horsegirl
<font color=red>I feel blonder than a cocker spani
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2005
- Messages
- 4,152
2/12/06- Sunday- Day One- Part 10- Are you the Spoiler?
All the to-do about this new ride is spot on. We indeed think Expedition Everest is special for so many reasons; the theme, the details, the fear factor, the foreshadowing, the view, the dark backwards, and the villain. We were nothing short of thrilled. Yup. It surpassed my expectations.
After DJ and Carson returned, we hightailed it out of Asia and headed over to the Safari. It was not quite 10:00 or so. We walked along the trail to Africa, and it was beautifully barren. No one was there. It was cool, quiet, misty, not raining but overcast and wet. I loved being there. There were colorful birds everywhere, and flowers, and interesting details you miss when the walkways are mobbed and you are trying not to get separated from your children. It looked so pretty. What a contrast to the brown and gray north that we left just 28 hours before. It was also chilly, relatively speaking. It felt especially cold because of the dampness. It never reached 50 that day, and the kids were bundled up with their snugglies. We got over to the safari pretty quickly. We parked our prams, and entered.
Do any of you do this? Every single time we enter a ride, we start moaning and saying OMG, can you imagine standing here? Ugh, how can people stand here? We just cannot imagine what it is like to stand and shuffle, for 1 or 2 hours waiting for a ride. The queues wind around and around and end up hidden by more walls, fooling the ride neophytes that it is shorter than it actually is. The poor unknowing folks that get in those lines, and end up stuck there forever .. Would some of you videotape the children that can stand in line that long for me? Is it physically feasible for them to do this? We get a thrill of sailing straight through to the ride. How boring DJ and I are, because we say this every single ride, every single time, with meaning and emotion. Never fails to thrill us, like finding an item on the shelf that hasnt gotten the markup yet, where all the other ones have.
We end up in the first row, right behind our driver. DJ and I sandwich the kids in. It seems like they could fall out easily. Has anyone ever heard of a child slipping out of these vehicles, like on the bumpy bridge? We love being next to the driver and are excited to head out into the preserve in the crisp morning air. I pull out snacks for the kids and feel like nothing could be more perfect. The driver starts his spiel. Hes a cute fella, I am guessing he might have had his sights set on a career in show business, and this is where he was at this point. He is less than enthusiastic about his narration. But thats okay; really this attraction is about the spectacular animals, not the corny chitchat.
Then it happens, out of the crisp morning air, I hear another voice. It is coming from directly behind me; from a woman, whom DJ and I named the Spoiler. She has to announce she has ridden this something like 467 times. She informs as many of us as she can, in as loud a voice without going over the volume of the driver, in that pretending-she-is-talking-to-her-traveling-companion voice. She starts giving her companion (real meaning-all of us) the spiel of the driver, before he does, and telling what animals are coming next. I do not get annoyed easily, and usually can find delight in someones well, uniqueness, but not so here. The Spoiler is detracting from the purity of the experience. She blathers on, and allows us not one surprise. I try to not hear her, but for some reason, this causes me to hear her more. She even corrects the driver. Great gobbledy dee, please hush, I mutter. I start pointing things out to my kids very quietly, and what? She starts commenting on what I am sharing with my kids and correcting me. I dont look back and glare, nor do I turn and say I am so impressed with your knowledge base, thank you for joining in. She has committed the cardinal sin of speaking into my space when not having been properly acknowledged. The spoiler has violated the communication zone. I purposefully try to drown her out with my own brain interference, as she is narrating our safari. Look at the babies, I say. I hear, those are not babies, they are full grown ----(cannot remember the antelope type of creature). I ignore it and start saying, Look at those babies to everything, so as to trick her into thinking I call everything babies, and was not misidentifying those antelope type creatures to my children. (You know, like I meant to do that) and so that she doesnt think I hear her. She keeps correcting me, Those are full grown elephants. I started to say ridiculous things, and she would correct me; no matter what I said. Like I am not sure those are giraffes, or we cant be sure those are zebras. It became a game that gave DJ and me more than a few chuckles.
Have you ever sat in front of someone at the movies like this? You know the person who has seen the flick before, knows what is going to happen next and has to prove they are in the know and ruins it by the watch what happens here stuff? Did any of you ride the Kilimanjaro Safari with the Spoiler? Maybe you are the Spoiler. Now you all must know by now that I am far from mean spirited or hateful, so excuse my bluntness. But, if you are she, and you are reading this, I just have to say now, I did not like your safari style, mam. Please keep your previous 468 trips to yourself next time and allow us the wonder of discovering the animals ourselves. I do not mean to be rude, but part of the joy of anything is seeing it for yourself, through your own lens. Perhaps, though, maybe I actually should thank you as you did make the safari that much more memorable.
We saw the enormous elephants and their beautiful bouncing babies, the graceful gazelles, the gangly giraffes, the cute cats, the happy hippos, the zippy zebras, the gollygee gorillas. What is it about baby elephants that make them so adorable? I will tell you that next to Tink and Bambi, I absolutely love Dumbo. So, guess I am a sucker for pachyderms. Everyone seemed to be out there this morning. A lioness was perched high on a rock. It was spectacular. Here would be where I would have put a couple of safari shots we took. But I cannot do this.
We all enjoyed it tremendously, despite the Spoilers unwelcome narration. When it was over, we jumped out and hightailed it away from our uninvited hostess, for fear of having the next attraction tainted by her spoiling. How is it in a park that big, we all run into the same people throughout the day? Are those Dis-ers? Tourguide Mikers? UG-ers? But in retrospect, I should have stared long and hard, or even taken her picture. As it turned out, I have no idea what she looked like. Chances are, shell be there next time we are, and we might have had a chance to sit just out of earshot.
Pictures. DJ is a wonderful photographer. His eye captures the things it does I believe due to his keen observation skills. My impulsive, in the action kind of personality, disallows me to stop long enough to really get the right shot. We never have to argue over who took the great shot. Mine are blurry, boring, and cut off, mostly. Once in maybe 500 Ill get an okay shot. It is even worse with the camcorder. The camcorder exposes my somewhat hyperactive zippyzoomy way. I am constantly zooming in and out, scanning all around, and I often forget to turn it off, so there are long periods of film with the lens on, or the ground spinning all over the place. No potential career there, none for me, but I do it anyway to capture these little people of ours in their wonder years. DJ always has the camera and camcorder plug, charged, extra batteries; all ready at anytime. He is such a patient and thoughtful photo-videographer. Obviously we all love pix right? So, what better place than this to snap zillions of shots? We love capturing all the wonder of our kids frolicking on this fantastic piece of real estate.
Unfortuately, we have virtually no pictures of the first days. Are you thinking because of the rain? Nope. Did we leave it at the hotel? No. Were we too preoccupied? Wrong again. We could not find the right batteries for our digital before we left in the middle of the night and still had not found any. Had no time or place to get them before our plane lifted off at 6:10 am and could not find the proper batteries anywhere. Nowhere, and we had looked in every airport store, and all over Diz so far. None. Thousands of dollars on a trip. Months of packing and planning, and we waited to buy the batteries until the last day, which came 24 hours too early. We never thought we would not find digital batteries at Diz. But that is what happened. But if you come visit me, I can plant you in front of our tele and bore you with hours of video that I lovingly shot chaotic zooming, panning and all.
Moving quickly away from the Spoiler and out of Africa, we ran into a fantastic group of musicians. Our dks were entranced by the drums, the beat, the costumes, the dancing. It was so uplifting and joyous. We felt like we were thousands of miles away from home. Jumpin jeepers! We were! No wonder. No, really diz has done a great job of packing in neat shows and displays to draw you in as you meander throughout the park in attempts to entertain and prevent the rides from getting too crowded. It almost sometimes works, crowded rides that is. The kids had the biggest smiles on their faces, and were laughing and clapping. They seemed to get such a kick out of watching the dancers boogie and me boogie. DJ did not dance. Hes not a boogie down sort of guy. His face softens though and I saw him gazing at our kids with that gaga kind of look he gets. It felt so euphoric to be immersed in such a different environment, something so out of ordinary from our daily life .
We wonder as we wander (Does anyone else love that song?) and land upon Flights of Wonder. A gentleman was outside hailing an audience to join the show starting any minute. Okay, go into this one, folks. Take your time at AK, and go. This is such a fantastic show and was a highlight for both parents and kids. It is so great to see an animal show where the animals are not exploited and havent been reduced to performing stupid pet tricks. This show uses the animals natural behavior to entertain. The respect lavished on these gorgeous birds is what I wish for all animal exhibits. Our antsy kids just sat and gawked at the hawks, and other fantastic critters. It was awesome to have a large bird swoop within a few inches of the top of your head. Never would most of us have the opportunity to experience this. DJ and I loved the mc and his sidekick who served up a dose of ham and cheese humor. Silly little men, super little show. Dont miss it, you might even get to go up and get your picture taken with one of the feathered fliers. If you need a break in the shade to rest and slow things down, well step right up folks, this is it!
It hits me. It is nearing 11:00. We remember the fast passes we have for that time, to you know, that ride, that one over there in Asia, the one we went gaga over? Well, DJ and I coral the lil doggies over to it once more. By now, the line is overflowing out across the walkway and along the river. The fastpasses are gone for the day. The wait is at least 1½ hours. We stroll amidst an enormous throng of would be yeti seekers and feel tremendous pity. Will they all get on? Is this all they will do for that pricey park pass today? We do our boring OMG, TG that isnt us thing and park the jack mobile in the viewing position. He protests and bargains for another treat. He gets a snack, crushed crackers and raisins. These had come in the food suitcase Id packed.
The snack pacified him for a few more minutes, but only because I had lollipops to go with the more wholesome treats. Jack is addicted to candy. Awakened in the morning from November to January and said I want a lollipop in a demanding tone, with no room for any answer but yes. Sometimes he had a blowup, or was grumpy because we never gave in at that time of day. Halloween causes months of powers struggles afterwards, with regards to the amount of sugar consumed. Anyone else experience this bizarre and most unpleasant phenomena?
Anyway, back to EE. DJ goes first this time and he brings Sky, the teeny weeny thrill seeker. Carson, Jack and I stare and try to find them on both the ascent and decent. We are still looking for them, when suddenly they show up in front of us, already done with their journey. Sky is more excited than before and SoNotAfraidOfEverest now. She loves it. The screaming fills the air as other folks come careening down the giant drop in front of us. When dad and daughter return, grinning, we switch. Carson agrees to another round willingly, with mom at his side this time.
Poor little guy. He is like me. Pushes himself on these rides, but is a bit scared. Several times I offer to skip it with him and do something else. Something pushes him to get on-some magnetic pull that is inescapable. Is he trying to keep up with his baby sister? Does machismo manifest in boys this young? I am not sure, but he stays the course and we board. It is still terrifying for me. That pit in my stomach is there as the click click car sounds up the mountain. Wouldnt you think by the third time Id be okay? Not. Nope, once a chick-chick, always a chick-chick. Im drawn too. The thrill is fantastic. I love it. You know, I love that ride, Im scared of that ride kind of thing? We come off and Carson is a little shaken, but eeks out a smile. Thats it, he says. Im not going again Dont worry, bud I reply, We couldnt if we wanted to. We fall in line and scan the myriad waiting faces as we walk past them out of Asia, and towards the Tree of Life.
Part 11- Go to Page 20, post 300
All the to-do about this new ride is spot on. We indeed think Expedition Everest is special for so many reasons; the theme, the details, the fear factor, the foreshadowing, the view, the dark backwards, and the villain. We were nothing short of thrilled. Yup. It surpassed my expectations.
After DJ and Carson returned, we hightailed it out of Asia and headed over to the Safari. It was not quite 10:00 or so. We walked along the trail to Africa, and it was beautifully barren. No one was there. It was cool, quiet, misty, not raining but overcast and wet. I loved being there. There were colorful birds everywhere, and flowers, and interesting details you miss when the walkways are mobbed and you are trying not to get separated from your children. It looked so pretty. What a contrast to the brown and gray north that we left just 28 hours before. It was also chilly, relatively speaking. It felt especially cold because of the dampness. It never reached 50 that day, and the kids were bundled up with their snugglies. We got over to the safari pretty quickly. We parked our prams, and entered.
Do any of you do this? Every single time we enter a ride, we start moaning and saying OMG, can you imagine standing here? Ugh, how can people stand here? We just cannot imagine what it is like to stand and shuffle, for 1 or 2 hours waiting for a ride. The queues wind around and around and end up hidden by more walls, fooling the ride neophytes that it is shorter than it actually is. The poor unknowing folks that get in those lines, and end up stuck there forever .. Would some of you videotape the children that can stand in line that long for me? Is it physically feasible for them to do this? We get a thrill of sailing straight through to the ride. How boring DJ and I are, because we say this every single ride, every single time, with meaning and emotion. Never fails to thrill us, like finding an item on the shelf that hasnt gotten the markup yet, where all the other ones have.
We end up in the first row, right behind our driver. DJ and I sandwich the kids in. It seems like they could fall out easily. Has anyone ever heard of a child slipping out of these vehicles, like on the bumpy bridge? We love being next to the driver and are excited to head out into the preserve in the crisp morning air. I pull out snacks for the kids and feel like nothing could be more perfect. The driver starts his spiel. Hes a cute fella, I am guessing he might have had his sights set on a career in show business, and this is where he was at this point. He is less than enthusiastic about his narration. But thats okay; really this attraction is about the spectacular animals, not the corny chitchat.
Then it happens, out of the crisp morning air, I hear another voice. It is coming from directly behind me; from a woman, whom DJ and I named the Spoiler. She has to announce she has ridden this something like 467 times. She informs as many of us as she can, in as loud a voice without going over the volume of the driver, in that pretending-she-is-talking-to-her-traveling-companion voice. She starts giving her companion (real meaning-all of us) the spiel of the driver, before he does, and telling what animals are coming next. I do not get annoyed easily, and usually can find delight in someones well, uniqueness, but not so here. The Spoiler is detracting from the purity of the experience. She blathers on, and allows us not one surprise. I try to not hear her, but for some reason, this causes me to hear her more. She even corrects the driver. Great gobbledy dee, please hush, I mutter. I start pointing things out to my kids very quietly, and what? She starts commenting on what I am sharing with my kids and correcting me. I dont look back and glare, nor do I turn and say I am so impressed with your knowledge base, thank you for joining in. She has committed the cardinal sin of speaking into my space when not having been properly acknowledged. The spoiler has violated the communication zone. I purposefully try to drown her out with my own brain interference, as she is narrating our safari. Look at the babies, I say. I hear, those are not babies, they are full grown ----(cannot remember the antelope type of creature). I ignore it and start saying, Look at those babies to everything, so as to trick her into thinking I call everything babies, and was not misidentifying those antelope type creatures to my children. (You know, like I meant to do that) and so that she doesnt think I hear her. She keeps correcting me, Those are full grown elephants. I started to say ridiculous things, and she would correct me; no matter what I said. Like I am not sure those are giraffes, or we cant be sure those are zebras. It became a game that gave DJ and me more than a few chuckles.
Have you ever sat in front of someone at the movies like this? You know the person who has seen the flick before, knows what is going to happen next and has to prove they are in the know and ruins it by the watch what happens here stuff? Did any of you ride the Kilimanjaro Safari with the Spoiler? Maybe you are the Spoiler. Now you all must know by now that I am far from mean spirited or hateful, so excuse my bluntness. But, if you are she, and you are reading this, I just have to say now, I did not like your safari style, mam. Please keep your previous 468 trips to yourself next time and allow us the wonder of discovering the animals ourselves. I do not mean to be rude, but part of the joy of anything is seeing it for yourself, through your own lens. Perhaps, though, maybe I actually should thank you as you did make the safari that much more memorable.
We saw the enormous elephants and their beautiful bouncing babies, the graceful gazelles, the gangly giraffes, the cute cats, the happy hippos, the zippy zebras, the gollygee gorillas. What is it about baby elephants that make them so adorable? I will tell you that next to Tink and Bambi, I absolutely love Dumbo. So, guess I am a sucker for pachyderms. Everyone seemed to be out there this morning. A lioness was perched high on a rock. It was spectacular. Here would be where I would have put a couple of safari shots we took. But I cannot do this.
We all enjoyed it tremendously, despite the Spoilers unwelcome narration. When it was over, we jumped out and hightailed it away from our uninvited hostess, for fear of having the next attraction tainted by her spoiling. How is it in a park that big, we all run into the same people throughout the day? Are those Dis-ers? Tourguide Mikers? UG-ers? But in retrospect, I should have stared long and hard, or even taken her picture. As it turned out, I have no idea what she looked like. Chances are, shell be there next time we are, and we might have had a chance to sit just out of earshot.
Pictures. DJ is a wonderful photographer. His eye captures the things it does I believe due to his keen observation skills. My impulsive, in the action kind of personality, disallows me to stop long enough to really get the right shot. We never have to argue over who took the great shot. Mine are blurry, boring, and cut off, mostly. Once in maybe 500 Ill get an okay shot. It is even worse with the camcorder. The camcorder exposes my somewhat hyperactive zippyzoomy way. I am constantly zooming in and out, scanning all around, and I often forget to turn it off, so there are long periods of film with the lens on, or the ground spinning all over the place. No potential career there, none for me, but I do it anyway to capture these little people of ours in their wonder years. DJ always has the camera and camcorder plug, charged, extra batteries; all ready at anytime. He is such a patient and thoughtful photo-videographer. Obviously we all love pix right? So, what better place than this to snap zillions of shots? We love capturing all the wonder of our kids frolicking on this fantastic piece of real estate.
Unfortuately, we have virtually no pictures of the first days. Are you thinking because of the rain? Nope. Did we leave it at the hotel? No. Were we too preoccupied? Wrong again. We could not find the right batteries for our digital before we left in the middle of the night and still had not found any. Had no time or place to get them before our plane lifted off at 6:10 am and could not find the proper batteries anywhere. Nowhere, and we had looked in every airport store, and all over Diz so far. None. Thousands of dollars on a trip. Months of packing and planning, and we waited to buy the batteries until the last day, which came 24 hours too early. We never thought we would not find digital batteries at Diz. But that is what happened. But if you come visit me, I can plant you in front of our tele and bore you with hours of video that I lovingly shot chaotic zooming, panning and all.
Moving quickly away from the Spoiler and out of Africa, we ran into a fantastic group of musicians. Our dks were entranced by the drums, the beat, the costumes, the dancing. It was so uplifting and joyous. We felt like we were thousands of miles away from home. Jumpin jeepers! We were! No wonder. No, really diz has done a great job of packing in neat shows and displays to draw you in as you meander throughout the park in attempts to entertain and prevent the rides from getting too crowded. It almost sometimes works, crowded rides that is. The kids had the biggest smiles on their faces, and were laughing and clapping. They seemed to get such a kick out of watching the dancers boogie and me boogie. DJ did not dance. Hes not a boogie down sort of guy. His face softens though and I saw him gazing at our kids with that gaga kind of look he gets. It felt so euphoric to be immersed in such a different environment, something so out of ordinary from our daily life .
We wonder as we wander (Does anyone else love that song?) and land upon Flights of Wonder. A gentleman was outside hailing an audience to join the show starting any minute. Okay, go into this one, folks. Take your time at AK, and go. This is such a fantastic show and was a highlight for both parents and kids. It is so great to see an animal show where the animals are not exploited and havent been reduced to performing stupid pet tricks. This show uses the animals natural behavior to entertain. The respect lavished on these gorgeous birds is what I wish for all animal exhibits. Our antsy kids just sat and gawked at the hawks, and other fantastic critters. It was awesome to have a large bird swoop within a few inches of the top of your head. Never would most of us have the opportunity to experience this. DJ and I loved the mc and his sidekick who served up a dose of ham and cheese humor. Silly little men, super little show. Dont miss it, you might even get to go up and get your picture taken with one of the feathered fliers. If you need a break in the shade to rest and slow things down, well step right up folks, this is it!
It hits me. It is nearing 11:00. We remember the fast passes we have for that time, to you know, that ride, that one over there in Asia, the one we went gaga over? Well, DJ and I coral the lil doggies over to it once more. By now, the line is overflowing out across the walkway and along the river. The fastpasses are gone for the day. The wait is at least 1½ hours. We stroll amidst an enormous throng of would be yeti seekers and feel tremendous pity. Will they all get on? Is this all they will do for that pricey park pass today? We do our boring OMG, TG that isnt us thing and park the jack mobile in the viewing position. He protests and bargains for another treat. He gets a snack, crushed crackers and raisins. These had come in the food suitcase Id packed.
The snack pacified him for a few more minutes, but only because I had lollipops to go with the more wholesome treats. Jack is addicted to candy. Awakened in the morning from November to January and said I want a lollipop in a demanding tone, with no room for any answer but yes. Sometimes he had a blowup, or was grumpy because we never gave in at that time of day. Halloween causes months of powers struggles afterwards, with regards to the amount of sugar consumed. Anyone else experience this bizarre and most unpleasant phenomena?
Anyway, back to EE. DJ goes first this time and he brings Sky, the teeny weeny thrill seeker. Carson, Jack and I stare and try to find them on both the ascent and decent. We are still looking for them, when suddenly they show up in front of us, already done with their journey. Sky is more excited than before and SoNotAfraidOfEverest now. She loves it. The screaming fills the air as other folks come careening down the giant drop in front of us. When dad and daughter return, grinning, we switch. Carson agrees to another round willingly, with mom at his side this time.
Poor little guy. He is like me. Pushes himself on these rides, but is a bit scared. Several times I offer to skip it with him and do something else. Something pushes him to get on-some magnetic pull that is inescapable. Is he trying to keep up with his baby sister? Does machismo manifest in boys this young? I am not sure, but he stays the course and we board. It is still terrifying for me. That pit in my stomach is there as the click click car sounds up the mountain. Wouldnt you think by the third time Id be okay? Not. Nope, once a chick-chick, always a chick-chick. Im drawn too. The thrill is fantastic. I love it. You know, I love that ride, Im scared of that ride kind of thing? We come off and Carson is a little shaken, but eeks out a smile. Thats it, he says. Im not going again Dont worry, bud I reply, We couldnt if we wanted to. We fall in line and scan the myriad waiting faces as we walk past them out of Asia, and towards the Tree of Life.
Part 11- Go to Page 20, post 300
]..what's not to love! it's my favorite pic of her
that spoke too much, so feel free to say what you want. Just make sure sure you mention your favorite ride or something remotely related to this board. 
And I will come visit you and see your crazy dizzy video. Unless you live in Caribou, I think it's do-able! 
) but sewer (don't wanna know WHERE you got THAT user name! 
), but that's an 'interesting' avatar ya got there......
