ohiominnie
<font color=teal>It's interesting when you google
- Joined
- May 31, 2000
- Messages
- 14,836
I posted this on our cruise meet board for our "friends" we'll be cruising with, and thought maybe some of you may find this interesting. Some won't possibly make sense, but I'm just too plum tired to edit it. 
Here's the cast:
Me-ohiominnie
DH-ohiomickey
dd-KT-age 10
ds-Nick-age 7 1/2
and for the weekend portion
MIL and her dh
Here's some interesting things and comments about my trip to WDW:
Plane landed Friday the 15th and FL town cars was there waiting for us. No lost luggage. Only one bag inspected--interestingly enough it was the bag with the kids costumes for MNSSHP. The bag with the flu shot vaccine and syringes did NOT get inspected!!! (for Mike's mom who works in a day care and FL flu shot clinics were all being cancelled) FL town car guy tells us hurricane horror stories. His property suffered about $12,000 in damages.
Bopped over to MGM, got our annual passes processed. This was the beginning of the interrogation at every park entrance. See, dd is 10 and only about 49 inches tall and 45 pounds. BUT, even though she is petite, she's 10. Disney considers her an adult. So she now has an adult annual pass. She is required to use the finger barometric reader. Her fingers are tiny and it's hard for her to reach, but she tries. Every time, a CM says "come through, sweetie, only adults need to do that!" To which we have to reply "she's 10, Disney considers her an adult."
The non-scaredy cats in the family ride the big rides and then over to Sci-Fi diner for dinner. Dh and I split the salmon, it's pretty good. Notice that the shop by Sci-Fi has gotten rid of their Mickey sugar cookies and gingerbread Mickey's. I try the replacements and they aren't nearly as good. A bit of shopping for sweatshirts (aren't we in FLORIDA?) and then to Fantasmic. So glad to be back at WDW again, even if it's cold!
Day two...to the MK first thing. They have a new opening. Instead of the countdown to park opening and then opening of the turnstiles, they actually let you through the turnstiles and then herd you into that area in front of the train station (before you go under the tracks) Now you're roped off there and hostage until actual park opening. There is a little show/music/character thing on the train station platform and then the pushing and shoving starts. Only to find out that there are more ropes up at Tomorrowland. Crowd control. We do some rides and then go to Cindy's for breakfast. Our server must be the slowest there, but the food is good. For the first time we actually get to sit by the windows.
After breakfast we get in touch with Sharon and Lisa (the scuba family) and meet up in Fantasyland. Then it's off to whatever the kids want to do --Splash, Big Thunder, Tom Sawyer's island, Space. I'm happy KT got to meet up with Lisa. She'll now be cruising with friends she'll already know. Mr. Scuba and Matt catch up with us at Space and we spend a little more time at the MK. Guess we were having fun, because the original plan was to go back to the room early afternoon, meet up with Mike's mom and then go back for Spectro and Wishes. But by the time we can separate from the Scuba's, it's close to 4! We go back to meet up with Mike's mom and her dh who have come down and then it's just too late for going back to the MK. Honestly, I have NO Idea what we did after this. Why don't I ever take notes during the trip??
Day 3, early entry at the MK. Same problem at the turnstiles "honey, only adults do the finger thing." Same herding procedures. Noticing that EE is VERY busy. Tourism is definitely picking up. Crowds of people are there....and it's only EE. The gates aren't even open to the public!!!
So we go around Fantasyland, so some of the big rides. Eat lunch at Columbia Harbor House. The counter service there was terrible. It's the first time it's been like that for us. Once you paid you just stood. No movement in line for a long time. And then everyone's orders were coming out wrong. Then there was the long process of figuring out what was missing. Once I got to the counter I didn't leave until I verified that my order was 100% correct. Actually it wasn't. They gave me extra fries. Fish was great tasting, but noticably smaller than in the past.
Back to the room for a quick nap before MNSSHP. We figure we have one hour to sleep. We all crash. I wake up early b/c Pal Mickey is malfunctioning. He's sitting on the table repeating himself "Say, Pal, what's the.....Say, Pal, what's the....Say, Pal, what's the...." ACK!!! So I turn him off. Doesn't help. He's stuck. Extremely tired and with only 15 more possible sleep minutes, I decide that if I can't stop him from saying "Say, Pal, what's the..." then I need to put him somewhere where I can't hear him......Hmmmm.....but where....Ah HA. The fridge. Pal Mickey takes up residence next to the flu shot vaccine and I close the door. 15 more minutes of heavenly sleep.
Trying to get Nick up from a nap is down right impossible. He is, none-the-less stuffed into his Disney Store Mickey costume. We meet up with Mike's mom and her dh and catch a boat to the MK, unfortunately taking the long cut via Fort Wilderness. Nick is now scaring us. He's still tired, and very hot in his costume (of course, we know he'll be the only warm one once the sun goes down) He's acting just like he acts right before he has a puking incident. We've got him in the back (open) section of the boat, on the shade side, hoping for a breeze, 1/2 stripped out of his costume--yet still decent. Took awhile for him to come around, but once he fully woke up and cooled off, he was fine. No puke. Party as planned! Casey's for dinner and then party time.
Who knew trick or treating was so much fun??? We have more candy than we know what to do with. Actually, we'll end up handing out some on beggar's night here. We probably have 25 pounds of candy between the 4 of us. If I don't had it out, the Easter bunny will have to use some to stuff baskets!! We saw Capt. Jack Sparrow. No kidding. Some guy was dressed as a pirate and looked just like him. I saw him, and had to describe to Mike what he looked like (getting ideas for pirate night) Then later, by BTMRR we saw him again. We asked if we could get his picture with the kids (mainly a chance to study his outfit) He was inclined to acquiesce to our request --Snap!
Btw, Nick was Mickey....KT was Minnie. It was incredibly cute. And the CM's were so funny about it. During the security check on the way into the MK, the guards were asking Mickey for a raise. At treat stations they'd give him more candy as a "bribe" for a raise. They really treated him like Mickey!
The parade was incredibly cool. The headless horseman came barrelling through frontier land. A 2000 pound Percheron with a guy on it's back who has limited vision. No wonder CM's practically lined the ropes! Also, a very cute thing--the 101 dalmation car had REAL dalmations in the back!! They were barking and jumping around!! Made me miss Maggie for about 2.5 seconds. The feeling passed quickly.
Left the MK at midnight and back to VWL to drop into bed.
Day 4. Sleep in. Breakfast at Whispering Canyon at 10. We had a great server who really gave my MIL a hard time. The plan was to spend the day at Epcot, but instead we hung out with Mike's mom and her dh. First thing, I got to give flu shots to my MIL and her dh. MIL figured I'd miss, twist or somehow inflict more pain than necessary, but it was quick and painless---for me anyway! We went golfing at Winter-Summerland (I won) then MIL and her dh went to Downtown Disney and we went over to Epcot. I had NO idea what the F&W festival was, but I found out rather quickly!!! After stoping for stroganoff, salmon, pierogies, creme brulee, wine, etc etc, I was well aware of what the F&W festival was!!!
Bugged out before Illuminations and headed home, stuffed and happy!!
Forgot something, on Saturday night, after leaving the Scuba family and going back to meet up with the MIL, we went to Downtown Disney. Ate at Earl of Sandwich (very good) and then went shopping!! Went to Once Upon a Toy---they have a new game... It's the game of LIFE, Pirates of the Carribean edition. We decided we must have it, but didn't want to get it right then and have to haul it around. Found out it had JUST come out THAT day and that from 10A-7PM, the creators were there signing the game. Unfortunately, it was now 7:30. Well, unbeknownst to us, MIL was buying it FOR us to thank us for treating to MNSSHP! It's SOOOOOOO cool! We played it last night and spent a good 15 minutes looking at the board. It looks like a map, but there are many identifiable things on there such as: Whispering Canyon, Castaway Cay, Barbosa Bay, Typhoon Lagoon, and so on.
So, that's why we were up late Saturday, up early Sunday (ee) and then needed a nap before MNSSHP. I knew there was a reason we were so sleepy!
Btw, the bus ride to Downtown Disney was the BEST ride we'd ever had there. Our bus driver was a hoot!!! He had everyone on the bus saying WHEEEEEEEE whenever we turned a corner, WHOOOOOOAAAAA whenever we stopped, and OH-AH every time we went over a speed bump. In between he'd ask triva questions or get the bus singing a song. He referred to the Grand Floridian as "the red roof inn" !!! He was a blast and we were sad to have to leave his bus!!!
Day 5, EE at MGM. What a waste for me. Rockin' roller coaster, Tower of Terror. I shopped while the non-scaredy cats rode those rides. Found some cute baby gifts for my niece. Then had to tell the children that she's pregnant. KT says "wow, I don't remember her getting married." Like WDW is where I want to explain the birds and the bees!
Lunch at Primetime diner. Good food, fun times. I felt sorry for the girl at the table next to us getting lectured by her mother. Seriously, for 15 minutes this mom is going ON and ON about how this girl is not going to have any fun in life if she doesn't try some things like Rockin' Roller coaster or Tower of Terror, and doesn't she remember that she didn't want to ride Space Mountain, but they made her do it and it was fun, and she had to face her fears or she wouldn't have any fun in life and that she gets herself all worked up for nothing and can't she control herself better than that and she's just being a sissy and copping out and is she doing this just to get attention and why isn't she eating her sundae, has she lost her appetite??? I felt like leaning over and saying "it's alright, I don't ride Rockin' Roller coaster or Tower of Terror and there are STILL plenty of things to do to have fun." But I stayed out of it. Poor thing, the mom just went ON and ON and ON!!
Ended up at Downtown Disney again. Kids wanted to play in the fountain and we ate at Rainforest Cafe. We always eat there expecting GREAT things and it's just so-so. Irritating that the waitress kept referring to us as "family." "Family, I'll be right back with your food." "Family, do you need a refill?" "Family, thanks for coming." I think she got confused at one point b/c she called the ppl at the table next to us "Family" too!
Day 6, Animal Kingdom EE. Rush to the safari. It's closed. There is an "animal safety issue and you should get a fastpass." Get those, do the Jungle Trek and the Bird show. Then do the Safari. That is such a fun "ride." We all can't stop saying "Nahtazu" after watching the top 7 things to do at WDW and they explain that Animal Kingdom is "Nahtazu"...."Not a Zoo." Get it? Then the big kids to Dinosaur. I shop. Well not too much shopping. Mostly pin trading. See, we've found a few pins we liked and traded for them. Then we find out they are cast lanyard pins. So now the goal is to finish the sets. We need one more Minnie sunbathing. One more dalmation. A scuba diving goofy. And a Tigger playing baseball. We still need (from a prior trip) a Goofy in a tux.
Back to the lodge. To the pool to cool off. I call the kennel. Maggie is fine. Eating well, having fun, doing well.
Off to Hoop dee Doo. Pony rides before hand. And the sudden freak rain shower as I'm walking the ponies around. So now we're wet!! As always HDD was a very fun show. They picked us for their song "oh they come from all over when they come...."
"Oh they come from Ohio when they come...oh they come from Ohio, cross my heart and hope to die-OH"
Then a 45 minute wagon ride around the campground. The driver was telling us about the hurricanes, about preparations that were made, and about the after effects. The campground alone lost about 300 trees. I believe it. You can tell everywhere that things are thin. You can completely see the Contemporary from the WL boat dock. You can see a parking garage by MGM that was never visible before. You can see backstage buildings at Epcot. The trees are there to hide things, but now they aren't so hidden. The most damage looks like it was between the road going to the MK and Epcot. Could see it from the Epcot monorail. Big areas of trees uprooted, broken, down. Looked terrible. Heard a tornado went through there. Luckily the trees were the only visible signs of damage we noticed.
Day 7. MK ee again. It's packed. Cannot believe the number of ppl there. Lines get long, fast. We snag 4 Space fast passes. Ride some other things then tell the kids. This is it for the MK. If dad rides Space, you can ride once. If you go alone, you can ride twice, back to back. We go in the line with them, but only give up two fast passes and we take the chicken exit (I'm good at taking that one!) Then meet up with the kids. Next time, we can't even get in the fast pass lane b/c we only have TWO fast passes. So we send the kids in alone. They've done this a million times with us, they'll be ok, right? We wait in the gift shop. It seems like eternity, then they show up. There was a problem. When the CM asked the kids "how many" KT said "2." CM: "that's it?" KT: "yes." CM: "where are your parents?" KT: "in the gift shop." CM: "I can't let you ride without your parents." KT: "I am 10 yrs old. Disney considers me an adult. Disney makes me spend extra money on an adult annual pass. My brother is 7. The sign says children under the age of 6 must be accompainied by an adult. He isn't under 6, and he's accompainied by ME, a Disney adult." CM: "spots 1 and 2 please." HA!
Finally it's just too busy at the MK, so we decide to hop over to Epcot. But not before KT sneaks into a gift shop and spends 1/4 of her alloted Disney dollars on a tee-shirt for me! Awwwww. The only problem, it's thin. I can't believe it's Disney's shirt. It was $26 and it's very thin. Not the same quality I expect from Disney. Btw, Nick also bought me a pumpkin Mickey antenna topper!
Off to Epcot. Get on the monorail and sit. and sit. and sit. Finally an announcement is made. The monorails are down. I've never heard that one before. Please exit and take the ferry. So we take the ferry and hop on the Epcot monorail in the front seat!
Frantic searching for the pins to complete our sets. We found the last Minnie, but we still need scuba goofy, Woof the dalmation, tigger baseball and tux goofy. Go from CM to CM to try to find them.
Dinner at Le Celier. EXCELLENT. KT actually orders salmon off the adult menu. Too big of a piece for a kid, but no salmon is on on the kid's menu. We head toward the UK. Kids love the hedge maze. They play in that while Mike and I eat creme brulee (thank you DCL for that addiction!) Someone approaches me about my shirt (DIS) He doesn't post, but the ppl they are travelling with are very active. No idea who they are. More pin searching. Then, as KT orders a beaver tail in Canada, there is another one of those freak FL storms. It's pouring. We are huddled under a small umbrella by the Canada gift cart. KT is eating her beaver tail and then yells out "THERE IS SOMETHING HARD IN MY BEAVER TAIL. IT'S MY TOOTH!!!!!!" Everyone cracks up. FINALLY that molar that has bugged her ALL week came out....on our last night. Well, another tooth for Tinkerbell to collect.
Finally we head out of Epcot. To the WL gift shop and WHAT IS THAT??? A CM at the register has the Goofy scuba diver. I step out of line and grab a pin to buy. AH HA! And what's this? A couple behind us has Woof the Dalmation that they don't like. So I'm trying to trade with a CM and ask the couple what they want in return. I explain that my son, 7, has been looking for DAYS for Woof. They decide they want to GIVE me the pin for him. No trade. They won't accept any pin. They are happy to make my son's day! AWWWWWWWW. Oh, yeah, get the goofy pin. Thank the couple profusely. Notice they are wearing Red Sox clothes. In exchange for the pin we tell them we'll root for the Red Sox in the series! So....GO SOX!!!! So, of the 5 sets we were trying to complete, we finished off 3 of them. It's the first time the kids didn't groan every time we spotted a lanyard. They were actually going from CM to CM hunting things down.
Speaking of the SOX. When they were still in the ALCS, there were lots of SOX and Yankee garb on ppl everywhere. After the SOX won the ALCS, I saw only SOX clothing. It's like the NYY's didn't exist anymore (or no one wanted to be associated with them)
Day 8. WAAAAAA, I don't want to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our FL town car ride will be there at 10:30. Not enough time to do anything, but too much time not to do something. AH, pin cart! And breakfast. And pack. And the kids take a nice long bubble bath in the whirlpool tub. It's 10:15. Better get downstairs. Our ride is prompt. To the airport without incident. The CM's at the airport Disney stores have lanyards. Who knew?? Found a cool pirate Mickey. Flight was a little late getting out and we had to wait for every other plane in the world to land. But finally we were off. A nice flight. Home again. Found out it was the FIRST sunny day Columbus had since we had left. Had we brought a piece of FL with us?
Saturday morning, bright and early....get my Disney fix by calling to schedule the DCL member cruise.
Dissapointed to find out the Wal*mart employees don't wear lanyards.
Picked up the beast today, so I guess it's really back to reality.
Good news:
Net weight gain 2 pounds! Not bad considering how I ate.
Any questions?
Here's the cast:
Me-ohiominnie
DH-ohiomickey
dd-KT-age 10
ds-Nick-age 7 1/2
and for the weekend portion
MIL and her dh
Here's some interesting things and comments about my trip to WDW:
Plane landed Friday the 15th and FL town cars was there waiting for us. No lost luggage. Only one bag inspected--interestingly enough it was the bag with the kids costumes for MNSSHP. The bag with the flu shot vaccine and syringes did NOT get inspected!!! (for Mike's mom who works in a day care and FL flu shot clinics were all being cancelled) FL town car guy tells us hurricane horror stories. His property suffered about $12,000 in damages.
Bopped over to MGM, got our annual passes processed. This was the beginning of the interrogation at every park entrance. See, dd is 10 and only about 49 inches tall and 45 pounds. BUT, even though she is petite, she's 10. Disney considers her an adult. So she now has an adult annual pass. She is required to use the finger barometric reader. Her fingers are tiny and it's hard for her to reach, but she tries. Every time, a CM says "come through, sweetie, only adults need to do that!" To which we have to reply "she's 10, Disney considers her an adult."
The non-scaredy cats in the family ride the big rides and then over to Sci-Fi diner for dinner. Dh and I split the salmon, it's pretty good. Notice that the shop by Sci-Fi has gotten rid of their Mickey sugar cookies and gingerbread Mickey's. I try the replacements and they aren't nearly as good. A bit of shopping for sweatshirts (aren't we in FLORIDA?) and then to Fantasmic. So glad to be back at WDW again, even if it's cold!
Day two...to the MK first thing. They have a new opening. Instead of the countdown to park opening and then opening of the turnstiles, they actually let you through the turnstiles and then herd you into that area in front of the train station (before you go under the tracks) Now you're roped off there and hostage until actual park opening. There is a little show/music/character thing on the train station platform and then the pushing and shoving starts. Only to find out that there are more ropes up at Tomorrowland. Crowd control. We do some rides and then go to Cindy's for breakfast. Our server must be the slowest there, but the food is good. For the first time we actually get to sit by the windows.
After breakfast we get in touch with Sharon and Lisa (the scuba family) and meet up in Fantasyland. Then it's off to whatever the kids want to do --Splash, Big Thunder, Tom Sawyer's island, Space. I'm happy KT got to meet up with Lisa. She'll now be cruising with friends she'll already know. Mr. Scuba and Matt catch up with us at Space and we spend a little more time at the MK. Guess we were having fun, because the original plan was to go back to the room early afternoon, meet up with Mike's mom and then go back for Spectro and Wishes. But by the time we can separate from the Scuba's, it's close to 4! We go back to meet up with Mike's mom and her dh who have come down and then it's just too late for going back to the MK. Honestly, I have NO Idea what we did after this. Why don't I ever take notes during the trip??
Day 3, early entry at the MK. Same problem at the turnstiles "honey, only adults do the finger thing." Same herding procedures. Noticing that EE is VERY busy. Tourism is definitely picking up. Crowds of people are there....and it's only EE. The gates aren't even open to the public!!!
So we go around Fantasyland, so some of the big rides. Eat lunch at Columbia Harbor House. The counter service there was terrible. It's the first time it's been like that for us. Once you paid you just stood. No movement in line for a long time. And then everyone's orders were coming out wrong. Then there was the long process of figuring out what was missing. Once I got to the counter I didn't leave until I verified that my order was 100% correct. Actually it wasn't. They gave me extra fries. Fish was great tasting, but noticably smaller than in the past.
Back to the room for a quick nap before MNSSHP. We figure we have one hour to sleep. We all crash. I wake up early b/c Pal Mickey is malfunctioning. He's sitting on the table repeating himself "Say, Pal, what's the.....Say, Pal, what's the....Say, Pal, what's the...." ACK!!! So I turn him off. Doesn't help. He's stuck. Extremely tired and with only 15 more possible sleep minutes, I decide that if I can't stop him from saying "Say, Pal, what's the..." then I need to put him somewhere where I can't hear him......Hmmmm.....but where....Ah HA. The fridge. Pal Mickey takes up residence next to the flu shot vaccine and I close the door. 15 more minutes of heavenly sleep.
Trying to get Nick up from a nap is down right impossible. He is, none-the-less stuffed into his Disney Store Mickey costume. We meet up with Mike's mom and her dh and catch a boat to the MK, unfortunately taking the long cut via Fort Wilderness. Nick is now scaring us. He's still tired, and very hot in his costume (of course, we know he'll be the only warm one once the sun goes down) He's acting just like he acts right before he has a puking incident. We've got him in the back (open) section of the boat, on the shade side, hoping for a breeze, 1/2 stripped out of his costume--yet still decent. Took awhile for him to come around, but once he fully woke up and cooled off, he was fine. No puke. Party as planned! Casey's for dinner and then party time.
Who knew trick or treating was so much fun??? We have more candy than we know what to do with. Actually, we'll end up handing out some on beggar's night here. We probably have 25 pounds of candy between the 4 of us. If I don't had it out, the Easter bunny will have to use some to stuff baskets!! We saw Capt. Jack Sparrow. No kidding. Some guy was dressed as a pirate and looked just like him. I saw him, and had to describe to Mike what he looked like (getting ideas for pirate night) Then later, by BTMRR we saw him again. We asked if we could get his picture with the kids (mainly a chance to study his outfit) He was inclined to acquiesce to our request --Snap!
Btw, Nick was Mickey....KT was Minnie. It was incredibly cute. And the CM's were so funny about it. During the security check on the way into the MK, the guards were asking Mickey for a raise. At treat stations they'd give him more candy as a "bribe" for a raise. They really treated him like Mickey!
The parade was incredibly cool. The headless horseman came barrelling through frontier land. A 2000 pound Percheron with a guy on it's back who has limited vision. No wonder CM's practically lined the ropes! Also, a very cute thing--the 101 dalmation car had REAL dalmations in the back!! They were barking and jumping around!! Made me miss Maggie for about 2.5 seconds. The feeling passed quickly.
Left the MK at midnight and back to VWL to drop into bed.
Day 4. Sleep in. Breakfast at Whispering Canyon at 10. We had a great server who really gave my MIL a hard time. The plan was to spend the day at Epcot, but instead we hung out with Mike's mom and her dh. First thing, I got to give flu shots to my MIL and her dh. MIL figured I'd miss, twist or somehow inflict more pain than necessary, but it was quick and painless---for me anyway! We went golfing at Winter-Summerland (I won) then MIL and her dh went to Downtown Disney and we went over to Epcot. I had NO idea what the F&W festival was, but I found out rather quickly!!! After stoping for stroganoff, salmon, pierogies, creme brulee, wine, etc etc, I was well aware of what the F&W festival was!!!
Bugged out before Illuminations and headed home, stuffed and happy!!
Forgot something, on Saturday night, after leaving the Scuba family and going back to meet up with the MIL, we went to Downtown Disney. Ate at Earl of Sandwich (very good) and then went shopping!! Went to Once Upon a Toy---they have a new game... It's the game of LIFE, Pirates of the Carribean edition. We decided we must have it, but didn't want to get it right then and have to haul it around. Found out it had JUST come out THAT day and that from 10A-7PM, the creators were there signing the game. Unfortunately, it was now 7:30. Well, unbeknownst to us, MIL was buying it FOR us to thank us for treating to MNSSHP! It's SOOOOOOO cool! We played it last night and spent a good 15 minutes looking at the board. It looks like a map, but there are many identifiable things on there such as: Whispering Canyon, Castaway Cay, Barbosa Bay, Typhoon Lagoon, and so on.
So, that's why we were up late Saturday, up early Sunday (ee) and then needed a nap before MNSSHP. I knew there was a reason we were so sleepy!
Btw, the bus ride to Downtown Disney was the BEST ride we'd ever had there. Our bus driver was a hoot!!! He had everyone on the bus saying WHEEEEEEEE whenever we turned a corner, WHOOOOOOAAAAA whenever we stopped, and OH-AH every time we went over a speed bump. In between he'd ask triva questions or get the bus singing a song. He referred to the Grand Floridian as "the red roof inn" !!! He was a blast and we were sad to have to leave his bus!!!
Day 5, EE at MGM. What a waste for me. Rockin' roller coaster, Tower of Terror. I shopped while the non-scaredy cats rode those rides. Found some cute baby gifts for my niece. Then had to tell the children that she's pregnant. KT says "wow, I don't remember her getting married." Like WDW is where I want to explain the birds and the bees!
Lunch at Primetime diner. Good food, fun times. I felt sorry for the girl at the table next to us getting lectured by her mother. Seriously, for 15 minutes this mom is going ON and ON about how this girl is not going to have any fun in life if she doesn't try some things like Rockin' Roller coaster or Tower of Terror, and doesn't she remember that she didn't want to ride Space Mountain, but they made her do it and it was fun, and she had to face her fears or she wouldn't have any fun in life and that she gets herself all worked up for nothing and can't she control herself better than that and she's just being a sissy and copping out and is she doing this just to get attention and why isn't she eating her sundae, has she lost her appetite??? I felt like leaning over and saying "it's alright, I don't ride Rockin' Roller coaster or Tower of Terror and there are STILL plenty of things to do to have fun." But I stayed out of it. Poor thing, the mom just went ON and ON and ON!!
Ended up at Downtown Disney again. Kids wanted to play in the fountain and we ate at Rainforest Cafe. We always eat there expecting GREAT things and it's just so-so. Irritating that the waitress kept referring to us as "family." "Family, I'll be right back with your food." "Family, do you need a refill?" "Family, thanks for coming." I think she got confused at one point b/c she called the ppl at the table next to us "Family" too!
Day 6, Animal Kingdom EE. Rush to the safari. It's closed. There is an "animal safety issue and you should get a fastpass." Get those, do the Jungle Trek and the Bird show. Then do the Safari. That is such a fun "ride." We all can't stop saying "Nahtazu" after watching the top 7 things to do at WDW and they explain that Animal Kingdom is "Nahtazu"...."Not a Zoo." Get it? Then the big kids to Dinosaur. I shop. Well not too much shopping. Mostly pin trading. See, we've found a few pins we liked and traded for them. Then we find out they are cast lanyard pins. So now the goal is to finish the sets. We need one more Minnie sunbathing. One more dalmation. A scuba diving goofy. And a Tigger playing baseball. We still need (from a prior trip) a Goofy in a tux.
Back to the lodge. To the pool to cool off. I call the kennel. Maggie is fine. Eating well, having fun, doing well.
Off to Hoop dee Doo. Pony rides before hand. And the sudden freak rain shower as I'm walking the ponies around. So now we're wet!! As always HDD was a very fun show. They picked us for their song "oh they come from all over when they come...."
"Oh they come from Ohio when they come...oh they come from Ohio, cross my heart and hope to die-OH"
Then a 45 minute wagon ride around the campground. The driver was telling us about the hurricanes, about preparations that were made, and about the after effects. The campground alone lost about 300 trees. I believe it. You can tell everywhere that things are thin. You can completely see the Contemporary from the WL boat dock. You can see a parking garage by MGM that was never visible before. You can see backstage buildings at Epcot. The trees are there to hide things, but now they aren't so hidden. The most damage looks like it was between the road going to the MK and Epcot. Could see it from the Epcot monorail. Big areas of trees uprooted, broken, down. Looked terrible. Heard a tornado went through there. Luckily the trees were the only visible signs of damage we noticed.
Day 7. MK ee again. It's packed. Cannot believe the number of ppl there. Lines get long, fast. We snag 4 Space fast passes. Ride some other things then tell the kids. This is it for the MK. If dad rides Space, you can ride once. If you go alone, you can ride twice, back to back. We go in the line with them, but only give up two fast passes and we take the chicken exit (I'm good at taking that one!) Then meet up with the kids. Next time, we can't even get in the fast pass lane b/c we only have TWO fast passes. So we send the kids in alone. They've done this a million times with us, they'll be ok, right? We wait in the gift shop. It seems like eternity, then they show up. There was a problem. When the CM asked the kids "how many" KT said "2." CM: "that's it?" KT: "yes." CM: "where are your parents?" KT: "in the gift shop." CM: "I can't let you ride without your parents." KT: "I am 10 yrs old. Disney considers me an adult. Disney makes me spend extra money on an adult annual pass. My brother is 7. The sign says children under the age of 6 must be accompainied by an adult. He isn't under 6, and he's accompainied by ME, a Disney adult." CM: "spots 1 and 2 please." HA!
Finally it's just too busy at the MK, so we decide to hop over to Epcot. But not before KT sneaks into a gift shop and spends 1/4 of her alloted Disney dollars on a tee-shirt for me! Awwwww. The only problem, it's thin. I can't believe it's Disney's shirt. It was $26 and it's very thin. Not the same quality I expect from Disney. Btw, Nick also bought me a pumpkin Mickey antenna topper!
Off to Epcot. Get on the monorail and sit. and sit. and sit. Finally an announcement is made. The monorails are down. I've never heard that one before. Please exit and take the ferry. So we take the ferry and hop on the Epcot monorail in the front seat!
Frantic searching for the pins to complete our sets. We found the last Minnie, but we still need scuba goofy, Woof the dalmation, tigger baseball and tux goofy. Go from CM to CM to try to find them.
Dinner at Le Celier. EXCELLENT. KT actually orders salmon off the adult menu. Too big of a piece for a kid, but no salmon is on on the kid's menu. We head toward the UK. Kids love the hedge maze. They play in that while Mike and I eat creme brulee (thank you DCL for that addiction!) Someone approaches me about my shirt (DIS) He doesn't post, but the ppl they are travelling with are very active. No idea who they are. More pin searching. Then, as KT orders a beaver tail in Canada, there is another one of those freak FL storms. It's pouring. We are huddled under a small umbrella by the Canada gift cart. KT is eating her beaver tail and then yells out "THERE IS SOMETHING HARD IN MY BEAVER TAIL. IT'S MY TOOTH!!!!!!" Everyone cracks up. FINALLY that molar that has bugged her ALL week came out....on our last night. Well, another tooth for Tinkerbell to collect.
Finally we head out of Epcot. To the WL gift shop and WHAT IS THAT??? A CM at the register has the Goofy scuba diver. I step out of line and grab a pin to buy. AH HA! And what's this? A couple behind us has Woof the Dalmation that they don't like. So I'm trying to trade with a CM and ask the couple what they want in return. I explain that my son, 7, has been looking for DAYS for Woof. They decide they want to GIVE me the pin for him. No trade. They won't accept any pin. They are happy to make my son's day! AWWWWWWWW. Oh, yeah, get the goofy pin. Thank the couple profusely. Notice they are wearing Red Sox clothes. In exchange for the pin we tell them we'll root for the Red Sox in the series! So....GO SOX!!!! So, of the 5 sets we were trying to complete, we finished off 3 of them. It's the first time the kids didn't groan every time we spotted a lanyard. They were actually going from CM to CM hunting things down.
Speaking of the SOX. When they were still in the ALCS, there were lots of SOX and Yankee garb on ppl everywhere. After the SOX won the ALCS, I saw only SOX clothing. It's like the NYY's didn't exist anymore (or no one wanted to be associated with them)
Day 8. WAAAAAA, I don't want to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our FL town car ride will be there at 10:30. Not enough time to do anything, but too much time not to do something. AH, pin cart! And breakfast. And pack. And the kids take a nice long bubble bath in the whirlpool tub. It's 10:15. Better get downstairs. Our ride is prompt. To the airport without incident. The CM's at the airport Disney stores have lanyards. Who knew?? Found a cool pirate Mickey. Flight was a little late getting out and we had to wait for every other plane in the world to land. But finally we were off. A nice flight. Home again. Found out it was the FIRST sunny day Columbus had since we had left. Had we brought a piece of FL with us?
Saturday morning, bright and early....get my Disney fix by calling to schedule the DCL member cruise.
Dissapointed to find out the Wal*mart employees don't wear lanyards.
Picked up the beast today, so I guess it's really back to reality.
Good news:
Net weight gain 2 pounds! Not bad considering how I ate.
Any questions?
