Jaime on Vacation! (9/2/06 - 9/10/06) COMPLETED: Page 14, Post #210

[nebo]

we ate last Sept. at Prime Time, and while the food was ok, we couldn't get
a "mom" in our room to save our lives. Our " cousin" not so once even mentioned her, and after looking around, I counted 7 kids in our small room.
12 years ago, mom was all over us. This time, nuttin. I almost considered
starting a food fight just to get her attention.

 

[tiggerbell]

nebo, You wanna borrow Ashley?

 

[byoung]

Thanks for your report.

 

[tammyandtommy]

I need my morning fix... jamie where are you? I almost never beat you here in the morning!

 

[tiggerbell]

Having only gone to Rafiki’s once before, I had not realized HOW FAR the walk is! I gotta look at a map – I think we were in another county! You know, the one where the MK Pop Century bus stop is located?

We finally get to a building. We wander aimlessly for a few minutes and spot a demonstration involving a tiny furry guy (hedgehog?).

We learn about spiders and crabs shedding their shells when they get too big – yeah, SPIDERS!!! The scary CM told me that when you see a spider web with what appears to be a dead spider in it, it’s probably just the old body THAT IT OUTGREW!!!

Dinosaur is NOTHING! Drive a jeep through THAT RIDE!!!

Ashley found a life size cut out of a tiger and pretended to be Jasmine for a few minutes.

We end up looking for Hidden Mickeys with another CM. For the newbies, Hidden Mickeys are images if Mickey – either full face or the famous 3-circle icon – hidden in all different spots all over Disney. In this case, there are over 100 Hidden Mickeys in the mural at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I won’t post ALL the pictures I took!

We did this for over 40 minutes! I had to DRAG Meg out of there!

 

[tiggerbell]

I need my morning fix... jamie where are you? I almost never beat you here in the morning!

LOL! I had shut the computer off last night because of the storms, so I had to wait for it to come back up!

It was really bad here last night - we're very lucky that we still have power and are not hurt. The people in the basement apartment were bailing out from the water coming through the walls, and then I had a parade of people in my kitchen - a house was on fire from the lightning (I saw it happen, it was really scary!) a few blocks away. Living up here on the 2nd floor was not fun in the lightning storm! I'm sure I'll have to leave early for work.

Hope everyone is safe...

 

[tiggerbell]

We walk out the back door and the girls head for the petting zoo. I’m a little surprised, I guess I was thinking Meg was too old to pet goats. Turned out I was right – she looked at the goats and said, “Let’s go.”

We hiked back to the train and I suggested seeing if Everest was open again. We had been talking to people all day about whether or not it was open. Seems like everyone in the park had been ON the train or IN line when it went down – probably because it kept going down!

We get lucky and get to ride. This time I’m SURE – I get motion sickness from this roller coaster! I tell the girls I’m done. I’m going back to the hotel. They want to stay and ride Everest some more. Fine. That works for me. (it’s about 2pm).

I wandered slowly to the bus, stopping in several stores along the way. When I got to Pop (there was a bus waiting!), I stopped in the store and bought a pair of silver hoop Mickey earrings and 2 silver car icons – you know the Jesus fish people put on the back of their cars? Well, there’s now Mickey Head ones! I couldn’t say WHY I bought 2, but it turned out to be a great plan because I put one on my car on a Saturday and by Tuesday, it had been ripped off! Wow, I was MAD!!! So at least I still have one, but it’s not going on my car! Then it was the food court for water and a HUGE bag of cheetos as a snack!

Meanwhile, the girls ride Everest 7 times!!! And buy 2 5x7 pictures. Then the go on Kali River Rapids again and get a bunch of PhotoPass pictures taken on their way out.

They had a great time and got a dirty look for their screaming on the ride!

Back in the room, I’m chilling – I got my book and my cheetos, I was just dozing off when the phone rang. It’s Meg. They are leaving AK and want to know where we’re eating dinner. They figure they can just meet me there instead of taking a bus back to Pop and more busses to wherever we’re going to eat! Ummm….. I do some quick thinking and come up with The Wilderness Lodge. I love Whispering Canyon Café.

I have to do some scrambling now – I start with a call to Disney Dining. I get a message saying they’re very busy and it might be faster to contact my Concierge Desk. I figure I’ll just run down instead of calling. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S A LINE????? Arg.

10 minutes later, I’m being told there’s nothing at Whispering Canyon until after 9pm (it’s around 5 now). So I think it through and pick Kona Café at 6:30. I’ve never done dinner there, and I can go get the girls at Wilderness Lodge and we can take the ferry.

I go out the front door and grab a cab. Before I know it, I’m at the Wilderness Lodge. Finding the girls is pretty easy (I recognized them!) I tell them I couldn’t get a reservation.

Then I look at the restaurant. Pretty freakin’ empty! You know what? I’m going to go ask. Whoo-Hoo! We’re seated in just a couple minutes. (And, for the 2nd time on this trip, we do NOT eat at Kona!)

 

[swankybeth]

Your report is awesome, I'm the whole time! Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[tiggerbell]

We are seated at Whispering Canyon along the lobby railing, right before the “nebo” section.

Our server, Bobby the Kid, who I recognized as a regular, came and sat with us. He introduced us to the group next to us and told us that each new group has to sing a song to the table they are introduced to. Based on the looks on their kids’ faces, he didn’t make THEM sing!

But The Kid doesn’t know whom he has here! PUBLIC and HUMILIATION do not go together in my book! ESPECIALLY in Disney! I was mentally running through the Disney songbooks when I realized Meg was turning red and Bobby was not actually going to force us to sing in the restaurant… oh. Dang. I guess I don’t need this top hat and cane for the dance number, huh?

He “let us off the hook” by suggesting the Mickey Mouse Club chorus – “Oh, boy, hope I can SPELL!” – and then telling us he’d join us. Join us??? Try DROWN US OUT!!!

I get over it by ordering a Cactus Margarita.

Check it out! I’m drinking!!!

And nachos go with margaritas, right?

I’m all set! And cheap – 1 margarita will be enough. Sorry. I'd tell you I was cheap and easy, but this is a family site!

Meg has told Ashley about this restaurant, wanna know how I knew? Because Ashley made a point of ordering macaroni and cheese WITH FRIES!!!

How gross does that look?!?

Meg got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The weird part was that Bobby guessed what each of them was ordering.

Ashley asked for the fries so she could ask for ketchup – but you knew that, didn’t you? The Kid takes Ashley off to the side and is talking to her.

Then they call Meghan over.

I run around a couple of tables to get a picture of “KETCHUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP”!!!

What happens next is a glimpse into my future, only I don’t recognize it as such at the time…

 

[CrazedDisFan]

MORE PLEASE! Lovin' the report! I check every night for the latest updates.

 

[tammyandtommy]

ok Jamie, i beat you again this morning... whats up with that... was last nights installment supposed to cover this mornings? I dont think so get up and get typing!!! Love ya... have a great day

 

[tiggerbell]

Let’s see…

we were eating at the Whispering Canyon Café… the girls were regaling me with tales of ticking off people by screaming on the rides (so glad I wasn’t there and so sorry if you were the giver of “the dirty look”) and coloring their menus.

Yup. Not so grown as they think they are!

And now for the glimpse into my future – Meg thinks every meal should end in dessert now. You know, I could have just fed them at Pop’s food court, but no!!!!!!!!!!! I’m nice and pay for an awesome dinner at a fun place!!!!! And now Meg wants dessert. She wants it off the kids’ menu (worms in dirt) so I agree… not knowing that this would affect me later.

See, she’s still asking for dessert with every meal. Sunday, I took her to lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. She says she’s not very hungry and orders a salad. It was a huge salad! She’s not even half through it when she looks up at me and chirps, “Dessert?” Ummm. NO!

Yesterday, she wanted me to go downstairs to the landlady’s and buy some more chocolate bars that Erika’s selling for her daughters’ day care.

How do you break someone from the dining plan once you’re HOME???

She was given a really big spoon to eat her dessert with.

And I ratted the 2 of them out for trying to steal the spoon. Dinner was $35.88 plus tip. Gotta love the kids eating off that kid menu!

OK, it’s a little after 6:30, we need to head to the MK to catch a bus back to Pop. So let’s try the ferryboat! We wander through the gift shop at the Wilderness Lodge first, then we show Ashley the spring in the lobby and how it goes through the property. I realize it should be about 7 when we get past the pool, so we’re going to watch the geyser. Except, SOMEONE just drank a yard of margarita, so she missed the geyser. Well, I saw it from near the building when I ran back! I don’t think the girls were really impressed.

I just realized I haven’t mentioned that this night and tomorrow night (Friday and Saturday) are the Nights of Joy at the Magic Kingdom. These are extra ticket events where Christian bands will play and people who go listen to Christian bands pay extra to go see them. The MK closed at 6pm each night to the general public, or as I like to call them – the heathens.

Now, I want to explain myself, because I don’t want to upset anyone on accident. I believe I’m fairly tolerant. I believe people have the right to believe whatever they want, as long as they don’t hurt anyone. They have the right to do whatever they want to their body, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. I don’t care what religion you are, if you’re gay, what your race is, just BE a decent human being.

That said, I also have a fairly wicked sense of humor. And I hope it doesn’t get me into too much trouble.

I now had to explain the Nights of Joy to Ashley. For a little reference, Meg and I are non-practicing Lutherans and Ashley had 9 years of Catholic grammar school. Not that that really matters. Ash wants to know who goes to these events. I probably simplified it when I said Christians. She replies, “I’m a Christian.”

So I thought back to when I was in line at the Concierge Desk trying to get dinner reservations, the 2 men in front of me were having a conversation about tonight’s event. One of the men was talking about having seen a couple of the bands when they came through his town, and his wife surprised him with this weekend. He was wearing a What Would Jesus Do? Ankle bracelet. He was in his 50s and looked vaguely hippie-ish.

So that’s how I explained this to Ashley, adding that he probably had a Jesus fish on his car, too. (THAT may have been taking it too far ) But the Jesus Fish comment hits home, and she totally gets it. Of course, now I’ve accidentally dubbed them Fish People for the next 2 days…

Either way, when the ferry pulled up to the Magic Kingdom, the place was SWARMING with people! It was so crowded!!! Kinda reminded you of salmon, swimming upstream! Wow!!! I was so glad we were just catching the bus and not going in!

I hope that man and his wife had a nice night… it looked like he had a whole itinerary of things they were there for!

Now I gotta backup: We get on the ferryboat at the Wilderness Lodge.

I pick seats in the front of the boat. First stop will be Ft. Wilderness, so we settle in for the ride. As we’re bopping along through the waves, we see some birds flying in the same direction as our boat – but it’s not just a FEW birds… it’s THOUSANDS!!!!!!!! Seriously!

I just saw Hitchcock’s The Birds for the first time this summer, so I was pretty freaked (especially since birds seem to watch me when I’m outside – I was laying in the yard reading a few weeks ago and I look up to see about 7 birds sitting on wires and houses – they had me surrounded!)

All the birds seemed to be coming from an island in the middle of Bay Lake and heading towards the dock at Ft. Wilderness. They all landed in the trees, causing the trees to bend down a little from the weight. Then the boat whistled and all the birds took flight again, to circle and land back in the trees. I got a little bit of this on my camera’s video mode, it’s pretty creepy to watch.

I hear someone behind me say the captain of the boat just explained they were crows and this happened every night.

Next stop, the Magic Kingdom. We get off the ferry and head over to Pop’s bus stop. There’s no need to send Meg running ahead because they are loading a wheelchair or ECV, and there’s only 1 family there. The family was with the man in the chair… how do I know? Ummm…. They were all wearing leis! Obviously, while we were dining at Wilderness Lodge, they were dining at the Luau at the Polynesian. Why do we care???

Because CHRIS is one of them!!!!!!!!!

 

[tammyandtommy]

I think those birds were probably landing on discovery island, a few years back this closed down

 

[tiggerbell]

I think those birds were probably landing on discovery island, a few years back this closed down

That was where I thought they came from, too, but it's been so long, I can't remember where Discovery Island was. I just know when they flew over us and landed in the trees behind the Ft. Wilderness dock it was really, REALLY creepy!

And what REALLY bugged me about The Birds is that you never find out WHY the birds go postal!!! And, yes, I've read abot how The Birds was not about the BIRDS, it was supposed to be a love story, blah, blah, blah.... WHY did the birds go postal???????

 

[tammyandtommy]

I never figured that out either..... Hmmmm food for thought today

 

[DisneyObsession]

I get over it by ordering a Cactus Margarita.

/U]

Now THAT'S a Margarita!

 

[DisneyObsession]

Whispering Canyon sounds like LOTS of fun!

I am really trying to come up with ADR's for a trip in Nov 2007 with friends.
I am the "obsessed" one, so I need to present the places to them.
This is one I think I'll suggest!
Thanks!

 

[tiggerbell]

Whispering Canyon sounds like LOTS of fun!

I am really trying to come up with ADR's for a trip in Nov 2007 with friends.
I am the "obsessed" one, so I need to present the places to them.
This is one I think I'll suggest!
Thanks!

I've eaten there 3 times and it's on the schedule for the 2nd Ladies' Trip in the spring. It's one of my favorites, too!

 

[tiggerbell]

We sit in the back of the bus with Chris. The girls and he talk the whole ride home. I am in a 4-seater section alone. The bus is not really crowded, but people are standing up front. So I lean into the aisle and yell, “There’s seats back here!”

Classy, huh? Must have been, no one came to sit. “Uh, no thanks, lady. We’d rather stand for 20 minutes than sit with YOU.”

Being the kindhearted, loving, generous (oh, shut up, Rhonda!)… oh, ok, not-to-be-ignored person that I am, I lean out into the aisle again and yell, “Seriously. There’s seats back here. Last call.”

And in the dark, because the bus is moving by this point, comes a child and, I’m assuming, her grandmother. (If you weren’t her grandmother, please forgive me, it was dark! And please don’t call me ma’am!)

The little girl’s name was Audrey. We had a delightful chat the whole way back to Pop. She was adorable. She liked Big Thunder Mountain but wasn’t big enough for Space Mountain yet. When she found out I had ridden Space Mountain, she GRILLED me! What was it like? How dark was it? Would she like it? Do I like it? Is it like Big Thunder Mountain? Should she be scared?

She was so cute! When we got back to Pop, I said good-bye and tuned back into the kids’ conversation – they were trying to figure out a meeting place to hang out with Chris.

Except they had a problem. My girls had NO IDEA where they were! Chris was in the 50s jukebox building. He might as well have told the girls he was staying on the moon! So they’re going back and forth trying to figure this out. Boring. I finally told Meg to just have him meet them by the computer pool. They could find THAT, right?

They put on their suits and went down to the pool. Within an hour they were back and I heard Chris say good night. They were both dry. Instead of swimming, Chris had shown them around the resort – Meg said, “Did you know there’s a LAKE?” Uh, duh!

The next morning on the way to the food court, I opened our door, and Chris had left his lei from the Luau on our doorknob.

They never even asked his name…

HIGHS: Whispering Canyon Café, Hidden Mickey hunting

LOWS: Motion sickness from Everest, realizing it’s almost over

MILES WALKED: 6.71 – maybe. See, I was wearing a pedometer the whole trip. I took it off to ride Kali River Rapids. I waited a while to put it back on – I was literally DRIPPING! But I was still too wet and shorted the poor thing out… there was no screen when I took it off that night. The screen came back when I tapped it, but I doubt that 6.71 is right. The next 2 days’ numbers are suspect also. And once I got back home, it crapped out all together!

 

[tammyandtommy]

LOL oh my, poor girls will never know his real name! I remember those days....even if they were a long time ago!