Since today was my 39th birthday, I slept in. We’d been in this time zone for 9 days and still my internal clock was a few hours behind. So waking up to catch the rope drop in any given park on any given day would have been very hard for me no matter how much caffeine was on board.
Donning my tiara, I was secretly pissy there wasn’t a crapload of birthday presents for me to open first thing in morning of the day of DH’s baby-mama’s birth. I stewed only a little knowing after 10 years of wedded bliss that there were only TWO possibilities to the no-presents dilemma. First, DH was thinking that a trip to Walt Disney World for ten fun-filled days would be gift-enough. OR, DH wants me to think he’s a complete cad and “forgot” to buy me a gift all day long only to spring a shower of gifts on me later. It was the second scenario. How he managed to keep his blabber-mouthed kids from blowing his big surprise, I’ll never know.
NOTE TO ALL DH’s: DW’s HATE to feel like you forgot them on their birthdays. Making them think you are a jerk allllll day long only to spring a gift on them right before bed is not funny. Just sayin’.
In this particular case, I suspected the end-of-my-birthday gift scenario only because 1.) It happens every year (yet it’s STILL not funny) and 2.) I caught my DH whispering to my DS’s throughout the week while we were shopping, especially at the Disney Art place (The World of Disney) at DownTown Disney. And as is the case with every year this unfortunate choice is made, I act like I’ve got a Piss & Vinegar chip (by Lay’s) on my shoulder. That which doesn’t kill our marriage makes us stronger.
It’s all good!
The birthday princess gets to choose the park in which to visit on her royal birthday. MGM sounded good. I’m glad I chose Disney's MGM Studios this day because I was hoping Riley (DS6) would ride “Rockin” as we call it. We got the kid to ride Expedition Everest the day before, so just maybe Mr. Chicken Pants would ride “Rockin”. Keep your fingers crossed, gentle readers!
Here's our first Photo Pass Family Fun picture of the day:
Not only did he ride it, he rode it 3 times! WOOOO HOOOO Riley! He loved it! To commemorate the grand occasion, we bought the picture. He looked absolutely thrilled to be riding another big-boy ride!
(oops, insert blissful 6 year old's Rockin' picture here...DH, my technical team, already went to work, sorry for any discomfort this may have caused you)
I rode it once and was very happy with the song rotation: “Dude Looks Like a Lady!” but I wanted to hear the Disnified-version of “Love in an Elevator” again. Aerosmith ROCKS! We took a PhotoPass picture in front of “Rockin”. Note Jordan has to stand in front of the “by Aerosmith” part because the PhotoPass dude said there’s some legal reason, that part of the sign cant be professionally photographed. Fascinating Facts! See, this hasn't been 116 wasted pages!
Since our stomachs were still empty, we headed to Twilight Zone. Neat trick, hold a quarter or heavy pin in the palm of your hand and as you drop, the quarter or pin will hover up out of your hand about 12 inches since you’re dropping faster than gravity. Very nifty science lesson for your out-of-school kids!
At 11:00, we ate brunch at the Backlot Express that didn’t look open. I wrote in my notes to recommend the marinated grilled vegetable sandwich. It had a pesto-y sauce and the bread was panini style. It was very tasty and filling. There really wasn’t but a couple other families at the Backlot Express so we really enjoyed our peaceful meal.
My DH
DOUBLE DOG DARED me to post the following. Hey you get to hear my voice! But, I had a deep cough and so my voice is a little hoarse. Enjoy! Sorry it's grainy and pixelated. Eh!
Hokay then! That is my normal, everyday walk.
Next, on the sensible plan of attack for Disney’s MGM Studios was to ride The Great Movie Ride. . The waiting area is a huge velvet roped-off labyrinth of a queue where you get to watch movie snippetts of by-gone times. The music is loud and designed to pump you up for the journey into the movies. The narration is full of movie trailer sounding words like: “Mary Poppins, starring the incomperable Julie Andrews and America’s funny man, Dick Van ****.” (edited to add, "Cool, I got censored!") As we boarded our vehicle, Joey, our guide, warned us to not use flash or external video lighting. We filmed the whole ride with neither and find something new everytime we watch our home movies.
Joey used old Hollywood movie lingo like; “And we’re rolling” as we started the ride. It starts with old-school Broadway musicals with plus-sized (by today’s standards) bathing beauties of the 1930’s. Then in 1952 “Singing In the Rain,” starring Gene Kelly is portrayed. Did you know Gene Had a fever of 103* while singing in the rain? Joey said.
Followed by James Cagney’s “The Public Enemy.” Where famous quotes of “You dirty, double crossing…” and “You looking at ME?” were acted out. That’s were Mugsey the gangster takes over our vehicle, shoots out the red traffic light and demands our valuables. He’s from New York and tells us to mind our P’s and Q’s with his very thick DISUNC accent. (Shout out to the MIA DisUnc!)
The ride proceeds with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood in a 1960’s(?) Western scene. The next part scares ME a little. Not my 2 year old. The Alien with Sigourney Weaver scene is kinda creepy. We got our Joey-guide back at the Indiana Jones scene who then proclaimed “On with the show!”
After the Movie Ride we stopped to see the much DIS-hated “Narnia” exibit. Folks, I can not stress to you this enough, if you aren’t a fan of the book or movie, please don’t complain! “The Lion, the witch, and the Wardrobe” exibit is for people who actually not only SAW the movie and read the book, but also LIKED them. It is nothing more than a live movie trailer! It is spectacular! It is an airconditioned , if that is the only positive thing you can gleen from the experience. I do belive I am the first TR reader to exclaim this to be a great experience. The White Witch is fabulous! Here, I’ll prove it! (I have been immitating her sine we saw the movie) ‘Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve…” and “If it’s a war Aslam wants, then it’s a war he shall get!” She is evil in it’s purest form!
Recovering from the beauty and grandeur that is Narnia, we went to go watch a Play House Disney concert with Ralph’s World. We had loved "Johnny and the Sprites" the time before, after all! The "Ralph’s World" concert was pitifully under-audienced. Barely the front row was occupied. My DS’s took this as a great opportunity to nap, and my DS17 texted his GF in Utah.Me and Norah danced and DH filmed it. It was bruital. I felt bad for this band! They really were pretty good, just not enough audience energy to keep on grooving. Poor Ralph.
We did the Backlot Tour which is kinda fun to see behind the scenes of the "Lights, Motor, Action" show and the movie props and wardrobe department. Pretty much exactly the same as the last dozen or so times we’ve toured.
We were pin trading under the “big hat” when the parade started. At first there were no crowds so we sat under the big hat in the shade to enjoy the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade. I was excited since I’d never seen this from the beginning. Soon, the crowds lined the streets and in front of us. Here is our now crappy perspective when my very favorite character drove by: (sorry so short! It was suposed to be longer. No matter!)
and here is a precious moment that was NOT a double dog dare...but cute:
I did have a very weird experience durring the parade. A DIS boards member recognized me and ran towards me squealing like we were best friends in High School. I don’t remember her name but she exclaimed she knew me from my “Pre-PRE Trip Report” . A FAN! I had a real live fan! Whew! I really thought there was a movie star like Flava-Flave standing right behind me the way she was doting on me. Not that I minded! She was really nice and I was glad to know my Alien Green Mickey Mouse Head Paint Chip (LGMHPC) stolen from Home Depot really did pay off. I forgot her name but she had a Lime Green Messenger Bag . Shout out to my "fan"!
After the parade, we “hopped” on the resort bus with Pop Century as the destination. We were doing our homework for next time’s trip. This place is massive! DIS members were said to decorate their windows. We only saw a few decorated windows and even fewer Lime Mickey Head decorations. I left my paint chips with my name on them all over the resort. I thought maybe another DIS fan would contact me later with the found paint chip. No, I guess I just littered the whole resort with my lime. The food court is impressive as is the gift shops. I would definitely stay here! The pools and the theming is like a trip down memory lane. Rockem’ Sockem’ Robots! Rubik’s Cube! I haven’t thought of these favorites in years! I had my mother convinced I was a genius with the Rubik’s Cube. I found I could take it apart and put it back together again with the sides all one color. It was several years before I fessed up to that!
Next, we boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom to take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge to leave a special Utah Mama treat at the front desk for a new DIS friend “AshClan” who would be arriving in a couple weeks (shout out for Dorkapalooza). The Candy Apple flavored taffy in a cello bag with a paint chip attatched would no-doubt be stale and as hard as a rock by the time she tasted them, but I figured it was the thought that counted. Hopefully.
Afternoon was upon us and we needed to get to Downtown Disney for our much anticipated dinner reservations at Wolfgang Pucks. Remember, this was supposed to be the big birthday meal at the Coral Reef but this ADR was changed at the last minute due to too many bad dining reports I had read. Well, now I’ve been reading a lot of good reports regarding Coral Reef, so I’ll have to try it out for myself next time and not cave to DISpeer pressure!
We bussed to the west side of Down Town Disney and were very early for dinner so explored the fun shops that dot the west side. There was this magnet store I spent some time in. I’ll have to budget some money for super cool refrigerator magnets next time. We were a good hour early for dinner but decided to check in anyway. Then if necessary, we could continue to wander around the shops. By golly they could seat us soon and "wouldn't we take a seat over there and we’ll call you shortly!”
Irvin was our server and he assisted me with my selections because there was so many great looking choices! I had the vegetable roll as an appetizer. The sushi (California Roll) as my entrée and the chocolate fondue for dessert. Jordan had the spinach and mozzerella dip served with a tasty flatbread for his appetizer and LOVED it which was a huge milestone for him because he is not a spinach fan. I believe now he is!
Wolfgang Pucks is tucked far into DownTown Disney and it is one of the better meals of our trip. In fact, I think the food was equally as good as our BOMA experience. I hope you’ll give it a try next time! Tell Irvin “Hi” for me.
After a teeny taste of the chocolate fondue, we were beyond stuffed. We paid with our dining card , and took off to the Mack-Daddy of all Pin Trading Stations located at Downtown Disney to make our final pin purchases and hopefully score some good trades. I talked DH into the big black pin trading book for my “birthday present” (score!) for all our pins. He fell for it, I mean, he bought the book for me along with a few more pins I had hoped to trade for. YAY! I love the hunt of pin trading. I love the rush when you find a cast member edition or a limited edition or one you would purchase if you couldn’t find it while in the parks. But we always have to buy a few that didn’t get traded for. There used to be lots of Miss Piggy pins. Now there’s just a couple. I guess it’s e-bay time?
Having not had a nap, Norah was going to treat us to yet another tantrummy bus ride back to POR. The bus was near empty and the bus driver kept messing with Norah my flashing the lights on and off to shut her up. It worked! He’d even get onhis microphone and talk to her saying stuff like, “Hey little girl! What’s the matter?” He was very nice and managed to make our doomed bus trip quite fun.
Back at our resort room, guess what was there??? Here is a list of the birthday spread I received: 2 Precious Moments statues, one the Cinderella one and one Mouseketeer one. A Tinkerbell nightshirt, 3 more pins, a cello wrapped “cake” of Disney snack foods with a Tinkerbell balloon floating above (FUN for the flight home tomorrow!) and a Miss Piggy sketch I had seen in that cool Disney Art shop.
See? I wasn't a BIT sappy or teary or weepy! I'll save the sentemental crap for next time!
You write a very entertaining trip report. I haven't been to WDW since April 2005
and I'm reeeeally wanting to go again, so thought I'd try reading up on some reports to see what's new in the world of DIS. And yours caught my eye and peaked my interest! Who knows, maybe I can find a way to go back this year. I'm working on my DH!! 
jen
waiting for your exciting finish! As for me, I'm going crazy waiting for prices and availability for a West Coast cruise
Need something else to read! Help!
I have 2 small children so it has taken me awhile to read the whole thing...definitely worth it!! Our family is heading back to Disney in April...your TR is getting me so excited! You are hilarious!!
There is one more halfa day, right???
