Kanga1: Day 6 "Shh! It's a Secret"

[Kanga1]

Cast of Characters:

Jana (moi, 40, obsessive planner of this and all trips..think Chevy Chase in the ‘Vacation’ movies.)
Eric (DH, 41, a big “kid” at heart, pretty much goes with the flow and can have a good time anywhere as long as there’s good food.)
Anna Marie (4 year-old DD and true princess…any princess...pick one.)

Today is a work day for DH. He is hosting a reception at the Peabody and will be gone most of the day. He’s up and out the door early. DD and I enjoy this time to sleep in…and a good day it is for this too. There are some pretty heavy thunderstorms this morning. It’s dark and raining hard with intermittent rumbles of thunder…some pretty close. I worry a little about DH driving in this, but otherwise the storm is very relaxing and I drift back off to sleep. DD and I awake about 8:30 to begin our leisurely morning. Princess ponytails await her in her magical bag and she wears a “Belle” one to our 10:30 breakfast at the Concourse Steakhouse inside the Contemporary. She enjoys her Mickey waffles while I enjoy the Breakfast Quesadilla. (I’m a sucker for salsa in the mornings…when I’m not eating chocolate.) There’s a young couple seated close to us and I wonder if they might be on their honeymoon. I’m shocked, however, when the waitress asks how long they’ve been here. They say “Four days…we leave tomorrow. We’re ready to go…we’ve been here long enough.” WHAT?!? Today’s my sixth day here and I am NO WHERE READY to leave this magical place! Guess they haven’t “let it in” yet. Maybe in a few years when they see the magic in their child’s eyes, they’ll be singing a different tune.

After breakfast we stroll over to the stores for some shopping. I’m going to take a good look around today and come back in a few days to buy. Now, I don’t know about the shops at the other resorts, but the ones at the Contemporary are fabulous…almost as good as DTD. I see several things I’m interested in…especially the scrapbooking supplies. I’m not an avid scrapbooker, but I do like to make one for “special” trips. One of the CM’s notices my interest in these items and goes far and beyond helping me…even getting another CM to “entertain” DD while she shows me her personal scrapbook of Disney and gives me tips and techniques. This mini-workshop was fantastic and lasted almost 45 minutes! Needless to say, I purchased several things that morning.

Back in the room we are somewhat rushed to get ready. At 1:30, DD is scheduled to have “tea” with Alice in Wonderland at the “Wonderland Tea Party” in the Grand Floridian and is excited to wear her new dress. My mom…my wonderful mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 months ago, who underwent two surgeries to remove her breast, who thinks of others always before she thinks of herself, who would do anything in the world for any one of us, is a fantastic seamstress and, even through the stress of her illness, has made DD a special Alice dress for this occasion. It is beautiful, fits DD perfectly, and when compared to the $55 dress at DTD is made so much better. Thank you, Mother. You don’t know how much we love you.

Again thanking myself for booking us at CR for the convenience, we hop aboard the monorail and take the short ride to GF. Oh, this place is opulent. I feel like I need to be in evening attire just to walk through the lobby. We find 1900 Park Fare and check in…along with about 15 other girls…2 of which are dressed like Alice. DD immediately finds a friend named, Jessica. I am glad about this because this is a “kid’s only” event…mommies and daddies are not allowed…and I am glad she is making a friend before I have to leave her. I am given a pager so the CM’s can contact me if needed. I’m not “too” worried about leaving DD alone. She’s VERY comfortable with strangers…too comfortable sometimes. The party begins and I accompany DD into the room to see a magnificent table all laid out in tea party finery. The parents say their quick “goodbyes” and as I’m walking out the door I hear, “Mommy, wait!” She is looking a little forlorn, so I stop to reassure her that she is going to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter and that she’ll have a great time. She doesn’t look too convinced as I make my way out the door…I’m the last parent to leave. Walking out, my heart feels a little tug, but I’m entirely certain that she will have forgotten me by the time I get to the lobby. Besides, I have the pager...I’m sure they’ll buzz me if she can’t handle it. Strolling out toward the pool I give DH a quick call to tell him DD was at the tea party. I also wanted to make sure he had gotten to the hotel safely through that terrible storm. The rain had stopped for the time being, but one look at the sky told me more was coming soon. Wow…I’m alone now and this seems really strange. NOW what do I do? This is the first time I’d “really” been by myself since we got here. I thought about getting a bite at the Café, but that big Mexican breakfast was still with me and I wasn’t really hungry, so I spent the next hour browsing the shops at the Grand Floridian where I dream of being extremely rich and wearing a pair $200 golf shorts complete with $30 matching socks. (I would look so good in pink and lime green.) Instead, I buy an “Alice in Wonderland Tea Party” pin and some princess cookies for DD’s magical bag. 2:30 rolls around quickly…hey, great…my beeper did not go off…guess she did ok…and I go to meet DD. The CM’s let us into a room full of “sleeping” children seated at the table where we left them an hour ago. On the count of three they yell surprise and each child hands their mommy a flower they made for them. It was really sweet. DD got a picture of Alice and the Mad Hatter, and they had also signed her autograph book I sent in with her. Eager to learn all about the party, I ask, “Did you have fun?” Laughing, “Yes! That lady was so funny…she went around and knocked on all those doors!” She beams, “Alice hugged me!” Then I ask, “Did you see the Mad Hatter?” Still beaming, “Yes, he was so funny.” I must interject here that supposedly NO CHILD in the history of the world has EVER told ANY parent what the Mad Hatter does at this tea party. All the children simply say is, ‘I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.” Well….I knew MY child would tell me this 14K piece of information…she can’t keep anything hush-hush. So I ask her, “What did he do?” DD looks at me sideways with this sheepish grin on her face and whispers, “I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.” WHAT?!? To this day she won’t tell me what the Mad Hatter said, but it must’ve been pretty funny ‘cause she always laughs.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, we hop on the monorail for the quick short ride to MK. Today is our only shot at seeing the “Share a Dream Come True” parade and it starts at 3:00. This is the parade where all the characters ride in floats of snowglobes and I’ve heard great things about it. Since the parade starts in Frontierland, we make it in plenty of time and snatch a good curbside seat right in front of the train station. The parade is as good as everyone says it is and DD gets a lot of attention from the characters…she’s still dressed like Alice. I hate that DH is missing this, but I take a lot of pictures and try to video each float. Following the parade, I ask DD what she would like to do. Her answer is, of course, to go to Fantasyland. The line for Peter Pan is too long, as are most of the rides here today, so I grab a couple of FastPasses and we saunter on over to Frontierland. We haven’t ridden the train yet and it never has any lines. Plus it’s getting a little hot…this will be a nice way to relax. We circle the park and I contemplate just staying on the train for about an hour. Although we had a quiet morning, DD is missing her nap today and she looks like she could dose off any minute. I brush the thought aside and disembark back at Frontierland. We ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and then grab another cool and relaxing ride on the Jungle Cruise. DD likes this and keeps asking me if the animals are real. She doesn’t understand why they don’t have real animals here…they had real animals on the safari at AK. What can I say? Since neither one of us had lunch today, we are getting rather hungry. It’s almost time for our 5:30 dinner PS at Liberty Tree Tavern, but DD really wants a Mickey bar. Oh, alright. She probably won’t eat much at dinner anyway…it’s a character meal…and besides, ice cream is dairy, right? We share one of these sweet treats on a bench outside Tinkerbell’s Treasures, as I try desperately to keep all chocolate off DD’s Alice dress. Not an easy task, but I managed it.

After our snack, we make our way on over to Liberty Square and check in for our dinner. We are really early and are the only ones waiting. In a short time the CM rings the bell and shouts out our name. We are seated in a little room above the main dining room at a table for 2. Next to us is a large group of Japanese girls…one of whom is celebrating a birthday. They are great fun to watch and quite entertaining. I’m a little stressed at this meal because I’m in charge of both video AND pictures. Oh, the pressure…I hope I can do both. At least the food is brought to us and I don’t have to worry about a buffet. DD is a little antsy (no nap, remember?) and doesn’t want to sit still. I warn her once but after she knocks her autograph book onto the table of the family seated below us (we’re so sorry!) I tell her that she just lost any chance of buying a souvenir today. The crying begins but is short lived. Minnie is coming to see her and DD quickly tries to regain composure. Minnie is great. She’s all dressed in Colonial attire and spends a great deal of time with us. Chip, Pluto, and Goofy also make appearances…but no Mickey. Darn….missed him again. DD, naturally, doesn’t eat much, but I enjoy the turkey and dressing. Some say these items are warmed directly from the Stouffer box, but hey, since “cooking” is not even in my vocabulary, you could bring me my dinner IN the Stouffer box…which is what we usually do at home…I don’t care. As long as it’s edible and I don’t have to make it…I’ll eat it. Besides, it’s really good.

Still wearing her Alice dress, we go to use our FastPass for Peter Pan. The ride is as enjoyable as ever but I can tell DD is a little nervous as we go to exit the moving walkway. She holds her dress up (practically over her head) and steps off without any tragic incident. “My dress didn’t get caught, Mommy!” “That’s great, sweetheart! I knew you could do it!” That hurdle jumped, we’re deciding what to do next when my cell phone rings. It’s DH. His reception is over and he’s at the entrance to MK. Wonderful! I tell him we’re in Fantasyland and to meet us in front of Snow White. The line is non-existent, so we hop a quick ride and we exit to see DH walking toward us…perfect timing. It’s getting dark now, SpectroMagic will be starting shortly, and Fantasyland is empty. I reminisce about the experience I had here 5 nights ago…standing in line for Dumbo…and my stomach gets a twinge of panic. No need, DH is here and, ironically, DD wants to ride it with him now. They stand in line, which again says 20 minutes, and I take a seat on a nearby bench. Fantasyland is all in lights, and just like the past 2 evenings, I get that euphoric feeling that this IS the “Happiest Place on Earth.” After Dumbo, we venture over to Tomorrowland to take DD to the Indy Speedway. She’s seen pictures of these little cars that SHE can drive and she bubbles over with excitement. The standby line says 30 minutes. Ugh…that’s a little long (somewhat line spoiled here, aren’t we?) but she really wants to ride it and we have nothing else on our schedule. Standing in line here is pure torture for me. Both the incessant smell of fumes and that horrid sound of the cars just about set me crazy. But…my DD wants to drive a car…so I only breathe when absolutely necessary and try to listen to other sounds besides the roar. There are several older kids in line with us…all of them hanging on the railings that divide the queue. Of course, DD sees this and wants to try too. “No, get off there. You’re not supposed to sit on those, and besides, you might fall.” She gets down, but 5 minutes later she’s at it again. “We SAID…get down. Next time you do it, we’re leaving.” Wouldn’t you know…as we’re making our way down that final ramp to the cars…with only 10 people in front of us and 5 more minutes until our turn…DD climbs on the railing. Now, I don’t know if she just honestly “forgot” or was exhibiting her 4 year-old, ‘let’s see how far I can push them’ attitude…nonetheless, she did it, so I quickly picked her up and we made our way for the exit. I’m sure we made quite a scene…DD was screaming and DH and I were trying to maneuver our way out of the 30 minute snake of a line. It took a good 10 minutes for us to calm her down and make her understand WHY we didn’t want her climbing on the railing and WHY she now couldn’t drive the little cars. I don’t know…maybe we were too harsh. Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal and we should have stayed. DH and I try to be consistent in our parenting and we always mean what we say…we always follow through with the consequences. I will say that she has never done it again.

With the meltdown over, and calmness and happiness restored to our little family, we decide to visit Mickey’s Toontown Fair. I had read that during parades was a great time to visit this place. Upon arrival, we find that it is indeed quite empty. The first ride we approach is Goofy’s Barnstormer, a kiddie rollercoaster. I’m not sure how DD will handle this…after the plunge down Splash Mountain… and the last time she rode something similar at a local carnival, she did NOT like it. We watch for a while and I explain to her that it goes fast, makes quick turns, goes down hills, and might be a little scary. She says she still wants to try it and I get picked as the lucky one to ride it with her. There is NO LINE and, like most of the rides we’ve encountered so far on this trip, we get seated in the front. We bolt out of the station and twist and turn our way through the two and a half minute ride. DD once again buries herself into me, but toward the end of our journey she is screaming and laughing at the same time. Getting off she says, “Let’s do it again!” Ok…no line, and no one waiting…we stay in our seats for ride #2. She loves it, as do I, and when the train stops, we eagerly go and tell Daddy how fun it was. Toontown is a whimsical place. We pass by Mickey and Minnie’s house (we’ll visit those later) and head into the Hall of Fame. This is a character area where certain Disney characters are on hand all day long to give hugs and sign autographs. We’re not interested in that…we don’t need to stand in line to meet them when we have so many character meals booked…I’d rather pay for “them” to come to “us”…but attached to this is quite a large store. This is the place that sells Disney Mr. Potato parts, and we go in to check them out. Entering the store, we instantly see that we have literally stepped into a magical gold mine. There are very few people about…maybe 20 or so…and there are characters EVERYWHERE…dancing to music and playing with the children. There’s Mickey and Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Gidgon, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty…and much to my DD’s delight…SNOW WHITE! The kids do the limbo dance with the characters; we get pictures and autographs; Cindy plays with DD at the Mr. Potato Head station…at one point Cindy and Snow White BOTH are playing with her…and best of all DD gets Snow White all to herself for a good 10 minutes. It was like someone had picked us up and dropped us right in the middle of a storybook. Outside I can hear “Wishes” going on, and for a split second I think, ‘Oh, we’re missing it,’ but then I look around at the merriment before me and think ‘This is Wishes…wishes coming true!’ We stay until closing, until the last character disappears and we “float” toward Main Street. “Wishes” has ended, the majority of the crowd has left the park, and only a few people remain to watch the 11:00 SpectroMagic parade. What the heck…we plop down on the curb and let more magic overtake us. DD is still in her Alice dress from the tea earlier today and she gets a lot of attention during the parade. Alice sees her and blows a kiss to her and the Queen of Hearts actually comes out of the parade a “makes” DD curtsy to her. It was quite fun and everyone around us was laughing. Another perfect ending to our day, we saunter down a magically lit Main Street and begin our short walk home.

"Planning or Obsession...What's the Difference?"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=857133

"Our Vacation Begins"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread...370#post9138370

Day 1 "Pixie Dust and Panic Attacks" (Part 1)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread...210#post9143210

Day 1 "Pixie Dust and Panic Attacks" (Part 2)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread...244#post9143244

Day 1 "Pixie Dust and Panic Attacks" (Part 3)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=857458

Day 2 "Magical Meltdowns"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=859866

Day 3 "Running Around the World"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=860524

Day 4 "Cinderella Breaks Peter Pan"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=862512

Day 5 "Losing Time"
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=866373

 

[meeko_33785]

The parents say their quick “goodbyes” and as I’m walking out the door I hear, “Mommy, wait!” She is looking a little forlorn, so I stop to reassure her that she is going to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter and that she’ll have a great time. She doesn’t look too convinced as I make my way out the door…I’m the last parent to leave. Walking out, my heart feels a little tug, but I’m entirely certain that she will have forgotten me by the time I get to the lobby.

Awww... I don't even have a daughter and that makes me feel a little tug too. So sweet. Thanks again for another great report.

 

[DJBounce]

I am loving your reports!! Thank you.

 

[fizz13]

Oh yes, Wishes really can come true in MK. How fantastic for DD to have all those characters to play with. My buzzer did go off in Jan when DD and DS did the tea party. I don't think DD was ready for a room of strangers. Anyway, loving your reports,

Claire xx

 

[alicenwonder99]

I'd love to see a picture of your dd in her Alice dress! I'm thinking of designing/sewing one up for my dd6 for our December trip.

I'm really enjoying your reports.

Mary