Operation Big Thunder: the Dole Whip Conspiracy COMPLETE

[afwdwfan]

Indiana is 36,185 square miles. Let's assume 99% of that is corn field. So you've only got 35,823.15 square miles to check. Here's a tip: do it in the spring when the corn is small.

I was taller than the corn all year long this year.

 

[glennbo123]

Maybe the lie is that you did, in fact, have "coffee on the verandah".

No, I'll guess that you saw more than just one antelope when using the night vision goggles.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I was taller than the corn all year long this year.

Is that where baby corn comes from?

Maybe the lie is that you did, in fact, have "coffee on the verandah".

Had to go there, huh? I wasn't exactly eager to get escorted off of Disney property.

No, I'll guess that you saw more than just one antelope when using the night vision goggles.

I didn't seem too disappointed, did I? Then again, I was using night-vision goggles.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Lie:

Once checked in, we got our room assignment: 7548, in the wing closest to Jambo House. It was a long walk from the lobby, but we didn’t mind.


SOMEONE complained. I don't know who, but someone had to have complained about that walk.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

So are you changing your mind, then? Earlier you guessed that my online check-in wasn't quite so smooth.

so i cant have two guesses...nuts...if the second one is write just give me 5 points for it.

It can't be all corn. I distinctly remember seeing a few windmills.

we have a few homes in IN, so maybe 90% corn.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Lie:

Once checked in, we got our room assignment: 7548, in the wing closest to Jambo House. It was a long walk from the lobby, but we didn’t mind.


SOMEONE complained. I don't know who, but someone had to have complained about that walk.

Or we may have been on a Disney high and didn't care.

so i cant have two guesses...nuts...if the second one is write just give me 5 points for it.

we have a few homes in IN, so maybe 90% corn.

I'll take that to mean you're sticking with the first guess. All will be revealed in a moment...

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

So, as you may have gathered from me allowing Dan time to clarify his response, one of his answers was correct.

I did indeed do the online check-in for Kidani. But, in the midst of my Disney euphoria, I didn't look for the teeny "Online Check-in" sign at the front desk and instead got in the regular line looking for the first available CM. The poor lady had to fumble in the computer system for a few minutes, and then finally asked, "Did you check in online?" I had to give her a sheepish grin and say yes. Then she had to go to the other desk to search for my packet of info.

Because Disney CM's are wonderful, she didn't show any outward signs of annoyance with me.

So, congratulations Dan for spotting the lie!

Up-to-date standings...

GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes 85
glennbo123 52
FreezinRafiki 27
afwdwfan 17
FauntleroyFAN07 15
eandesmom 12
MEK 10
shan23877 5
Cinderella's Fella 5
Mrs. Knowitall 3
marvali 2
Wherem I Now 2
Poolrat 2
vdub322 1
JESSketeer 1
vamassey1 1
TarzansKat 1
PrincePluto 1
chloe770 1
Bridora 1

 

[shells4]

I just found this thread and have read to the point where you just saw the sign for Disney World. You had me hooked when I saw Pawleys Island. My 2 favorite places!! We have been going to Pawleys Island for 35 years. Kids have a very hard time picking between PI and WDW, maybe someday we can do both in one vacation like you did.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I just found this thread and have read to the point where you just saw the sign for Disney World. You had me hooked when I saw Pawleys Island. My 2 favorite places!! We have been going to Pawleys Island for 35 years. Kids have a very hard time picking between PI and WDW, maybe someday we can do both in one vacation like you did.

Well, that's certainly a wondeful coincidence! I hope I did Pawleys Island justice in your eyes.

 

[vamassey1]

Vanessa thought that Capt. Oblivious has seen "Great Expectations"? Hoo, that's a good one. For Mark, Great Expectations is the time between placing his hamburger order and receiving it!

I was hoping he had seen it. You never had to read it in school? We had to my freshman year in high school. The dining scene from HM always reminds me of the dining room from the book that was set up for the wedding celebration and never used.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

So, as you may have gathered from me allowing Dan time to clarify his response, one of his answers was correct.
So, congratulations Dan for spotting the lie!

Up-to-date standings...

GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes 85
glennbo123 52
FreezinRafiki 27
afwdwfan 17
FauntleroyFAN07 15
eandesmom 12
MEK 10
shan23877 5
Cinderella's Fella 5
Mrs. Knowitall 3
marvali 2
Wherem I Now 2
Poolrat 2
vdub322 1
JESSketeer 1
vamassey1 1
TarzansKat 1
PrincePluto 1
chloe770 1
Bridora 1

sweet top five,

 

[middlepat]

Caught up again. Great updates as usual.

[Sidebar]
Also, thanks for the last minute tip on Philly dining. I had called Mark on my way into town this past week as I needed dinner, I was on my own, and like the good Captain, I'm a Road Food fan. I figured, what better source that a fan and relative local to give some insights.

He provided me with some options (Geno's, Pat's or Tony Luke's) So I asked which he would recommend and based on a friend's comments he said Tony Luke's.

I had the classic cheesesteak (with sharp cheese as I was told by another friend that you HAVE TO have sharp cheese) with salt and vinegar fries. It was a great stop and classic experience (sammich stand, local south Philly regulars, etc.) The one thing I would improve is that the classic needed a bit of sauce. It got a bit dry, but there were other options (ie the classic hoagie style) that I think would have done the trick. Point to note for next time.

Also the salt and vinegar fries were awesome. Of course I now have to take blood pressure medicine for life as my sodium intake was that of the Atlantic Ocean, but it was worth it.
[/Sidebar]

Lie:

Once checked in, we got our room assignment: 7548, in the wing closest to Jambo House. It was a long walk from the lobby, but we didn’t mind.


SOMEONE complained. I don't know who, but someone had to have complained about that walk.

We know it was Mark. That guy complains about EVERYTHING.

 

[Poolrat]

Maybe the lie is that you did, in fact, have "coffee on the verandah".

I just had to quote this for those smilies.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I was hoping he had seen it. You never had to read it in school? We had to my freshman year in high school. The dining scene from HM always reminds me of the dining room from the book that was set up for the wedding celebration and never used.

Sorry. If it involves highbrow literature and culture, you can probably assume I have no idea.

Caught up again. Great updates as usual.

[Sidebar]
Also, thanks for the last minute tip on Philly dining. I had called Mark on my way into town this past week as I needed dinner, I was on my own, and like the good Captain, I'm a Road Food fan. I figured, what better source that a fan and relative local to give some insights.

He provided me with some options (Geno's, Pat's or Tony Luke's) So I asked which he would recommend and based on a friend's comments he said Tony Luke's.

I had the classic cheesesteak (with sharp cheese as I was told by another friend that you HAVE TO have sharp cheese) with salt and vinegar fries. It was a great stop and classic experience (sammich stand, local south Philly regulars, etc.) The one thing I would improve is that the classic needed a bit of sauce. It got a bit dry, but there were other options (ie the classic hoagie style) that I think would have done the trick. Point to note for next time.

Also the salt and vinegar fries were awesome. Of course I now have to take blood pressure medicine for life as my sodium intake was that of the Atlantic Ocean, but it was worth it.
[/Sidebar]

Glad you enjoyed it! I've actually never tried sharp cheese on a Philly cheese steak. We usually do it with whiz or American cheese, and fried onions. And ketchup, so it's not a dry sandwich.

We know it was Mark. That guy complains about EVERYTHING.

Do not.

I just had to quote this for those smilies.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

One house-cleaning item to clear up before we move on to our first full Disney day. I did eventually get a call from DisneyFed, the DIS Dad I was supposed to meet on the way down. Turns out he had a day off and took his son to the beach instead, and forgot all about meeting me. I told him it was no problem, it had worked out well and that spending time with his son was probably more important that meeting some weirdos from the internet anyway. We agreed to try again on Wednesday, as we were driving back home.

We awoke to learn we’d had a visitor during the night. Before you get all worried about future stays at Kidani, it was a welcome visitor. Sarah had lost a tooth in the evening, so we had her wrap it in tissue and place it under her pillow. We weren’t sure if the Tooth Fairy knew we were at WDW or not.

We needn’t have worried. Sarah got a nice note from Tinkerbell! Turns out the Tooth Fairy asked Tink to do the honors since we were at Disney, and Sarah ended up with a Disney pin that she had been eyeing up in the gift shop the previous evening. Not too shabby!

Side note: Sarah lost another one after our trip, got a measly dollar from the regular Tooth Fairy, and said it seemed a little lame. So the moral of this story is: if you’re going to lose a tooth, do it at Disney World, because the regular Tooth Fairy sucks.

The morning dawned anew over the savannah. Doesn’t that sound adventurous? I’ve always wanted to write a sentence like that to describe our travels. I mean, it beats writing the usual stuff like, “We had Pop-Tarts and crappy coffee for breakfast.”

We looked for animals from the balcony, but couldn’t see any. In the distance, we could see a couple of hot-air balloons greeting the day.

For breakfast, we had Pop-Tarts with crappy Disney coffee. But that’s ok. We didn’t care so much about a flavorful meal as we did about speed. Our mission, and we chose to accept it, was to get to Epcot by Rope Drop.

If you recall, we had 2-day Park Hoppers and 3 full days on Disney property. It was the middle of July, so we were expecting high heat and huge crowds. So our plan was to avoid the park with Extra Magic Hours each day in order to try and cut down on crowds a bit. We also were not concerned with doing everything, but rather concentrating on trying attractions that we either hadn’t done or hadn’t seen since they’d been updated.

For the first time, we drove our own van to the park instead of taking Disney transportation. And I have to say, this spoiled us rotten. The drive was easy, parking was free with the room key, and it was a huge difference in total travel time as compared to the bus. Not only that, we were early enough to get a space only 1 row back from the main walkway to the entrance.

The kids (ok, and the adults) were bouncing around like crazy with excitement. One of the oft-repeated phrases of the week between me and Julie was, “Can you believe we’re actually here?” After our 2010 trip, we had figured it would be a long time before we set foot in the parks again. I guess you can take the Disney nuts out of the park, but you can’t take the parks out of the Disney nuts.

The line at rope drop wasn’t terrible. We hung around making small talk with the people around us for a few minutes and then they started the opening ceremonies. No pre-show, just an announcement and some confetti/streamers. And then, against their better judgment, they allowed my family into Epcot!

Julie had made all of us some homemade tye-dyed Mickey t-shirts to wear. You’ll get a better view of them later on.

Epcot is my family’s favorite park. We’re suckers for futuristic-technology-type-stuff (technical term), and also for travel and exploring new places. And this is a theme park that lets you do both!

We did the march along with everybody else to get FastPasses for Soarin’. This is one of Sarah’s top 3 favorite rides, so we had to make sure we got on that one. Sarah and I were faster walkers, so we went on ahead with the tickets to get our passes. We didn’t have a problem, and the return time was set for around 10:30 a.m. The standby line read 10 minutes, so we figured we’d ride first thing and waited for Julie and the kids to arrive. While we waited, we had our first sighting of…

…the dreaded Brazillions. That’s a term coined by fellow DIS Dad trennr to describe the endless seas of coordinating t-shirts featured by the Brazilian tour groups you see all over the parks. In this case, Sarah and I watched a flag-bearing tall twenty-something man leading wave after wave of light blue t-shirt-wearing teen girls toward the FP machines. Clearly, we would need to keep an eye on the lines to make sure we didn’t get trapped in a long wait.

Julie and the boys arrived and we got in the standby line. A short while later, we were hang-gliding! We skimmed so close to a river that we almost kicked some poor kayakers in the head, barely avoided getting hit by a golf ball, flew into restricted airspace over an aircraft carrier, and then ended up in the middle of explosives being detonated around us. I don’t know who was flying that thing, but clearly his piloting skills needed a lot of work.

One ride in the books! Sarah was thrilled to be back on Soarin’. The boys…not so much. Scotty seemed to enjoy it, but we’ve learned he gets a little gun-shy when the lights go out. And Dave, as much as he professes to love the rides, gets easily spooked by loud noises. He didn’t like the fireworks that go off and shake the ride at the end. And even Julie, though she had ridden it before, was spooked because the machine reminded her too much of her trip on the Ski Lift From Hell the previous summer. So I left her with the boys and exchanged post-ride high fives with Sarah.

We exited and saw there was no wait for Livin’ With The Land. Our kids hadn’t experienced that one yet. Therefore, it fit within the parameters of our trip. Therefore, we got in line. No sooner had we climbed into the boat than I had to start talking David through it, since it starts off with some thunder and lightning flashes. To his credit, he did fine and settled down once the lights came back on.

The verdict on this one? To my surprise, everyone loved it! I had thought it might be a little dry for the kids, but I should have counted on the fact that they come from good, nerdy genetic stock.

We were settled into our Epcot Groove now. We still had time before our Soarin’ FP was due, so the kids decided they wanted to head across the park for one of their other favorites. Mission: Space. Julie doesn’t care for motion simulators, so she opted to sit this one out in MouseGears while I took the kids. Julie gets to shop while we boldly go where no one has gone before. Win-win. Additionally, this would be Scotty’s first attempt to fly to Mars.

We chose the Green (Sane) Team instead of the Orange (Vomit-inducing) Team. The wait wasn’t long at all. I checked on the kids’ moods during the pre-show. Sarah was excited, as usual for my daredevil. Dave was good as well, having conquered this ride on our last trip. Scotty had me worried—he was quiet. Scotty is never quiet. You’d normally have a better chance of silencing Dick Vitale.

Still, he held up ok. We got into our capsule. It was set for pulsar level five, subsonic implosion factor two. Dave was the Pilot and I was the Navigator. We needed a lot of thrust to get the rocket launched, because it was extremely heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth’s gravitational pull?

Apparently Dave is the one who must have been flying our hang-glider, because we put him behind the controls of the spaceship, and before we knew it, we were flying into a meteor shower, barely avoiding canyon walls and crashing through barriers to the edge of a cliff. I’m not letting him get his driver’s license anytime soon, that’s for sure.

Whenever we do Mission: Space, I like to give the Pilot grief for flying us into a meteor shower. Unfortunately, the kids have now figured out what Navigator means and successfully threw the blame back on me.

So how did everyone do? They did great! Scotty’s color was back in his face and he was proclaiming the ride “awesome”. Another ride conquered!

It was time for Soarin’ again, so we walked back across Future World. But not before a stop in Club Cool! We needed some Beverly photos. As Barry has pointed out before, “Beverly” is Italian for “Battery Acid”. We even tried to come up with a marketing slogan for it in a previous TR, and the best we could do was Beverly: The Reason Dogs Lick Their Butts. Sad to say, I haven’t seen that show up on billboards or TV ads yet. I’m sure it’s coming, though.

Unfortunately, the kids were wise to me this time. I pushed, I pleaded, I cajoled, but I could not get anyone to try the Beverly again. I thought about trying to beat the DIS Dads Beverly consumption record, but after one taste I decided it wasn’t worth it.

Cyborgs don’t feel pain. I do. Don’t do that again.

The kids preferred to stick with Mezzo Mix, our vote for the best drink there (a German soda that’s like Coke with orange juice in it). We did, however, convince a family next to us to try the Beverly. So all was not lost. From there, it was on to Soarin’.

This time, Julie begged out of going again, convinced that the ride had actually been built by the lowest-bidder ski-lift guys from West Virginia. Scotty and Dave didn’t want to do it again, either. Dave was still bothered by the fireworks at the end, even after doing Mission: Space. That was it for him. Game over, man! Game over! So, Sarah and I were left as the only cool peop—uh, only people in the family who would ride Soarin’ again. Julie took the boys to ride Livin’ With The Land again while we went hang-gliding. We tried to brighten someone’s day by giving away the rest of our Soarin’ FastPasses, but every time we tried to get someone’s attention to give them away, they looked at us like we were growing tentacles and steered clear. We could not give away Soarin’ FastPasses. So, Sarah and I shrugged and went on the ride, and had an awesome time. Except we had the same pilot again! What are the odds?

We rounded up Julie and the boys and started walking. Journey Into Imagination had a 5-minute wait, which was obviously far too long to stand in line, so we skipped that one. Got some nice pictures, though.

The kids decided they wanted to try the newly-branded Agent P Spy Missions, so we set off for the World Showcase. We were already disguised as Florida tourists, so it made sense to take on a mission. We got signed up and they assigned us our first country: France.

But as everyone knows, before you go to France, you have to travel to Canada first, eh? And take Stupid Hat Pictures©.

Coming Up Next: We save the world! But we grab some lunch first.

 

[jedijill]

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Godfather.

Jill in CO

 

[glennbo123]

Game over man = Aliens

 

[jedijill]

Our mission, and we chose to accept it,

Mission Impossible.

pulsar level five, subsonic implosion factor two

Men in Black

Jill in CO

 

[Flossbolna]

we boldly go where no one has gone before

Star Trek

ETA: not sure whether it is a real direct quote and whether you need a specific film or so - but I am so happy that I recognised something!!

Sounds like a wonderful start to your two days in the parks! I am amazed that Scotty would go on Mission Space!! He is starting to grow up I guess.

And your kids have very good taste to vote for the German drink!! It is very popular here, and they started selling a "zero" version of it some years ago.