Part 9- How do you document real life when real lifes getting more like fiction each day? (aka the end of day 2!)
(Warning- this part is LONG! Get comfy!)
When we left off, I had just done the Safari (with less than desired photo results!) I stopped in Zwadi Traders, the store in Harambe, to do a little shopping, and ended up with a nifty new Killimanjaro Safari scrapbook, and a set of vintage safari postcards! (I can post pictures of them if anyones interested!) I noticed a couple of books that looked really good, but decided to pass on them for now.
I was *starving*- forgot to eat breakfast today!- so I set off in search of something to eat. I remembered seeing on Debs sites menus that Flame Tree BBQ had seasoned French fries, which sounded yummy, so I went over there. I guess theyve changed the menu, though, because they only had regular fries! I considered pizza from Pizzafari, but wasnt in the mood. I finally decided I was in the mood for nachos. Why nachos? I never eat nachos! But it was one of those random, weird cravings. I remembered seeing nachos at Roaring Forks on past WL stays, so I left Animal Kingdom around 2pm to head back to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch and a nap.
A few pictures I took on the way out
I saw this little guy near the Tree of Life on my way out- Ive never noticed him before! (Hes a cotton top tamarin, and again, there was some major zoom action going on! These guys only weigh from 12-16 oz!)
The base of a lamp post near a shop. I love all of the little details in this park- EVERYTHING is themed!
Thankfully, the wait for the bus back to WL was nowhere near as long as this mornings wait was! It was a peaceful trip back, and I went straight to Forks for FOOD! Sadly, nachos are no longer on the menu! Boo! (Im really disappointed in general on the recent food changes at WDW- Im guessing its the result of so many people taking part in the
DDP. Unfortunatly, theres been a big decline in the two things that make dining at WDW so much fun: quality and variety. People dont *want* the same menu everywhere, with the same drinks at every bar! If anything, wed like more variety, not less! (I also hate how the DDP has now made it mandatory to have ADRs way in advance if you want any hope of a table service meal. I really miss thinking Hey, Le Cellier sounds good tonight! and being able to eat there that night!) But this is all a rant that I should be sending to Disney, not you guys! (See, no hot melty cheese makes me cranky!)
After my lunch, I talked to Katie, who said she would be out later that afternoon, and then settled in for a nap, having instructed her to call me when she was half an hour away so I could wake up! Well, great minds must think alike, because Katie fell asleep too, and it was around 6pm when she called to say she was close- I had slept for like three hours! Oops! I drug myself out of bed, fixed my hair and tried to pretty up a little, but with not very good results! There is just no way to get back to pretty after a 3 hour nap!
Katie made it to the Lodge, I slapped on enough makeup to look somewhat human, and off we went to the bus stop!
It took us about five minutes of standing there before we remembered that Katie had a car. About fifty feet away in the parking lot. Duh!
We drove over to the TTC and parked, stopped to get a new pass for Katie, and then monorailed to the MK. (Um, we did monorail, didnt we Katie? I have no memory of it at all! But I know we didnt take the ferryboat- we just discussed the possibility of McDreamy being on it!)
Here is our lovely entering the park Photopass picture!
(Yes, it was COLD that night!)
So, what was our first order of business?
Lets go ride Johnny Depp!
You mean Pirates?
Oh. That, too.
There was no line to visit our beloved Captain Sparrow. Hooray! We dont like being made to wait for our Jack!
(The weird thing is, the ride must be somehow forgettable. Katie and I BOTH had a moment later on where we thought Oh, we never rode Pirates! Very weird! And a bit damaging to Jacks reputation!)
After the ride, we poked around in the gift shop, and discovered Pirate Mouse Ears that we simply had to have in order to continue survival. I told Katie I would buy her mouse ears if she would pick me up some frappuccino and eye makeup remover! (Did you know most of the resort gift shops dont sell eye makeup remover? Id brought a new eyeliner, and it ran horribly! Not pretty!)
We of course had to take photos in our new ears
(This one was actually taken later back at the Lodge. I have no idea why Im not looking at the camera!)
And then take photos with basically every other piece of merchandise in the store
I demand to know why this dress doesnt come in my size!
Katie enjoys swords!
But Crystal isnt too sure why Disney sells handcuffs?
But Katie seems quite happy about it! Why is that, Katie?
Because she found Commodore Norrington! But Katie, what are you planning to do with the good Commodore?
Oh.
(Im sure that Katie would love it if I shared that as this photo was being taken, some random dude walked up behind her, looked at the action figures, looked at the handcuffs, and snickered.)
This photo was taken by a lovely CM working in the gift shop. We really ARE going to buy hats! we told her. She didnt seem to believe us, and said it wasnt the first time people took pictures with the stuff. But really! We did buy hats! Heres proof!
Our pirate adventures aside, we set off for Buzz Lightyear, to shoot stuff!
Ive finally started getting good at Buzz, and at first, it was looking like I was going to be the clear winner!
My score
Katies score.
And then we entered that room with the big video screen all around you! And then
. We got stuck there! We figured that if we just kept shooting, wed keep getting points, and it worked! But then, after being stuck for a while, the video went off, and we could clearly see the two targets on the wall that were responsible for the points wed been getting. Ooooooh! (Theyre not target-shaped like all of the others- they blend in when the video is running!) We kept shooting them, and before long
The coveted 999,999!
The family behind us saw our scores, and started begging us to tell them how we did it. Katie is quite the zipped lip though, apparently, because she refused to tell! They offered us increasingly large sums of money to tell them (as a joke!), and then started claiming that we had ruined their vacation by not telling (also kidding! We were stuck in there a REALLY long time- we had bonded by now!) They also started rumors down the line that we had broken the ride by hitting the top score. Hee! We just sat there celebrating our perfect scores. We win at life!, I proclaimed. Oh, the sense of accomplishment!
And then something TRAGIC happened- the power to the ride went out, and our scores VANISHED! This did not please us.
Our whole lifes work, gone in the blink of an eye!
So, we sat there a while longer.
We are stuck, and starting to get bored!
And then I noticed something. While youre in this room, you hear the voice of Zurg taunting you. Well, it turns out that Zurg is just a big speaker and a fan!
He somehow seems a bit less threatening now. (Shhh, dont tell BadShoe Zurg!)
We were starting to wonder if we were going to miss Wishes being stuck on Buzz! FINALLY, a CM came along, and we walked off the ride (After nifty rails came up aong the sides of the walkway- apparently so that we werent attacked by Fan!Zurg?) We ended up getting out at 7:55! (Wishes is at 8!) We talked the people who had been stuck behind us into snapping this photo for us, to celebrate our new status as Galactic Heroes!
(They did give us Fast Passes, good for any ride, valid until 1/24! Of course, we never got around to using them, and I gave mine to a fellow DISer later in the week.)
And then we dashed out to the castle for Wishes! That, my friends, is the beauty of Disney in January- you can still get a decent spot 5 minutes before!
I was setting up my tripod on a trash can when a man waked up and asked me about it. I was happy to get to pimp my beloved Gorillapod! (And Katie found it funny, because wed been joking about how weird looking it is.) Yay, gorillapod!
So, then there was Wishes. I took some photos, but none of them really turned out well, so just imagine a bunch of fireworks and a castle here, ok?
And then there was The Moment. About halfway through Wishes, it hit me.
Hey, Katie? Where did we park?
Where did
. OH S....! (Insert un-theme park friendly expletive here, followed by sheepish look as Katie realizes that shes just yelled said expletive at the Happiest Place on Earth. Oops.)
Yes, friends, we had just parked in the largest parking lot on Earth, and paid NO attention to where we had parked.
The scene: Two women standing in front of a castle, having a worried discussion. In the background, $85,000 worth of fireworks are exploding.
Crystal: So, do we know what lot we were in? Like Minnie or Goofy or
Katie: No idea. Wasnt it by a monorail track or something?
Fireworks: Boom!
Kids singing: Wishes!
Crystal: Yeah! There was a monorail track!
Fireworks: BOOM!
Katie: And we walked under a bridge thing!
Disney: Hey, we just spent eighty-five thousand dollars on the fireworks, could you maybe pay attention?
Crystal: Yeah! We walked under that thing! That should help!
Katie: Yeah!
Crystal: Were never going to find the car, are we?
Katie: No, we are not.
Fireworks: BOOM! Boom! Please pay attention to us already!
On the way out of the park (and to our doom starving to death as we wandered the parking lot for 40 years, apparently), I started to tell Katie a story (which neither of us can remember now, of course). Apparently Katie was worried that said story was too risqué for the Magic Kingdom (This from the same person who just yelled four letter words during Wishes, mind you!), and in a hushed tone nodded to the little blonde girl walking in front of us and said Theres a child!
She had said it in a totally conversational tone, but for whatever reason, the girl most have noticed, because she turned around and gave us the funniest look! Sorry, kid!
We monorailed back to the TTC, and believe it or not, going just on the knowledge of We came in from that direction
. It was by the monorail track
we went under a road
we walked STRAIGHT to the car! No searching involved at ALL! Needless to say, we were a little relieved! Thats what resulted in this photo (a trip favorite!)
I have no idea what laws of science were broken in the taking of this photo. I mean, what is UP with Katies legs? How is she even doing that? (And yes, I really AM that pale, thanks.)
Reunited with Katies beloved car, and vowing to pay attention to where we parked from now on, we made the drive back over to the WL!
So, do you ever have one of those moments when you say something, but it comes out MUCH louder than you intended? As Katie tried to stick my room key in the security gate, and it was a little too far away, she Screamed/growled I CANT REACH IT!, which resulted in the security guard coming over and doing it for her. Oops!
Our original plan had been to go to the Adventurers Club, but as tends to happen, we got lazy, and opted for the resort bar instead. Please dont judge us! (I believe there was also something about Katie needing to be home fairly early, too, so it isnt all lazyness!)
Well, kids, we really should have gone to the Adv Club! (I stress this times ten, because of my even greater love for the club as of late, but thats a story for another part of the report!) Our service at the Territory Lounge kinda sucked!
They had the new (apparently standard?) drink menus, and although I was bummed about this new generic menu, a lot of the drinks looked pretty tasty. Katie was having trouble deciding between two drinks- a raspberry one and a blueberry one, so she asked our server which was better. He recommended the raspberry, so she went with that. (I have no memory of what I ordered, and I cant find the menu online!)
See that blue blob at the bottom of Katies? We didnt! (Oooh, foreshadowing!)
A few minutes after we got our drinks, the server stopped by, and asked Katie if her drink was ok. She said it was fine, and he told her that they had screwed it up- somehow (again, laws of science were broken, I think!), instead of her raspberry drink, she had gotten an ORANGE one with BLUEBERRY syrup in it! HOW did that happen? Does this mean its free? Katie asked, but she didnt really get an answer. Anyway, we should have taken a photo of the server or something at this point, because we would never, ever see him again. Ever.
Of course, a few sips into her drink, Katie discovered that it was not so yummy. The orange part was good- it tasted like one of those orange ice cream push-up things, but once she hit the blueberry, it was a different story! Our server was very deep in conversation with a couple across the room though, so she never had a chance to get it replaced.
Katie with the Drink of Doom. Yes, its yucky, but drink it anyway! There are sober kids in China!
Katie ordered the red swirly thing. I think I ordered something from the next page? Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if MY drink was right?
As Katie picked up the Drink of Doom to pose for this photo, the pineapple fell off. She demanded that it still be in the photo, so you get this artistic angle!
I was busy whining about being old, because this is the first time I have ever *not* been carded. Oh, woe! Oh, misery! Oh, its time to start using better moisturizer! (I think this is when we decided to go on an awesome cross-country road trip when we turn 30.)
I had a magical stretching room drink. No matter how much of it I drank, it didnt seem to go anywhere! Now, I tend to drink slowly, but this was just silly! Katies drink was nearly gone, and there was barely a dent in mine! More laws of science being broken, methinks! What was UP with the universe tonight?
We decided that we wanted to go up to my room to look at our photos from the night, and despite the fact that we kept staring at our server, giving him that please come here! look, he never came over, so we finally had to flag down someone else to ask for our check! The guy we got to come over was very nice, and apologized for our server disappearing to flirt. He mentioned Katies screwed up drink, and suggested that the bar name it after her. We were a little bummed to see that it was still on the bill. If we hadnt been so worn out at this point, we probably would have said something (We are not people who ask for free stuff, but seriously, if the drink you get is TOTALLY different from what you ordered, they should probably comp it.) about both the crappy service and icky drink, but we just paid and went upstairs. (If it helps, our tip wasnt good. We discussed if we should even tip at all, but did it anyway.)
We got in the elevator to go upstairs, and there was a kid in there who had just inserted his room card for 7th floor (concierge) access. Wanna switch rooms? Katie asked him. I think this frightened him. Sorry, kid! But we hear there is free food up there! I confessed to Katie that Id always wanted to get on the elevator with someone who was going up to the concierge floor and get off with them, just to go look around, but Ive never had the nerve!
So, one broken ride, one lost car, two high scores, two drinks and two frightened children that day- we were doing quite well! Just imagine all of the hilarity to come!
Yup, the mention of future hilarity- thats how you know this part of the trip report is over! Katie went home, I drank the rest of my drink (a little too quickly- whee!) and fell asleep. But theres a great big beautiful tomorrow
. Shining at the end of every day
.