Jodie's TR. Thankfully it was a short trip. Final: Day 3, Pt 2 posted!

[AlexandNessa]

Ok, she didn’t really vote Republican. She would never vote Republican. But “hell hath frozen over” is SUCH a cliché, don’t you think?

Why would I say such a thing?

Because for one day, and one day only, I became a “rope drop person.” This term was completely new and quite foreign to me, you see. In case you are not familiar with the term, allow me to explain it briefly:

A “rope drop person” is one who arrives at the park before its official opening. Ropes are set up to tell you how far you can go into the park before all of it opens. Then, when opening time comes, the CMs drop the ropes allowing you into the park. If you are in the park to see this event, you are officially a “rope drop person” for that day.

“A rope drop person.”

Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? So now, if anyone asks you what a “rope drop person” is, you can tell them without thinking it has anything to do with Bungee Jumping.

This was the first time I was a rope drop person, and quite likely my last.

Not because it isn’t the best thing EVER.

But because I primarily travel with my most darling husband Mike, who doesn’t like to get up before 11 on vacation. Anything in the “a.m.” translates to “Angry Mike.” In the “p.m.” you ask? Well, that would be “Pleasant Mike.”

But, there were sissy and I waiting for the bus at OKW (in the Turtle Pond section, if you want to know) at about 7:15 or 7:20 in the morning. This normally is an ungodly hour for me to be up and ready to go on vacation, but I was bonding with sissy, and more importantly, my OCD wouldn’t allow Expedition Everest out of my head, especially after our debacle the day before. I had to ride.

I just had to ride.

What is it about our society that is so “now?” No one has any patience anymore. Especially me.

We waited only 5 minutes for the bus. AK buses seem to be pretty regular, and we had the bus all to ourselves. This was looking promising.

I had warned my sister the night before, “NO BAGS THIS TIME!!” And, she politely obliged. Either that or she was scared of me. We’ll never know.

So, there we were, with about 100 other people waiting in the part of AK that had been sectioned off with ropes. Some people were hopping over the ropes and going into the shops, but I really didn’t think this was encouraged, and I’m not much of a rule breaker.

Getting yelled at by a CM is not on my Top 10 list of things to do before I die, and I didn’t want to risk it.

So, there we waited, and Minnie and Company came in on a float to make sure everyone had a camera, sunscreen, and park map. I’m sure this is pretty much common sense to everyone else, but I didn’t have any of these things. They weren’t important to me at the moment. When Mickey finally came out to welcome everyone in the park, I knew the ropes would be dropping soon, and I was ready to go.

All the other people had the same idea as me and sissy. As soon as the ropes dropped, EVERYONE headed over to Expedition Everest.

The line for EE was about 400 feet long by the time we got there, but I think it was just because they hadn’t opened the entire queue area yet so the line was all outside and just looked more intimidating than it actually was.

I imagined all these people already in line were the pesky ones who hopped the ropes and cut through the shops to wait outside the ride. I suppose they weren’t yelled at after all.

Sissy and I decided to skip this line (I didn’t want to look THAT desperate, after all), and we got fast passes.

Since I had never been on the Kilamanjaro Safari before noon while all the animals were out and awake, I told sissy that this was a good time to do that.

Cool, she said. She's so agreeable.

I'm older. I'm used to getting my way.

We hopped on that with no wait. All the animals were out and active, and I thought how cool. The seat of course was soaking wet and went right through to my bum. But I didn’t care.

Now, the last time I was on this ride was 2002, but didn’t they used to shoot the poachers then? Or am I making that up? I’m not sure about that, but they don’t do that anymore, and the whole poacher thing is a little bit cheesy now. Or at least I don’t remember it being as cheesy 4 years ago. But what do I know?

I went along with it and clapped along as usual when the poachers were caught.

I don’t get people who don’t clap along, but I didn’t say anything.

If they don’t want to get into Disney, I can’t make them.

We had a bit of time yet till our FPs were good after the Safari, and we walked right into It’s Tough to Be a Bug. I held out hope that, for once, I would FINALLY get to sit through the show without children who were so scared they were screaming.

I do understand that a child can be scared during that show.

I don’t understand parents and guardians who keep their child seated in the theater despite their being scared and screaming, and this has always been my luck with this show. The fifth time had to be a charm, right?

There was only a short wait for the next show to begin, and we were standing with a dad whose little boy was a bit scared and whiny and not sure that he would like the show. I prayed we were standing next to a smart parent. (“Please be smart. Please be smart. Please be smart.” OCD, really.).

The father said OK and took the little boy out from whence they came.

Phew, I thought.

But they were only gone for 2 minutes, when the father brought his son back. It would seem he gave his son the proverbial pep talk.

Nice try, but the kid started crying again about 15 seconds later, and this time, the dad was REALLY smart, and escorted his kid out for good.

Yeah, let’s hear it for good parenting!

OK, I know I’m not ALLOWED to say anything about good parenting because I don’t have kids of my own. But honestly, don’t you think it’s better not to take your kid on a ride or to see a show if they let you know beforehand that they might be traumatized?

If your answer is yes, then you’re a good parent according to the Book of Jodie.

Anyway, I told the dad he was a good parent. I said, “Probably a good move. I’ve seen this show several times, and kids can get pretty scared,” and I meant it genuinely.

I don’t think he appreciated my kudos.

I think he knew I wasn’t a parent and therefore not allowed to give parental advice. But, I was in Disney, I had a Fast Pass for EE, and I was feeling like spreading some cheer. Not my fault that he didn’t want it.

There were only about 25 people in the theater, and it was glorious. Here’s what I learned:

“It’s Tough to Be a Bug” is WAAYYYY better sans very scared kiddos.

And so, it was with this little bit of added elation that we practically skipped to EE.

We arrived at the Fast Pass Return entrance, and the CM handed sissy the red key chain to give to the CM at the ride “to help report accurate wait times.”

I honestly don’t know how that red key chain thingy tracks wait times. There’s nothing electronic on it, at least that I could tell. Sissy would get to do this two more times this day, and whenever she handed the ride attendant the key chain, they just took it without doing anything that would tell me how the system worked. Like I thought it would be something special, where they would scan the card or look at their watch or something, but nothing.

So, how they track wait times for rides remains a mystery. To me at least.

So, we happily went through the short queue but got stuck behind a family.

The mom and kids were both safely through the Fast Pass checkpoint. In between flashing his Fast Pass to the first CM at the FP entrance and getting to the second CM at the ride entrance, the dad managed to lose his FP.

Huh?

We were stuck behind him as he was frantically going through his knapsack searching for his FP, while his wife and kids impatiently waited safely past Checkpoint Charlie.

How do you lose your FP in the span of what is probably 25 feet?

Who puts their FP away after showing it to the first attendant?

Doesn’t everyone know that you need to keep your FP out because there is a second checkpoint?

Sissy and I of course said all this to each other without saying a word. It involves intricate facial expressions and slight hand movements.

Finally, the dad said we should go ahead as a bit of a line was now formed behind me and sissy.

See ya, amateur! We told the CM, ‘Two please!” and we were assigned to our row.

Now, my heart kinda sank as I got in the car for EE. It’s pretty much exactly the same as Big Thunder Mountain RR’s car.

I think BTMRR is a bit of a wimpy coaster, just to give you some perspective and so you can take my opinion with a big ole grain a salt. If I’m being totally honest, it’s not a **bit** wimpy. It **is** wimpy.

Probably only to me.

I am more of a white-knuckle grip, I-don’t-get-excited-unless-I-feel-like-I’m-going-to-pee-my-pants type of thrill seeker when it comes to coasters.

So, when I got into the car, and all it had was the little lap bar, I really wasn’t expecting much. Anything less than a harness restraint doesn’t cut it for me as far as roller coasters go.

Hence, I found the ride, “sweet” and “cute” rather than thrilling.

Now, you do spend some time in the dark, which I guess you could find cool or scary, but there were no great drops or anything. And I didn’t get any butterflies in my stomach. Which puts the thrill factor at about a 2 and ½ out of 10 for me.

Not that I would recommend EE to my mom, mind you. I’m sure there are quite many who would consider this a thrill ride. But, really, I found EE to have better theming than BTMRR, but nothing more exciting than that. And so, for me, at least, the RNR remains my favorite roller coaster at Disney.

I suppose if I looked at EE as a “ride” and not a “roller coaster” I’d have been a lot more lenient. But then again, Mike and I are the idiots who wait to ride in the front row of Dueling Dragons and the Hulk at Islands of Adventure.

So, after our one and only ride on EE, sissy and I were both glad we didn’t wait the 80 minutes to ride the day before.

I am very sorry for my less than stellar review. Pehaps I just expected too much. But, I will say if you LOVE BTMRR, you will LOVE EE.

We hopped on over to do Primevil Whirl, just because we could. Then we did Dinosaur one more time.

Again, just because we could.

Time check: 9:45.

Ressies at the Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge? 10:40

We decided that after yesterday’s grand adventure, we’d start our meandering over to the exit and busses to make sure we were on time for this meal.

We headed out to the exit and probably made it out by about 10’clock to see HOARDS and HOARDS and HOARDS of people coming in.

HOARDS.

In DROVES.

I’m not lying.

Really!

Sissy and I were grinning from ear-to-ear. I smugly murmured under my breath to a family who was just arriving to the park,

“We just did 5 rides in about an hour and a half. Good luck with that now!”

Of course the family didn’t hear me, and I never meant for them to. (That would be mean.) But Sissy heard it (as intended) and we smugly high-fived each other, wicked proud of our big, bad selves!

So, are you taking notes?

Good time to show up at the park? 15 minutes before it opens = 5 rides in about an hour and a half.

Bad time to show up: 10-11 am = probably one ride in an hour and half.

Got that?

So, there we were, safely at the bus stop to head to the Wilderness Lodge.

The only two. Everyone else was coming.

We were the only ones going.

A CM came up to us and asked where we were headed.

I guess people don’t usually leave the parks by 10 am.

I guess not many people arrive at the park with a one-track mind like I do, and anything else is a bonus.

I still didn’t get it because we were safely under the sign that promised to take us to the WL. Did he think we wanted to go somewhere else?

We told him we really were heading to the WL, and he said, “No bus is planned for right now, but, don’t worry, we’ll get you there.”

I didn’t get that either.

Wouldn’t DTS be running back and forth from AK to WL?

Regardless, we waited for about 10 minutes or so when the CM called us over to get on the Blizzard Beach bus.

Huh?

He said the BB bus would make a special trip just for little old us.

So, it was a quick stop to BB with one other family who was staying at a hotel on International Drive, and then we had the chatty bus driver all to ourselves.

We told her we had ressies for breakfast at the Whispering Canyon, and she said she LOVED to take her grandkids there. It's their favorite.

I was really excited, as I love to see the other resorts, and I’d never been to WL before. And WOW, how pretty is the lobby of that resort, huh? It is just gorgeous.

And, I’m sure if there were more to do there at night, Mike and I would LOVE to stay there sometime! But, alas, Mike’s preference is usually the BWI, YC, or BC, and it’s very hard to convince my most DH to stay anywhere else.

There is no nightlife without Jelly Rolls or the ESPN Sports Bar being within walking distance. If you don’t believe me, just wait for my trip report in December…

So, sissy and I were really pretty impressed with the WL, and, for once, we had actually arrived on time.

Sissy and Jodie arrive at WL: 10:25.

ADR at Whispering Canyon: 10:40

Auntie, Uncle, Dee, Baby J, and Mom?: Nowhere in sight.

Arrival time: Stay tuned!!!

 

[tammyandtommy]

ROFLMAO! Rut Roh, looks like the baby slowed them down !

 

[AlexandNessa]

Good grief. I really have to wrap this thing up. Thank goodness it was such a short trip, because it’s taking me forever! Mike and I leave to go to Orlando tomorrow morning, and there is nothing worse than having 2 trip reports to do at the same time. We are heading to the dark side this time though, only Universal. Time to get in some of those pee-in-your-pants thrill rides I was missing at Disney!

So, back to our regularly scheduled story …

If you’ll remember, sissy and I were actually on time at the Wilderness Lodge, with the rest of the crew nowhere in site.

Sissy had taken last night as an opportunity to charge her cell phone, so we had the means this time to call and communicate with the rest of our family.

“Where are you guys?” sissy asked mom.

“Oh, we figured we’d leave around 10:30.”

10:30? It was already 10:35, and our ADRs were at 10:40. So, sissy and I went to put our names in with the server so they didn’t give our slot away.

We were called a very short time later (still with no one with which we shared a blood relation to in sight), and the two of us were seated at a very large table.

Our server Frank came up to us, and I think I was scared of him a little bit:

He said, “Do you have your cell phones?”

Sheepishly, we said, “yes.”

“Do you have them ON?”

A little more sheepishly, “yes.”

“Well, you better call the rest of your party and have them get here quick. We’ll keep the kitchen open for them, but they need to get here NOW.”

“I’ll have a Bloody Mary, please.”

Obviously, Frank is not used to traveling with a baby in his party. I was worried that sissy and I would have to eat breakfast alone. I really don’t like breakfast. I am fine with a granola bar, a piece of fruit, and some water in the morning.

So breakfast is a big waste of a meal out and icky greasy calories.

Icky, greasy calories are best saved for evening meals where they are accompanied by a nice carbonated lager. If the evening meal isn’t too greasy, a fine wine will do nicely.

We called the crew to check on their progress and to light a fire under them since we were just yelled at by my new un-friend Frank.

They were “coming.”

This gave sissy and me an opportunity to sit and enjoy the “show” at the Whispering Canyon.

The ruckus there was a bit too early for me, and I secretly hoped that no one at our table needed to ask for ketchup.

Never been there? They have an aversion to ketchup. They don’t like when people ask for it, and they don’t give you just one bottle. I think they give you every bottle of ketchup they have in the restaurant.

When the next person asks for the ketchup, they make a big, loud announcement and pretty much the family that currently has the ketchup has to get up and give it to the next party that asked for it.

It’s lots of hootin’ and hollerin’.

Definitely not recommended if you aren’t a morning person.

Or at least it’s a major deterrent to asking for ketchup.

So, while we sat and waited, I sort of thought that my Bloody Mary would come discreetly, but apparently, our un-friend Frank was waiting for everyone else to join us.

Hmpph.

They strolled in at 10:59, and he wanted to get moving…

“OK, I HAVE A BLOODY MARY AND AN ORANGE JUICE. WHAT’S EVERYONE ELSE HAVING?”

“A Bloody Mary? Who ordered that?” I asked.

He ignored me and obviously didn’t appreciate my humor. That’s Ok, he was my un-friend, and un-friends don’t get that when you’re the only drinker at the table (at least the only drinker so early in the morning), you don’t need to announce my BIG FAT BLOODY MARY TO THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT.

Geez. It was one silly Bloody Mary. I am on vacation, I am not driving, and I have about 3 Bloody Marys in a year. Cut me a break there, fella. I can aggravate and worry my family by my own bad self. I don’t need your help!

So, I ordered some wheat toast and some fruit while everyone had omelets and the all-you-can-eat skillets.

My big ole Bloody Mary came out to a table full of raised eyebrows, primarily because Frank had to announce yet again, “WHO HAD THE BLOODY MARY?”

Say what you want. I am drinking every last drop.

I really think that was the longest breakfast of my life. I think I would have been fine for dinner, but it was just a bit too early and too loud and did I mention I’m not a breakfast person?

But I took one for the team. I’m selfless that way.

I gave Frank an extra $10 in his tip for holding our table. It would’ve been $20, but the Blood Mary thing ticked me off.

So, really, I had been hoping that we’d have some naptime back at the pool, but everyone wanted to go to the MK.

And so we trekked to the MK, and I thought it looked pretty crowded, but I didn’t say anything. I was scoping out the bag check line, and it looked pretty daunting.

Dee was talking on her cell phone with hubby as she was pushing the baby in his carriage on our way to the entrance, and I was oblivious there for a bit. It was hard to keep the stroller straight while she was only pushing it with one hand. It occurred to me a bit late that she needed help, and I jumped in to push the stroller for her so she could talk to Rob.

That felt a little weird to me. I’m not used to pushing strollers. Baby J is such a happy baby. He was really good all through breakfast, despite all the hootin’ and hollerin’, and now he was happily facing me as I was pushing him in his stroller.

I am still waiting for the pangs of motherhood to hit me.

Watch them hit when I’m 40 or 45 and I’ll be the only gray hair bringing her kid to kindergarten.

Anyway… many people have a “song” that they associate with going to Disney World. For many people, that song is “It’s a Small World.”

Not me.

For me it’s “In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room. In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room….”

Sing it with me now!

“In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room. In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room….”

I wanted to see the Tiki Birds. I haven’t seen them since I was 17, which was about 17 years ago. Eerie. (Yes, I was 33 when I started this trip report and now I’m 34. Talk about taking my sweet time!)

Why won’t anyone go see the Tiki Birds with me?

Why is everyone so averse to them?

I don’t get it. At least we’re going back in December (I wonder how many of you already have your tickets purchased for December 5th’s MVMCP? – we do!). I will go see the Tiki Birds in December. I will! I will!

So, we grabbed FPs for Splash Mountain, but it was a bit chilly, and we never wound up using them. We were too tired to wait out our 2 ½ -hour return time.

We settled on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a big, fat BONUS, since we thought it would be in rehab during our visit.

Even mom goes on POTC, but she does not like the small drop that it has and braces herself for it. I didn’t even remember what part of the ride it was at, but mom knew it was coming.

I heard a big “uh-oh” before the drop, and I hoped that she would make it through. She usually does, but you never know.

Here’s another secret tip from Jodie: take Bonine. Take one Bonine the night before you travel, and then take one every night before bed while on vacation whether you think you need it or not. I do this for theme parks and cruises. I am the most motion-sick person in the world. I have found this works like a charm for me, and I keep a stock of it for all such occasions. The trick is to take it before you need it though, so it’s already in your system.

I had tried to tell mom this, but she wanted none of it. She should have listened to me. Then she wouldn’t get so upset during that 3-foot drop in POTC.

She needed a rest after that, but really so did everyone else.

MK had an extra magic hour in the morning, and the park was crowded.

I really wanted a nap by the pool while the sun was still out.

It was fine with everyone else, and so back to OKW we headed.

The Turtle Shack bar was closed, but that was OK. Auntie offered me a Seagram’s, but they’re a bit sweet for my taste. I shouldn’t have let her drink alone (good friend and family never do), but I probably would’ve chugged something like that like you would a glass of fruit juice, and I didn’t want to look like an alcoholic or anything.

So, there we napped at the pool, with the plan being that we would go back to the MK around 7 because it would have EMHs until 2 or 3 am (I can’t remember, and I didn’t take good notes for this TR. I also took all of 2 pictures this trip. I am bad about that.)

So, sissy and I returned to the room to get ready for our return to the parks, but Cousin Dee was held up with the baby and told us to go along without her.

I didn’t want to do that. I don’t get to see Cousin Dee very much any more, and I wanted some QT. Not quiet. Quality.

So, we waited for her for a bit, and Uncle J dropped us off at the monorail. Mom, Auntie, and Uncle J would stay with the baby and meet up with us later.

Really, we just spent some quality time chatting and catching up without the ‘rents around and without the baby to tend to, and it was so great to be able to do that.

Cousin Dee and I spent a lot of time together when we were younger and then just managed to go our separate ways for a while, and I had forgotten how much we really are alike.

None of us had seen Stitches Great Escape so we decided to wait the 20 minutes to see that in the stand by line. The only problem was that the clock was wrong, and after 30 minutes, we weren’t even close to getting in. People were getting annoyed, and asking the CM what was wrong.

She would snottily shoot back, “The clock is wrong. I have nothing to do with the clock so it’s not my fault.”

I guess that’s why they gave sissy another red card on a key chain to check wait times. But again, the snotty CM didn’t do anything with it. Just put it in her pocket when sissy gave it to her.

Anyway, here is my synopsis of Stitch’s Great Escape: If you’ve seen Alien Encounter, they replaced Stitch with the other alien and everything else pretty much stayed the same. If you liked Alien Encounter, you like Stitch. If you hated Alien Encounter, you’ll hate Stitch. If you haven’t seen the attraction at all yet, don’t waste your time.

We walked out of Stitch wanting an hour of our life back.

We grabbed a quick dinner and did a lot of people watching. We of course commented on the couple who were just feeding their completely exhausted children around 9 o’clock. The kids were practically falling asleep at the table and were very whiny. Obviously, these parents did not plan ahead with naptime or anything.

Dee made me laugh when she said, “I hope I turn out to be a good parent. I sure have a lot to say about everyone else!”

Cousin Dee is already a good parent. I don’t think she has a thing to worry about.

We decided to hop on the Haunted Mansion (because it’s a classic and because it had no wait – bonus!), and the three of us who aren’t necessarily big girls were a little squished in one cart.

But, it was time for bonding, and we LOVED it!

We saw Mickey’s Philharmagic, and I loved it too! This was the first time all 3 of us had seen it, and the theater was not crowded at all and we had our pick of seats. A little peanut of a girl sat next to me, and she was SOOO excited! It was so cute to watch her, bouncing up and down in her seat and giggling.

That’s what Disney is all about.

We decided to go see if there were any FPs left for Buzz, and we were able to grab some.

While we waited, we figured we’d go check out the wait time situation with Space Mountain. But, there was something amiss at SM, and we didn’t get to go on.

I stepped in to overhear the CM say that there was a problem with one of the cars (it had gone off its track or something?), and they would be closing the ride for at least an hour.

So, SM was off the list, and we went shopping.

I had been looking for a nice tank top for Mike. Not a muscle shirt, which were in abundance, but a tank. One with a subtle Disney or character logo. Not one with the entire MK taking up the whole front of the shirt.

I hadn’t had any luck looking at any time we went shopping, and I wouldn’t have any this night either.

I settled on getting Mike peanut brittle and toffee in Disney containers. If he can’t look sharp, let him be fat and happy. He loved it and was very happy I couldn’t find a tank. Where did I get that idea that he’d want a Disney tank, he wanted to know?

By this time, the ‘rents had all decided they were tired and just wanted to order in a pizza. The baby was sleeping and they wanted us to have our fun.

So, on we went to Buzz Lightyear, and I knew that cousin Dee doesn’t like rides that spin, so I never spun the cart, not wanting to get her sick. I just kind of turned and aimed. But she soon realized that unless you spun the cart, you couldn’t hit your targets, and I let her control the spinning.

I wound up with a very paltry 98K. Cousin Dee asked how I go so high? I said “so high? The top score is 999,9999!”

So, I will have to learn and do better at that in December!

We decided to call it a night at that point. Although the baby was asleep, Cousin Dee had had a rough night before with him, and sissy and I were up at the crack of dawn to ride EE.

Besides, sissy and I would have to leave in the morning to get back to work on Tuesday. Everyone else didn’t leave WDW till Wednesday, but I am afraid to ask them to finish the trip report for their last two days. The DIS is my haven, and I don’t really want them reading about everything that Mike and I do on vacation when I post our trip reports!

So, it was the following morning that we said our goodbyes as Tiffany was waiting for us in the morning.

I was SO happy to be able to have spent some time with my cousins and Aunt and Uncle, and I hope we get to see them a lot more often from now on. That was such a generous gift of them to use their DVC points to book our room during peak season and over a weekend! I hope I have made it up to them with the gifts I have sent. But nothing I send can ever let them know what a truly great time I had and how grateful I was to spend time with my family.

Family is so important, and it’s really what Disney is all about, isn’t it?

 

[nickelsfamily]

THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR TR WITH US... IT WAS GREAT. I REALLY ENJOYED IT AND VERY FUNNY AT THAT.

MY FAVORITE PART WOULD HAVE TO BE THE WAY YOU FINISHED... THE PART ABOUT FAMILY AND DISNEY! THAT IS THE WAY I FEEL TOO! I LOVE ALL OF THE MEMORIES I HAVE AT DISNEY WITH MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND NOW THAT I HAVE 2 BOYS AND MY DH TO MAKE NEW MEMORIES WITH, IT MAKES MY HEART SMILE!!

 

[tammyandtommy]

GREAT TRIP REPORT! Thanks for sharing it, glad to know that I can call home to talk to someone to find my family in WDW isnt too abnormal! Cant wait to hear about your next trip!