Girls Scout Leader
<font color="red">Brave And Fearless Leader Willin
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2001
- Messages
- 808
I understand that many people consider a vacation a time to relax, sleep, etc. No me. "I can sleep at home". This bacame my mantra, I swear.
Saturday morning, and I was awake long before the alarm, about 6am. I was at Disney!! Most everyone in our room was moving around also. The girls decided they wanted ti hit MGM and Rock-n-roller coaster first, and go to Animal Kingdom after. Most are not real animal buffs, and figured that 1/2 day ould be enough.
After these boards, I knew that MK on a Saturday would not be a good choice, neither would a water park. So, Animal Kingdom would be my first pick. The other adults, along with my sidekick Barb (16) were going along, too. Now, the firstbus was to depart SOG at 8am, so logic tells me to leave the room no later than 7:45. (It's a five mile walk to the bus stop from our room, I swear!). No such luck. I tried to be nice and wait for the stragglers, but nice gets you nowhere. It gets you wating while someone decides to make a phone call. GGrrrr. Ok, out the door, down the hall, up the elevator, down 300 more halls, down stairs, through the breakfast lines at the food vendor, and out the door. 8:15. Waited for the bus ,and off to Animal Kingdom.
Did I mention how hot it was? Steaming. But the bus parked in the parking lot, explaining how to find this place again and how often he would be there for pickup. Something like every 30 minutes at 15 and 45 min after the hour.
We learned how to have our bags open as wide as we cvould and have everything ready for expection. Some guards hsut peeked in, some has you open change purses and glasses cases.
I had packed a lunch in a small colapseable cooler with a zip lock bag of ice before I left. I had some cheese and crackers, a cup of fruited jello, some grapes, a bownie and a bottle of water. Nutrition? Nah. Vacation! Took that to get alocker. Now I realze that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but for some reason when I got the key ($5.00 + $2 returnable fee) I just walked in and tried putting it in the first locker I found. Humm, won't work. Tried another. Another. Barb took the key form me and suggested that I match the number on the key with the number on the lockers. Oh! One of those DUH moments.
On to the park! Immediatly I realized that my commando style of touring was not going to fly with everyone. One mom is a very heavy smoker and has trouble moving around. The good thing is that she really didn't want to do hardly anything anyway was was very content to be left inthe dust. Another mom wanted to take thing slower as well, so we parted ways.
I wanted to take Cindy (my Aunt) and Barb to see Tough to Be a Bug so bad, because neither had seen a 3D movie before and what better to begin! But rather than a fast pass, it was a walk on. There was actually a cast member at the entrance waving people in. The downside to this is that you cannot spend as much time checking out that tree. And what a tree it is. It's one of those things that everytime you look you see things you did not see before. And eveeryone loved the show! I was real glad that I did not let out the surprises ahead of time.
We headed right to Kali River Rapids and it had 5 minutes before it opened, so we waited and loved the ride. Total walk on again. I got quite wet, but at first you would thing that would be a blessing. (Did I mention how hot it was?) But walking around in wet denim, even though itwas shorts got very uncomfortable.
After we got off, we had out first charector encounter, Rafiki. Too fun.
Ran into the herd. The had just arrived. Beki was in heaven becasue of a frozen banana stand she found. Parted again.
We explored that various trails, tried Rafiki's planet watch, (not really into goats, but the petting zoo is great for little ones) and got grossed out watching them prepare food. The meal owrms were particularly fiesty. There was a line of tubs of various food they feed there and you were free to feel, and even taste fi you watned. These were obvoiusly for vegitarian animals, so nothing gross, but very interesting to see flamngo chow, primate mix, etc.
Guess it's the farmer in me coming out.
By then it was lunch time. I really didn't watn my snacks then, but "real food". So we headed to my favorite place, Flame Tree BBQ. All morning when ever we'd pass a restaurant, we would check out the menue for future reference. But like the BBQ offereings best.
About this time it became apparent that the cell phones were one of the best purchases I could have made. Off and on all day Beki (my daughter) would call and check in, and would tell things like Sera, the chicken loved Rock-n-roller coaster, what the line was like for TOT, etc, and that they were heading for Animal Kingdom.
But while we were eating, the phone rang and it was her. When she began with "Mommy" I knew something was up. She was not having a good time by now with the rest of the herd. They watned to shop, eat at Rainforest, and things she was not interested in, but the rules are you cannot navigate the parks alone, and no one wold accompany her to join us. So we kept in touch almost constantly and she headed to Flame Tree. No problem. She got a tray of food, and was so glad to see us. We ate in the rear of the Flame Tree in the shade and she told of her adventures of the day. Most everything went well, but she was glad to be with us. But there were two small problems. At MGM that morning they all played the locker stuffing game while they rode and brought the ticket stub to Aminal Kingdom to do the same. And the rest of the herd was in Rainforest, with the key, and some of her stuff was in there, like a ride photo. For the record, the lunch at Rainforest took them almost 2 hours, because they would justsit and chat. Would ahve drove Beki crazy to sit that long while Disney was waiting. The other small problem was that we ahd fast passes for Dinosaur and none for her. After we ate, and she was til eating and cooling down, we headed over to Dino. Stand by line was only 15 minutes, so we called her and told her we would wait and all ride together. She finished in record time, met us there and we all loved it. Solved that one.
After that, we called the herd and they were still in Rainforest, so we wetn over there, got the key, got her stuff and that's when I realized that her small backpack looked rather stuffed. After we weeded through it, I discovered that she was carrying around another girl's Britta water bottle as well as her own. Apparnetly the other girl was wearing a cute sun dress and matching bag that would not hold that bottle so Beki was tring to be nice and hold it too. I am not so nice. Carry your own stuff or leave it in the room. So solved that prob too.
Another funny thing was found in the bag, too. It seems that one of the girls had swiped 4 pairs of 3D glasses from one of the shows, and stashed them in Beki's bag! I was steamed. Especially when the mom, when confronted with it, blew it off.
Beki was taking with Cindy about ITTBAB. Beki remembered it from 2000 and they were laughing at other's reactions to it. Cindy said "want to go again? amd Beki said no, because you already saw it, etc. Cindy figured if there was something cool that Beki had already done, she would do it again for Cindy. So, away we went to check out the standby. Again, no wait! And again, it's my favorite 3D.
Did other small things, and relaized, at 2pm, we ahd done all we wanted of Animal Kingdom. Called the herd, who were still with thier moms, more or less, and told them we were heading to MGM. I do not really know where they ended up later, but I know they were back to the rooms that night before us. Got my $2 back, and we decided to head for the room to freshen up before heading back out. Freshen? I could have used a squeegee on myself.
The room was not cleaned yet, but who cares? Took quick showers, changed out of my still wet shorts. It was now 5 hours since the Kali River and they were still sopping, statting to chafe. Nothing can dry in that humidity. Ate some snacks. Actually, the ones that I had packed and never ate. I did not eat them, well, actuall I think I ate the brownine, but I was glad I had taken them anyway.
Unloaded our bags. Did not buy much at all, but stuck the maps, etc in the suitcases, the Dino ride photo, etc, filled up the Brittas with ice water, and off to MGM for the evening.
Saturday morning, and I was awake long before the alarm, about 6am. I was at Disney!! Most everyone in our room was moving around also. The girls decided they wanted ti hit MGM and Rock-n-roller coaster first, and go to Animal Kingdom after. Most are not real animal buffs, and figured that 1/2 day ould be enough.
After these boards, I knew that MK on a Saturday would not be a good choice, neither would a water park. So, Animal Kingdom would be my first pick. The other adults, along with my sidekick Barb (16) were going along, too. Now, the firstbus was to depart SOG at 8am, so logic tells me to leave the room no later than 7:45. (It's a five mile walk to the bus stop from our room, I swear!). No such luck. I tried to be nice and wait for the stragglers, but nice gets you nowhere. It gets you wating while someone decides to make a phone call. GGrrrr. Ok, out the door, down the hall, up the elevator, down 300 more halls, down stairs, through the breakfast lines at the food vendor, and out the door. 8:15. Waited for the bus ,and off to Animal Kingdom.
Did I mention how hot it was? Steaming. But the bus parked in the parking lot, explaining how to find this place again and how often he would be there for pickup. Something like every 30 minutes at 15 and 45 min after the hour.
We learned how to have our bags open as wide as we cvould and have everything ready for expection. Some guards hsut peeked in, some has you open change purses and glasses cases.
I had packed a lunch in a small colapseable cooler with a zip lock bag of ice before I left. I had some cheese and crackers, a cup of fruited jello, some grapes, a bownie and a bottle of water. Nutrition? Nah. Vacation! Took that to get alocker. Now I realze that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but for some reason when I got the key ($5.00 + $2 returnable fee) I just walked in and tried putting it in the first locker I found. Humm, won't work. Tried another. Another. Barb took the key form me and suggested that I match the number on the key with the number on the lockers. Oh! One of those DUH moments.
On to the park! Immediatly I realized that my commando style of touring was not going to fly with everyone. One mom is a very heavy smoker and has trouble moving around. The good thing is that she really didn't want to do hardly anything anyway was was very content to be left inthe dust. Another mom wanted to take thing slower as well, so we parted ways.
I wanted to take Cindy (my Aunt) and Barb to see Tough to Be a Bug so bad, because neither had seen a 3D movie before and what better to begin! But rather than a fast pass, it was a walk on. There was actually a cast member at the entrance waving people in. The downside to this is that you cannot spend as much time checking out that tree. And what a tree it is. It's one of those things that everytime you look you see things you did not see before. And eveeryone loved the show! I was real glad that I did not let out the surprises ahead of time.
We headed right to Kali River Rapids and it had 5 minutes before it opened, so we waited and loved the ride. Total walk on again. I got quite wet, but at first you would thing that would be a blessing. (Did I mention how hot it was?) But walking around in wet denim, even though itwas shorts got very uncomfortable.
After we got off, we had out first charector encounter, Rafiki. Too fun.
Ran into the herd. The had just arrived. Beki was in heaven becasue of a frozen banana stand she found. Parted again.
We explored that various trails, tried Rafiki's planet watch, (not really into goats, but the petting zoo is great for little ones) and got grossed out watching them prepare food. The meal owrms were particularly fiesty. There was a line of tubs of various food they feed there and you were free to feel, and even taste fi you watned. These were obvoiusly for vegitarian animals, so nothing gross, but very interesting to see flamngo chow, primate mix, etc.
Guess it's the farmer in me coming out.
By then it was lunch time. I really didn't watn my snacks then, but "real food". So we headed to my favorite place, Flame Tree BBQ. All morning when ever we'd pass a restaurant, we would check out the menue for future reference. But like the BBQ offereings best.
About this time it became apparent that the cell phones were one of the best purchases I could have made. Off and on all day Beki (my daughter) would call and check in, and would tell things like Sera, the chicken loved Rock-n-roller coaster, what the line was like for TOT, etc, and that they were heading for Animal Kingdom.
But while we were eating, the phone rang and it was her. When she began with "Mommy" I knew something was up. She was not having a good time by now with the rest of the herd. They watned to shop, eat at Rainforest, and things she was not interested in, but the rules are you cannot navigate the parks alone, and no one wold accompany her to join us. So we kept in touch almost constantly and she headed to Flame Tree. No problem. She got a tray of food, and was so glad to see us. We ate in the rear of the Flame Tree in the shade and she told of her adventures of the day. Most everything went well, but she was glad to be with us. But there were two small problems. At MGM that morning they all played the locker stuffing game while they rode and brought the ticket stub to Aminal Kingdom to do the same. And the rest of the herd was in Rainforest, with the key, and some of her stuff was in there, like a ride photo. For the record, the lunch at Rainforest took them almost 2 hours, because they would justsit and chat. Would ahve drove Beki crazy to sit that long while Disney was waiting. The other small problem was that we ahd fast passes for Dinosaur and none for her. After we ate, and she was til eating and cooling down, we headed over to Dino. Stand by line was only 15 minutes, so we called her and told her we would wait and all ride together. She finished in record time, met us there and we all loved it. Solved that one.
After that, we called the herd and they were still in Rainforest, so we wetn over there, got the key, got her stuff and that's when I realized that her small backpack looked rather stuffed. After we weeded through it, I discovered that she was carrying around another girl's Britta water bottle as well as her own. Apparnetly the other girl was wearing a cute sun dress and matching bag that would not hold that bottle so Beki was tring to be nice and hold it too. I am not so nice. Carry your own stuff or leave it in the room. So solved that prob too.
Another funny thing was found in the bag, too. It seems that one of the girls had swiped 4 pairs of 3D glasses from one of the shows, and stashed them in Beki's bag! I was steamed. Especially when the mom, when confronted with it, blew it off.
Beki was taking with Cindy about ITTBAB. Beki remembered it from 2000 and they were laughing at other's reactions to it. Cindy said "want to go again? amd Beki said no, because you already saw it, etc. Cindy figured if there was something cool that Beki had already done, she would do it again for Cindy. So, away we went to check out the standby. Again, no wait! And again, it's my favorite 3D.
Did other small things, and relaized, at 2pm, we ahd done all we wanted of Animal Kingdom. Called the herd, who were still with thier moms, more or less, and told them we were heading to MGM. I do not really know where they ended up later, but I know they were back to the rooms that night before us. Got my $2 back, and we decided to head for the room to freshen up before heading back out. Freshen? I could have used a squeegee on myself.
The room was not cleaned yet, but who cares? Took quick showers, changed out of my still wet shorts. It was now 5 hours since the Kali River and they were still sopping, statting to chafe. Nothing can dry in that humidity. Ate some snacks. Actually, the ones that I had packed and never ate. I did not eat them, well, actuall I think I ate the brownine, but I was glad I had taken them anyway.
Unloaded our bags. Did not buy much at all, but stuck the maps, etc in the suitcases, the Dino ride photo, etc, filled up the Brittas with ice water, and off to MGM for the evening.
