Diznenut
Is it time to go? Is it? Huh Huh?
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2005
- Messages
- 101
Cast of Characters:
Diznenut ( 38 ) - Lover of all things Disney and obsessive planner
DH ( 39 ) - Work-a-holic, hates planning anything
The Princess ( 8 ) - The Fuzzy Princess, the ruler of the roost
Extras:
Lost CM
Rafiki and Timon
Spitting Camels
Tinkerbell
Act 3 - On to Disney!
Scene 1 - Ok, so I'm an idiot
Sunday morning was finally here! YEAH! We get up at the crack of "holy cow - is there really a 7 am on Sunday". Everyone is excited and ready to move over to our new digs at Disney. We pack everything up in record time and get it loaded into the car. DH drives around to the front of the hotel and I run in and check us out. The desk clerk checks everything and says "do you want to put this on your credit card?"
Wait a minute. I already paid for this room once! I booked it through valuerooms.com and had to pay up front. The lady says, "no. it is not paid for." I tell her to hold on a second and run out to the car and get my passporter, mumbling the entire time. I KNOW it was already paid for. Arrogantly, I thumb thru and open up the printout of the confirmation and show her right there. See! It says "Your reservation with Best Western Movieland has been confirmed for your arrival on November 25, 2005. 1 room for 2 nights at the rate of 39.00 plus tax per room per night. Please make payment arrangements.. with.. the .... hotel...... at ........ check-in."
OOOPS
I apologize and meekly hand over my credit card. So sorry. I am an idiot.
I get back outside and hubby takes one look at my face and laughs. "Well, ms-plan-everything-to-the-9th-degree, i see you were wrong, again!"
So I made one tiny little mistake. ok two if you count the trip to the outlets.. oh and again for getting us lost on the way to Medieval Times.. Then I get the satisfaction of hearing "Well I have nobody but myself to blame. You tried to show me the plans and I wouldnt look."
YES! Vindicated! All is right in the world again. I bite my tongue to keep "I TOLD YOU SO" from leaping past my lips and smacking him upside the head. Then he does get a smack upside the head when he finishes off with "so, is anything on this trip already paid for?"
GRRRRR - kapow!
We find our way onto Disney property and of course, have to take the obligatory passing thru the arch shot.
WE'RE HERE! The Princess and I start dancing in the seat and DH is hollaring YEAH BABY! Moments later (see I can navigate!!) we pull in the drive, go through the checkpoint and arrive at nirvana!
DH pulls in to the drop off area, I grab my passporter and go in to check us in. The very sweet CMs help DH unload the car and stash everything in the luggage holding area while he parks the car. I walk in and
OH HOLY COW
The line is HUGE!!! I'm thinking oh no. This does NOT bode well. DH comes in with The Princess, takes one look at that line and the color totally drains out of his face. He comes over and whispers "I thought you said this week was supposed to be much quieter! " I whispered back, "It is. I guess everyone knows the secret of going after thanksgiving now." Then a very nice gentleman in front of us said "Its not bad, its just before 11 am, check out time. If you don't have a credit card on file, you have to check out manually. Most of these people are leaving from being here all Thanksgiving week"
Whew! Another crisis averted.
I slowly make my way through the line until 30 minutes later, I finally can see the smiling face of a CM.
I pull out my paperwork, smile sweetly and give them my name. She puts in the information and gets us our keys. She asks if we want charging privileges? Sure do! I ask her about the 130.00 excess on our room. Is it showing up? No. But thats normal as they don't get that kind of information when the system downloads in the mornings. She told me to call reservation office and they would take care of it for me. Oh.. and there's a box here for you. Shall I get it now? No thanks, I'll come get it later.
Ok - side note: I wanted this vacation to be extra special so I made up little gift bags for The Princess from "Tink". She is going to get one every day along with a nice little note that alludes to some of the things planned for that day. I had mailed it to myself at the Resort the previous week. This was the box she was talking about.
She tells me room 241 and gives me a map to the room. I ask her about when will the room be ready - thinking with all these people leaving, it'll take a while to get the rooms ready.
"It's ready now!"
Oh heavens.. is that the flutter of little pixie wings?
I leave the desk, gather up my kiddies and we head over to the food court to grab a bite to eat. DH and I get a double cheese burger basket, The Princess gets a cheesesteak wrap basket. Dessert is tie-dye cheese cake - which turns out to be The Princess's favorite. Anything that turns the mouth blue and the tongue green has her vote!
I grab the required re-fill mugs and head over to use the Disney Dining plan for the first time. NO PROBLEMO! OOOO This is gonna be a great vacation.
After eating, we head up to the room to deposit the mugs. We are in the 70's building with the Big Wheel. The Princess thought it was super cool!
We get to the room, open the door and BEHOLD - LUGGAGE! Wow.. our luggage beat us to the room. More fluttering pixie wings!!! We drop the mugs, grab our park stuff and take off for the official start of GOOF QUEST 2005 - The Search for The Goof.
Scene 2 - Invading the Kingdom
The plan for the day was to take the car back to Alamo, catch a bus for Magic Kingdom and play the day away.
Again.. ah but the best laid of plans...
From the internet, I knew the car care center was "over near the Dolphin" so we went in that direction. After filling the car with gas, we proceeded over to the Dolphin and I went in to find out where we should go. I asked a valet who said he wasn't sure. I could try bell services. I asked bell services - he said try the front desk. Front desk directed me over to guest services desk and lo-behold there's a sign that says "ALAMO CAR RENTAL". Will wonders ever cease?
15 minutes in line and the Goof Crew come looking for me. Sorry honey, but I haven't gotten things figured out yet. I get a "why-didn't-you-plan-this-better" look and they stood with arms crossed until it was my turn. I tell the lady, "I've got a car to turn in but I can't find anyone to take it. I'm supposed to turn it in to the Car Care Center but I don't know where that is. Can you please help me before my family commits some sort of act of violence all over your nice clean carpet?"
Sure! You can leave it here. Just give the valet outside the keys and they will take it for you.
WHY DID'T HE TELL ME THAT WHEN I ASKED HIM 45 MINUTES AGO??????
So we go back outside, to the SAME valet and tell him we're turning in an Alamo car. No problem. He takes the keys, gives us a receipt and directs us over to where the busses run. We sat and waited until one came. Quietly.. a little too quietly. RUH ROH
We finally catch the bus to Magic Kingdom and arrive at 2:30pm. Hubby is so excited he forgets to be mad at me about the car return. A quick trip through security and the "squeeze the hell outa the finger thingy" and we're there!
OOOO DISNEY DISNEY DISNEY.. We're here.. we're finally here... omg look theres Cruella Diville and Wendy and there's Chuck and Dave and Mickey and Minnie. LOOK LOOK LOOK! ITS THE CASTLE!!!! (angel choir singing in perfect harmony)
Ok, so I got a little over excited.
We stopped long enough to get "the castle picture"
ugh I hate pictures of myself. Especially when the sun is in my eyes and I'm squinting without trying to squint. Please notice white Disney bucket hat in right hand. This will be one of the last times it's ever seen.
We cross over into Adventure Land - go left!- and run right into celebrities.
The Princess is enchanted again. I'm thinking yeah!! She still believes in magic. Good job momma, you got her here before she stopped believing! She gets her autographs, gets her picture taken and stops to make her very first pin trade with the handler.
She runs over to where we are and shows us the autographs, pins, and says "Wow, those guys have got to be hot in those suits!"
BUBBLE BURST! Oh well...
We walk on around and stop for some ice cream. I have to try the dole whip - it's the talk of the internet. DH gets a Tropical milkshake and The Princess gets a dish of vanilla. None of this is eligible for snack credits so we whip out the room charge and then find a nice quiet place to enjoy our treats. The great navigator is at it again and sits us right smack dab in the middle of a smoking area. We move off to less polluted area and wolf them down. DH loved his milkshake. Vanilla ice-cream is always good but, I really didn't much care for the dole whip (dodges keyboards being thrown at the computer screen). I mean it was ok, but nothing like the religious experience I was expecting.
Finishing up, the guys take off to explore Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. I decided to hang back and wait for them - taking this much tonnage climbing around a tree house is not my idea of a great time. I found the exit and settled down to wait on them.
Is that rain? I look up and see no clouds in the sky. oh well, my imagination - wait - no.. it's raining. I can see the wet spots on my shirt. I look all around and it finally dawns on me- that's not rain, that's camel spit!
I moved out of the range and settled down to watch as the camel from the Aladdin ride spit water at passersby. It was so funny. Some people didn't notice while others looked around for rain clouds. The funniest one was a youngish couple walking by, girl in front of the guy - he was obviously in the doghouse already. She catches water right on the side of her face and turns around and slaps her fellow. He's looking like "what did I do?" He was still trying to figure out what went wrong when the troop finally exited the tree house. I was still laughing, so I let them in on the joke. We watched a couple more minutes, then The Princess ran over and tried to be in the line of fire so she'd be spit on. She got tired and was ready to ride so we got in line to ride the carpets. Standby - 5 minutes. PERFECTO!
After soaring around on the carpet, we decided to take in the Enchanted Tiki Room show. It was so cute! From there, it was a short hop to Pirates of the Caribbean.
another short rant: Ok, I am a big person and I know this. However the ONLY time I had any trouble at all was going through the turnstile at POTC. They had that thing set for extra tiny. This was the only time I had to use the handicap gate and it was so embarrassing. rant over
We load up and take to the seas. There was a family behind us who had a little girl about 14 years old. She was crying "I don't want to go. I don't like it. I DON'T WANT TO!!!" but her parents made her go. By the end of the ride, she was laughing. So were we - I LOVE it! I had never been on it before so I was completely enchanted. So much so, that it was halfway to Splash Mountain before I realized I didn't have my hat. My white Disney Bucket hat has been stolen.. right off my head... what a bunch of.. well... pirates!
We decided to continue on and checked out Splash Mountain. 40 minute standby. DH says "NOPE... we'll try it later." How about fast passes? Nope - we'll come back later. So we go over to Big Mountain Thunder Rail Road. Standby - 15 minutes. We decide to stay for it.
The Princess is nervous. This will be her first Roller Coaster. Mommy is nervous. This is the first time the princess will be on a roller coaster. Will she like it and become a thrill nut like me or will she hate it and stay on the side lines with her dad?
We get on.. and SHE LOVES IT! What's more, hubby loves it too. They both declare this is the greatest ride ever. It totally rocks! They want to go on again but it's down for a bit for maintenance so we decide its just the first day and we can come back later. On the way out, we check splash mountain and see the standby is now up to 55 minutes. Nope not waiting on that.
Time to take in a show. We notice that Country Bears is just about to start so we go in, take a seat and watch the show. Corny.. but adorable. Loved it. Big Al will forevermore be my favorite. He was just too darn cute as baby new year!
Back outside and we spot a very LONG line. What's going on? Oh, more celebrities.
But the line is way too long to wait. Hopefully we'll catch up to them later.
Hey look! That's were I want to go! I've never been in the Haunted Mansion either. Lets go!
I stopped to get a sip of water on the way and EWWW - it smells like a sewer! What the heck is going on here? I warn the other two and we keep going to the Mansion.
There's actually a small line waiting to get in here. We stand there, admiring the tombstones and discussing the epitaphs, when this very tall boisterous lady pushes past everyone. The only thing we can think is that she figured we were just standing there looking at the graveyard. She pushes right on by us and everyone else until she gets stopped at the door by the CM. Standing there, she begins to fuss in what i think is Spanish - she's talking so fast I can only pick up the occasional word. She turns around and points to the Madame Leota stone and
SCREAMMMMMM - Madre Dios! and starts crossing herself and crying, calling on Santa Maria to save her..
The tombstone eyes had opened just as she looked at it. I almost busted a gut. She was on her knees shaking and crying, and if she hadn't just pushed past everyone in line, I may have even felt a little sorry for her. Her friends get her up off the ground and try to get her to come in the mansion. NO! There's no way she's going in there. It's cursed! She takes off cursing and ranting, full steam while her friends are trying to persuade her its just a trick. NO NO NO.. I'm still laughing, along with everyone else in line when the CM lets us in.
I get in one car, the crew in another. It's cute. I like this - nice and slow, catchy music. Love it. All is well until the hitchhiking ghost sits in the princess's lap. She decided at that moment, it would be fine with her if we never went back again.
Exiting HM, we headed over to fantasy land. There's a long line at Peter Pan - 45 minute wait - no thanks. Hey there we go - no line.
We ride though the enchanted doll land of a million renditions of IASM. The Princess loves it. I can see how this one can cause a lot of nostalgia. It's sweet and carefree, just like childhood should be.
Next on the list - Mickey's Philharmagic. Ok - we checked out every 3d show at Disney World. This was, by far, the best of the lot. LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED it. We get out and it's dark. Check my watch and its 6 pm - MK is closing and we have 1 hour to get to Wilderness Lodge for Dinner. Stop to get the first of about a bazillion castle at night pictures.
Back down main street and out to the boat launch.
Scene 3 - Bobby the Kid and Tink too!
We ride over to Wilderness Lodge and find our way to Whispering Canyon. I checked us in, requested Bobby Jo "the Kid" for our waiter and waited on our ufo thingy to go off. Meanwhile, I took the princess to the bathroom and ewwww - the water here smells like a sewer too! Man I'd hate to take a shower in this stuff. YUCK
We come out just as hubby is motioning for us to come on. The UFO had gone off. I have read stories about Whispering Canyon and about Bobby, the bandit, the kid etc. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it would be unbelievable. And we weren't disappointed.
Shortly after sitting, Bobby whizzed by and threw a handful of straws over his shoulder at the table across from us. DH looked at me and grinned. He was gonna like this place!
Bobby stopped by and I said "It's the bandit!" He looked at me like why did you say that? I quickly told him I knew the Dunlaps. He brightened up, pointed and said "BADSHOE!" Then said when I talked to them again, to tell them HI! from him. So Bennet, Kimball - HI from Bobby!
We ordered our meal and settled back to watch the madness unfolding around us. The table next to us was set up for a dozen people but only a couple were there. They explained the rest were coming soon. Bobby took their drink orders (they also knew what the rest of the party wanted). While he was gone, the rest of the party showed up. Bobby stopped on his way by and said "Oh, so nice of you to finally join us!" He then brought their drink orders, sat the tray down and said "Since you couldnt be on time, you get to serve" and walked off. The lady looked at him like he was crazy. Finally she picked up a drink, placed it on the table and got another. Bobby came back said "It's going to take you forever. This is how to serve... " and promptly spilled the guy's drink. He quickly cleaned it up, came back with one of those movie clappers and yelled "TAKE TWO!" and left for the kitchen. A minute or two later, he came out with a paper cup, long straw and some tape. He taped the lid to the cup, then the cup to the table and adjusted the straw with tape so that it was at the guy's mouth. Voila! A grownup sippie cup!
Hubby enjoyed the show, but I think he was kinda glad that Bobby didn't really mess with us too much. The Princess got to participate in the stick pony race - i mean walk. She also got a shower of napkins as he walked by. When we finished eating, and laughing at the poor lady at the next table (she asked for some wetnaps and got a whole box full) we got ready to leave. I asked if we could have a picture of him and he set 4 chairs, laid The Princess across on one side, put me and hubby in back and laid on the other two. Just as a fellow CM was about to snap the picture, a third one came by and snatched The Princess's shoes off and stacked them on her butt. She got the giggles. Bobby got the giggles. I think everyone got the giggles. But they snapped the picture.
Then suddenly, the manager and another 4 or 5 CM screamed "we want in too" and ran up and sat on the floor. Bobby said "TOO BAD YOU'RE TOO LATE" and got up and ran off. We presented our cards to pay and The Princess asked for his autograph and gave him one of her "special magic thank you cards". Bobby melted. "Oh sweetie.. I don't have anything for you. " He starts pulling out everything in his apron. "Here's some pens. Straws. Napkins. More pens. Oh here's a sharpie" It was truly magical!
We caught the bus to Down Town Disney, then over to Pop Century. They wanted to go swimming, so they changed into bathing suits while I went and got the box, unpacked everything and set up her first Tink gift. They came in about an hour later, dried off and she discovered her first gift - Goofy, a tink watch, gum, candy and a few other things. There was a note attached that said:
DH made a comment about how as much money as we spent on a room there, you think they could keep the pixies out. She loved it. They were feeling better and hadn't been coughing so I didn't make them take Nyquil - but I was still a little icky so I took some - just to be safe [I think I'm becoming addicted to this stuff].
Off to dream land and our next big adventure - A Day of Surprises!
Diznenut ( 38 ) - Lover of all things Disney and obsessive planner
DH ( 39 ) - Work-a-holic, hates planning anything
The Princess ( 8 ) - The Fuzzy Princess, the ruler of the roost
Extras:
Lost CM
Rafiki and Timon
Spitting Camels
Tinkerbell
Act 3 - On to Disney!
Scene 1 - Ok, so I'm an idiot
Sunday morning was finally here! YEAH! We get up at the crack of "holy cow - is there really a 7 am on Sunday". Everyone is excited and ready to move over to our new digs at Disney. We pack everything up in record time and get it loaded into the car. DH drives around to the front of the hotel and I run in and check us out. The desk clerk checks everything and says "do you want to put this on your credit card?"
Wait a minute. I already paid for this room once! I booked it through valuerooms.com and had to pay up front. The lady says, "no. it is not paid for." I tell her to hold on a second and run out to the car and get my passporter, mumbling the entire time. I KNOW it was already paid for. Arrogantly, I thumb thru and open up the printout of the confirmation and show her right there. See! It says "Your reservation with Best Western Movieland has been confirmed for your arrival on November 25, 2005. 1 room for 2 nights at the rate of 39.00 plus tax per room per night. Please make payment arrangements.. with.. the .... hotel...... at ........ check-in."
OOOPS
I apologize and meekly hand over my credit card. So sorry. I am an idiot.
I get back outside and hubby takes one look at my face and laughs. "Well, ms-plan-everything-to-the-9th-degree, i see you were wrong, again!"
So I made one tiny little mistake. ok two if you count the trip to the outlets.. oh and again for getting us lost on the way to Medieval Times.. Then I get the satisfaction of hearing "Well I have nobody but myself to blame. You tried to show me the plans and I wouldnt look."
YES! Vindicated! All is right in the world again. I bite my tongue to keep "I TOLD YOU SO" from leaping past my lips and smacking him upside the head. Then he does get a smack upside the head when he finishes off with "so, is anything on this trip already paid for?"
GRRRRR - kapow!
We find our way onto Disney property and of course, have to take the obligatory passing thru the arch shot.
WE'RE HERE! The Princess and I start dancing in the seat and DH is hollaring YEAH BABY! Moments later (see I can navigate!!) we pull in the drive, go through the checkpoint and arrive at nirvana!
DH pulls in to the drop off area, I grab my passporter and go in to check us in. The very sweet CMs help DH unload the car and stash everything in the luggage holding area while he parks the car. I walk in and
OH HOLY COW
The line is HUGE!!! I'm thinking oh no. This does NOT bode well. DH comes in with The Princess, takes one look at that line and the color totally drains out of his face. He comes over and whispers "I thought you said this week was supposed to be much quieter! " I whispered back, "It is. I guess everyone knows the secret of going after thanksgiving now." Then a very nice gentleman in front of us said "Its not bad, its just before 11 am, check out time. If you don't have a credit card on file, you have to check out manually. Most of these people are leaving from being here all Thanksgiving week"
Whew! Another crisis averted.
I slowly make my way through the line until 30 minutes later, I finally can see the smiling face of a CM.
I pull out my paperwork, smile sweetly and give them my name. She puts in the information and gets us our keys. She asks if we want charging privileges? Sure do! I ask her about the 130.00 excess on our room. Is it showing up? No. But thats normal as they don't get that kind of information when the system downloads in the mornings. She told me to call reservation office and they would take care of it for me. Oh.. and there's a box here for you. Shall I get it now? No thanks, I'll come get it later.
Ok - side note: I wanted this vacation to be extra special so I made up little gift bags for The Princess from "Tink". She is going to get one every day along with a nice little note that alludes to some of the things planned for that day. I had mailed it to myself at the Resort the previous week. This was the box she was talking about.
She tells me room 241 and gives me a map to the room. I ask her about when will the room be ready - thinking with all these people leaving, it'll take a while to get the rooms ready.
"It's ready now!"
Oh heavens.. is that the flutter of little pixie wings?
I leave the desk, gather up my kiddies and we head over to the food court to grab a bite to eat. DH and I get a double cheese burger basket, The Princess gets a cheesesteak wrap basket. Dessert is tie-dye cheese cake - which turns out to be The Princess's favorite. Anything that turns the mouth blue and the tongue green has her vote!
I grab the required re-fill mugs and head over to use the Disney Dining plan for the first time. NO PROBLEMO! OOOO This is gonna be a great vacation.
After eating, we head up to the room to deposit the mugs. We are in the 70's building with the Big Wheel. The Princess thought it was super cool!
We get to the room, open the door and BEHOLD - LUGGAGE! Wow.. our luggage beat us to the room. More fluttering pixie wings!!! We drop the mugs, grab our park stuff and take off for the official start of GOOF QUEST 2005 - The Search for The Goof.
Scene 2 - Invading the Kingdom
The plan for the day was to take the car back to Alamo, catch a bus for Magic Kingdom and play the day away.
Again.. ah but the best laid of plans...
From the internet, I knew the car care center was "over near the Dolphin" so we went in that direction. After filling the car with gas, we proceeded over to the Dolphin and I went in to find out where we should go. I asked a valet who said he wasn't sure. I could try bell services. I asked bell services - he said try the front desk. Front desk directed me over to guest services desk and lo-behold there's a sign that says "ALAMO CAR RENTAL". Will wonders ever cease?
15 minutes in line and the Goof Crew come looking for me. Sorry honey, but I haven't gotten things figured out yet. I get a "why-didn't-you-plan-this-better" look and they stood with arms crossed until it was my turn. I tell the lady, "I've got a car to turn in but I can't find anyone to take it. I'm supposed to turn it in to the Car Care Center but I don't know where that is. Can you please help me before my family commits some sort of act of violence all over your nice clean carpet?"
Sure! You can leave it here. Just give the valet outside the keys and they will take it for you.
WHY DID'T HE TELL ME THAT WHEN I ASKED HIM 45 MINUTES AGO??????
So we go back outside, to the SAME valet and tell him we're turning in an Alamo car. No problem. He takes the keys, gives us a receipt and directs us over to where the busses run. We sat and waited until one came. Quietly.. a little too quietly. RUH ROH
We finally catch the bus to Magic Kingdom and arrive at 2:30pm. Hubby is so excited he forgets to be mad at me about the car return. A quick trip through security and the "squeeze the hell outa the finger thingy" and we're there!
OOOO DISNEY DISNEY DISNEY.. We're here.. we're finally here... omg look theres Cruella Diville and Wendy and there's Chuck and Dave and Mickey and Minnie. LOOK LOOK LOOK! ITS THE CASTLE!!!! (angel choir singing in perfect harmony)
Ok, so I got a little over excited.
We stopped long enough to get "the castle picture"
ugh I hate pictures of myself. Especially when the sun is in my eyes and I'm squinting without trying to squint. Please notice white Disney bucket hat in right hand. This will be one of the last times it's ever seen.
We cross over into Adventure Land - go left!- and run right into celebrities.
The Princess is enchanted again. I'm thinking yeah!! She still believes in magic. Good job momma, you got her here before she stopped believing! She gets her autographs, gets her picture taken and stops to make her very first pin trade with the handler.
She runs over to where we are and shows us the autographs, pins, and says "Wow, those guys have got to be hot in those suits!"
BUBBLE BURST! Oh well...
We walk on around and stop for some ice cream. I have to try the dole whip - it's the talk of the internet. DH gets a Tropical milkshake and The Princess gets a dish of vanilla. None of this is eligible for snack credits so we whip out the room charge and then find a nice quiet place to enjoy our treats. The great navigator is at it again and sits us right smack dab in the middle of a smoking area. We move off to less polluted area and wolf them down. DH loved his milkshake. Vanilla ice-cream is always good but, I really didn't much care for the dole whip (dodges keyboards being thrown at the computer screen). I mean it was ok, but nothing like the religious experience I was expecting.
Finishing up, the guys take off to explore Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. I decided to hang back and wait for them - taking this much tonnage climbing around a tree house is not my idea of a great time. I found the exit and settled down to wait on them.
Is that rain? I look up and see no clouds in the sky. oh well, my imagination - wait - no.. it's raining. I can see the wet spots on my shirt. I look all around and it finally dawns on me- that's not rain, that's camel spit!
I moved out of the range and settled down to watch as the camel from the Aladdin ride spit water at passersby. It was so funny. Some people didn't notice while others looked around for rain clouds. The funniest one was a youngish couple walking by, girl in front of the guy - he was obviously in the doghouse already. She catches water right on the side of her face and turns around and slaps her fellow. He's looking like "what did I do?" He was still trying to figure out what went wrong when the troop finally exited the tree house. I was still laughing, so I let them in on the joke. We watched a couple more minutes, then The Princess ran over and tried to be in the line of fire so she'd be spit on. She got tired and was ready to ride so we got in line to ride the carpets. Standby - 5 minutes. PERFECTO!
After soaring around on the carpet, we decided to take in the Enchanted Tiki Room show. It was so cute! From there, it was a short hop to Pirates of the Caribbean.
another short rant: Ok, I am a big person and I know this. However the ONLY time I had any trouble at all was going through the turnstile at POTC. They had that thing set for extra tiny. This was the only time I had to use the handicap gate and it was so embarrassing. rant over
We load up and take to the seas. There was a family behind us who had a little girl about 14 years old. She was crying "I don't want to go. I don't like it. I DON'T WANT TO!!!" but her parents made her go. By the end of the ride, she was laughing. So were we - I LOVE it! I had never been on it before so I was completely enchanted. So much so, that it was halfway to Splash Mountain before I realized I didn't have my hat. My white Disney Bucket hat has been stolen.. right off my head... what a bunch of.. well... pirates!
We decided to continue on and checked out Splash Mountain. 40 minute standby. DH says "NOPE... we'll try it later." How about fast passes? Nope - we'll come back later. So we go over to Big Mountain Thunder Rail Road. Standby - 15 minutes. We decide to stay for it.
The Princess is nervous. This will be her first Roller Coaster. Mommy is nervous. This is the first time the princess will be on a roller coaster. Will she like it and become a thrill nut like me or will she hate it and stay on the side lines with her dad?
We get on.. and SHE LOVES IT! What's more, hubby loves it too. They both declare this is the greatest ride ever. It totally rocks! They want to go on again but it's down for a bit for maintenance so we decide its just the first day and we can come back later. On the way out, we check splash mountain and see the standby is now up to 55 minutes. Nope not waiting on that.
Time to take in a show. We notice that Country Bears is just about to start so we go in, take a seat and watch the show. Corny.. but adorable. Loved it. Big Al will forevermore be my favorite. He was just too darn cute as baby new year!
Back outside and we spot a very LONG line. What's going on? Oh, more celebrities.
But the line is way too long to wait. Hopefully we'll catch up to them later.
Hey look! That's were I want to go! I've never been in the Haunted Mansion either. Lets go!
I stopped to get a sip of water on the way and EWWW - it smells like a sewer! What the heck is going on here? I warn the other two and we keep going to the Mansion.
There's actually a small line waiting to get in here. We stand there, admiring the tombstones and discussing the epitaphs, when this very tall boisterous lady pushes past everyone. The only thing we can think is that she figured we were just standing there looking at the graveyard. She pushes right on by us and everyone else until she gets stopped at the door by the CM. Standing there, she begins to fuss in what i think is Spanish - she's talking so fast I can only pick up the occasional word. She turns around and points to the Madame Leota stone and
SCREAMMMMMM - Madre Dios! and starts crossing herself and crying, calling on Santa Maria to save her..
The tombstone eyes had opened just as she looked at it. I almost busted a gut. She was on her knees shaking and crying, and if she hadn't just pushed past everyone in line, I may have even felt a little sorry for her. Her friends get her up off the ground and try to get her to come in the mansion. NO! There's no way she's going in there. It's cursed! She takes off cursing and ranting, full steam while her friends are trying to persuade her its just a trick. NO NO NO.. I'm still laughing, along with everyone else in line when the CM lets us in.
I get in one car, the crew in another. It's cute. I like this - nice and slow, catchy music. Love it. All is well until the hitchhiking ghost sits in the princess's lap. She decided at that moment, it would be fine with her if we never went back again.
Exiting HM, we headed over to fantasy land. There's a long line at Peter Pan - 45 minute wait - no thanks. Hey there we go - no line.
We ride though the enchanted doll land of a million renditions of IASM. The Princess loves it. I can see how this one can cause a lot of nostalgia. It's sweet and carefree, just like childhood should be.
Next on the list - Mickey's Philharmagic. Ok - we checked out every 3d show at Disney World. This was, by far, the best of the lot. LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED it. We get out and it's dark. Check my watch and its 6 pm - MK is closing and we have 1 hour to get to Wilderness Lodge for Dinner. Stop to get the first of about a bazillion castle at night pictures.
Back down main street and out to the boat launch.
Scene 3 - Bobby the Kid and Tink too!
We ride over to Wilderness Lodge and find our way to Whispering Canyon. I checked us in, requested Bobby Jo "the Kid" for our waiter and waited on our ufo thingy to go off. Meanwhile, I took the princess to the bathroom and ewwww - the water here smells like a sewer too! Man I'd hate to take a shower in this stuff. YUCK
We come out just as hubby is motioning for us to come on. The UFO had gone off. I have read stories about Whispering Canyon and about Bobby, the bandit, the kid etc. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it would be unbelievable. And we weren't disappointed.
Shortly after sitting, Bobby whizzed by and threw a handful of straws over his shoulder at the table across from us. DH looked at me and grinned. He was gonna like this place!
Bobby stopped by and I said "It's the bandit!" He looked at me like why did you say that? I quickly told him I knew the Dunlaps. He brightened up, pointed and said "BADSHOE!" Then said when I talked to them again, to tell them HI! from him. So Bennet, Kimball - HI from Bobby!
We ordered our meal and settled back to watch the madness unfolding around us. The table next to us was set up for a dozen people but only a couple were there. They explained the rest were coming soon. Bobby took their drink orders (they also knew what the rest of the party wanted). While he was gone, the rest of the party showed up. Bobby stopped on his way by and said "Oh, so nice of you to finally join us!" He then brought their drink orders, sat the tray down and said "Since you couldnt be on time, you get to serve" and walked off. The lady looked at him like he was crazy. Finally she picked up a drink, placed it on the table and got another. Bobby came back said "It's going to take you forever. This is how to serve... " and promptly spilled the guy's drink. He quickly cleaned it up, came back with one of those movie clappers and yelled "TAKE TWO!" and left for the kitchen. A minute or two later, he came out with a paper cup, long straw and some tape. He taped the lid to the cup, then the cup to the table and adjusted the straw with tape so that it was at the guy's mouth. Voila! A grownup sippie cup!
Hubby enjoyed the show, but I think he was kinda glad that Bobby didn't really mess with us too much. The Princess got to participate in the stick pony race - i mean walk. She also got a shower of napkins as he walked by. When we finished eating, and laughing at the poor lady at the next table (she asked for some wetnaps and got a whole box full) we got ready to leave. I asked if we could have a picture of him and he set 4 chairs, laid The Princess across on one side, put me and hubby in back and laid on the other two. Just as a fellow CM was about to snap the picture, a third one came by and snatched The Princess's shoes off and stacked them on her butt. She got the giggles. Bobby got the giggles. I think everyone got the giggles. But they snapped the picture.
Then suddenly, the manager and another 4 or 5 CM screamed "we want in too" and ran up and sat on the floor. Bobby said "TOO BAD YOU'RE TOO LATE" and got up and ran off. We presented our cards to pay and The Princess asked for his autograph and gave him one of her "special magic thank you cards". Bobby melted. "Oh sweetie.. I don't have anything for you. " He starts pulling out everything in his apron. "Here's some pens. Straws. Napkins. More pens. Oh here's a sharpie" It was truly magical!
We caught the bus to Down Town Disney, then over to Pop Century. They wanted to go swimming, so they changed into bathing suits while I went and got the box, unpacked everything and set up her first Tink gift. They came in about an hour later, dried off and she discovered her first gift - Goofy, a tink watch, gum, candy and a few other things. There was a note attached that said:
DH made a comment about how as much money as we spent on a room there, you think they could keep the pixies out. She loved it. They were feeling better and hadn't been coughing so I didn't make them take Nyquil - but I was still a little icky so I took some - just to be safe [I think I'm becoming addicted to this stuff].
Off to dream land and our next big adventure - A Day of Surprises!
This is really great!! We are not going until August but you and yours sound like ours!!! 
Am looking forward to the continuing saga!!!! You do a great job!!! 
