Day 6, Tuesday, Dec. 5
A little insight into my daily life
Im a breakfast person. Cant start my day without it. Really, me without something nutritious in the morning is NOT a pretty sight.
Im also not a morning person. Now, Im not one of those morning grumps who just glowers and hisses in the direction of anyone daring to speak to them before 10am. Im just not on my game until about 9am, so I use my 8am work start time to catch up on email, review my calendar, and see what Britney and KFed are up to. You know, simple things that dont require much brain activity.
So you can see that a simple breakfast at home fits the bill nicely. Trying to get to a restaurant, let alone navigating a long menu, just isnt something I do well early in the morning. But.
This is what I LOVE about vacations: I dont always have to get up early, even at WDW! And if I can sleep a little more, I can go have a yummy restaurant breakfast later in the morning. And that, dear reader, is one of my favorite things to do on vacation.
And so it was that we had an 8:30am ADR for Spoodles the morning after our premiere
MVMCP. Man oh man was I looking forward to that frittata.
Guess what? We missed it.
Yep, we all slept until 8am and there wasnt a chance of moving slow and slower (that would be Leo and Gramma) through the bathroom, into clothes, out the door, down the stairs and around the corner to Spoodles in 30 minutes.
We were
forced to do my almost-very-favorite vacation activity
.
ROOM SERVICE!!! Call me crazy, but I just love paying way too much for luke-warm food to arrive on a little cart in my hotel room. Stop laughing, Im serious. Dont even get me started on the $60 club sandwich/Cosmopolitan combo on my last business trip.
Anyway, order room service we did. Gramma had some eggs with various meat and grain side dishes, I had a lovely western(ish) omelet and Leo had his first Mickey waffles.
Since we only had 2 chairs, Leo copped a squat on the floor in front of the TV and had a little picnic, reminiscent of our room service meal at the CR last Sept. Let me tell you, luke-warm temps aside, it was gooo-oood! We all felt completely fortified and energized, yet relaxed at the same time.
The plan for the day called for some relaxing and exploring the hotel, followed by an afternoon/evening at MGM. But we were feeling so good, (and wed frankly had enough of the BWI to last a few lifetimes), we decided to start out earlier and walked over to EP for a bit.
Id read about the Build-It-Yourself robots in UtahMamas TR and knew, given Leos predisposition toward engineering and robotics,
(me Im an Art History major. Have fun picturing me helping Leo with his math in a few years
), this would be a winner for sure.
So we made our way past the UK and Canada, and made a bee-line for Innoventions. I located the Plastics area quickly, aided by the LINE of people waiting to build their own robots. No turning back now; Id already promised Leo a robot and hed gladly wait for the honor.
Seriously, that was the longest wait we had the entire trip. And I wish I could say it was worth it. Not so much. BUT, lest this dissuade any readers from trying it for themselves, its really much better for older kids and adults. See, the deal is you learn a little about plastics, (yawn), then go build a cyber-robot, utilizing your newfound plastics expertise. Once all 16 participants have their cyber-robots built and named, you race your creations over a cyber-obstacle course. By running and jumping in place. In full public display. TFI.
We were losing Leo on the plastics infomercial. He had a hard time making decisions when it came to building his cyber-robot. He refused to run and jump on his own, and wound up being carried while Gramma did all the work. Heres his creation:
Where was I? Battling my room-freshener-induced allergy attack. No way was I about to run in place while I was sneezing every 15 seconds. I was slumped against the nearest pole, sucking on cough drops and pulling out tissues.
In the end, Leos creation, Zippy Monster, came in last place.
He didnt care. He just wanted to build the dang robot already.
Our group moseyed on over to the building center. At last! With so many people pushing and prodding to get their parts, it wasnt easy, but we did eventually get Leo all he needed to make a real Zippy Monster he could bring home.
Zippy in hand, we headed back out for yet another spin on Spaceship Earth, then back to the boat to MGM. The looooong boat ride. Not to China. To MGM.
We arrived just in time for the afternoon parade, another first for us. After securing a spot along the parade route, Gramma got us all some soft pretzels and milkshakes to enjoy as we waited. Breakfast had been so big, and so late, we just skipped lunch altogether and went with a snack.
As if on cue, the parade started up just as I ate my last bite of pretzel and we were on! Leo wasnt scared at all this time, though he shrank back into his stroller when the villains came by.
He was very happy to see his pal, (not Pal), Mickey again
And we all said Howdy! to Woody
Leos a big Mary Poppins fan, so this made him happy
But this was his favorite
That was fun! Im so glad we finally saw the MGM parade. Weve really been missing out all these years.
I knew Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater were scheduled to make an appearance shortly, so we headed over to their destination and waited, along with about 300 other families.
If you havent seen this yet, please allow me to illuminate for you. Theres no line. There are no ropes, chains, or straps to create a line. There are no CMs hanging around to handle crowd control. Like the old WDW days, this is a first-come, first-serve, take your pics while you can and know other people will be in there with you kind of gig.
And Leo was NOT digging it.
We waited with everyone else, but when those vehicles rounded the corner and came to a complete stop, and the crowds descended upon Lightning and Mater, Leo quietly asked to leave the area. So we did. Still, he was happy to have seen them.
After that, we rode Star Tours and visited the Muppets
before getting a bite to eat at Backlot Express. There, Leo finally found the elusive chicken nuggets, previously available at most WDW counter service eateries, but recently eliminated from the new childrens menus. My boy was in deep-fried heaven, I tell you.
Pretty soon, it was time to take a trip to the Big City and catch the Osborne Lights. Ive been seeing the lights every year since they arrived in WDW, and it never, ever gets old. But. There was a time when the lights decorated every surface of the city
and the suburbs behind it. Lawnmowers, bicycles, cars, swingsets, lawns, BBQ grills all were covered in lights. And you could walk through the city and all around the residential streets, experiencing the lights at your own pace.
As anyone whos seen the Osborne lights in recent years will know, the residential street is history. Were now sequestered within the city street scenes and, while its still cool as all get out, it wasnt quite as much fun last year.
But this year, we were offered the promise of DANCING lights! I kept referring to the Dancing Lights throughout the day. Keep that in mind, okay?
We got ourselves the obligatory hot cocoa, (mine helped along with just a splash of Chivas!), and stood in the center of the street to wait. In no time at all, the snow was flying, the music was blaring and the lights
. Oh, the lights were indeed dancing! It was fantabulous. We walked down the street and back up it again, then over to the San Fran side street to sit a spell and just enjoy it all.
Leo, however, became quite upset when Gramma and I sat down on a curb. Get up!, he said, We dance! Its DANCING lights! Yes, he took my description literally and we were all expected to get off our hineys and get our groove on.
So we did!
We danced, the lights danced, it was a super terrific way to end our (sniff) last (sniff) night.
And, in case that wasnt enough, look what was waiting for us upon our return to the hotel:
Three for three, baby a triumvirate of towel animals!
Thank you Mousekeeping, and Have a Magical Day!
Coming soon: The End. And what happened before The End.
See ya' in a bit!
Oh no... not the end!
...WORK today!!! I thought maybe it was just a slow day on the boards! 
He's the s l o w e s t writer in the whole wide world and we had 15 girls names to do, which we did FINALLY tonight and another 14 boys to do tomorrow, but imagine my horror 
in trying to get him to write names like Twanasja and JaDarrius in a teeny-tiny space...15 freaking times! 
but they weren't as COOL looking and as big as yours! 
My trick worked. Side track you with the Dyson info, and I swoop down and be first. (J/K) 
I'm a sucker for it too.
Welcome back! How was your trip?
