Diznenut
Is it time to go? Is it? Huh Huh?
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2005
- Messages
- 101
Cast of Characters:
Me ( 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:
Tinkerbell strikes again
Pooh and friends
Stitch and his stinky breath
Alice and the Mad Hatter
Act 4 - A Day of Surprises!
Scene 1 - Magic Kingdom on Monday - what was I thinking?
I'm walking down a long road. There are dancing trees and flowers, birds singing, children laughing. I turn the corner and come face to face with the hugest meanest most obnoxious version of my high school teacher. She opened her mouth and screams at me 'RIIIIIIING' 'RIIIIIIIIING'
7am. I rolled over and told The Princess to answer the stupid phone. She does, grunts and throws the receiver down by the bed. I asked her who it was and she said it was Mickey telling her to get up - and she was back out. Well gee - that went over really well. I laid there in the bed for a little while just absorbing the fact that we were in DISNEY. Ah well, better get up- we have ressies for 9:15 at Crystal Palace. Yawned, looked at my watch and had a small coronary.
8:30
I didn't think I had fallen asleep, but apparently I had. OH CRAP GET UP! HURRY HURRY!!!!! We're late.. We're late.. for a very important breakfast date!!!!!
Mad scramble to get ready - The Princess sees a small package on the fridge. "Look! Another gift!". She runs over and finds this note:
The gift is an Alice in Wonderland doll and a pair of Jasmine sunshades along with some gum and a beaded princess bracelet. This keeps the princess occupied while we finish getting dressed. She keeps saying "Wow, I can't believe Tink got in again!" Finally we're ready and walk out the door.
Note here: After I unpacked her box of gifts, I didn't know exactly what to do with them. The box would be too obvious and theres not really anywhere to hide them. My solution was to put them in HER suitcase. It worked - she never went near it the entire time we were there!
We get to the bus stop and realize that the huge long extra long oh-my-God-is-there-that-many-people-in-this-resort line is the one to MK. RUH ROH - this does NOT bode well. We sit on a bench and wait for the bus. It finally gets here but isn't loading anyone on it. The driver is just sitting there. About 5 minutes later, a second bus pulls up beside it and both drivers open their doors. We make a beeline to the second bus.
We get to MK and get in a really LONNNNG line to have our bags checked. DH has started grumbling about "I thought this was supposed to be the UNbusy time here. I thought we are going outside of peak season." I don't say a thing- nope nada zip. I figure traveling with 2 women - he deserves to have his moment of ranting. We snake through baggage check and get into another line to squeeze the hand thingy. Our time comes and DH's card won't scan. It says voided. He shoots me another "I'd-kill-you-but-theres-2000-witnesses" look. The CM tells him not to worry, it's ok. He runs it over to guest services and comes back with a paper ticket. Then tells us to get him another one issued at our resort.
Finally - we are in MK and holy cow - so is half of the eastern seaboard. I'm thinking surely there's never been this many people in this place before - it's got to be at capacity! note here: boy was I wrong. MK on Monday is brutal - however we hadn't been there yet during ABC parade filming on a Saturday!
We wade through the massive sea of bodies and push our way over to crystal palace. Cinderellabration is going on and the roads are clogged with people trying to see. I check my watch and see its now 9:50. Great - we've missed our reservations. Maybe, just MAYBE they will have standby. I go over and explain our situation. The wonderful CM there says its ok and gives us a UFO thing. We sat down and watched people for about 10 minutes before it goes off and we're ushered inside.
Walking into Crystal Palace, the first thing I saw was the topiaries.
How beautiful and so in the theme of the palace! I pointed them out to the crew but they were too busy salivating over the smells of the food on the hot bar. We get seated, ordered our orange juice and took off to fill our plates.
Gotta say - the food was excellent. Robin, I agree with you. Those Mickey waffles are a religious experience! In between bites, we are visited by the ghosts of my childhood - First Piglet, then Eeyore. The Princess wants Tigger's autograph too so she goes and waits in line in the foyer to get it. We finished our meals and waited on the main bear to come around.
and waited...
and waited...
Wait a minute.. theres Eeyore and Piglet again. Where's POOH!
Finally, 30 minutes after we finished eating, Pooh comes by.
Just as he finishes his autograph, the CM's grab him, Eeyore and The Princess to lead the kids in the Pooh Parade.
We wrapped it up, hugged all 4 again and headed out the door. Geez, the crowds hadn't let up a whole lot! DH asked me where to now? Well lets see. It's 11:45 now. We have to be at the Grand Floridian at 1:30. The ones who go left should be about Liberty Square now and the ones that go right should be in fantasy land. So lets kick around Tomorrowland. I'm pretty sure it should be manageable by now. I stopped to get yet another castle shot.
We reach Tomorrowland and HOLY COW - how can they get this many people in one place? Buz Lightyear has a wait time of 75 minutes. Space Mountain has a line all the way out to the TTA. So we picked the TTA - 20 minutes wait time. This is another ride I didn't try when we were here in 1998 so lets try it for nostalgia sake. Nice leisurely ride and back off. Buz is now up to 90 minutes wait and Space Mountain line has gotten longer. The only other option is Stitch's Great Escape with a wait of 20 minutes. We still have an hour to kill so why not.
As we enter the queue, a CM gives us a flick card. This becomes a standing procedure, as our group has *GIVE US EXTRA CARDS* stamped on our heads the entire trip. Every single day from here on out, we get to be custodians for at least one of those little gems. We make it through the que, give back the card and prepare to enter Galactic Federation Transport Center.
The Princess makes it through briefing and settles into her seat. The show starts and suddenly I feel 2 little vices clamp onto my arm and the highest pitched scream/squeal I have ever heard coming from my left. The Princess HATED this show. She cried, screamed and begged to be let go through the entire thing. I was so upset over her, the chili dog hit me blindside and I almost barfed on the poor people in front of us. I've never been so grateful for a ride to be over in my life.
Note here: When we went in 1998, Alien Encounter was one of the rides we actually did. Not only did I love it, it turned out to be one of my fondest memories. After you sat down, they did the light to pick a volunteer for the experiment. I was the one chosen. My mom leaned over and said "nice knowing you". Then when the lights went out, there was a kid on the other side of the room. I say he was a kid, but he was in his early teens. He started yelling "Let me out of the MoFo. I got a gun and I'm gonna shoot someone if you don't let me out of the MF now! You are F****in up. I'm gonna kill somebody. Let me out of here NOW!" About that time, his mom said "Shut your damn mouth you fool. You ain't go no damn gun but you are gonna get your butt beat off if you don't shut up now." The whole thing struck me as very funny - this was before terrorists. I miss that ride!!!!
ANYWAY. We all agreed that Stitch will have to escape without us from now on. I don't care to ever set foot back on that again.
We exited through "we want to get your last dollar" nirvana where I obliged and purchased some Stitch stuff for my nieces and nephews. DH needed a break so The Princess stayed with me. She helped me get the stuff to the counter and as I was paying for my stuff and talking to her, I turned around and she's gone.
There are levels of being frightened. There's movie frightened, there's spider jumping on you and you wreck your car frightened. There's even I think I'm gonna die frightened. What I felt when I realized she wasn't right there with me far surpassed all of that. I went into panic mode. All I kept saying is "where's my daughter" over and over. The CM's asked me if I was ok and I said "where's my daughter". They asked me what she looked like and I said "where's my daughter". My phonograph needle was stuck. Where's my daughter?!?!?!?! The CM that checked me out asked me if she was the little dark headed girl with the white Grumpy shirt that was just with me and I nodded. Immediately 4 CM's were looking for her. After about 15 seconds of pure, unadulterated, adrenaline sapping panic, she was found in a corner trading pins with another CM. At that moment I didn't know if I wanted to kiss her or kill her. I was so relieved I just grabbed her, drug her out to a bench and sat down, holding her and crying. That's where DH found us.
I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough surprises for one day. Lets go ahead and go over to the Grand Floridian.
We fight our way back out through the crowds. The Princess wanted to ride the Monorail. Since at that moment, I think I would have given her Cinderella Castle, she got her wish. We headed up the ramp and I asked the CM if we could ride up front. She said yes and we are let in the front waiting area. I asked the CM if this was the train to GF. No its not. We're in line on the express. To get to the other one, we would have to go back down, out the park and onto the other side. Nah. we'll take the boats instead.
We get on the boat and head over. By now, its started to sprinkle some. No biggie, we have ponchos if we need them. As we're on our way, a monorail comes by and I snapped a picture.
By the time the boat pulled into the GF, the rain has stopped, so we don't even pull the ponchos out. DH settled onto a sofa in the lobby while I took The Princess to 1900 Park Faire for the Wonderland Tea Party. It was still too early. The CM asked her if she was ready for her tea party. Finally, she knew what her surprise was. The CM apologized for spilling the beans but it was ok.
Waiting on the tea party in the lobby.
Finally they called us in. The table was set so cute!!!
After a few pictures, the parents were ushered out, given pagers and told to return in an hour and a half. I gave her my camera to take pictures. At some time during the party, she touched the lens so the pictures are somewhat fuzzy.
DH and I shopped in the shops, people watched and basically lazed around the lobby until the party was over. I went to collect The Princess and the lights were all off and the kids heads were down on the table. The CM said 1 2 3 and the kids all popped up and yelled surprise!! Each child had a nosegay of flowers for their mom. The Princess said she had had a wonderful time and I think thats obvious. Just look at that smile!
The Princess really wanted to ride the monorail so we took the elevator to the second floor and out to the station. We asked to ride up front and were seated there when the train pulled in. The Princess says this was the coolest part of the entire trip so far. She was so proud of her co-pilot license.
Monorail to Magic Kingdom and bus to Pop. 3pm and its nap time! The rain has brought a relapse of the crud so I gave everyone a dose of cold medicine, went and grabbed soup for DH and a hamburger and french fries for me and The Princess. With full tummies, we drifted off to sleep.
Act 2 - Just call me the loser!
Everyone woke up refreshed and ready to go at 6pm. Off to the bus stop - hmm what looks interesting? One bus is there, so lets go to Down Town Disney and shop!
By the time we get there, a little sprinkle has turned into a major down pour and of course, we left our ponchos at the hotel so we store hopped. The Princess spotted the carousel and wanted to ride. DH had a 10.00 bill so he told her to use that to ride. She did. ALL TEN DOLLARS. She rode the thing 5 times in a row. Boy was she sore to find out that was HER ten dollars!
We shopped, ran through the rain, shopped, splashed through the rain and shopped. Around 8:30 the crew was getting hungry so we stopped at Earl of Sandwich to eat. DH and The Princess needed a potty break so I was given charge over the shopping bag and finding a place to sit. In my defense, they should have known they couldnt give me two separate tasks to do at one time. It isn't my fault, it's theirs! I found a table and sat down to wait on our food and for them to get back out. I started wondering, did I get that blue shirt or the black one? Might as well look and see..
No bag.
Boy am I a piece of work. First I loose our way, then our daughter, now our bag. I ran over to the counter and looked around. No bag. Asked the CMs behind the counter. No bag. So I started watching to see who else in the restaurant had a yellow and red Mickey Mouse Walt Disney World bag - which, of course, EVERYONE did. rats. I'm never going to get to come back again. Or at the very least, I won't be able to come back without a leash on ME.
I'm trying to figure out if he would believe a band of roving pirates had broken out of POC, ran amuck and stolen our 273.84 worth of merchandise we had just purchased when he comes around the corner with The Princess and our bag.
HALLALUAH!!!
I figure I really shouldn't temp fate anymore so we find the bus back to Pop. We stopped in at the desk to get a new card and DH "complained" about the Pixie problem in our room. The CM played right along and said that unfortunately, there's not much they can do as those Pixies are so mischievous, they just can't keep them in line. The Princess started giggling and when she turned away, he whispered "I take it you are Tink and there's not a real problem?" I nodded and he said whew!
Back to the room, everyone gets ready and I break out the Nyquil. You've been in the rain, snorting and sneezing all day. Yes you will take it and I don't care if you do fall over dead from the taste!
Next up - Movies, Mountains of Munchies and MGM!
Me ( 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:
Tinkerbell strikes again
Pooh and friends
Stitch and his stinky breath
Alice and the Mad Hatter
Act 4 - A Day of Surprises!
Scene 1 - Magic Kingdom on Monday - what was I thinking?
I'm walking down a long road. There are dancing trees and flowers, birds singing, children laughing. I turn the corner and come face to face with the hugest meanest most obnoxious version of my high school teacher. She opened her mouth and screams at me 'RIIIIIIING' 'RIIIIIIIIING'
7am. I rolled over and told The Princess to answer the stupid phone. She does, grunts and throws the receiver down by the bed. I asked her who it was and she said it was Mickey telling her to get up - and she was back out. Well gee - that went over really well. I laid there in the bed for a little while just absorbing the fact that we were in DISNEY. Ah well, better get up- we have ressies for 9:15 at Crystal Palace. Yawned, looked at my watch and had a small coronary.
8:30
I didn't think I had fallen asleep, but apparently I had. OH CRAP GET UP! HURRY HURRY!!!!! We're late.. We're late.. for a very important breakfast date!!!!!
Mad scramble to get ready - The Princess sees a small package on the fridge. "Look! Another gift!". She runs over and finds this note:
The gift is an Alice in Wonderland doll and a pair of Jasmine sunshades along with some gum and a beaded princess bracelet. This keeps the princess occupied while we finish getting dressed. She keeps saying "Wow, I can't believe Tink got in again!" Finally we're ready and walk out the door.
Note here: After I unpacked her box of gifts, I didn't know exactly what to do with them. The box would be too obvious and theres not really anywhere to hide them. My solution was to put them in HER suitcase. It worked - she never went near it the entire time we were there!
We get to the bus stop and realize that the huge long extra long oh-my-God-is-there-that-many-people-in-this-resort line is the one to MK. RUH ROH - this does NOT bode well. We sit on a bench and wait for the bus. It finally gets here but isn't loading anyone on it. The driver is just sitting there. About 5 minutes later, a second bus pulls up beside it and both drivers open their doors. We make a beeline to the second bus.
We get to MK and get in a really LONNNNG line to have our bags checked. DH has started grumbling about "I thought this was supposed to be the UNbusy time here. I thought we are going outside of peak season." I don't say a thing- nope nada zip. I figure traveling with 2 women - he deserves to have his moment of ranting. We snake through baggage check and get into another line to squeeze the hand thingy. Our time comes and DH's card won't scan. It says voided. He shoots me another "I'd-kill-you-but-theres-2000-witnesses" look. The CM tells him not to worry, it's ok. He runs it over to guest services and comes back with a paper ticket. Then tells us to get him another one issued at our resort.
Finally - we are in MK and holy cow - so is half of the eastern seaboard. I'm thinking surely there's never been this many people in this place before - it's got to be at capacity! note here: boy was I wrong. MK on Monday is brutal - however we hadn't been there yet during ABC parade filming on a Saturday!
We wade through the massive sea of bodies and push our way over to crystal palace. Cinderellabration is going on and the roads are clogged with people trying to see. I check my watch and see its now 9:50. Great - we've missed our reservations. Maybe, just MAYBE they will have standby. I go over and explain our situation. The wonderful CM there says its ok and gives us a UFO thing. We sat down and watched people for about 10 minutes before it goes off and we're ushered inside.
Walking into Crystal Palace, the first thing I saw was the topiaries.
How beautiful and so in the theme of the palace! I pointed them out to the crew but they were too busy salivating over the smells of the food on the hot bar. We get seated, ordered our orange juice and took off to fill our plates.
Gotta say - the food was excellent. Robin, I agree with you. Those Mickey waffles are a religious experience! In between bites, we are visited by the ghosts of my childhood - First Piglet, then Eeyore. The Princess wants Tigger's autograph too so she goes and waits in line in the foyer to get it. We finished our meals and waited on the main bear to come around.
and waited...
and waited...
Wait a minute.. theres Eeyore and Piglet again. Where's POOH!
Finally, 30 minutes after we finished eating, Pooh comes by.
Just as he finishes his autograph, the CM's grab him, Eeyore and The Princess to lead the kids in the Pooh Parade.
We wrapped it up, hugged all 4 again and headed out the door. Geez, the crowds hadn't let up a whole lot! DH asked me where to now? Well lets see. It's 11:45 now. We have to be at the Grand Floridian at 1:30. The ones who go left should be about Liberty Square now and the ones that go right should be in fantasy land. So lets kick around Tomorrowland. I'm pretty sure it should be manageable by now. I stopped to get yet another castle shot.
We reach Tomorrowland and HOLY COW - how can they get this many people in one place? Buz Lightyear has a wait time of 75 minutes. Space Mountain has a line all the way out to the TTA. So we picked the TTA - 20 minutes wait time. This is another ride I didn't try when we were here in 1998 so lets try it for nostalgia sake. Nice leisurely ride and back off. Buz is now up to 90 minutes wait and Space Mountain line has gotten longer. The only other option is Stitch's Great Escape with a wait of 20 minutes. We still have an hour to kill so why not.
As we enter the queue, a CM gives us a flick card. This becomes a standing procedure, as our group has *GIVE US EXTRA CARDS* stamped on our heads the entire trip. Every single day from here on out, we get to be custodians for at least one of those little gems. We make it through the que, give back the card and prepare to enter Galactic Federation Transport Center.
The Princess makes it through briefing and settles into her seat. The show starts and suddenly I feel 2 little vices clamp onto my arm and the highest pitched scream/squeal I have ever heard coming from my left. The Princess HATED this show. She cried, screamed and begged to be let go through the entire thing. I was so upset over her, the chili dog hit me blindside and I almost barfed on the poor people in front of us. I've never been so grateful for a ride to be over in my life.
Note here: When we went in 1998, Alien Encounter was one of the rides we actually did. Not only did I love it, it turned out to be one of my fondest memories. After you sat down, they did the light to pick a volunteer for the experiment. I was the one chosen. My mom leaned over and said "nice knowing you". Then when the lights went out, there was a kid on the other side of the room. I say he was a kid, but he was in his early teens. He started yelling "Let me out of the MoFo. I got a gun and I'm gonna shoot someone if you don't let me out of the MF now! You are F****in up. I'm gonna kill somebody. Let me out of here NOW!" About that time, his mom said "Shut your damn mouth you fool. You ain't go no damn gun but you are gonna get your butt beat off if you don't shut up now." The whole thing struck me as very funny - this was before terrorists. I miss that ride!!!!
ANYWAY. We all agreed that Stitch will have to escape without us from now on. I don't care to ever set foot back on that again.
We exited through "we want to get your last dollar" nirvana where I obliged and purchased some Stitch stuff for my nieces and nephews. DH needed a break so The Princess stayed with me. She helped me get the stuff to the counter and as I was paying for my stuff and talking to her, I turned around and she's gone.
There are levels of being frightened. There's movie frightened, there's spider jumping on you and you wreck your car frightened. There's even I think I'm gonna die frightened. What I felt when I realized she wasn't right there with me far surpassed all of that. I went into panic mode. All I kept saying is "where's my daughter" over and over. The CM's asked me if I was ok and I said "where's my daughter". They asked me what she looked like and I said "where's my daughter". My phonograph needle was stuck. Where's my daughter?!?!?!?! The CM that checked me out asked me if she was the little dark headed girl with the white Grumpy shirt that was just with me and I nodded. Immediately 4 CM's were looking for her. After about 15 seconds of pure, unadulterated, adrenaline sapping panic, she was found in a corner trading pins with another CM. At that moment I didn't know if I wanted to kiss her or kill her. I was so relieved I just grabbed her, drug her out to a bench and sat down, holding her and crying. That's where DH found us.
I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough surprises for one day. Lets go ahead and go over to the Grand Floridian.
We fight our way back out through the crowds. The Princess wanted to ride the Monorail. Since at that moment, I think I would have given her Cinderella Castle, she got her wish. We headed up the ramp and I asked the CM if we could ride up front. She said yes and we are let in the front waiting area. I asked the CM if this was the train to GF. No its not. We're in line on the express. To get to the other one, we would have to go back down, out the park and onto the other side. Nah. we'll take the boats instead.
We get on the boat and head over. By now, its started to sprinkle some. No biggie, we have ponchos if we need them. As we're on our way, a monorail comes by and I snapped a picture.
By the time the boat pulled into the GF, the rain has stopped, so we don't even pull the ponchos out. DH settled onto a sofa in the lobby while I took The Princess to 1900 Park Faire for the Wonderland Tea Party. It was still too early. The CM asked her if she was ready for her tea party. Finally, she knew what her surprise was. The CM apologized for spilling the beans but it was ok.
Waiting on the tea party in the lobby.
Finally they called us in. The table was set so cute!!!
After a few pictures, the parents were ushered out, given pagers and told to return in an hour and a half. I gave her my camera to take pictures. At some time during the party, she touched the lens so the pictures are somewhat fuzzy.
DH and I shopped in the shops, people watched and basically lazed around the lobby until the party was over. I went to collect The Princess and the lights were all off and the kids heads were down on the table. The CM said 1 2 3 and the kids all popped up and yelled surprise!! Each child had a nosegay of flowers for their mom. The Princess said she had had a wonderful time and I think thats obvious. Just look at that smile!
The Princess really wanted to ride the monorail so we took the elevator to the second floor and out to the station. We asked to ride up front and were seated there when the train pulled in. The Princess says this was the coolest part of the entire trip so far. She was so proud of her co-pilot license.
Monorail to Magic Kingdom and bus to Pop. 3pm and its nap time! The rain has brought a relapse of the crud so I gave everyone a dose of cold medicine, went and grabbed soup for DH and a hamburger and french fries for me and The Princess. With full tummies, we drifted off to sleep.
Act 2 - Just call me the loser!
Everyone woke up refreshed and ready to go at 6pm. Off to the bus stop - hmm what looks interesting? One bus is there, so lets go to Down Town Disney and shop!
By the time we get there, a little sprinkle has turned into a major down pour and of course, we left our ponchos at the hotel so we store hopped. The Princess spotted the carousel and wanted to ride. DH had a 10.00 bill so he told her to use that to ride. She did. ALL TEN DOLLARS. She rode the thing 5 times in a row. Boy was she sore to find out that was HER ten dollars!
We shopped, ran through the rain, shopped, splashed through the rain and shopped. Around 8:30 the crew was getting hungry so we stopped at Earl of Sandwich to eat. DH and The Princess needed a potty break so I was given charge over the shopping bag and finding a place to sit. In my defense, they should have known they couldnt give me two separate tasks to do at one time. It isn't my fault, it's theirs! I found a table and sat down to wait on our food and for them to get back out. I started wondering, did I get that blue shirt or the black one? Might as well look and see..
No bag.
Boy am I a piece of work. First I loose our way, then our daughter, now our bag. I ran over to the counter and looked around. No bag. Asked the CMs behind the counter. No bag. So I started watching to see who else in the restaurant had a yellow and red Mickey Mouse Walt Disney World bag - which, of course, EVERYONE did. rats. I'm never going to get to come back again. Or at the very least, I won't be able to come back without a leash on ME.
I'm trying to figure out if he would believe a band of roving pirates had broken out of POC, ran amuck and stolen our 273.84 worth of merchandise we had just purchased when he comes around the corner with The Princess and our bag.
HALLALUAH!!!
I figure I really shouldn't temp fate anymore so we find the bus back to Pop. We stopped in at the desk to get a new card and DH "complained" about the Pixie problem in our room. The CM played right along and said that unfortunately, there's not much they can do as those Pixies are so mischievous, they just can't keep them in line. The Princess started giggling and when she turned away, he whispered "I take it you are Tink and there's not a real problem?" I nodded and he said whew!
Back to the room, everyone gets ready and I break out the Nyquil. You've been in the rain, snorting and sneezing all day. Yes you will take it and I don't care if you do fall over dead from the taste!
Next up - Movies, Mountains of Munchies and MGM!
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