poor slob in Fantasyland who didn't know any better. VERY surprisingly, my kids were patient and well-behaved. My in-laws sat at a table under the tent at Ariel's Grotto.
Before my wife and I got in the Dumbo line with the kids, we all agreed we'd eat lunch after the ride. I suggested to my FIL that to save time he should get us all food from the adjacent Pinocchio's Village Haus so we could get off the ride and immediately eat; MIL's job was to do what she does best, sit and take up space (ooooh, that was mean, and although I love my MIL and I don't mean that comment 100%, IT SURE FELT GOOD TO SAY!). I suggested he should get in line for the food about 25 minutes after we get in line for the ride, and my wife and I told him what to get for us and the kids.
The kids loved Dumbo, of course. We get off the ride expecting lunch. I joked with my wife that her parents wouldn't think to have gathered enough chairs for us all, and she agreed. We were right, but we left something out. They didn't think to get food for themselves or us, either. They both said they thought it would be better to wait until we were all together after the ride. Well, by now you know how this part of the story ends. FIL and I get in very long food lines, and when we finally get back to the table MIL complains and asked why it took so long because she and the kids were getting very hungry and they shouldn't have had to wait that long. My wife and I look at each other and I wonder how my in-laws ever produced the woman I fell in love with and her two normal brothers who I'm as close to as my three siblings. My in-laws produced a public relations and marketing whiz, a doctor, and a Wall Street guru, but they have trouble producing lunch. Astounding.
The food was just so-so, by the way. Monstro's Turkey Sandwich was nothing to write home about, and I didn't find it necessary to taste anyone's burger or hot dog.
I got us all FastPasses to Mickey's PhilharMagic, and we then went to use our Pooh FastPasses. It felt pretty cool to use a FastPass for the first time. I felt like a VIP. I tried my best not to look like a dork as I walked past the 45 minute stand-by line, but I think I failed. The Pooh ride was great for everyone, just as we'd expected. As we walked through the gift shop, Mollie fell in love with a blue Woozle which we bought for her.
Right from there we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic. At that time, there were only a very few people in the stand-by line, with a posted wait time of 5 minutes. Well, we had the FastPasses, might as well use them. The FastPass "greeter" collected the FastPasses from me, and when we snaked around and got to the second CM he asked for our FastPasses. I was in the back, but Lisa and MIL both told him the first CM took them from me. He said no, it doesn't work that way, he needs the FastPasses. I reiterated that the first CM already took them from me. He told me, and I'll never forget this quote, "You're mistaken or you're lying and you'll have to get in (the stand-by) line."
It takes a lot to get me angry and have me show it, and this did it. I immediately hit the roof at being called a liar, and he then smiled and let us into the theater. I again told him the first CM took our FastPasses, and he sarcastically said something like, "I'm letting you in, aren't I?" As we snaked through the velvet ropes we had to pass by him again. I called down and said something to him like, "Mike (I made sure he knew that I knew his name), why would I even bother lying about this, there's not even a line outside?!" He said nothing, but he smiled smugly and disapprovingly shook his head. Well, we didn't let that person affect our good time, because we all LOVED Mickey's PhilharMagic.
As I waited in line in the gift shop to buy something for Ben, MIL decided to mention to the cashier the rudeness we endured from Mike the CM. The cashier literally stopped what he was doing to give his full attention to MIL, who highlighted that it was especially poor that he was rude in front of the kids, and motioned towards Lisa, who was standing a few feet away. Please recall that she had bad eye problems that day; she was in pain and could barely open her very sore and red eyes.
The cashier CM took one look at her, the mother of the kids who witnessed the rude behavior, and said to her, "Are you crying? There's no crying in Disney World!" (BTW, this was NOT said in the sarcastic tone of a drunken Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own" when he said, "There's no crying in baseball!"). He left the counter to get a manager; meanwhile, there was a line of customers not being waited on all this time. The manager comes out, hears MIL tell the story again, which I pitched in on, and he apologized profusely and offered us a priority FastPass good anywhere in Fantasyland. Pixie dust for all!
The only other FP ride we wanted to do was Peter Pan, which was great because there was a 60 minute stand-by line and the FastPass return time was more than two hours later; we'd been resigned to skipping it and going right back to CBR. I wish we had. BORING. Even my five-year-old thought so, and he wasn't riding with me so I know I didn't influence his opinion. Except for the flying over London scene and the pirate ship scene, it just didn't look engaging to me, or rather, it really didn't look terribly "Disney" to me. The funniest thing, though, was that when we walked up to present the Priority FastPass, who let us through but Mike the rude CM. It was like something out of a movie. I was bursting to tell him how we got that piece of paper, but I decided I was bigger than that. I'm really not, but I somehow conjured up the maturity to just FastPass on by. And by the way, you can be darn sure I held on to that special FastPass until I got to the second CM.
It was getting to be late afternoon, but we pressed on for one more ride, It's a Small World, figuring that if we accomplish that we won't have to return to Fantasyland. The stand-by wait time was posted as 10 minutes, but it was more like 25. Great ride, quite magical in so many ways. Only one problem: I last rode it when I was five years old, and it seems it was just a few MONTHS ago that I finally succeeded in getting that song out of my head. Oh well, here I go again. I think I can even sing it in Italian by now.
Back to the hotel beginning around 3:45 p.m. FINALLY. One running joke between my wife and me all day had to do with her eye problems. Since it helped her a lot to close her eyes, she asked to hang onto my arm as we walked so I could guide her with her eyes closed. I called myself her "Seeing Eye Dude" and it stuck all day and the next. Neither of us has used the word "dude" much since some time after college, but whenever I walked away without Lisa in tow I'd hear a pathetic little, "Dude???"
After some much-needed rest, we went to OPR food court for dinner around 6:30 p.m. This is around when my in-laws started grumbling about counter service/food court food, and my not having the right PS; months ago, I guessed we'd be at MGM today and I made since no post-parade times were available I made a pre-parade 4:20 p.m. PS at 50s Prime Time Café. I was just-about scolded by them for my poor planning (this from the people who told my wife months ago something like, "We can eat burgers all week, tell Eric to stop asking us questions and making those stupid reservations").
I decided to finally have my first WDW junk food, double bacon cheeseburger and fries. Yum. My favorite way to eat a burger is with LOTS of onions. My wife hates onions, and hates onion breath even more. In everyday life, I often choose to skip onions at dinner because even if there's not going to be any romance that night I realize my wife still has to sleep next to me. BUT NOT IN DISNEY WORLD! To prevent any possible middle-of-the-night fights between our two kids who move around more in their sleep than MIL moves during the day, Lisa and I decided we'd each sleep with one child. So that said to me EXTRA ONIONS FROM THE TOPPINGS BAR! It truly takes very little to make me happy. When Lisa saw my plate she smiled and said something like, "Just realized you're not sleeping with me tonight, huh?" It's so nice to be married to your best friend.
We had a late pool night at our village pool, just me and the kids. We got to watch the fireworks part of IllumiNations from inside the pool.
Ben told us we were going to Epcot tomorrow because he wanted to meet Figment. Since we didn't have a pre-arranged plan for what parks on what days, the little man rules.
Since my kids are usually up by a little after 7:00 a.m., I went to OPR before anybody woke up to get them Mickey waffles to surprise them (we'd told the kids about them for weeks, and they were excited by the idea). Even though OPR opens at 6:30 a.m., the Mickey waffle place doesn't open til 7:00 a.m. I passed the time by enjoying some real Southern grits (obviously much better than the Quaker instant kind I make at home in New Jersey).
When I got back to our room, the kids were still snoozing and my wife was awake but in bad pain. Her eyes got worse overnight. She was almost unable to open her eyes. They hurt all by themselves, but light made the pain very much worse. She couldn't put her contact lenses in because she couldn't open her eyes wide enough, and her vision is so poor that she can barely see without them. So living a Catch-22, she had to wear her glasses (always a last resort for her) so she could see at all, and thus couldn't wear the sunglasses that would have helped shade her eyes from the sun. Add on to this that my 5 year old son refused to get out of bed and was completely unreasonable. My plan to be at the Magic Kingdom gate for park opening fizzled into arriving at about 10:00 a.m., AND the kids barely nibbled on the Mickey waffles that I waited so long for. By the way, on Day 6 I learned that the kids Mickey waffles (2 small ones instead of 1 large one) come with bacon or sausage, which was never told to me the other mornings. As for the grown ups, we began getting our money's worth on our grocery delivery and had grapes and bagels with cream cheese for breakfast.
Finally, the Magic Kingdom. We zipped through stroller rental because we already had our pre-paid ticket. We began walking down Main Street, I'm marveling at the Castle, I try to arrange the kids for the traditional Cindy's Castle in the background photo, and BAM, my brand new digital camera is broken. There's nothing but white on the LCD screen, except for a black area in one corner where I see the inner pane of glass is broken (the outer pane is intact). We bought the little $350 baby specifically for this trip, GONE. I was bummed to say the least. I went to a vendor and paid $17 for a 27-exposure disposable, and tried to make the best of it.
Cinderellabration is about to begin, so we wait a few minutes. My MIL sits behind the Walt and Mickey statue, my wife is shading her eyes off to the side in what looks like a bus stop or small pavilion, and my FIL is minding the kids in the stroller while I run back to the photo shop in Town Square trying to, I don't know, pray to Lord Kodak that it's all just a nightmare. Anyway, I get back to find that my FIL moved closer to the street so he could get closer to the stage to see the show that just started, but in the process he moved the kids in the stroller such that they couldn't see the stage anymore (he was right behind a crowd of people, but back where my MIL was there was no crowd and hence the kids in the stroller could see better back there). I brought this to his attention and he told me they can see fine. I kneeled down to put my eyes at the kids' eye level, and I couldn't even see the bottom half of the castle let alone what was happening on the stage. The kids had a fantastic view of the back of a very attractive woman (and I won't go into more detail because I realize most of you are women and really wouldn't appreciate any more description here), but I assumed they'd rather see the action on the stage. I brought this to FIL's attention but he responded that the kids could see just fine (he was watching the show, not the aforementioned woman), and this is sadly typical for both of my in-laws, if they don't experience something then no one else does, either.
I went to where my wife was standing, spied a decent view, and went back for the kids. My wife and I each held one for the last few minutes of the show.
We next went to Mickey's Toontown Fair, one of the other WDW locations my son couldn't stop talking about all Spring. Just as he planned, his first stop was a ride on Goofy's Barnstormer with his zayda (pronounced ZAY-duh, what my kids call my FIL). Lisa took Mollie to see Minnie's house, and I went with Ben down to the playground. I thought he seemed like a giant in there, and it was the next day or so when I read that that playground has a 40 inch MAXIMUM height. Oh well, at least he didn't hurt anyone. Ben said he didn't want to go into the houses or judge's tent to see any characters, so it was off to Fantasyland.
Fantasyland. CROWDS. Finally, my chance to put all that FastPass theory into practice. I got us all FastPasses for Winnie the Pooh, and then took the plunge and got into a posted 40 minute line for Dumbo. I was dejected. All the learning, all the planning. I knew better than to get in line for Dumbo around Noon. I knew it was something to run to as soon as the rope dropped in the morning, but as I explained earlier that wasn't to be. So here I was wasting time with every poor slob in Fantasyland who didn't know any better. VERY surprisingly, my kids were patient and well-behaved. My in-laws sat at a table under the tent at Ariel's Grotto.
Before my wife and I got in the Dumbo line with the kids, we all agreed we'd eat lunch after the ride. I suggested to my FIL that to save time he should get us all food from the adjacent Pinocchio's Village Haus so we could get off the ride and immediately eat; MIL's job was to do what she does best, sit and take up space (ooooh, that was mean, and although I love my MIL and I don't mean that comment 100%, IT SURE FELT GOOD TO SAY!). I suggested he should get in line for the food about 25 minutes after we get in line for the ride, and my wife and I told him what to get for us and the kids.
The kids loved Dumbo, of course. We get off the ride expecting lunch. I joked with my wife that her parents wouldn't think to have gathered enough chairs for us all, and she agreed. We were right, but we left something out. They didn't think to get food for themselves or us, either. They both said they thought it would be better to wait until we were all together after the ride. Well, by now you know how this part of the story ends. FIL and I get in very long food lines, and when we finally get back to the table MIL complains and asked why it took so long because she and the kids were getting very hungry and they shouldn't have had to wait that long. My wife and I look at each other and I wonder how my in-laws ever produced the woman I fell in love with and her two normal brothers who I'm as close to as my three siblings. My in-laws produced a public relations and marketing whiz, a doctor, and a Wall Street guru, but they have trouble producing lunch. Astounding.
The food was just so-so, by the way. Monstro's Turkey Sandwich was nothing to write home about, and I didn't find it necessary to taste anyone's burger or hot dog.
I got us all FastPasses to Mickey's PhilharMagic, and we then went to use our Pooh FastPasses. It felt pretty cool to use a FastPass for the first time. I felt like a VIP. I tried my best not to look like a dork as I walked past the 45 minute stand-by line, but I think I failed. The Pooh ride was great for everyone, just as we'd expected. As we walked through the gift shop, Mollie fell in love with a blue Woozle which we bought for her.
Right from there we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic. At that time, there were only a very few people in the stand-by line, with a posted wait time of 5 minutes. Well, we had the FastPasses, might as well use them. The FastPass "greeter" collected the FastPasses from me, and when we snaked around and got to the second CM he asked for our FastPasses. I was in the back, but Lisa and MIL both told him the first CM took them from me. He said no, it doesn't work that way, he needs the FastPasses. I reiterated that the first CM already took them from me. He told me, and I'll never forget this quote, "You're mistaken or you're lying and you'll have to get in (the stand-by) line."
It takes a lot to get me angry and have me show it, and this did it. I immediately hit the roof at being called a liar, and he then smiled and let us into the theater. I again told him the first CM took our FastPasses, and he sarcastically said something like, "I'm letting you in, aren't I?" As we snaked through the velvet ropes we had to pass by him again. I called down and said something to him like, "Mike (I made sure he knew that I knew his name), why would I even bother lying about this, there's not even a line outside?!" He said nothing, but he smiled smugly and disapprovingly shook his head. Well, we didn't let that person affect our good time, because we all LOVED Mickey's PhilharMagic.
As I waited in line in the gift shop to buy something for Ben, MIL decided to mention to the cashier the rudeness we endured from Mike the CM. The cashier literally stopped what he was doing to give his full attention to MIL, who highlighted that it was especially poor that he was rude in front of the kids, and motioned towards Lisa, who was standing a few feet away. Please recall that she had bad eye problems that day; she was in pain and could barely open her very sore and red eyes.
The cashier CM took one look at her, the mother of the kids who witnessed the rude behavior, and said to her, "Are you crying? There's no crying in Disney World!" (BTW, this was NOT said in the sarcastic tone of a drunken Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own" when he said, "There's no crying in baseball!"). He left the counter to get a manager; meanwhile, there was a line of customers not being waited on all this time. The manager comes out, hears MIL tell the story again, which I pitched in on, and he apologized profusely and offered us a priority FastPass good anywhere in Fantasyland. Pixie dust for all!
The only other FP ride we wanted to do was Peter Pan, which was great because there was a 60 minute stand-by line and the FastPass return time was more than two hours later; we'd been resigned to skipping it and going right back to CBR. I wish we had. BORING. Even my five-year-old thought so, and he wasn't riding with me so I know I didn't influence his opinion. Except for the flying over London scene and the pirate ship scene, it just didn't look engaging to me, or rather, it really didn't look terribly "Disney" to me. The funniest thing, though, was that when we walked up to present the Priority FastPass, who let us through but Mike the rude CM. It was like something out of a movie. I was bursting to tell him how we got that piece of paper, but I decided I was bigger than that. I'm really not, but I somehow conjured up the maturity to just FastPass on by. And by the way, you can be darn sure I held on to that special FastPass until I got to the second CM.
It was getting to be late afternoon, but we pressed on for one more ride, It's a Small World, figuring that if we accomplish that we won't have to return to Fantasyland. The stand-by wait time was posted as 10 minutes, but it was more like 25. Great ride, quite magical in so many ways. Only one problem: I last rode it when I was five years old, and it seems it was just a few MONTHS ago that I finally succeeded in getting that song out of my head. Oh well, here I go again. I think I can even sing it in Italian by now.
Back to the hotel beginning around 3:45 p.m. FINALLY. One running joke between my wife and me all day had to do with her eye problems. Since it helped her a lot to close her eyes, she asked to hang onto my arm as we walked so I could guide her with her eyes closed. I called myself her "Seeing Eye Dude" and it stuck all day and the next. Neither of us has used the word "dude" much since some time after college, but whenever I walked away without Lisa in tow I'd hear a pathetic little, "Dude???"
After some much-needed rest, we went to OPR food court for dinner around 6:30 p.m. This is around when my in-laws started grumbling about counter service/food court food, and my not having the right PS; months ago, I guessed we'd be at MGM today and I made since no post-parade times were available I made a pre-parade 4:20 p.m. PS at 50s Prime Time Café. I was just-about scolded by them for my poor planning (this from the people who told my wife months ago something like, "We can eat burgers all week, tell Eric to stop asking us questions and making those stupid reservations").
I decided to finally have my first WDW junk food, double bacon cheeseburger and fries. Yum. My favorite way to eat a burger is with LOTS of onions. My wife hates onions, and hates onion breath even more. In everyday life, I often choose to skip onions at dinner because even if there's not going to be any romance that night I realize my wife still has to sleep next to me. BUT NOT IN DISNEY WORLD! To prevent any possible middle-of-the-night fights between our two kids who move around more in their sleep than MIL moves during the day, Lisa and I decided we'd each sleep with one child. So that said to me EXTRA ONIONS FROM THE TOPPINGS BAR! It truly takes very little to make me happy. When Lisa saw my plate she smiled and said something like, "Just realized you're not sleeping with me tonight, huh?" It's so nice to be married to your best friend.
We had a late pool night at our village pool, just me and the kids. We got to watch the fireworks part of IllumiNations from inside the pool.
Ben told us we were going to Epcot tomorrow because he wanted to meet Figment. Since we didn't have a pre-arranged plan for what parks on what days, the little man rules.
