rgoble5972
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
- Messages
- 276
Thursday, August 16th The Omnium Orange Juice Guzzle
I was up around 7:30 and Larry woke up shortly after that. We were both more in the mood to discuss our breakdown in communication yesterday so we talked things over for a while and got everything smoothed over. So, to recap, nothing was my fault. (Well, maybe a FEW things.)
We had a handful of old park passes that had plus features on them for admission to the water parks, Disney Quest, or the mini-golf courses so we decided that all the guys could go to Typhoon Lagoon after brunch. One of the passes was a park hopper that I purchased for Michael back when he was eight years old. If you have an old childs pass like that with unused days on it and an old child that it was originally purchased for, Disney will exchange it for an equivalent adult pass. We needed to get that accomplished before Michael could use the ticket for admission to the water park.
We woke the boys up at 9:30. Michael was ready before John and Ed, so Larry and I went ahead and took him to the Guest Services desk in the lobby to try and exchange the pass. There was quite a long line however, and Ed and John showed up before wed moved up at all so we ditched the queue and went to Chef Mickeys.
Larry dropped us all off at the entrance of the Contemporary then he went to go park the car. The boys and I headed up to the fourth floor to check in. My mom and I had stayed with Michael for one night at the Contemporary quite a few years back when Disney had overbooked the Polynesian, where we had reservations, and they offered us the Contemporary for the same price. As we walked in, Michael said he didnt really recognize anything about the hotel. Once we got off the elevator on the fourth floor though, it began to look familiar to him.
We checked in at the podium and were seated almost immediately. The restaurant was only about half full because their breakfast service was winding down and they dont re-open until 4:00 or 4:30 for dinner. I have made our reservation for a later time on purpose to originally give us time to go to the Magic Kingdom. I had figured that our meal at Chef Mickeys would really serve as lunch. I was a little concerned however about the character interaction and the freshness of the food since we were arriving at the tail end of their service. As it turns out, I didnt have anything to worry about.
Our waitress immediately came over, filled up everyones glasses with orange juice, and took our additional drink orders (coffee for Larry, hot tea for Ed, and milk for Michael and me). John, on the other hand, was pleased as punch with his big glass of orange juice as thats one of his favorite drinks of all time. He took a big drink of his juice and the waitress immediately re-filled his glass. Cue the heavenly host of angels to start singing because John thought he had died and gone to heaven.
Almost immediately, even before Larry had joined us, the napkin twirling started. Ed and Michael have both been to Chef Mickeys before so they both whipped out their napkins and began twirling. You might think that John would be a bit intimidated by all the noise and fanfare but he grabbed his napkin in one hand and his orange juice in the other and twirled away with the best of them.
Larry soon joined us and our waitress came over to tell us that the characters wouldnt be around for about five minutes so we had plenty of time to go and get some food , and to refill everyones orange juice (John, Im looking at you). Larry, Michael and John needed no persuasion and they quickly headed to the buffet. Ed and I waited at the table, just soaking in the atmosphere until they came back.
The characters started coming around even before everyone got back with their food. All the fab five were there: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy. I was a bit disappointed that Chip and Dale are no longer in the rotation because theyre always good to joke around with. Larry and Michael both got kisses on the top of their heads from Minnie while Ed taught Donald a few high five variations. Goofy was the star of the show however, and his antics kept us all highly entertained.
Michael, Goofy and John
Larry, Pluto, and John (who is obviously high on orange juice).
Michael, Mickey, and John (still coming down off that orange juice buzz).
Our waitress was great and uber-efficient at keeping our drinks refilled. Theres no way to scientifically calculate exactly how much orange juice John actually drank but I think the fact that he received the Anita Bryant Award as Floridas favorite adopted son and they built a statue of him at City Hall shows that he put away a fair bit of the stuff. Michael clocked in at three and a half glasses of milk, so he wasnt doing too shabbily either.
Ed, who is a notoriously picky eater, had a plate with a waffle and a couple of pancakes. I was worried that he wouldnt find enough to eat (at a buffet? I KNOW!), but he took a second trip to the food stations and came back with a plate loaded with enough bacon to make even Bear Grylls proud. I swear there must have been at least 15 pieces of the stuff! And he ate every last bite of it, too. So, John had his yearly supply of vitamin C, Michael was all stocked up on calcium, and Ed was good for nitrites, sodium, and cholesterol.
We were all quite full from our meal and were beginning to wonder if a trip to Typhoon Lagoon was such a good idea, but we had schedules to keep so onward to Typhoon Lagoon we went. We had enough plus features on our old admission media for four people to get in to the water park, so I was going to sit this one outmostly due to my kneeanyway. I figured that all the water slides would be off-limits as well as the wave pool. The last thing I needed was any thrashing around with my leg. Even the lazy river was questionable because I didnt know how my knee would feel hanging over the side of an inner tube and I didnt really relish the idea of floating all the way around the river with my leg held out straight in front of me like a plank because of my unbendy knee. So I couldnt see the point of paying 50 bucks so I could sit in the sun. I did however, manage to get my leg into the drivers side of the car so I could drive, which felt like a small victory to me.
With it being almost 1:00, we had to park in Guatemala and hike in to the water park (seriously, we were parked on grass in the midst of a jungle somewhere). I was going to the ticket stand with Michael to exchange his childs ticket because Larry was having another British moment declaring that the person who originally purchased the ticket had to exchange it and no one would believe that he was related to Michael because he had a British accent, etc. Larrys quite brave about some things, really. Just not moths. Or talking to humans.
So we all trekked up to the ticket booth where the woman asked for three forms of identification, a DNA sample from Michael, a sworn affidavit of his genealogy going back seven generations, a urine sample, a complete medical history of everyone in our party, and all the loose change in our pockets. Not really. When I asked about exchanging Michaels ticket she didnt even bat an eye and had a new adult ticket for us in about 30 seconds.
Ed was worried about where to put his clothes and sun block so I told him to just rent a locker and everyone could put their extra stuff in it while they swam. Did you know that it now costs $15 to rent a locker at Typhoon Lagoon?! Fifteen dollars! What are they made out of? Titanium?
With the men-folk all safely inside the park, I hobbled back to the car. I exited back behind Team Disney and drove back to the ASMo, stopping in the food court for some Diet Coke in my refillable mug. I got some ice from the ice machine and spent the next few hours resting my leg, watching TV, and talking to my Mom on the phone.
Larry called around 4:00 and said that they were closing Typhoon Lagoon because it was pouring down rain. He was with Ed at their locker but they couldnt find Michael and John. They obviously couldnt call them because their phones were in the locker. My call waiting beeped and I put Larry on hold, thinking it would be Michael or John. It was actually Scoobydooby, a fellow trip report writer from the UK that Larry had been conversing with through Mouseplanets discussion boards. We knew she and her family was going to be at Disney World at the same time we were and had said that wed try to meet up sometime while we were both here.
She and I had just made arrangements to meet up at Hollywood Studios tomorrow when the room phone rang and I had to cut our conversation short. Michael was on the room phone and said that he and John were outside of Typhoon Lagoon but they couldnt take a bus back to the hotel because they didnt have their shirts on because they were in Eds locker. Im not sure what freakish logic possessed them to go out of the park instead of waiting at the lockers but I told Michael that Ed and Larry were at the lockers and to go meet up with them there. I then called Larry back and told him that John and Michael were on their way and to not move from the lockers. They actually had John in their sights when I hung up the phone so I felt fairly confident that they would meet up and all get their shirts on.
It actually took them about an hour to get back to the hotel on the bus and they arrived about 5:00. We decided to let everyone rest for an hour and then wed go to Epcot for the evening. John and Michael took advantage of the hour by going to the food court and having some more Chicken Penne Alfredo. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.
We drove to Epcot and parked right up front in, like, the fifth row. We got out of the car and John realized that he had forgotten his room key/park ticket back at the hotel. Larry, Ed, and Michael went on ahead and I drove John back to get his ticket. When we got back to the hotel we realized that, if John didnt have his park ticket, he also didnt have his room key. Fail.
Luckily, we hadnt shut the connecting door between our rooms so John used my room key to get into our room and then went through the adjoining door into his. When we got back to Epcot, we were still able to get a great parking spot just a few rows from the front. I called Larry; he and Ed were in the UK eating fish and chips. Shocker. I called Michael; he was in Japan. Double shocker. I told them all to meet us at The Land when they were finished.
Once everyone was back together, we checked the stand by time for Soarin. It was 80 minutes so I suggested that the guys go over to The Living Seas for a while and I would get me some dinner at Sunshine Seasons here in The Land.
I got the Spicy Cashew Chicken with Lo Mein noodles and a crème brulee for dessert. I had only just sat down when Larry showed up. He said he had come back to keep me company but I suspect it was to have the crème brulee that he went and ordered. A few minutes later, Michael showed up. He said that he had ridden the Clambulators and had looked at the Manatees and that was enough for him. He also decided that he was in dire need of a crème brulee, so he went and got one as well.
After we finished eating, we I decided that I could probably ride Living with the Land if I asked for the front row. That way, I wouldnt have to bend my knee at a sharp angle like I would if we sat in any of the other rows that had a row in front of them and, thus, a limited amount of space. Its amazing how many things you cant ride when you cant bend your knee more than a few degrees.
Anyway, sitting in the front row worked just fine and we enjoyed the night-time ride. I dont think Ive ever ridden Living with the Land in the dark before. While we were on the ride, John called Michael and told him they were finished at The Living Seas. We told John and Ed that wed meet them at the exit of our ride.
Soarin was down to a 50 minute wait but that was still longer than we wanted to stand in the queue so I sent the guys over to Mission: Space. I told them to come back over to Soarin when they were finished and Id wait there for them.
I found a place to sit at the entrance to Soarin (the stand by time was now down to 30 minutes) and I sat and people-watched. I find people-watching at Disney to be a great pastime.
The guys showed back up at 9:10 and we were able to walk right on to Soarin. Yippee. Once we finished we decided that wed have another go except for Michael who sat this one out. This time we got the first row.
It was 10:00 when we finished up and everything was closed. As we made our way out of the park we noticed that theyve really oomphed up the fiber optic sidewalks. My mom called just as we were leaving and said that she had decided to show her sympathy for my hurt knee by getting bumped by the neighbors Doberman as she was getting out of her car, causing her knee to buckle and her to fall on the driveway thereby hurting both of her knees, twisting an ankle, and bruising a fair portion of her body. Poor thing! My older sister and her husband were there, along with my dad, so they were able to help get her upright and settled in her favorite chair. She didnt know how she was going to sleep however, because her bedroom is upstairs and she didnt think her hurt legs would be able to take on the stairs. She wound up sleeping in the chair all night but was able to get up the stairs the next day with the help of my sister and brother-in-law. Luckily, shes okay now.
We drove back to the hotel and decided that, for our last full day tomorrow, wed go back to Hollywood Studios where John wanted to have another shot at American Idol. Im pretty sure that the boys went swimming again but Larry and I were in bed by midnight.
I was up around 7:30 and Larry woke up shortly after that. We were both more in the mood to discuss our breakdown in communication yesterday so we talked things over for a while and got everything smoothed over. So, to recap, nothing was my fault. (Well, maybe a FEW things.)
We had a handful of old park passes that had plus features on them for admission to the water parks, Disney Quest, or the mini-golf courses so we decided that all the guys could go to Typhoon Lagoon after brunch. One of the passes was a park hopper that I purchased for Michael back when he was eight years old. If you have an old childs pass like that with unused days on it and an old child that it was originally purchased for, Disney will exchange it for an equivalent adult pass. We needed to get that accomplished before Michael could use the ticket for admission to the water park.
We woke the boys up at 9:30. Michael was ready before John and Ed, so Larry and I went ahead and took him to the Guest Services desk in the lobby to try and exchange the pass. There was quite a long line however, and Ed and John showed up before wed moved up at all so we ditched the queue and went to Chef Mickeys.
Larry dropped us all off at the entrance of the Contemporary then he went to go park the car. The boys and I headed up to the fourth floor to check in. My mom and I had stayed with Michael for one night at the Contemporary quite a few years back when Disney had overbooked the Polynesian, where we had reservations, and they offered us the Contemporary for the same price. As we walked in, Michael said he didnt really recognize anything about the hotel. Once we got off the elevator on the fourth floor though, it began to look familiar to him.
We checked in at the podium and were seated almost immediately. The restaurant was only about half full because their breakfast service was winding down and they dont re-open until 4:00 or 4:30 for dinner. I have made our reservation for a later time on purpose to originally give us time to go to the Magic Kingdom. I had figured that our meal at Chef Mickeys would really serve as lunch. I was a little concerned however about the character interaction and the freshness of the food since we were arriving at the tail end of their service. As it turns out, I didnt have anything to worry about.
Our waitress immediately came over, filled up everyones glasses with orange juice, and took our additional drink orders (coffee for Larry, hot tea for Ed, and milk for Michael and me). John, on the other hand, was pleased as punch with his big glass of orange juice as thats one of his favorite drinks of all time. He took a big drink of his juice and the waitress immediately re-filled his glass. Cue the heavenly host of angels to start singing because John thought he had died and gone to heaven.
Almost immediately, even before Larry had joined us, the napkin twirling started. Ed and Michael have both been to Chef Mickeys before so they both whipped out their napkins and began twirling. You might think that John would be a bit intimidated by all the noise and fanfare but he grabbed his napkin in one hand and his orange juice in the other and twirled away with the best of them.
Larry soon joined us and our waitress came over to tell us that the characters wouldnt be around for about five minutes so we had plenty of time to go and get some food , and to refill everyones orange juice (John, Im looking at you). Larry, Michael and John needed no persuasion and they quickly headed to the buffet. Ed and I waited at the table, just soaking in the atmosphere until they came back.
The characters started coming around even before everyone got back with their food. All the fab five were there: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy. I was a bit disappointed that Chip and Dale are no longer in the rotation because theyre always good to joke around with. Larry and Michael both got kisses on the top of their heads from Minnie while Ed taught Donald a few high five variations. Goofy was the star of the show however, and his antics kept us all highly entertained.
Michael, Goofy and John
Larry, Pluto, and John (who is obviously high on orange juice).
Michael, Mickey, and John (still coming down off that orange juice buzz).
Our waitress was great and uber-efficient at keeping our drinks refilled. Theres no way to scientifically calculate exactly how much orange juice John actually drank but I think the fact that he received the Anita Bryant Award as Floridas favorite adopted son and they built a statue of him at City Hall shows that he put away a fair bit of the stuff. Michael clocked in at three and a half glasses of milk, so he wasnt doing too shabbily either.
Ed, who is a notoriously picky eater, had a plate with a waffle and a couple of pancakes. I was worried that he wouldnt find enough to eat (at a buffet? I KNOW!), but he took a second trip to the food stations and came back with a plate loaded with enough bacon to make even Bear Grylls proud. I swear there must have been at least 15 pieces of the stuff! And he ate every last bite of it, too. So, John had his yearly supply of vitamin C, Michael was all stocked up on calcium, and Ed was good for nitrites, sodium, and cholesterol.
We were all quite full from our meal and were beginning to wonder if a trip to Typhoon Lagoon was such a good idea, but we had schedules to keep so onward to Typhoon Lagoon we went. We had enough plus features on our old admission media for four people to get in to the water park, so I was going to sit this one outmostly due to my kneeanyway. I figured that all the water slides would be off-limits as well as the wave pool. The last thing I needed was any thrashing around with my leg. Even the lazy river was questionable because I didnt know how my knee would feel hanging over the side of an inner tube and I didnt really relish the idea of floating all the way around the river with my leg held out straight in front of me like a plank because of my unbendy knee. So I couldnt see the point of paying 50 bucks so I could sit in the sun. I did however, manage to get my leg into the drivers side of the car so I could drive, which felt like a small victory to me.
With it being almost 1:00, we had to park in Guatemala and hike in to the water park (seriously, we were parked on grass in the midst of a jungle somewhere). I was going to the ticket stand with Michael to exchange his childs ticket because Larry was having another British moment declaring that the person who originally purchased the ticket had to exchange it and no one would believe that he was related to Michael because he had a British accent, etc. Larrys quite brave about some things, really. Just not moths. Or talking to humans.
So we all trekked up to the ticket booth where the woman asked for three forms of identification, a DNA sample from Michael, a sworn affidavit of his genealogy going back seven generations, a urine sample, a complete medical history of everyone in our party, and all the loose change in our pockets. Not really. When I asked about exchanging Michaels ticket she didnt even bat an eye and had a new adult ticket for us in about 30 seconds.
Ed was worried about where to put his clothes and sun block so I told him to just rent a locker and everyone could put their extra stuff in it while they swam. Did you know that it now costs $15 to rent a locker at Typhoon Lagoon?! Fifteen dollars! What are they made out of? Titanium?
With the men-folk all safely inside the park, I hobbled back to the car. I exited back behind Team Disney and drove back to the ASMo, stopping in the food court for some Diet Coke in my refillable mug. I got some ice from the ice machine and spent the next few hours resting my leg, watching TV, and talking to my Mom on the phone.
Larry called around 4:00 and said that they were closing Typhoon Lagoon because it was pouring down rain. He was with Ed at their locker but they couldnt find Michael and John. They obviously couldnt call them because their phones were in the locker. My call waiting beeped and I put Larry on hold, thinking it would be Michael or John. It was actually Scoobydooby, a fellow trip report writer from the UK that Larry had been conversing with through Mouseplanets discussion boards. We knew she and her family was going to be at Disney World at the same time we were and had said that wed try to meet up sometime while we were both here.
She and I had just made arrangements to meet up at Hollywood Studios tomorrow when the room phone rang and I had to cut our conversation short. Michael was on the room phone and said that he and John were outside of Typhoon Lagoon but they couldnt take a bus back to the hotel because they didnt have their shirts on because they were in Eds locker. Im not sure what freakish logic possessed them to go out of the park instead of waiting at the lockers but I told Michael that Ed and Larry were at the lockers and to go meet up with them there. I then called Larry back and told him that John and Michael were on their way and to not move from the lockers. They actually had John in their sights when I hung up the phone so I felt fairly confident that they would meet up and all get their shirts on.
It actually took them about an hour to get back to the hotel on the bus and they arrived about 5:00. We decided to let everyone rest for an hour and then wed go to Epcot for the evening. John and Michael took advantage of the hour by going to the food court and having some more Chicken Penne Alfredo. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.
We drove to Epcot and parked right up front in, like, the fifth row. We got out of the car and John realized that he had forgotten his room key/park ticket back at the hotel. Larry, Ed, and Michael went on ahead and I drove John back to get his ticket. When we got back to the hotel we realized that, if John didnt have his park ticket, he also didnt have his room key. Fail.
Luckily, we hadnt shut the connecting door between our rooms so John used my room key to get into our room and then went through the adjoining door into his. When we got back to Epcot, we were still able to get a great parking spot just a few rows from the front. I called Larry; he and Ed were in the UK eating fish and chips. Shocker. I called Michael; he was in Japan. Double shocker. I told them all to meet us at The Land when they were finished.
Once everyone was back together, we checked the stand by time for Soarin. It was 80 minutes so I suggested that the guys go over to The Living Seas for a while and I would get me some dinner at Sunshine Seasons here in The Land.
I got the Spicy Cashew Chicken with Lo Mein noodles and a crème brulee for dessert. I had only just sat down when Larry showed up. He said he had come back to keep me company but I suspect it was to have the crème brulee that he went and ordered. A few minutes later, Michael showed up. He said that he had ridden the Clambulators and had looked at the Manatees and that was enough for him. He also decided that he was in dire need of a crème brulee, so he went and got one as well.
After we finished eating, we I decided that I could probably ride Living with the Land if I asked for the front row. That way, I wouldnt have to bend my knee at a sharp angle like I would if we sat in any of the other rows that had a row in front of them and, thus, a limited amount of space. Its amazing how many things you cant ride when you cant bend your knee more than a few degrees.
Anyway, sitting in the front row worked just fine and we enjoyed the night-time ride. I dont think Ive ever ridden Living with the Land in the dark before. While we were on the ride, John called Michael and told him they were finished at The Living Seas. We told John and Ed that wed meet them at the exit of our ride.
Soarin was down to a 50 minute wait but that was still longer than we wanted to stand in the queue so I sent the guys over to Mission: Space. I told them to come back over to Soarin when they were finished and Id wait there for them.
I found a place to sit at the entrance to Soarin (the stand by time was now down to 30 minutes) and I sat and people-watched. I find people-watching at Disney to be a great pastime.
The guys showed back up at 9:10 and we were able to walk right on to Soarin. Yippee. Once we finished we decided that wed have another go except for Michael who sat this one out. This time we got the first row.
It was 10:00 when we finished up and everything was closed. As we made our way out of the park we noticed that theyve really oomphed up the fiber optic sidewalks. My mom called just as we were leaving and said that she had decided to show her sympathy for my hurt knee by getting bumped by the neighbors Doberman as she was getting out of her car, causing her knee to buckle and her to fall on the driveway thereby hurting both of her knees, twisting an ankle, and bruising a fair portion of her body. Poor thing! My older sister and her husband were there, along with my dad, so they were able to help get her upright and settled in her favorite chair. She didnt know how she was going to sleep however, because her bedroom is upstairs and she didnt think her hurt legs would be able to take on the stairs. She wound up sleeping in the chair all night but was able to get up the stairs the next day with the help of my sister and brother-in-law. Luckily, shes okay now.
We drove back to the hotel and decided that, for our last full day tomorrow, wed go back to Hollywood Studios where John wanted to have another shot at American Idol. Im pretty sure that the boys went swimming again but Larry and I were in bed by midnight.
