I told the kids we had to get there by *:30 sinec the park opens at 9. see , they no longer do "rope drop" (also known as the "toy story running with the bulls") at DHS. they just open early, so everyone slowly makes their was where they want to go.
I was surprised that they didnt really open early, maybe 5 minutes. they got in one line, but, using my vast disney knowledge, I said "no, everyone always gets in the first line they see. look to the right, much shorter line. so we moved. a little later they opened another line. now.. nebo and I would have skirted over there real quick....(well, I would have skirted, nebo would have tripped).
we like to make a little game out of some things. getting from illuminations to the bus stops used to be the most fun.. trying to beat your time from the last time, etc.seeing a checkout at a CS restaurant where there is a long line on the left side, but no one on the right side?.. SCORE!!!:cool1
Todd, however, does not find this amusing or fun. I get half the sentance out, and I hear, "mom, we're fine where we are, I don't want to stress out the whole time". sigh...ok (but 15 -20 people are now in front of us, and I wasn't stressing out, just using my experience to allow us to experience the max in the least amount of time.. but not stressed about it, it's just second nature to me now, and anyway, it's FUN to try to beat the crowd, and...)
but I didn't say that. I just said... Ok, fine.
once in, Jackson started what would be a theme all week. He loves maps. ( I always did as a kid, and still do). well, he decided he wanted a Japanese map! he got such a kick out of it! it was really cute.
we headed off for toy story, they gave me all their tickets for the rest of the day, as I would be fast pass runner. (ok Todd has muscles on his muscles.. why am I the FP runner? ) because I am QUICK, and I know where everything is.. my idea, not theirs.
kim keeps up with me, todd and Jackson are falling further back.. todd is not going to be in a hurry on this trip. I tell myself.. diane, do NOT bully them into doing things YOUR way. they invited YOU along on THEIR trip.
a few years back we were standing in the DSA by the castle, and 2 couples walked up, one older than the other. the older momgot all excited about some fireworks going off for the little mickey castlefront show, and squealed and grabbed the grown daughter.. "Look! we have to go see that now! quick!" and the daughter put her foot down and yelled.."MOM! just LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!!!!" YOU go see it if you want! I just want to realax!"
I did not want to be that mom, and end up having my son yell at me like that in WDW, so I resisted the urge to hurry them along. we'll get there when we get there. (now Nebo is reading this and saying,"why isn't she so patient with ME?!")
at TSM, I was paired with kimmy cause Jackson wanted to ride with daddy, of course. then they checked in to H&V and I was on my own! weird.
I wandered over to do the animation class. that was fun. I started thinking about how it will be when we live nearby, and I can just wander whereever I want. then I got a hot tea at starring rolls. and still had time to kill. gee, perfect time for a smoke right by echo lake, near H&V. oh well.
the rest of the day was kind of a blur.. we origianlly were going to go back and forthe to epcot, to try to get FP for soarin and do a few thing. then go back to DHS for the car stunt show and back to epcot again for iluuminations.. they had bought hopper passes, and with all the ADRs they made, it would hard to get itin all we wanted to.
I had reminded steve about this, and didn't know WHEN we would be back. there was no pool break planned that day. if all went well, it could be a full day thing.
well, they decided against the epcot thing and we ended up getting back earlier than I thought we would. even so, we didn't get in the car stunt show. we would do that another day.. we did do the Indiana Jones, and Jackson loved that. (I couldn't get either of them to volunteer to be extras.. todd and kim aren't the jump up and scream, yell and wave arms types, unlike todd's dorky parents)
they had absolutely NO interest in littel mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. girl stuff..
. but turns out jackson is quite the daredevil!!!!
I was imagining him needing to be talked into TOT, and saying "I'll go if Grandma Smidgy goes" and me being in a quandry, and sacrifcing myself for my little grandson, who loves me so much......nope. he though he wanted to tryit.. didn't matter if I went or not... anyway, he wasn't that crazy about it, but he loved RORC. they got FP for that, and waited in line for TOT.. sign said maybe a 30 min. wait.. so I said I'd be at that spot where everyone wait, by the turky legs, where the DSA used to be. after a while, it got hot there, there were no seats, so I thought I'd go peek in Beauty and the beast.. I should be able to see most of that... but I got nervous I might iss them, and have no phone. so I ducked out and went by the exit. worried I might have missed them, and walked back and forth between the 2 spots till they finally came out about 45 miutes later.
I know at one point (earlier, there was just enough tie to get to TSM to use our fast passes, but we could get another FP.. I knew I could make it to star tours to get them and make it back.
boy, is that a long run! I still don't know the best way to go from the one to the other, and I thought my lungs were going to give out. I made it back to TSM with just a couple minutes to spare.
evenwith kim's disney App on her phone, this stupid "enforce the return time" on the FP is a pain in the butt. it's not just criss crossing to the ride you are going to ride. it's also criss crossing to get the fastpasses when you are able.
we never did do muppets. but they ruled out going to epcot and wanted to just keep pressing on. I don't remember eating there at all. we spent a lot of time in line for some star wars toys at a stand, and Jackson wanted to do RORC again. I knwo at one point I wanted to try to call steve, and I was holding the backpack while they were on a ride, but I dug out the phone and had no idea what to do from there!
I had no idea how to make a call on that thing. Todd had sprung for some frozenlemonades, and I finished mine while they went back for RORC. then we left to go back to pop.
I think it was that night steve and I got mom' night out. we really liked them! he got turkey, I got fried chicken.. a few years back I thought it was too small, but now it was just right. (feel like Goldilocks here).
the next mornign was Typhoon Lagoon. we planned that day for water parks becuase it was EMH. originally we weren't going to do a water park, but todd really wanted to , and then they wanted to try both, so we thought maybe we could do early entry at one, do a few things, then drive over to the other when the early entry one got too crowded.
that night todd siad "that's it, I don't care what is planned tomorrow, I'm NOT getting up early!!! I get up early every day for work 5 am, and I want to sleep in a bit"
so I didn't know what time we were leaving in the morning, but I knew it was a bad idea to go to a water park (or any park for that matter) that had early entry UNLESS you are there for the early entry... . oh well.
I believe that was part of the reason steve nixed coming with.. he said by the time we get there, there will be long lines, and I can't wait in long lines now, and youguys will be off on the slides anyway, and I'll be lying in the hot sun with a headache.
and, that was that. I had fun with the kids, it was kinda fun beign on my own for a bit. but I missed nebo.. a lot.
. fish bone stuck in my throat, stomach aches in the middle of the night) cost tons of money and run tons of tests, xrays, etc.
