Hi, my name is Steve, and I'm a Disneyholic.
(everyone)
"Hi, Steve".
Yes, I thought I might have to introduce myself again.
It's been a while.
Twice I sat down to write, and both times the boards were closed. I was getting a complex.
Now, first things first.
Melinda: Man you got up early to post. Yes, we still have the trip planned for May, but would you believe I still haven't told them at work?
Cluck, buck, buck, buck.
I still will be very surprised if they come out with free dining again, but I'm hoping right along with you.
Bee: I"m very sorry to hear about what you are now going through. I know it's a terrible place to be. I'll be praying that everything works out the best for you, one way or the other.
Kay: Your animal story on your report was a riot, I can honestly say I don't think that's been done before.
Suzflee: quote; And now we get to hear about your favorite water slides next time!
Even though we haven't tried Crush and Gusher yet, I can already tell you my fave slide. It's Teamboat Springs at BB. I get to ride the lift up, and it's a long ride back down.
jaime:
I once requested the Ranchos and was put in the Casitas! Try figuring out that logic!
Were you dissapointed by the Casita's? We requested the Cabana's, but after walking around a lot, we were happy to get the Casita's instead. But I can't imagine why anyone would ask for the Rancho's. Their idea of landscaping is a rock.
Winkers and Leatherlady: Ok, I'm finally back, now, come fly with me,,,,,,,,,,
I looked around. Little Jimmy was so far AWOB.
AWOB. Absent With our Blessings.
When the unmagical express bus pulled up, I was the last one on. You know, just in case I needed to block the door or something.
Once underway, man o man, what a difference a week makes in a bus ride.
Amazing. When the bus went west, it was full of happy, smiley faces brimming with anticipation.
Now that it's heading east, you would have thought everyone was on death row. You talk about the Green Mile ride to the airport. They weren't even running any cartoons on the monitors.
Oh well.
So I decided to stand up and lead eveybody in a round of "Carousel of Progress."
"THere's a great big beautiful tomo,,,,,"
Yeah, right.
I would have been shot.
For those of you who read the first trippy, you are going to be treated with a bit of a rerun here. I was still writing the first may trip, when we got back from this one, and just had to include this part, then. By the way, for anyone that's interested, the first trip is up in the archives, If it's Tuesday, this must be Epcot. ahem
At the airport, we took care of business, I inhaled a last pack of cigarrettes, and we went to the terminal.
Oh no, it wasn't going to be that easy.
First, the shoes and carry on bags have to go through security.
I went first.
"Have a nice flight"
"Thank you."
"I won't."
Then, it's her turn.
Lights went off, bells started ringing, I ran over to see where the money was going to come out.
The guy says, "Ma'am? Have to run the basket through again please."
And he's looking at the screen.
Same results.
Diane: "Something wrong?"
geesh, ya think?
man: The machine says there is a lighter in here, so we are going to find it.
Diane: "Oh no, there isn't. I know, No way. We just spent the whole week trying to share matches since we couldn't bring one. No lighter. nope, nope, nope, I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee.,,,,,"
I just stood to the side, amused.
And he found it. It was in her jacket pocket, that she never wore once on the trip, but took it out of the suitcase for when we get back to Chicago.
So yes, it did make it through checked luggage, even though that's a no no too.
He held up the bic lighter like he had caught an 8 pound walleye.
I took his picture with it.
Then Dobby turned every color red her face could think of.
I thought the guy would be angry, but he just smiled and sent us on our way. Yes, this is getting off to a rip roaring start.
I didn't like the way this return trip was shaping up, right from the start, and my anxiety level was really cranking up.
To start with, we don't know what time our flight is.
Huh?
Yep.
It was originally for 7:10. Then, when we printed out our information and boarding passes the day before we left, it now said 7:40.
But now when Pop printed out our boarding passes for the trip home, it was back to 7:10.
At the terminal, she told me that the board now said 7:15.
I'm assuming they are basing this on how soon they can get the pilot to sober up.
I took my last 4 vikes, to calm down. Don't try this at home kiddies.
And why do they have to call it a "Terminal?"
Now, as you all know, airplanes have many different styles, sizes and designations that describe the kind of plane it is.
You have your 727s, 747s, DC-10s, airbusses, 707s, and on and on.
So, what kind of plane are we flying on?
It's an M-80.
Yep. THank you very much. Somebody had a warped sense of humor when they came up with that one.
Why not just call it "The Exploding Roman Candle" and be done with it?
I go and grab a seat, to get a head start on my fidgetting.
About 20 minutes later, Diane gets up to take a walk.
And comes back about ten minutes later.
"You're not going to like this."
"I'm sure you're right. What?"
"The board now says our flight is for ten to eight."
"WHY?"
" I don't know. Nobody knows."
Anytime you vikes want to start kicking in is fine by me.
So, we have another hour to kill.
I told her I'm going to take a walk, and headed the other way. Unlike O'hare, there really isn't much to look at , shop wise here. Then I went back to our chairs.
"You're not going to like this."
"Huh? We played this game a while ago, and it wasn't much fun then."
"They pushed back our flight another half hour."
"Oh, c'mon, why?"
" It appears there is severe weather in the Dallas area."
"Um, ok, should I ask the obvious?"
'The planes can't leave here, or O'hare, to fly to Dallas, and now they are blocking things up for everybody."
"It's September, how severe can weather be?" I've heard of O'hare handling small blizzards without much delay.
And we waited.
This time, it was my turn to go check the board.
And when I got there, it occured to me I didn't know our flight number.
Duh!
So, back I go to our chairs.
"What's our flight number, anyway?"
"451."
I just stared at her.
"451." "Something wrong?"
"Excuse me, you didn't really say 451 did you?"
The look came over her face. "Uh oh."
"451? As in Ray Bradbury 451?"
"THE TITLE THAT REFERS TO THE TEMPERATURE WITH WHICH PAPER AND COMBUSTIBLE ITEMS IGNITE?" YOU CHOSE FLIGHT 451?" "WHAT, WAS FLIGHT 666 ALL BOOKED UP?" I was a little bit unhinged by this news, if you could tell.
Great, flight 451 on an M-80.
And I'm not buying the severe weather in Dallas story either. I think they are still trying to sober up our pilot.
I go back to the board.
Fine, just fine.
"You're not going to like this."
"Hey, that's my line," she said.
9: 15.
We then started talking to a woman sitting next to us, who said they have now cancelled her flight to Dallas, and she's trying to figure out what to do.
So, I guess her situation was worse than ours.
9:15 turned out to be the charm, and I hadn't even gotten on the airplane yet and I was dying for a smoke.
This flight seemed to me to take forever. It's dark, nothing to look at out the window, and I was really tired, but I just can't take a nap. Especially when I'm sitting up.
Diane was in stitches watching me try to get comfortable as I kept sliding out of the seat. She said I looked like a Mr. Bean episode.
It was raining at O'hare when we landed, she found a phone and called for our limo.
And we waited forever outside waiting for him to show up. A good 45 minutes. WHen we got to the house, I gave him the credit card, then he gave me the news that it was now 25 dollars more than what we had agreed upon when we booked him. Ah, there's always time for one more argument before you call it a day. He says it's because we were late enough to cross into the late hours time slot, which costs more. We said he told us ten minutes to pick us up when we called, and that if he wasn't late, it wouldn't have crossed that time marker. \
Seems I'm having a bad day with public service personel today.
We ended up compromising the bill, and at midnight, our official free dining trip at the pop came to an end.
As soon as the door opened, she was already calling for the cats.
This wasn't necessary as they were right there , hearing the overhead door open.
Both of them looked at us, and then walked away. The "I'm not speaking to you" thing.
We put down our suitcases, she put her arms around me and said one word:
"Thanks"
"Thank YOU."
coming up, the epilogue, last thoughts, and best wishes to a great group of Disney fans
