Saved the best park for last - Hollywood Studios is my favorite. I
could sit on Tower of Terror all day long - unfortunately the rest of
my group doesn't feel the same way
I think Wednesday was our first
day here. Hubby went and got fastpasses for Toy Story and I went down
to wait for him by Tower and RnR. While waiting at the intersection I
saw the boys come down the street and head to RnR. I texted them -
they were getting fastpasses then going to Tower of Terror. When they
cam back through the intersection they stopped and talked to me a
minute - I tried to get them to wait for hubby so we could all ride
Tower together, but they were too impatient. Hubby wouldn't answer his
phone so I couldn't tell them how close he was. They went on ahead and
hubby showed up - of course he walked right past me and into the
bathroom so the boys were too far gone to catch up at that point.
Hubby & I rode Tower, looked at RnR but line was too long so we
skipped that and did Great Movie Ride, then it was time for Toy
Story. I think we got more fastpasses when we got there. We got in
the fastpass line and were immediately shuttled over to the handicap
line (I had parked my scooter and walked) There was a party there who
needed two more to fill their cars so we had no wait at all. Hubby's
score was higher than mine - we were both in the 120,000 - I think he
was 126 and mine was maybe 123 or 124. I don't know what we did after
that - I know there were no muppets, star tours, indy or well.....lots
of things - maybe we just shopped. I know we wound up over at the
little book shop/coffee shop that I can never remember the name of.
We had ADRs for lunch at 1:30 and hubby didn't think he'd last that
long and wanted a cookie - I knew they had treats there so I know we
stopped in there and had a chocolate chip cookie and a diet coke. Then
we looked around the shop awhile. I know I must have something out of
order here because I can't think of anything else we did before
lunch.....maybe that is when we saw One Man's Dream, but I thought
that was later - my mind is slipping.
At some point we did see One Man's Dream and while we were waiting
outside the double doors an elderly cast member struck up a
conversation with us. We were trying to look at the model on display
right next to the Cast member only doors. He said something to us, we
replied, then he asked where we were visiting from. I had noticed his
name tag said he was from Carbondale, IL - we are also from Illinois,
and our son was going to be going to school in Carbondale right after
we got back from vacation. We mentioned that to him - big mistake! We
heard his life story after that, how he worked for the phone company,
and installed all the lines in the dorms, he asked which dorm our son
was staying in and said that we should try to get him switched to this
other one that he says is the best, and he told us about a great place
to go eat - not the typical pizza and burgers that college towns are
full of. Him and his wife both work at Disney now, in fact his wife is
his boss, but that works ok because he doesn't do anything wrong. They
only work part time and they have been guaranteed to be scheduled the
same hours so they can make the drive together. The conversation
wasn't so bad, but I was on my scooter and he kept moving closer and
closer, so I kept leaning back further and further. There were so many
people in that area I didn't want to back up. I was just uncomfortable
with his idea of where my personal space ended. he probably thought he
was just getting closer so I could hear him better. AFter awhile I
was a little annoyed with his insistence that we try to switch our
son's room. The ones he was talking about are nice, they are on the
lake, and they cost a whole lot more, plus my son had started out in
one room - he picked it based on the location and the description of
the roommate. They had talked and met, then his roommate got dropped
from the room - he had applied to be an RA, well he must have been
close to getting selected because they removed him from the room,
which allowed that space to be available for someone else to pick.
Well someone else did and he turned out to be a smoker. Sean didn't
want to room with a smoker, then his original roommate found out that
he didn't get the RA job, they decided they still wanted to room
together so they had to find an empty room. They wound up in a
different building. This whole thing makes me mad because we had paid
a deposit in Dec that allowed Sean to be among the first to select a
room (after returning students I guess) and after he picked it the
school messed it up by dropping Max from the room so now they are in a
building that instead of having a bathroom connecting their room to
another, they have community bathrooms down the hall, and this
building doesn't have as many extra features as the original one.
Granted, he could have stayed in his first room - but he had picked
Max based on the questionnaire that he had filled out - he wouldn't
have picked rooming with a smoker. But that is totally off track.
Lunch that day was all of us at 50's Prime Time Cafe, or as hubby
calls it "Mom's". Sean's birthday was July 22, and he loves this
restaurant, so since we were only a couple weeks after his birthday
(we were there on Aug 5th) I had listed his birthday as the
celebration for this meal. When we checked in at Saratoga they gave us
birthday buttons for Sean, me (mine was July 28th but I didn't list
mine as anything - it just must have been on file) and Mark, plus
anniversary buttons (not until Sept???) This day I told Sean could be
his unofficial birthday. This irritated Mark to no end - he didn't
think it was right that Sean was wearing his birthday button when it
wasn't his birthday. Of course, everything Sean does irritates Mark.
When we got to Primetime our server saw Sean's button but saw that
Mark was listed on the ticket as having a birthday (I noticed that was
on a lot of our meal tickets - I only listed it on his actual
birthday, I think I may have mentioned it for the trip too so maybe
that's where they drew it from) When I made the ADR here I told them
we were celebrating Sean's birthday, but they only had Mark listed -
the server wrote "Sean too" in crayon where it was printed about
Mark's birthday. I had fried chicken, hubby had a salad (guess that
cookie of his was pretty filling), I don;t remember what Sean got - a
sandwich I think, Mark & Ryne had the meatloaf - they exchanged the
green beans for french fries, and Adam had fried chicken. Our server
was ok - but not any fun. The ones around us were very outgoing and
very interactive with their tables, one sent one of the girls at his
table into the other room to sit with a different family because she
wasn't following the rules and her table voted her out. Mark was back
in the corner being grouchy and said that they better not do anything
to embarrass him, that he just came here to eat not get messed with.
He is no fun! Our server did try to feed Adam some of the veggies on
his plate (I don't know what they were - it came with the fried
chicken - Ihad it too and it was ok) but he wasn't having any part of
it, he's no fun either! She did pring out cupcakes for both Sean and
Mark and had the room sing to them. We have had better meals there -
but this was ok.
We split up again after lunch. I don't know what the boys did, we
wound up back over at Toy Story again. This time we waited a little
longer in the fastpass line, but this time I won. I had 128,000 and
his was a little higher than the time before but not as high as mine.
I declared myself the champion and that was the end of our Toy Story
adventures. We came back to the park again on other days, but not
early and never rode again. We were going to go watch the Muppets and
rounded the corner and looked out over the plaza by the fountain and
it was packed so we decided against taht. i think about that time we
heard from the boys......no wait - this is where I messed
up.........One Man's Story was later in the day - this was before
lunch. So rewind here - Before lunch we heard from the boys - they
wanted to go watch American Idol, Mark didn't want to. Mark came over
and met us and I went over with the other boys who were still in the
holding area waiting for the show. Mark didn't want to go because he
had gone to a finale show earlier in the week and thought that if they
went they would be late for lunch. Well, the earlier shows only have 3
people so even though there is more filler I don't think they last as
long. So I went with the other 3 boys and hubby & mark just walked
around, they were waiting for us outside aftewards then we went to
lunch. While we were in Idol, hubby discovered that the busts over in
the American Film Institute Plaza had been changed. We were here last
year and several of the busts were missing. We were hoping they had
just taken them down to clean or maintain. Nope several of them have
been replaced with new busts. Among the missing are Milton Berle, Sid
Cesar........and Danny Thomas. Every year we have taken pictures of
hubby with the Danny Thomas bust because - well, because hubby's name
is Danny Thomas (not Daniel - his given name is Danny) Now it's gone.
He wasn't happy.....another tradition, just like breakfast / lunch at
the GArden Grill has been taken away
. Ok so Idol's over, we go to
lunch, hubby & I go do Toy Story, then One Man's Dream, there now I'm
back on track. The boys had fastpasses for Toy Story later than ours -
while we were in One Man's Dream. When we got out of that, I think
hubby may have decided to go on back to the room, or maybe he shopped
for awhile but I went with the boys to the Idol finale. It was extra
hours that night at the park so I'm thinking they probably stayed
after that - There was one night that Mark & I went back to the room
together, so that could be it - I think hubby went back while we
watched Idol, then Mark & I came back, then the other 3 boys later.
The Idol finale was neat. We were sitting there and they showed all
their taped interviews of the various previous winners and
contestants, then our host told the contestants (they were all on
stage for their initial introductions) that there was someone who had
been in their shoes. I figured it would be another taped pep talk -
and here walks out Reuban Studdard! Ryne (my middle boy) was excited -
he perked right up in his seat (he's a big Idol fan - Idol and WWE
wreslting, go figure!) Reuban being there was all he talked about
after that. I reognized some of the judges from theComedy Warehouse.
I told muself to remember their names - but I think I;m forgetting
one. There was Lisa - the blond that always kinda reminded me of Meg
Ryan, and Phillip was the Simon-ish judge once. Throughout the trip I
think I watched 3 Idols - one prelim and 2 finales, there were 2
different "Randy's" one actually looked just like Randy Jackson when
he came out - and I thought they introduced him as Randy, the other
was a taller slimmer black man and I don't remember his name. I saw
Lisa twice, and don't remember the other girl, and Phillip was once,
and another 'Simon" twice. That one I didn't like as much. He used
the same slam twice in the same show. There was a contestant from
Puerto Rico and one from some other country and he told both of them
that he had the honor of visiting their country 3 times and it was
beautiful and that on none of those trips had he visitied a karaoke
bar, and now thanks to them he wouldn't have to. The first time it
was kind of a funny put down, but hearing the exact same thing just a
few contestants later????
On Saturday Sean decided to try out for Idol so he went over early, I
came a little later - this was the day hubby was going to do all these
other things - and didn't. Sean didn't make it past the initial
audition. He now wishes he had tried earlier in the week so he could
have taken their advice and tried it again later. He was so sure that
he would get selected that he waited until the day that he thought
would be most convenient for him to be tied up with doing show stuff.
He did win the Knox County Teen Idol a couple years ago, and the Carl
Sandburg College Idol the next year, but that is a much smaller pool
of people you are competing with. So on my day with the boys, we went
to Indiana ones. I took the scooter in, the guy on the left said he
was full and sent me to the right, I get a little ways down the right
and that guy tells me he's full and to go to the left. I told him
left sent me this way because they were full. then miraculously he had
a spot for me - and another one next to it that another gal came to
shortly after I got there. I told the boys if they wanted to sit down
lower that they could. Mark sat with me, the other three went down.
Ryne is 18 now and wanted to try to be a volunteer. He didn't get
chosen. After Indy Mark wanted to go on the backlot tour. He told
Sean, who was leading our little pack - and he blew him off and said
they'd get to it later. Now I understand why Mark has had such an
attitude! I told Sean to head towards Backlot because I hadn't done
it yet. On our way we went by Muppets - hadn't don't that yet either
so I told them to go in here. We didn't spend any time in the holding
room - we walked in (I parked the scooter), got our glasses and the
doors opened - so our timing was great. Mark pouted until I told him
this was my idea because it is on the way and I hadn't seen it yet.
After Muppets we looked through the Muppet store. I wanted to get
something Kermity - but couldn't find anything I wanted. (backstory -
when my brother was a sophomore the choir did Sesame Street as one of
the fall musicals - he was Kermit, he sang "Being Green" and a trio
with Bert & Ernie - "I can only sing the Middle Part". Ever since
then we have always associated Bret & Kermit together. The day before
Thanksgiving my brother died - at his visitation we had a lot of his
stuff out on display, a stuffed Kermit was one of them, and at his
funeral the pastor played a clip from the Muppet Show of Kermit
singing "Being Green". So since this was our first trip since losing
Bret I wanted to get something. But like I said, nothing really
caught my eye) After leaving the store we headed to Backlot, now Mark
was demanding to be fed, apparently that was another problem with SEan
- he would put off eating a long time after Mark was hungry. We went
to the place there by backlot but the boys weren't impressed, so I
said we would go look for somethng else. Mark decided since we were
already there we could go ahead and do Backlot and eat afterwards. So
we go up the line and to the water effect area where they tell us this
is where they usually have volunteers, but today they were just gonna
tell us about it. That was lame. We leave there and go through the
prop room and on out to the trams. There were too many wheelchairs/
scooters ahead of us, so we had to wait for the next tram. Here was
our next disappointment. Now the tour spiel is pre-recorded. Our "tour
guide" sat there at the front of our car, putting antiseptic and a
bandaid on her knee the whole time. I don't know what the point of
having her there was, she didn't talk - unless maybe she was just
there to remind us to stay seated. Since the whole thing is pre-
recorded now, the entering the canyon thing is even less believable.
Instead of making you think you are getting in and things go wrong and
you are actually there doing a shoot and you aren't supposed to be,
you are "in on it" the whole time and you are pretty much told you are
watching an effect. Not nearly as "fun" as suspending belief and
pretending you weren't supposed to be there. The boys didn't like the
shop at the end as much either - used to have more movie star stuff -
and a lot of Elvis stuff - not so much anymore.
Now Mark thinks he's starving so we go over to the Backlot Express for
burgers and dogs and chicken strips. While there they were discussing
what we were going to do next. They weren't agreeing. We left and went
to Star Tours. I had never taken the scooter with on ST but thought
I'd try it this time - instead they told me to park it and sent me
through the fastpass line. I don't know if that is typical, or what
they do if you can't walk through the line. They did ask me if I
could and that the wait wasn't long - we walked through and went
straight to the main room and only waited a short while to get placed
in a line. When we got off Mark decided he was done and wanted to go
to Epcot because he still hadn't seen the American Adventure. Sean was
moaning and groaining about that and said there was still stuff here
to do - In that way Sean is like me - I could spend days at the
Studios. So I told Mark to go ahead and go to Epcot if he wanted to,
I was gonna do RnR and Tower and head back. So that's what we did. I
went to RnR and got in the single rider line (parked the scooter) and
got on fairly quickly. Went to Tower. The line was pretty long so I
thought I'd take the scooter. Well, evidently you can't take it
through the line, they asked if I could walk - well, that late in the
day, for that long - no, i couldn't. Then they asked if I had anyone
with me that could take me through in a wheel chair - again, no - they
were on the other side of the park - I think they were going to the
Car show. I was just going to leave - I had ridden it earlier in the
week, but she said she would call ahead and I could go through the
exit and she would have someone meet me there. So that's what I did. I
felt guilty bypassing the line since I know there is a lot of stigma
about people renting scooters "to go to the front of the lines".
Well, as I learned at Thunder Mountain, that ust isn't the case - this
time, however it was. So I rode Tower and then headed back to the room.
I think we actually started the day on the Movie Ride - I know I rode
it with the boys because Sean was showing me a hidden Minnie in the
loading room.
We were back again on Sunday - Mark's birthday. We had ADRs for supper
at Hollywood and Vine. We had done other stuff earlier that day then
came over just before our ADRs. Mark wanted to eat here, but i really
didn't want to have the JoJo characters, mainly because I don't know
who they are so I scheduled us for supper. AFter supper I don't
remember what hubby did. I know the boys and I went to see Beauty and
the Beast, then Ryne & I went to see Idol. Sean & Adam did Mermaid,
Mark wanted to go to Epcot again, hubby told him he could walk there -
Mark didn't know how, and actually hubby didn't either - he just knew
you could, so the two of them found and took the walkway over. Mark
wanted to buy some stuff at America. He had gotten his birthday fun
card that morning worth $79. He bought a couple Liberty Voices cds -
yes, he is 16, he normally listens to crap that I don't like, but then
he likes Elvis, and patriotic stuff - he's an interestingly
contradictory kid. AFter Ryne & I got out of Idol, hubby called and
said I should come over and meet them at Boardwalk. I got ahold of
Sean and had Ryne meet up with them. They were going to stay for
Fantasmic again - hubby & I did not watch it at all this year. I
found the walkway and found them over at Boardwalk, then we walked
over to Beach Club. Mark has always insisted we stay at Old Key WEst.
I vetoed him this year because I thought the Treehouses sounded really
neat - he agreed because that meant he would have a bed instead of the
couch. After seeing ESPN and Stormalong Bay he regrets being so
adamant about OKW whenever we would suggest trying to get in somewhere
else. Now he wants to go to Beach Club. If we can get our dates
settled we are going to try for that next year - or Boardwalk. He'll
lose access to the pool but will be closer to ESPN and can still walk
over to the Amercan Adventure as often as he wants. I may book us at
OKW to start with just to make sure we have somewhere to sleep and
then try to switch at 7 months, but right now we are still trying to
figure out "when".
AT some point the boys watched Indy again and Sean was selected as a
volunteer - he did it last year once also, and both times did the evil
laugh. Ryne was disappointed they didn't pick him. He is 18, but is
a pretty skinny kid, so probably doesn't look old enough.
At the Studios this year I missed Fantasmic, Animation, Narnia (not
interested), Lights Motor Action (also not interested), Little Mermaid
and Playhouse Disney. I like Mermaid, but don't need to see it every
year, I would have liked to go through Animation, we haven't done it
in years - that and Fantasmic are the only things I wish I had done -
plus ride Tower a dozen more times. Rode the Movie Ride twice - sat
in the front seat with the driver with hubby, didn't have a very good
guide or cowgirl, rode it again with the boys had a great guide and
and ok cowboy. The guide saw Sean trying to show me the hidden Minnie
so when we unloaded he went down and shown his flashlight on it so I
could see it better.
AFter discovering the walkways I am now more comfortable about trying
to stay at Beach Club or Boardwalk. Especially since I have committed
to scooters. We thought about staying there last year but didn't know
how long the walking path was or how I would get along with a scooter.
We were going to go from Epcot over to Beach Club for ice cream one
afternoon last year to see how the walkway was for future reference
and never took the time. Now we've finally learned what we've been
missing. Hubby and boys can do the walk fine, and with the scooter I
can do it.
I should have one more installment with our non-park ventures
Tanya
and some other odds and ends I can't recall right now.
The MYW tix were cute - one was Donald, one Mickey and one Goofy. As much as we love Minnie I'm glad she wasn't on one of them - I had a heck of a time getting one of the boys to take the Cinderella card last year and having 3 "guys" made it much easier. I decided to let DS15 pick which one he wanted (he was most likely to complain if he didn't get the one he wanted) and in a fit of niceness he hollered at DS18 and let him have first choice. Well, DS18 chose Donald (I would have given him Goofy since that's what I call him half the time). DS15 sounded a little deflated by that so I asked who he would have picked - yep - Donald. And since their temperments are the same that is who I would have given him. So not having yet learned his lesson, he texts his buddy that we are bringing and lets him pick between Goofy and Mickey. His buddy picks Goofy. So DS15 was "stuck" with Mickey. Not that we don't love the Mouse and all, he's a great guy and it's wonderful that he let's us come visit his place so often, but Mickey is everywhere on everything so having one of the other guys is more fun. But I guess DS15 was using all his niceness up at once.
Then, of course, something he wanted wasn't washed (even though I told him the day before he needed to make sure what he wanted was clean or to let me know so I could wash it) and by then it was too late to run another load and have it dried before we wanted to go to bed. Luckily he has tos of Cubs shirts and just picked another one 
. But anyway, this whole tangent is because I want to start getting ready NOW for our trip - yes it is a month and a half away - but in my time frame that is YIKES 
. It has 5 new packages of underwear, 2 sets of shampoo and conditioner, misty fans, 2 swim suits, some fold-up duffle bags, water balls for the pool, bandaids, and other miscellaneous doo-dads. I am driving everyone insane asking what they have and what they need, and what should I buy for groceries. Granted I am way behind buying groceries for us to eat now (I haven't gotten used to everyone being here all day every day now that school is out and our cupboards are pretty bare) but, by golly, I have started a list for what I want to buy to take in the van on the way down, and what to buy once we get to Publix (the cold stuff mostly) 
I think that qualifies as Disney math doesn't it?
Hubby is wanting to buy a new video camera before we go so until he settles on one and gets it he won't worry about anything else that needs to go, and nobody but me worries about whether they have clothes that fit more than 24 hours before we get on the road. So they will just have to deal with me pestering them every time I see them because every pair of shorts that we confirm still fit and aren't falling apart, is one less pair of shorts I have to worry about possibly having to buy the day before we leave.
Trip related that is about the only news. We had bad storms that knocked our power out for about 40 hours. Not as bad as some have had to endure, but still inconvenient. Especially the timing of it. We had a bus trip to leave for early Sat morning, and with the power out the pump in the water tower didn't work so by Friday the water was really low. (Power went out 4:30 Thurs morning). Estimates for power returning were up to a week - which would mean by Sat morning there would be know water to take a shower with (in the dark) so Friday afternoon we checked into a hotel. I hooked up my dialysis machine, only to discover that the storm had killed it. So I had to run to the Drs office to pick up some manual bags. I hadn't done enough that day since I was anticipating using my machine that night. So the next day was miserable - I hadn't dialyzed enough the day before, and couldn't do any on Sat (one in the morning when I got up) because we were on the bus, and at Wrigley field for another extra-inning game, then back on the bus. I did another manual bag when I got home - but should have done at least 2 more on Friday and on Saturday. Sunday was a golf tourny early in the morning so I didn't have time to do one when I got up - went and registered the golfers, then did a bag when I got home. Had to go back to the golf course to collect score cards then back home to take middle son to watch oldest son perform in a play. By the time that was over and we got back home I had so much extra fluid on me from 3 days of insufficient dialysis that I thought I was going to pop. Luckily they had swapped out my machine that afternoon so I have been back on the machine since Sunday night and finally feel human again.
