Master Gracie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2004
- Messages
- 455
Allow me, dear reader, to take a moment as I begin this chapter of my report to apologize for my tardy posting of this, the second chapter. I have been in and out of the local sleep center for the past few days to try and remedy my apnea, but that is neither here nor there. I am now posting and hope to not have any further interruptions. So I intend to get the next chapters out every couple of days or so. Now
onward and upward.
I will post a recap of the characters in case you forgot:
Me - Master Gracie, aka Paul, your humble leader on this trip through my memories.
Jennifer - My loving wife and the one who thought this trip up.
Kristie - Jennifer's sister and mother of not one, but two Spidermen not everyone can say that. I'll explain further later.
Bryan - Spelled with a Y. Can't fool me a second time.
Deston - Oldest nephew
Chase - Middle nephew, bottler of alluring fragrances.
Trent - Spiderman evil doers beware.
Carl - Jennifer's Dad
Louise - Jennifer's Mom, as I said earlier, she acts as crazy family glue.
Now that I've bored you with our identities again
The second day of our trip was, in fact, the first day in a park. We decided on Epcot. The razor sharp thinking behind this was that the kids would not be quite as let down with the park if there were nothing for them to compare it to. Sounds like a great PR campaign doesn't it. "See Epcot first, that way you won't be so let down!" Get there early, so you won't get trampled.
Actually, I like Epcot a lot. It may be my favorite park, but then I'm not a 7 year old. We get up early, for us, at 7:00. I get up, take a shower and get out the whip and chair to attempt to rouse my lovely bride. Six broken pieces of furniture and two tourniquets later, she is in the shower as well. Not "as well" meaning in the shower with me, "as well" meaning she took her turn in the shower. Not that we don't never mind.
After a breakfast consisting of Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudel, we headed out. Our departure was not nearly timely enough for Spiderman who could be heard to say on several occasions "The bus is gonna leave us" in his best 3 year old voice. After a short bus ride we arrive at the park.
We herd our, um, herd through the turnstiles and immediately sit down for a drink. It seems that the boys are thirsty. This becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the trip. I think we drunk enough water over the course of the week to float the Titanic. This would also probably be the appropriate time to state, for the benefit of those of you who do not have children, it is definitely a different trip with them than without.
I'm not saying worse, just different. You have to keep up with many more people. When it is just Jennifer and myself, I'm not overly worried about looking around to find her smacking someone else in line because she is not paying attention to where she is swinging her arms. It only happened once and she has been properly chastised. The boys, on the other hand, could do this multiple times a minute. Not saying, by any means, that they are poorly behaved children, they're just boys that's the way we are.
The first order of business, after drinking the equivalent of Lake Huron, was to strike out, pick an attraction, and bypass it while we stood in line for a stoller. That's another thing about kids I think they have so much energy at the end of the day because they never have to walk. They're always being carted about.
So, water imbibed, stroller rented, sunglasses purchased so sue me, I forgot them, we headed out for our first attraction. The Living Seas. We wanted to see Turtle Talk with Crush. What we did not know, was that The Living Seas was closed for renovation. Ah well, maybe next time. We grabbed a FP for Soarin, and threw Chase right in the middle of the most exciting ride we could Living with the Land! Several fish, a couple of Mickey shaped pumpkins, and a giant lemon later, and we shot over to catch the Timon and Pumba movie. After being thoroughly chastised for being a human, we headed for Soarin'. This would be our first time on this ride.
This would also be the family's first experience with FP. They loved it from the start. It was great to see their faces as we passed by all those poor cattle in their pins and jumped to the front of the line. Soarin' was wonderful. For those of you that have not seen it, it is amazing. Here was the first real test for Chase. When the seats rose up, he seemed a little nervous, and asked us if it was real. We, of course, told him it wasn't, even though technically we were off the ground, but that's beside the point. He seemed to like the show, which we hoped was a good sign for the rest of the trip.
I volunteered to run to Test Track and get FPs while the rest of the crew made their way to Imagination for a ride with Figment. FPs securely in hand, I got back and joined them in line. We headed into our journey and I was a bit concerned. I didn't think Chase would be at all ok with the simulated train in the hearing portion. He also insisted on riding most things with me. This meant if he had a meltdown, I would be the happy recipient. He did well, however, until the very end of the ride. We were at the part right before you head into Figment's house and I forgot about the flash and burst of air. They came and Chase's eyes were roughly twice the size of Spaceship Earth. We all were smiling at him, though, and he decided that since we didn't, in fact, die, it was all ok.
We skipped Honey I Shrunk the Audience and headed to Beaches and Cream for lunch. Burgers all around and we decided to split a Kitchen Sink. That is the first one of those for any of us. As it is usually just Jennifer and myself, we pass on that particular culinary creation. It was just as wonderful as Soarin'. A definite must try if you haven't.
We headed back to TT to use our FPs. Chase decided, after hearing one car go overhead, that this was not the ride for him. Louise sat out with him and Spiderman funny, Spiderman can risk life and limb rescuing the world time and time again, but he can't ride Test Track because he's too short. Just doesn't seem fair.
Deston did well on the ride and was quite a sight after the loop, his hair was standing straight up. We left TT and headed to see some characters. It seems a good time to point out that Chase had been asking to see Goofy all day. Every few minutes he would ask, when we gonna see Goofy? We went to the World Showcase Plaza and waited for the character bus. It arrived and all was well until we decided to split up and take the kids to each see different characters of their choice. Kristie and Bryan were going to take Deston to see Pinocchio. Jennifer and I were going to take Chase to see Goofy. Carl and Louise were going to take Spiderman to give Pluto a few crime fighting tips. Chase lost it. I don't know if it was the characters, or what, but the water works flowed. I think it was more the fact that he was going without his parents that did it, but we switched and he went with them while Jen and I took Deston. It didn't matter in the end, however, cause he still didn't go up and actually stand near Goofy.
That traumatic experience out of the way, Jennifer, Kristie, and I decided to hit Mission Space while the others went to see HISTA. Kristie was very apprehensive about riding MS. My mother, before the trip, went so far as to tell her not to listen to a word we said and not to ride under any circumstances. She neglected this poor advice, always listen to Paul and you'll get along just fine, and we took a trip to Mars. When we got off, she was extremely puzzled why we would make such a big deal about it. We were playing it safe though, cause if we hadn't and she had gotten sick, we would have had to listen to her whine for the rest of the day I mean care for her lovingly.
We all met under Spaceship Earth to take a journey through history and it was Deston's turn to whine. He didn't want to ride this ride, he wanted to ride the Dinosaur ride (Ellen's Energy Adventure). We forced him on, arent we horrible, and when we got off, he wanted to go back on. We caught the dinosaur ride, however and it was time to think about supper. We learned two valuable life lessons at this point. At least Jennifer and I did. When the two of us are starving, our acceptance of being swung on by myriad children diminishes something fierce. We agreed together to eat more frequently from this point on.
Secondly, that employees of ESPN are much less frightening than Goofy. While Bryan, Carl, and I stood in line at the counter service restaurant in Morocco, the others got us a table outside. When we emerged, food in hand, we found out that Chase had been talking with some guy that works for ESPN for about a half an hour. He tried to score us tickets to a game, but he could not. Have I ever told you I love my nephews?
We grabbed a bit of prime real estate to watch Illuminations and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. If I get a chance later in the report, I'll post some pictures in which we see Spiderman giving the show a Thumbs Up. I think he was taking notes on which explosion would take out the most bad guys.
A bus ride home was all that was left of the day apart from stepping on the lights.
Chase decided that it was imperative to step on all the lights that are embedded in the concrete outside Pop Century on the way back to the room. It seems that if we did not something dreadful would happen. Perhaps the earth would explode. Nice of him to save his brother the trouble of having to save us all himself again. They are nice boys.
I will post a recap of the characters in case you forgot:
Me - Master Gracie, aka Paul, your humble leader on this trip through my memories.
Jennifer - My loving wife and the one who thought this trip up.
Kristie - Jennifer's sister and mother of not one, but two Spidermen not everyone can say that. I'll explain further later.
Bryan - Spelled with a Y. Can't fool me a second time.
Deston - Oldest nephew
Chase - Middle nephew, bottler of alluring fragrances.
Trent - Spiderman evil doers beware.
Carl - Jennifer's Dad
Louise - Jennifer's Mom, as I said earlier, she acts as crazy family glue.
Now that I've bored you with our identities again
The second day of our trip was, in fact, the first day in a park. We decided on Epcot. The razor sharp thinking behind this was that the kids would not be quite as let down with the park if there were nothing for them to compare it to. Sounds like a great PR campaign doesn't it. "See Epcot first, that way you won't be so let down!" Get there early, so you won't get trampled.
Actually, I like Epcot a lot. It may be my favorite park, but then I'm not a 7 year old. We get up early, for us, at 7:00. I get up, take a shower and get out the whip and chair to attempt to rouse my lovely bride. Six broken pieces of furniture and two tourniquets later, she is in the shower as well. Not "as well" meaning in the shower with me, "as well" meaning she took her turn in the shower. Not that we don't never mind.
After a breakfast consisting of Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudel, we headed out. Our departure was not nearly timely enough for Spiderman who could be heard to say on several occasions "The bus is gonna leave us" in his best 3 year old voice. After a short bus ride we arrive at the park.
We herd our, um, herd through the turnstiles and immediately sit down for a drink. It seems that the boys are thirsty. This becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the trip. I think we drunk enough water over the course of the week to float the Titanic. This would also probably be the appropriate time to state, for the benefit of those of you who do not have children, it is definitely a different trip with them than without.
I'm not saying worse, just different. You have to keep up with many more people. When it is just Jennifer and myself, I'm not overly worried about looking around to find her smacking someone else in line because she is not paying attention to where she is swinging her arms. It only happened once and she has been properly chastised. The boys, on the other hand, could do this multiple times a minute. Not saying, by any means, that they are poorly behaved children, they're just boys that's the way we are.
The first order of business, after drinking the equivalent of Lake Huron, was to strike out, pick an attraction, and bypass it while we stood in line for a stoller. That's another thing about kids I think they have so much energy at the end of the day because they never have to walk. They're always being carted about.
So, water imbibed, stroller rented, sunglasses purchased so sue me, I forgot them, we headed out for our first attraction. The Living Seas. We wanted to see Turtle Talk with Crush. What we did not know, was that The Living Seas was closed for renovation. Ah well, maybe next time. We grabbed a FP for Soarin, and threw Chase right in the middle of the most exciting ride we could Living with the Land! Several fish, a couple of Mickey shaped pumpkins, and a giant lemon later, and we shot over to catch the Timon and Pumba movie. After being thoroughly chastised for being a human, we headed for Soarin'. This would be our first time on this ride.
This would also be the family's first experience with FP. They loved it from the start. It was great to see their faces as we passed by all those poor cattle in their pins and jumped to the front of the line. Soarin' was wonderful. For those of you that have not seen it, it is amazing. Here was the first real test for Chase. When the seats rose up, he seemed a little nervous, and asked us if it was real. We, of course, told him it wasn't, even though technically we were off the ground, but that's beside the point. He seemed to like the show, which we hoped was a good sign for the rest of the trip.
I volunteered to run to Test Track and get FPs while the rest of the crew made their way to Imagination for a ride with Figment. FPs securely in hand, I got back and joined them in line. We headed into our journey and I was a bit concerned. I didn't think Chase would be at all ok with the simulated train in the hearing portion. He also insisted on riding most things with me. This meant if he had a meltdown, I would be the happy recipient. He did well, however, until the very end of the ride. We were at the part right before you head into Figment's house and I forgot about the flash and burst of air. They came and Chase's eyes were roughly twice the size of Spaceship Earth. We all were smiling at him, though, and he decided that since we didn't, in fact, die, it was all ok.
We skipped Honey I Shrunk the Audience and headed to Beaches and Cream for lunch. Burgers all around and we decided to split a Kitchen Sink. That is the first one of those for any of us. As it is usually just Jennifer and myself, we pass on that particular culinary creation. It was just as wonderful as Soarin'. A definite must try if you haven't.
We headed back to TT to use our FPs. Chase decided, after hearing one car go overhead, that this was not the ride for him. Louise sat out with him and Spiderman funny, Spiderman can risk life and limb rescuing the world time and time again, but he can't ride Test Track because he's too short. Just doesn't seem fair.
Deston did well on the ride and was quite a sight after the loop, his hair was standing straight up. We left TT and headed to see some characters. It seems a good time to point out that Chase had been asking to see Goofy all day. Every few minutes he would ask, when we gonna see Goofy? We went to the World Showcase Plaza and waited for the character bus. It arrived and all was well until we decided to split up and take the kids to each see different characters of their choice. Kristie and Bryan were going to take Deston to see Pinocchio. Jennifer and I were going to take Chase to see Goofy. Carl and Louise were going to take Spiderman to give Pluto a few crime fighting tips. Chase lost it. I don't know if it was the characters, or what, but the water works flowed. I think it was more the fact that he was going without his parents that did it, but we switched and he went with them while Jen and I took Deston. It didn't matter in the end, however, cause he still didn't go up and actually stand near Goofy.
That traumatic experience out of the way, Jennifer, Kristie, and I decided to hit Mission Space while the others went to see HISTA. Kristie was very apprehensive about riding MS. My mother, before the trip, went so far as to tell her not to listen to a word we said and not to ride under any circumstances. She neglected this poor advice, always listen to Paul and you'll get along just fine, and we took a trip to Mars. When we got off, she was extremely puzzled why we would make such a big deal about it. We were playing it safe though, cause if we hadn't and she had gotten sick, we would have had to listen to her whine for the rest of the day I mean care for her lovingly.
We all met under Spaceship Earth to take a journey through history and it was Deston's turn to whine. He didn't want to ride this ride, he wanted to ride the Dinosaur ride (Ellen's Energy Adventure). We forced him on, arent we horrible, and when we got off, he wanted to go back on. We caught the dinosaur ride, however and it was time to think about supper. We learned two valuable life lessons at this point. At least Jennifer and I did. When the two of us are starving, our acceptance of being swung on by myriad children diminishes something fierce. We agreed together to eat more frequently from this point on.
Secondly, that employees of ESPN are much less frightening than Goofy. While Bryan, Carl, and I stood in line at the counter service restaurant in Morocco, the others got us a table outside. When we emerged, food in hand, we found out that Chase had been talking with some guy that works for ESPN for about a half an hour. He tried to score us tickets to a game, but he could not. Have I ever told you I love my nephews?
We grabbed a bit of prime real estate to watch Illuminations and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. If I get a chance later in the report, I'll post some pictures in which we see Spiderman giving the show a Thumbs Up. I think he was taking notes on which explosion would take out the most bad guys.
A bus ride home was all that was left of the day apart from stepping on the lights.
Chase decided that it was imperative to step on all the lights that are embedded in the concrete outside Pop Century on the way back to the room. It seems that if we did not something dreadful would happen. Perhaps the earth would explode. Nice of him to save his brother the trouble of having to save us all himself again. They are nice boys.
