After our day at Epcot, I wasn’t feelin’ so hot.
We make it back to POR in record time and I decide to lay down and take a nap. I never got sick that day, but I still couldn’t quite shake that nauseous feeling. It stayed with me all day long. I just chalked it up to a combination of all that rich cheese and the hot weather.
Blech…..
We had ADRs for Rose and Crown that night but I was feeling so bad we cancelled them and planned to just stay at the resort. We all went to sleep for a while and after we woke up, I felt a lot better.
We decide to get out of the room so I called and got a last minute ADR for Boatwright’s at POR for that night. We were looking forward to just being able to stay at the resort and relax a little for a change.
We head across the grounds over to the restaurant. On our way, we pass another horse drawn carriage. Nothing beats the sound of the horse's feet clip clopping over that wooden bridge. Very,very pretty. And relaxing.
Melons, did I mention how great this resort is and how much I think you're gonna love it?
As we cross the bridge, DH notices a huge wasp’s nest hanging on the railing. I swear he is the most observant man I know. The railing was brown. The nest was brown. It was underneath the railing, kind of out of sight. But DH zeroed in on it. Guess it comes along with the job. Anyway, DD sees it too once her dad points it out. She freaks out and starts crying again. DS runs like Forest Gump, shooing imaginary wasps from around his head.
I’m pleased to announce no one was stung this time.
Once we make it to the main building, DH disappears for a minute. He had gone to the front desk to let them know that DD was stung that morning and that there was a wasp’s nest on the bridge that they needed to take care of. We make a mental note to check later on in our stay to see if it actually
was taken care of. We come to the conclusion that if it is gone later on when we check, that Disney
truly is the bomb.
I say it will be. DH says it won’t be. So what’s your best guess?
Our meal at Boatwright’s was very good. The cornbread was particularly good. After dinner, we were all feeling pretty sassy so we decide to go ahead and shimmy on over to Epicot like we had previously planned.
We want to see Illuminations and ride Soarin and Test Track nonstop and back to back.
Extra Magic Hour and all.
We make our way back out to the main bus stop.
As we are waiting for a bus and talking amongst ourselves, we hear a voice from out of nowhere say “You must be from the South.”
We never really quite know how to take this comment. Was it the accent or did we do something really redneck to tip everybody off?
We turn to see an older gentleman sizing us up.
“The South. You must be from the South” he repeats.
“Yes sir.” DH replies, because respect for your elders is drilled into your head from birth down here. “We’re from Mississippi.” Then he adds “This here’s m’ wife and that there’s Uncle Jed an’ Granny.”
Kidding.
When our new friend finds out where we are from, his eyes light up.
“So you’re from Mississippi? Really? It’s such a shame about that hurricane. We’re from Canada and we’ve been glued to CNN watching it for the last few weeks. Did you get much damage? How are things down there now? Those poor people in New Orleans…”
Grandpa Canada introduces us to his whole family. He and his wife are there with all of their grandchildren. They bring them down to Disney every year and for that one week, it’s just them and the grandchildren. We talk to them a good bit. Mostly about the storm. And Disney. We like them. They seem like really good people.
As our bus makes it way to Epicot , it starts to storm outside. There was lightning. There was thunder. It was raining cats and dogs.
DD scampers into my lap and I whisper ‘Girl Power’ in her ear.
I like to People Watch. I always have. And lemme tell ya, People Watching is truly an Olympic sport on a Disneyworld bus. There’s a neverending supply of interesting subjects.
Go ahead and call it being nosy and eavesdropping if you want to. After all, DH does. But I prefer to call it People Watching.
I sit back on the dark bus and begin to observe.
I watch the Canadians.
They seem so at ease with their grandkids. So youthful and in touch with them. They seem to really have a great rapport. The kids range in age from about five on up to young adults. They are joking around with them and are just having a great family time together. I secretly vow to be like that with my grandkids one day. Heck, I vow to be like that with my
kids one day.
From the Canadians, I switch targets.
I look over to my right and my eyes rest upon two young couples. One couple has a very young baby, maybe a few months old. They seemed happy enough. Tired, yet happy.
But then there was the other young couple.
What was up with them? Were they…..fighting? Yep. Definitely fighting, I think. He had that really uncomfortable look on his face. He had his arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders and he kept patting her back. And rubbing her neck. She would only push him away and rub her forehead and eyes really hard. Were they fighting…or something else?
I zero in on them and try not to get caught.
About that time, I notice her make the slightest movement. He turns to face the rest of us wearing a very sheepish look.
Okay, at this point, I would like to say that I know
some particular person seems to think that I am obsessed with …well…you know. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I do not fixate on any one particular …well,
thing in my trip report. I just report the facts. Only the facts. Exactly like they happened.
Oh, and if you are a certain person who happens to be eating a bagel, you might wanna back away from it for a sec.
Just a friendly little heads up.
Now back to the story.
The girl leans over and puts her face in between the edge of the seat and the side of the bus. I hear no sounds, but I can tell from the look on the guy’s face somethin’s going down.
Or coming up.
I guess she had too much cheese and soup too. I tell DH to give her his fanny pack and pick my feet up.
About this time, I notice Grandma Canada. She sees it too. She is in disbelief. She is shocked. She is downright disgusted. She turns up her nose and starts making loud comments about the girl. She keeps staring at her, throwing her go to you know where looks. She tells the rest of the Canadians. They all turn to look. They are the Angry Eye Brigade. Royal Mounted Division.
For a minute there, I thought Grandma was gonna join her. Heck, for a minute, I thought I was gonna join her. We can’t get off that bus fast enough.
We all fly off the bus the minute it stops. It’s still raining but we don’t care. We all jump off in the rain and practically run to the gates.
We turn to look back at the poor girl who puked on the bus. I feel really sorry for her. Having two kids has taught me that nothing says ‘Leper’ like a little public puking.
Especially when it’s in the middle of the Wal Mart meat department.
But that’s another story. And I will spare you this time.
We scramble for our ponchos and head over to World Showcase. We had planned to ride Test Track first but we got there late. It can wait, we think. After all, we do have Extra Magic Hours tonight.
Aaaaaah. Epicot. I stop to take some pictures of Spaceship Earth. Or Space Mountain.
As we go through the gates, we forget to tell them we need wristbands. They never offer them. We are renegades. We are without wristbands. I gloated too soon, Melonmon.
Oh well. We will just have to get them around the World Showcase. After all, I read somewhere that they will be giving them out there. And of course everything you read is true, isn’t it?
We head off to scope out a spot for Illuminations.
Ahhhhh. Illuminations. Yeah Baby. Now that’s what I’m talking bout.
Don’t get me wrong. We love Wishes. We really do. It’s very magical and awe inspiring. And we like Fantasmic. It’s very impressive in its own right. But Illuminations….now that’s something. Our absolute favorite place to be is at the World Showcase in October watching Illuminations while eating a funnel cake and drinking hot chocolate.
After we’ve ridden Maelstrom of course.
We didn’t have time to make it around to America for a funnel cake. Instead, we stop at the snack cart at the front of the Showcase and grab some snacks and hot chocolate.
We find a spot just as the show is starting. The lights are dimmed and then all of a sudden all of the torches around the World Showcase are ‘blown out’ in unison.
Ooooh. Aaaahhhh. How cool is that?
The music starts and the image of the fireworks reflecting off the water is just too impressive for words.
We watch in amazement without blinking. We
can’t blink cause we’ll miss something.
I video way too much of it for DH’s taste. He doesn’t like to video too much of the rides or shows because he says it spoils it for our next trip. Pppfffff…what does he know? Besides, I don’t need no stinkin’ video to relive Disneyworld. Just give me a CD and we’ll ride Soarin all day long. In the minivan. With the air cranked up.
After Illuminations, we take a stroll over to Norway. There’s a particular ride over there that we wanna take a spin on. It starts with a Mael and ends with a strom.
And it’s a fastpass.
We can never understand the fact that there is hardly ever a wait for this ride. Could it be that some people don’t think it’s any good?
Before we leave Norway, we stop and look around in the gift shop. The kids have already filled up their autograph books so I pick up a couple more. While we are checking out, we ask the CM where we can find wristbands. She is clueless. She didn’t even realize it was EMH. We had to tell her. Yeah. Us. Tell her. And she’s the CM. So we leave Clueless Norwegian Girl and head out to look for somebody, anybody that can give us a wristband. We just know at some point someone will stop us and throw us out. Okay. Not really. Cause we do have our resort cards. They ain’t getting rid of us that easy. After all, we did pay out the nose for this little trip.
And we wanted the Extra Magic we had comin’ to us.
We have no clue where they are giving the wristbands out. Neither do the CMs. Oh well. We stop obsessing over the wristbands and get on with it.
We stroll around the World Showcase a little more.
We stop in Mexico and ride El Rio del Tiempo. Or maybe a better name for it would be El Rio del Sucko. Sorry Marky Mark. It just seems like a Mexican version of It’s a Small World in desperate need of refurbishment. The kids like it though, and I guess that’s all that counts, right?
From there, we head back out front. We stop at Mouse Gear and do some shopping. I just love this store. I could get lost in there forever. We grab lots and lots of cool souvenirs to bring back home. Somehow the Mickey Macaroni seemed really cool there but I have to admit that I have yet to cook it. Wonder what kind of shelf life that stuff has?
As we are walking out, we run smack dab into Pluto.
Yes, I said Pluto. As in the very same Pluto that DS had been dying to see since before our trip began. On the way to DW, he had announced in the car that he would be meeting Pluto this trip. He just knew it. He felt it in his bones. He had never met Pluto before and frankly, we had never even seen him in DW before. Yeah, we saw his house plenty of times on our way out the back door of Mickey’s crib, but it was always empty. Go figure. And so far on this trip, the few times we had caught a glimpse of him, he was engulfed in the masses.
And yet, here he stood. Right outside Mouse Gear. He wasn’t signing autographs. There was no mile long line waiting for him this time. He was just hanging out by Mouse Gear, waiting on DS to notice him.
And notice him he did. He screams in excitement.
“ MAMA MAMA MAMA…LOOK WHO IT IS!!! IT”S PLUTO! I can’t BELIEVE it! OMGosh, I can’t BELIEVE it! Hurry, gimme a pen. Gimme my autograph book. There’s no line…OMGosh, I can’t BELIEVE it!”
My son is giddy with excitement. He giggles uncontrollably. He is giddy because this is his elusive Dole Whip. And it was everything he thought it would be.
We get the autograph and we get the picture.
We have plenty of awesome pictures taken at Disney over the years. Like the one of DD dressed up as Cinderella kissing her Daddy lovingly on the cheek. The look on his face is priceless. Or the one of all of us all dressed up standing right outside our Mansion Baby at the lovely POR. Then there’s one particular time when Woody came up from out of nowhere and grabbed DS’s hand. He led him into the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon. DS kept looking back at me as if to say…”It’s okay, right Mom? Woody’s not a stranger is he?” The picture I took from behind them that day was priceless.
Yep. I have tons and tons of extremely awesome pictures from our trips over the years. But that one is special to me because it tells a story. Everytime I look at that picture, I am reminded of the night when my firstborn child finally got his elusive Dole Whip, so to speak. The boy had stars in his eyes. He definitely felt the Magic that night. And yes, extra even.
We wave goodbye to Pluto and he really hams it up for the kids. We walk toward Soarin feelin’ pretty good. We are pumped now. We are ready. We are ready for the first of our ten rides of the night.
Oh wait. No, that didn’t happen.
It didn’t happen because when we got to Soarin, the wait was 90 minutes. Ninety. And apparently, Extra Magic Hour does not include fastpasses.
Where’s the Extra Magic in that?
We are not waiting ninety minutes for anything.
We leave the Land disappointed and head over to see Figment.
My daughter absolutely loves this ride. I have to admit the song is very catchy.
One little spark.... imagination....
It's no Soarin or Test Track of course, but it's cute enough. DD loves it so we're good.
From there we decide to head on over to our ole family favorite, Test Track. The wait is just as long over there as is was for Soarin. Ninety minutes. Well crap. No Test Track. No Soarin. Good thing we didn’t miss Illuminations and we got to meet Pluto or the night would have been a total bust.
We are not quite feelin the Magic at this point and decide to call it a night while we still can.
It is 11:30 p.m.
Yeah, I know it was past the kids’ bed time, but come on, does that really exist at Disney anyway? Bed time? Pffff. What is that? I say let em stay up till midnight and pump sugar into ‘em through an I.V. We’re at Disney, dangit.
Kidding.
Okay, maybe only half kidding.
We try to make a run for it to get the kids back to the hotel before they literally pass out in the middle of all the Extra Magic.
We walk out the gates and snicker to ourselves, thinking we have gotten a leg up on humanity by leaving at eleven thirty, when the park was due to close at midnight.
We laugh all the way past Spaceship Earth and out through the front gate. We giggle as we make our way past the gift shop and the bathrooms at the entrance.
And then we stop dead in our tracks.
Not out of shock, but because that is where the line for the POR bus began.
Yep. There were easily one thousand people in front of us in line waiting for a bus to take them back to Port Orleans Riverside. I’ve never seen anything like it. Apparently the ONLY people that wanted some Extra Magic that night all happened to be trying to get back to the same place we were trying to get back to.
And I bet none of them got to ride Soarin or Test Track either.
I couldn’t tell you how many busses we saw come and go that night before we finally were able to get on one, but it was A LOT. A bus would pull up and everybody in the BACK of the line would pick up their stuff and get excited like they actually thought they stood a chance of getting on. Nope. No soup for you. We literally stood and waited over an hour before we were able to squish onto a bus that night.
The cabbies were out in full force. They were parked right there in the front and looked every bit as shady as a bunch of drug dealers. Really. They were sneakin’ around as if they were doing something illegal.
“Pssst. Hey. Yeah you. Come over here. You know it’s gonna be a long time before that bus comes, dontcha? If it ever even comes at
all. I got nice plush seats in here. I got air. I can
take you places.
Come on. Climb on in. Let’s go for a ride. ”
They stand there trying to seduce the masses. Several people can’t take it anymore. They jump over the bars and run to the cabbies like kids to candy. The rest of us avoid eye contact, positive that help is on the way.
We keep our eyes peeled for a bus. It takes way too long to read which resort they belong to as they round the corner into the parking lot but we are all on it. We work together as one.
“Is that a P? I think I see a P. I see a P and an O. Oh no. No. It’s Pop Century.
Dangit. Now, they just had one come by here a minute ago. Change your sign, you big dummy. Can they do that? There’s nobody there. Can’t you see? We’re all over
here. Who’s runnin this place anyway? Where’s all of our busses? Why can’t that one just come get us since there’s nobody at their station?”
We all try to bumrush the Pop bus but it was too quick for us.
We finally get on a bus. I have never been so glad to sit so close to deodorantless, back hair having, wife beater wearing total strangers in all of my life.
Our family got separated. I couldn’t even see DH and DS. They could’ve been strapped to the roof for all I knew. But we had a ticket to ride and we didn’t care.
We make it back to POR finally somewhere close to 1:00. The kids had fallen asleep on the bus. We tuck them in and collapse into bed.
We know we will be able to sleep in a little tomorrow because it’s the last day and we are planning on going to Blizzard Beach.
Our last day. Where did the time go?
Well, if we’ve only got one day left, we plan on making the most of it. In the true tradition of overdoing it, our itinerary tells us our last day will be our busiest yet. Gotta squeeze all the fun out of it that we can.
We will be doing Blizzard Beach, then we’ll come back and get changed in time to head out the door to the Princess character meal in Epcot, and then catch the monorail over to MK for
MNSSHP.
All in one day.
Yes. We are ambitious. Or stupid. You decide.
Up Next: Jasmine and the Drunk Chick…Or What Not To Do at a Character Meal
Gotta know, was it DD's Epicot or the free dining that swung it for DH?
moments for me to thank you for but just keep doing what you're doing LaLa, its working a treat. BTW (and said in a completely heterosexual way) you clearly are a very yummy mummy and I will aspire to have a picture as good as that Studios one in August.
Thanks so much for posting.
.
And yes, you're right. Not about the yummy mummy thing, but about the free dining. I was shocked. Shocked, when I found out they were doing the free dining again this year. And to answer your question, I think it was more like a one, two punch. Epicot was the left jab and Free Dining was the right cross. You know, I had him primed with Epicot and then the Free Dining was just too much for him to handle. His ears perked up. "Free Dining, you say?" He couldn't hop on the bandwagon fast enough. I was throwing out dates and he was agreeing to EVERYTHING. 
So happy for your DS, yes I shed a little tear. This is how disney moments and characters are supposed to be, not within a mob and unattainable. Good for him, good for you, I think its karma. Now to just get you that dole whip 
Right outside a certain ride, leaning against the fence. It also involves a beverage, but make mine a margarita!
