My thanks to all loyal readers, and apologies that it took so long to write this latest installment. Sometimes one just doesn't want to face the unpleasant memories, I guess!
Well, we let Grammy and NeatKid relax for a few minutes. Catch their breath. Get lots of hugs from the kids. (And, for Grammy, smoke a cigarette or fifteen.) The we started discussing what we would do that night.
I had a plan.
Or at least I
thought I had a plan.
Spectromagic. Wishes. Both. That night at the Magic Kingdom. My daughter's first view of the Castle. With her Grammy right there beside her. Could it get any better than that?
Boost wanted to eat.
I must here interject that while I LOVED the accommodations at Key West, we definitely felt the lack of food court. Last year Boost and I stayed at POFQ. We adored it. Really. But, as stated earlier, because I really didn't think that Disney would repeat free dining, I was striving for larger rooms and a king sized bed. But, POFQ does have a food court. Which was wonderfully convenient. None of the deluxe accommodations do. And some have very few options in terms of walk-up counter service. Our choices at the poolside snack shed at OKW were slim pickens. We missed the food court.
So, that night, according to my carefully set forth schedule of where we were to "spend" our dining credits, we were to use counter service credits. We decided we didn't want to use them at the poolside snack bar.
I talked everyone into going to the Magic Kingdom, eating there, and then taking in the festivities. Yes. I talked them into it. It was ALL ME.
We loaded everyone into the silver bullet van, and headed off. This was the first time we had driven to the Magic Kingdom. So, despite my Passporter maps, we got lost along the way and had to circle around a couple of times. We also got up close and personal with the parking lot at the Contemporary. Just for giggles.
Which, of course, caused us to cross under that "highway in the sky." I heard Grammy exclaim from the backseat:
"Look! It's the UNARAIL!!!!"
Yes, she really DID.
I laughed.
I was happy. I really didn't care WHAT she called it.
Well, we finally arrived at the MK parking lot and trudged or way up to the TTC. We decided to ride the unarail over, instead of the boat.
I explained to Grammy and NeatKid about their tickets and the finger scan. We were prepared.
We made it through the gates, and our first impression was of ALL THE PEOPLE.
It was crowded. Really crowded.
I headed us off to FutureWorld (err, I mean, TOMORROWLAND) to eat at Cosmic Rays, which was okay.
But crowded.
Really crowded.
It was approaching 8:30 pm, and I was getting antsy about getting set up to see the fireworks.
Some of you are thinking at this point, "what is she talking about, fireworks at 9 pm that night?"
And, yes, you would be correct.
So begins the cure for the common commando.
Up to this point, we took about 3 times as long as we needed to GETTING to the Magic Kingdom, we battled crowds up main street and in FutureWorld just to get to Cosmic Rays. We battled crowds inside of Cosmic Rays to get our food, and another battle to get seats together. The kids were tired and over-excited after their big day and the arrival of Grammy and NeatKid. And we hadn't even started fireworks, etc.
And I had my times wrong. By an hour.
I thought the fireworks were at 9 and the second Spectro at 10.
So, after supper, we headed to the bridge to find a spot.
"Wow!" I thought. Wondering how we lucked into a SEAT on a BENCH on the bridge this close to starting time????
Yeah.
Like I said. I was an HOUR off. And there WERE already other people waiting. For the fireworks.
When the fireworks didn't start at 9 like I expected, I started wondering what was going on. And then, in the distance, I could see some Spectro floats start to move past the hub.
Doh!
So, at that point, Boost (wisely) was ready to abandon it all. I was too, truth be told. BUT, I knew we were TRAPPED by the Spectro crowd. We wouldn't be able to get down Main Street anyway. So I compounded my timing mistake by taking the kids CLOSER to the hub to see what they could see of the parade. Which was, of course, NOTHING without sitting on shoulders.
We quickly abandoned that, too. And backtracked through Tomorrowland and the Noodle Station and tried to position ourselves for a dash down Main Street as soon as we could. We finally got out of the park about when Wishes was beginning.
We drove back to OKW, me apologizing the whole time.
Everyone got to bed late. Which meant that we were not going to be bright eyed or bushy tailed the next morning.
This was not an auspicious beginning to the trip.
Lesson learned: sometimes it is better to do nothing at all.
Next Episode:
Is the Commando Cured? (Page 18, Post 264)
