"So is this when they bring out the Mickey Mouse cattle prods??" Final Thoughts 1/10!

[gellybean]

I last left off with us heading from sticky Dole Whippery to Splash to redeem our fast passes! On the way to Splash, I grabbed some BTMRR FPs for us to use later. They were good in another hour so that worked out well.

While we had been walking I had been thinking.... I knew Jack Jack was being extremely Mommy clingy and it was getting worse... the hotter and more tired he got. I was trying to figure out a way to convince him to stay with my mom so Mr. I and I could ride with Dash on Splash.

Thankfully I remembered the toddler play area under the train station area. I talked to mom quietly, basically planning that we were gonna park the stroller and run off while Jack Jack wasn't looking.

Thankfully it worked! He was happy to play and didn't notice us leave. We hit up the lady at the front of the line for our baby swap. She wanted to know where our baby was. I told her he was playing with my mom in the toddler area. Then why do you need a baby swap she asks. You have someone to watch your kid.


Say what?

I was taken back a little. Not gonna lie. I explained that we would like a baby swap so that my mother wouldn't have to ride alone and so that Dash could ride again with her.

After about five more questions, I guess she finally believed me and gave me the precious baby swap ticket.


Geez!

I mean I get it, but I didn't appreciate that she automatically assumed I was trying to pull a fast one.

Fast passes and baby swap in hand, we headed to the Fast pass entrance. I love this line when it's going fast. We booked it around and up the stairs and down the ramp area and finally came to a stop at the corner where you turn into the daylight and can see the logs lined up. WOOT!

I sat with Dash and Mr. I was behind us. We had an awesome older couple in front of us that talked to Dash about how she would always get scared a little after not riding it for a while but would always love it again as soon as she rode it again.

They lived in south Florida and come every August for 12 days. Just the two of them. AWWW! I thought it was awesome!!

Sure enough Dash would get all scared at every little drop we'd come up to. I had to promise him I'd let him know when the big drop was coming. I had his rain jacket with me to cover my lap up with. I did NOT want wet shorts.

I was all prepared, covered up in a kid's green rain jacket. LOL

The big drop was upon us soon enough and Dash was clinging to me. I kept telling him you love this ride, remember?

Well.... we made it. Me screaming as usual. And once again, Dash thought it was TOTALLY WICKED!

(get it... Incredibles reference? hahaha)

He was allllllllllll excited to go again.

We waited for our pictures to show up and redneck photo passed it

then headed to meet up with Mom and Jack Jack.

And what do you know Jack Jack had just made me a present.

LOVELY!

Dash immediately hit his grandmother up to go with him on Splash again. She didn't want to. She had built it up in her mind and did not want to get wet on the ride. Mr. I didn't want to go again either so I said I'd go with him if he'd change Jack Jack's diaper. DEAL he said.

So he walks off with Jack Jack and diaper bag in hand, while I proceed to convince Mom that she wouldn't get wet on the ride if she'd cover up with the rain coat like I had. I even turned around and presented her with my posterior end to prove to her that I hadn't gotten wet!

It worked! Dash's pleading probably helped as well. So I sat down on a bench outside the Splash bathrooms and waited. I had gotten out of riding again and changing the diaper. hehehe

I waited, and waited it seemed. Soon enough Mr. I and Jack Jack joined me. We waited for Dash and Mom and then headed out of the area. Mr. I, Dash and I went to use our FPs for BTMRR and Mom took Jack Jack into the AC'd shop at the top of the stairs at Splash.

Right as we got down to the turn to line up in our little slot to get on the next train, Dash informed me he had to go to the bathroom.

Say what say what?

I told him... here's the deal... we are nearly on the train. Can you wait five more mins or do we need to leave and get back in line and wait all over again. Suddenly his bladder was made of steel. He said he could wait.

And yes, the thought did occur to me, what if he couldn't??!

But thankfully he was fine. I mean we're talking 7 yr old not 3 yr old.

We piled into a car with Mr. I behind us and rode the wildest train in the west. Love me some BTMRR! Can't wait to take Jack Jack!

AS SOON as we got off the ride though, Dash remembered his urgency issue and Mr. I graciously tooK him back down to the Splash bathrooms while I got us some more FPs for BTMRR to use later.

I met up with Mom and Jack Jack in the Briar Patch shop, telling Mr. I this time where to meet us.

Mom had done what any grandmother worth her salt would do and had gotten Jack Jack a sucker to keep him occupied while she shopped. He was having the time of his life and she was looking at little things to buy for my niece. She's the only girl grandchild and though she claims to hate being the only girl I think she's realizing the perks of being the only girl!

She just got elected 7th grade cheerleader and mom found a cute cheer necklace but was concerned my niece wouldn't like it.

I pulled out my phone and took a picture of it and sent it to my niece, asked her if she liked it or not.

Mom just stood there with her jaw hanging open. I mean she knows you can text pictures but she would have never thought to do that!

About 10 mins later, Dash and Mr. I met us in the shop and we all made our way back toward Frontierland/Liberty Square.

We had lunch ressies for 1:30 and it was about 12:45 by now. We walked in front of Country Bear Jamboree, one of mom's favorites and frankly we were happy to go anywhere that was air conditioned. The next show was in 8 mins so we walked inside and waited.

Soon enough we were in the theater. And yes I let Jack Jack keep his sucker. I wasn't about to take a treat away from an already unstable cranky butt two year old. Sue me. And if Jack Jack gets to keep his sucker, than you know Dash has to, as well.

Jack Jack loved the show. He clapped and danced in his seat. And when Big Al came out

Jack Jack yelled out....








No .... not yeehaw.



















He yelled out PawPaw!









My dad, mom's husband or PawPaw as he's known to his grandkids.


Mom and I about died. HILARIOUSLY!

We were done in there and had just enough time to snap a few pictures.

Dash's face cracks me up in both of these pictures.

Apparently this fellow is a friend of my mom's from her trip to Disneyland back in 1954 (I think that's the year she went.)

Then we moved the stroller further down and check in for our LTT lunch. I had never eaten here. That I remember at least. I may have eaten there as a child but I don't think so.


We checked in right at 1:30 and were seated quickly. I was surprised at how much it reminded me of CHH!

We got a table in the back corner by a window. Mom was hot and feeling nauseous so she didn't really want anything. She ended up eating Jack Jack's fruit cup, mostly melon that he won't eat.

This was the first time Jack Jack really got into the coloring. I think he was trying to stay awake.

Mr. I and I ordered a fried cheese app... the boys fought over the long cheese sticks and Mr. I and I enjoyed the smaller ones a lot.

I ordered the burger and Mr. I ordered the Colony salad. And we switched plates half way. He started with the salad and I started with the burger and then swapped half way through. Worked well. Though next time I'd just order the salad. LOVED it! The chicken was good, the apples and cheese yummy and loved the dressing which for me is saying something. I'm typically a creamy Italian or ranch kinda gal.

Dash had wanted soup. He'd wanted it since that morning. No clue why. He just did. So he got the chicken noodle soup and then mac and cheese. Jack Jack got the pizza and fruit cup and apples. I think I asked special for double fruit instead of an 'app'.

The boys ate up. The heat had really zapped all of us. And I don't think we realized how much til we sat down with food and drink. I lost count of my water refills.

It was between the entrees and dessert that I witnessed one of the um.... most ... interesting things I've ever seen.

The table next to us was sat with a family of four, parents and two girls. The younger girl was protesting about something and I was only half listening. This table was seated 3 feet from Dash's end of the table. The mom made the little girl stand up at the end of the table next to her, literally right next to Dash and take her underwear off. Just pulled her dressed up and the little girl dropped her panties right there. Stepped out of them and the mom put them in her bag.

Say What, say What??

Then the mom pulled the girl's dress over her head and changed her dress right there.

You could tell the girl was humiliated. Not to mention part of me, the part that is a restaurant manager's wife wondered about the health code of it all. Thankfully Dash was engrossed in finishing his food and didn't notice.

Next the mom tookthe dress that she had just taken off her younger daughter, handed it to her older daughter and the older daughter went upstairs to the bathroom and changed into the younger daughter's old dress.

The whole thing was just bizarre. Maybe there's an element to this scenario that I'm missing. But I felt for the little girl and was kinda uncomfortable myself!

Thankfully we had an awesome yummy dessert on the way to take my mind off of it.

Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake!

Should've taken a picture of this beauty!!

We shared one and got the boys one kid's sundae, Dash's technically. I was prepared to ask Dash to share but Jack Jack zeroed in on the toffee cake. The kid has good taste what can I say.


That dessert was awesome! So awesome in fact that Mr. I declared it his favorite at Disney thus far. Better than 'Ohana's bed pudding even.

Say WHAT, SAY WHAT?!

I wouldn't go THAT far, but I loved it as well. In fact, I plan on making one for my birthday that's making me want to turn 31 even faster. An amazing feat that! LMBO

It apparently is the same recipe as Paula Deen's Ooey Gooey Butter cake which I've heard of as well. So I'm excited to try to make it. YUM!!

We settled our bill and headed out of the restaurant to retrieve our stroller. As I'm pulling our stroller out of line, the Disney rental stroller next to me fell over backwards. I looked at Mr. I and he says you didn't hit it, it's just packed down too much. It wouldn't have been a big deal except they had a bag of watermelon in a Ziploc bag sitting on top and it wasn't zipped up. Watermelon and watermelon juice was EVERYWHERE! All over all their stuff they had stuffed in the black mesh bag. I tried to pick up as much as I could but it was a hot mess. I felt bad. It was just one of those bad timing things.

We went on our merry way and thought we might try to catch HM. But it was a 25 min wait with a lot of it out in the sun and it was HOT and I knew we were all getting tired so we skipped it.


We made our way back through the cut thru into Fantasyland and stopped at the restrooms there. We cut through and looked wistfully at the closed IASW.

I snapped a picture of the back of the castle

nd then cut through the middle of the castle. I hadn't walked through the middle of the castle in a LONNNNNNNG time.

So naturally I had to take a bunch of pictures!

After we came out of the castle, I realized that we were walking out as the parade was starting. I was all for staying but my party was pooped. Whole new meaning to party poopers. LOL

I took the opportunity to snap a picture of Dash in front of an empty castle.

As I turned around from my photog-ing I see Mr. I and Mom laying the back of the stroller down. Jack Jack was out. He didn't quite make it to the hotel for nap time.

We cut down the sidewalk by the shops, me snapping shots the whole way over peoples heads

and tried to stop in the doorway of an air conditioned shop to snap a few pictures of the parade on our way out and were quickly shooed away by a CM. I told her we were on our way out for nap time I just wanted a quick pic. But she was having none of it. Again I get it. If everyone did it, etc. But the delivery wasn't as friendly as I remembered it being in years past.

I snapped a picture of an unconscious Jack Jack. Poor baby. He had reached his limit, but honestly he had been really good considering how tired he was! What a trooper!

We exited the park, and made the short walk up the ramp to the monorail back to the Poly. I had never been so thankful for staying on the monorail resort as I was at that very moment. Jack Jack was out. We were all hot and sweaty and all we had to do was push the stroller with the sleeping kid onto the monorail and sit down. It was fabulous!

We arrived back in our room in 30 mins total. From walking down Main Street to parking the stroller in the room. Jack Jack had no problem transitioning from stroller to bed. The boys crashed, mom crashed. Mr. I went and got some waters and a soft drink from Captain Cook's. Then he napped as well.


But oh no... not me!

I fb'd and DIS'd and texted a few people and reviewed pictures on my camera and took TR notes. I relaxed and refreshed myself but no sleep!

We had a great evening ahead of us. Really the whole reason this trip came to be. Course I had no idea how crazy the evening was going to turn out to be.


Up Next:

The TR title is FINALLY explained!
Would we make the parade and fireworks? Would we survive the crowds? Would I get my precious Casey's dinner? Would Jack Jack's nap breathe some life back into him?

STAY TUNED!

 

[gellybean]

I made an 'Ohana ressie earlier today for March. I'm not 100% it will stick, but under current plans it's a go! I thought of you as I made the ressie! This time; however, I will NOT eat myself sick! I must restrain myself and end the goodness before it's too late!

YAY!!!

I hope you guys get to keep the ressie! I'm sure that you'll be fine this time around. I always eat lightly that day up until the Ohana feast-tivities.

I wonder what they would do if I asked for a doggie bag?

"Um excuse me, um pardon me, um excuse me, but can I take 2 dozen chicken wings and another order of bread puddin' to go please?

Thanks!"

 

[stayhomemom77]

Okay, so if we ever do finally meet in person, it's gonna be hard for me to get used to the sound of your voice. When I read your posts, I can TOTALLY hear your voice (or my perception of your voice) and I'm thinking it's going to be quite an adjustment when exposed to the real thing. How much of a Texan drawl ya got anyway? Cause in my head it's just a light one!!

Those SAY WHAT'S for example...could totally hear you saying them. Quite funny!

I think you guys got an amazing amount done considering the heat. And the best part is that you just seem to enjoy yourselves. I love that you seem to have a good rhythm and pace that works for the entire family.

Oh!! And that whole strip show in the restaurant...totally weird and a little creepy! What was that mom thinking? I have a little girl and there's NO WAY I'd expose her nekked parts to a roomful of strangers at Disney or anywhere else. I'm sorry, but that's just nuts!!

 

[jc040404]

LOVE that you got out of both a diaper change and another go on Splash! Awesome!!

That clothing change thing was just insane. Why couldn't mom just take them both to the restroom?? That poor little girl!

Can't wait to understand your TR title!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Right in the middle of the dining room?! Oh my goodness! How old was this little girl? Poor thing was probably humilated!

Gotta love that monorail to get back to your resort, that must have been a great feeling!

 

[brookelizabeth]

We hit up the lady at the front of the line for our baby swap. She wanted to know where our baby was. I told her he was playing with my mom in the toddler area. Then why do you need a baby swap she asks. You have someone to watch your kid.


Say what?

On our first trip with H we did this sorta thing all the time - and no CM ever questioned it. But by the second trip, just a few months later we were being challenged-I would sometimes get a slight eye roll and they would reluctantly hand over a ticket, or I'd get a firm "No, sorry" and have to find Joe and Henry and bring them back, etc. Now it's habit to bring him right up to the line first. It was a pain that second trip though when we weren't in the habit!

And what do you know Jack Jack had just made me a present.

LOVELY!

Awesome ride, so much fun - and then this.

It worked! Dash's pleading probably helped as well. So I sat down on a bench outside the Splash bathrooms and waited. I had gotten out of riding again and changing the diaper. hehehe

Wise one you are.

Dash's face cracks me up in both of these pictures.

Me too!

The table next to us was sat with a family of four, parents and two girls. The younger girl was protesting about something and I was only half listening. This table was seated 3 feet from Dash's end of the table. The mom made the little girl stand up at the end of the table next to her, literally right next to Dash and take her underwear off. Just pulled her dressed up and the little girl dropped her panties right there. Stepped out of them and the mom put them in her bag.

Say What, say What??

Then the mom pulled the girl's dress over her head and changed her dress right there.

You could tell the girl was humiliated. Not to mention part of me, the part that is a restaurant manager's wife wondered about the health code of it all. Thankfully Dash was engrossed in finishing his food and didn't notice.

Next the mom tookthe dress that she had just taken off her younger daughter, handed it to her older daughter and the older daughter went upstairs to the bathroom and changed into the younger daughter's old dress.

Seriously? If the girl is old enough to be humiliated by that kind of activity, she is TOO OLD for that sorta thing! A baby, I get it. But when they realize they aren't supposed to be naked in front of strangers...wow.

Please tell me the mother pulled out some fresh clothes for the other one?

How weird. I'm certain there was a reason, and perhaps it was just one of "those moments" when the Mother was at the end of her rope and the girls were freaking about the clothes, etc. and she had just had it and didn't give a rip about it all/what people thought...but man...!

Overall, sounds like a WONDERFUL day at MK!! Cute sleeping Jack-Jack.

YAY!!!

I hope you guys get to keep the ressie! I'm sure that you'll be fine this time around. I always eat lightly that day up until the Ohana feast-tivities.

I wonder what they would do if I asked for a doggie bag?

"Um excuse me, um pardon me, um excuse me, but can I take 2 dozen chicken wings and another order of bread puddin' to go please?

Thanks!"

Tempting!!!

So far it's gonna stick. I asked Joe if he truly wanted it and he did. I think we might try for dinner, then hit the beach for fireworks.

 

[gellybean]

Okay, so if we ever do finally meet in person, it's gonna be hard for me to get used to the sound of your voice. When I read your posts, I can TOTALLY hear your voice (or my perception of your voice) and I'm thinking it's going to be quite an adjustment when exposed to the real thing. How much of a Texan drawl ya got anyway? Cause in my head it's just a light one!!

I actually don't have a very heavy Texan accent. Or at least that's what I've been told. I have been told one more than one occasion that I sound Canadian.

Now that being said, when I get upset or animated my Texas twang comes out. With a vengeance.

Those SAY WHAT'S for example...could totally hear you saying them. Quite funny!

I was channeling my inner Miley!

I think you guys got an amazing amount done considering the heat. And the best part is that you just seem to enjoy yourselves. I love that you seem to have a good rhythm and pace that works for the entire family.

We did get a lot done. Definitely a lot more than I thought we'd get done. That being said, I bet we coulda done more if Jack Jack had been feeling a bit more chipper. But gotta learn to roll with what the kids give ya on each given day!

Oh!! And that whole strip show in the restaurant...totally weird and a little creepy! What was that mom thinking? I have a little girl and there's NO WAY I'd expose her nekked parts to a roomful of strangers at Disney or anywhere else. I'm sorry, but that's just nuts!!

I was blown away by it. Could not fathom what was going on behind the scenes that would make a mom make her daughter drop trou in the middle of a restaurant!

LOVE that you got out of both a diaper change and another go on Splash! Awesome!!


Me too! HEHEHE !

That clothing change thing was just insane. Why couldn't mom just take them both to the restroom?? That poor little girl!

Can't wait to understand your TR title!!

I didn't understand it either!

TR title reveal coming up hopefully tonight.

Right in the middle of the dining room?! Oh my goodness! How old was this little girl? Poor thing was probably humilated!

She was Dash's age easy if not older. So 8 ish.
She was mortified. You could tell she did not want to do it. But mom made her. I kinda did a double take at first, not believing what I was seeing.

Gotta love that monorail to get back to your resort, that must have been a great feeling!

Loved the monorail SOOOOOOOOOO much!

On our first trip with H we did this sorta thing all the time - and no CM ever questioned it. But by the second trip, just a few months later we were being challenged-I would sometimes get a slight eye roll and they would reluctantly hand over a ticket, or I'd get a firm "No, sorry" and have to find Joe and Henry and bring them back, etc. Now it's habit to bring him right up to the line first. It was a pain that second trip though when we weren't in the habit!

The one other time we used it in January 2010 at Soarin we were giving a hard time. So I guess I just have the look of a person trying to pull a fast one?



I don't know. I mean I get it, but their delivery needs a little work. I can see where I need to bring Jack Jack with me when asking for a Baby Swap ticket. Though in December, we're gonna have so many adults I don't know that we'll bother. Mom doesn't like riding most the rides that Jack Jack Jack can't ride anyway!





Awesome ride, so much fun - and then this.

You know it! Wouldn't be a Gellybean TR without 'IT'.



Wise one you are.

hehe



Me too!

He has some funny expressions, that kid.



Seriously? If the girl is old enough to be humiliated by that kind of activity, she is TOO OLD for that sorta thing! A baby, I get it. But when they realize they aren't supposed to be naked in front of strangers...wow.


She was way too old. Older than Dash. It was awful.

Please tell me the mother pulled out some fresh clothes for the other one?


Yeah, she pulled out a different dress and change of undies for the younger one. Thankfully she only handed the younger ones worn dress to the older sister, not the undies too.

How weird. I'm certain there was a reason, and perhaps it was just one of "those moments" when the Mother was at the end of her rope and the girls were freaking about the clothes, etc. and she had just had it and didn't give a rip about it all/what people thought...but man...!

I'm sure there was a reason, but none that I could fathom. Just couldn't believe what I was seeing. And honestly the mom didn't seem that frazzled. Just insistent that the kid remove her clothes. In the middle of the dining room.

Overall, sounds like a WONDERFUL day at MK!! Cute sleeping Jack-Jack.





Tempting!!!

So far it's gonna stick. I asked Joe if he truly wanted it and he did. I think we might try for dinner, then hit the beach for fireworks.

YAY!!! Sounds perfect!!!! I'm so asking for a doggie bag in January. Worse thing they can do is tell me no!

 

[gellybean]

I believe our wake up call went off at 6:30pm and Jack Jack seemed to be well rested. Everyone was ready to hit the park for the second half of our day.

We were quickly freshened up and ready to hit the road again. A quick walk through GCH and we were back on the monorail. 10 mins later, we were readmitting ourselves into the Magic Kingdom. The temperatures were much more manageble, thankfully. We had already discussed what we were gonna do as soon as we made it into the park. Ride the train!

Jack Jack had recently discovered his love of choo choos and I thought it would be a good thing to do. Everyone agreed so we headed up to the Main Street train station. Jack Jack was still being a momma's boy so I got the lovely honor of pushing him up the wheelchair ramp.

Holy moly! The wheelchair ramp up to Main Street train station is a doozy. We had to ask a CM how to get up in there in a stroller and finally found the ramp over by Guest services and then I got the lovely task of pushing all 35 lbs of Jack Jack plus stroller plus hauling my hind end up that ramp.

FUN!




But I made it and we were ready for the next train. It always looks like there's no way everyone's gonna make it on that train and then they find a way to fit billions of people. We were fortunate enough to get one long bench to ourselves and away we went.

Soon enough we'd made the entire loop around MK. We decided one loop was enough and I reaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to get good seats for the MSELP so we retrieved our stroller, went down the much shorter, steeper exit ramp and headed straight to Main Street USA to grab prime time parade seats.

We had thought ahead and brought some towels to sit on, and we laid our towels out right in front of the jewelry store and all got spots on the curb. I parked Jack Jack right next to a trash can poor kid, but he didn't seem to mind.

I wanted to do some shopping, mainly looking for the new Dooney and Bourke designs they'd just released, but Jack Jack would not let me leave!

So I did the unthinkable and bribed him.

First I went to buy them each a balloon. HOLY COW! It would have been 25 bucks for two balloons, since Dash wanted the light up kind.

No thanks. I took my 25 dollars and went to the glow in the dark toy cart lady instead and got Dash the glow in the dark string thingie and Jack Jack a spinning light toy.

Which bought me shopping time alone for a little bit!

When I returned, empty handed from my shopping attempt, my mom in her true form had struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to her. The lady was drinking a smoothie that mom had found out was from Main Street Bakery. Mom offers to buy us each a smoothie if I'll go stand in line to get one.


Sure!

So I leave again, Jack Jack still entertained by his light up toy, and go get mom her smoothie.


Except I wasn't really wanting a smoothie.

So I ordered an ice cream sandwich instead! YUM!

While standing in line to pay, I overheard the lady in front of me use snack credits for her two bottles of water and pay OOP for her two 3.95 smoothie!

Definitely not a DISer!

I asked the CM after she left, um weren't the smoothies like 2 dollars more than the bottles of water, EACH? She grinned and said uh huh but I have to charge it the way the customers tell me too.

Poor uninformed lady.

I returned to our spot by about 8pm. We had an hour to wait for the parade.

Little did I know this would be the most, um, interesting hour I've ever spent in Disney.

Mom enjoyed her smoothie but I think she lost most of it to Jack Jack!

I sat down next to Mr. I and we proceeded to share the ice cream sandwich.

It was YUMMY!!! Next time I think I'm gonna ask them to nuke the cookie for 15 seconds first though. The cookie was a little hard but I loved it. I have always been a Bluebell ice cream girl but I love the Edy's at Disney. Wish I could find it in the freezer section.

So after I'm sitting down by Mr. I for a while, he points to a woman wearing a neon green shirt standing in the empty taped off, roped off area behind me and tells me that she's there to hold a spot for 54 people.

WHOA.

I immediately think, bad idea! But Mr. I is a newby to Disney and mom is super nice, so whatever. Neon green lady (for future use NGL) had asked if mom and Mr. I would help her save the space. Mom had told her she would let her know if people tried to sit down. Well after I sat back down, NGL lady came and told me the same thing.

Would I please help her save those spots for her church youth group of 54?

I told her that I'd be glad to send anyone that tried to sit down her way so she could try to save the spots. I NEVER said I'd help her save the spots. I knew this was going to come to a bad end.

Well the first few people that tried to sit down had no problem with moving on down. NGL would explain what she was trying to do and they said sure no problem and moved to the next empty spot.

The problem came when there were no more empty spots to be had.

Finally a family moved in behind us and sat down, after asking us if we were using that space. We said no but NGL was trying to save the area. About that time, NGL came over and said oh no no that area is saved. And the man in the family said, by whom?

NGL said by her.

Family man #1 said then why aren't you sitting here?

NGL said I'm standing up to save the whole space for 54 people.

Family man laughed and sat down anyway.

NGL got in his face. I MEAN in his face. Cursing, telling him he must not be a Christian if he was willing to steal seats from a church youth group etc.

Family man #1 ignored her.

Before long Family #2 comes in and sits down right by the rope line at the back. NGL give them her speal, they refuse to leave, she trash talks them and is walking up and down pacing, stepping over people with her walkie talkie in her hand, telling her other youth group members over the walkie talkie that the devil is alive and well in Florida tonight and she needs help saving space for her group of 54.

Soon she's joined my Neon Green Man (NGM) and he is trying to police one area of their sacred saved area, while NGL is working on getting the other area claimed.

Family #3 comes in and I'm thinking they were from Jersey. Grandmother, mother and a teen girl.

Awesomeness. Big hair, long fake nails and a whole lotta Jersey tude.

NGL "You can't stand here."

Jersey mom "Watch me"

NGL "I've been standing here saving a spot for an hour."

Jersey mom "Well when your people show up they are welcome to stand in the area that's open but you can't keep me from standing here."

Meanwhile, NGM and Family man #1 are having words behind me about their ethnicity, religion and overall moral character. Keep in mine this was a church group!

Then the shoving commences.

YES I said shoving.

Mr. I looks at me and says should I stand up?

He was bigger and taller than any of the men fighting directly behind us.

I say no, let Disney handle it.

About that time a gentleman that had been sitting on the curb about as long as we had but was down on the other end from us got up and approached a CM and said we need security over here.

A few CMs come over and ask what is going on?

NGL takes it upon herself to explain that she had been waiting for an hour and was trying to save a spot for 54 people and that the first couple of families had been very nice and supportive. And that she had talked to this lovely woman, gesturing toward my mom, and that my mom had said she would help her save the seats.

My mom goes "OH no M'AM that is not WHAT I said."



Y'all should have heard my little sweet grandmotherly mother. The lady retracts and says that mom had said she would try to help, to which I speak up and say "We said we would let them know you were TRYING to save the area."

And I had. I had pointed to the NGL and said she's trying to save spots for a group of 54. And that's ALL I had ever said.

The CM tried to explain to NGL that you can save a spot for a few people but you can't save a spot for 54. To which NGL replied well how am I supposed to know that?

The CMs walk away and are talking amongst themselves. We had quite a group of CMs standing in front of our little area monitoring the situation.

It was at this point that Mr. I turns and looks at me and mutters the now infamous (at least in my family) words,


"So is this when they bring out the Mickey Mouse cattle prods?"



I died laughing. It looked like they were gonna need them for crowd control. Honestly.

After the CMs walk out of ear shot, it all starts up again. NGM is threatening the Jersey grandma that if she doesn't move her FAT *AHEM* that NGM is gonna move it for her.

Jersey replies something about how fat NGM's momma's AHEM must be to have bred such a large man.

To which NGM replies, Don't you dare bring my momma into this.

And so on and so forth. I sat in awe. The hour we had to wait for the parade has never flown by faster than it did that night.

Continued next post!

 

[gellybean]

Continued from previous post!


I did manage to take some pictures of Jack Jack while we waited. I was playing around with burst mode so sorry for the overload but I think these are pretty stinking funny. He was doing some kind of ninja thing with his light up toy. If you scroll through them quickly you can see him move! These pics are some of my absolute favorite from the trip.

I actually have a video of Jack Jack playing where you can hear a little bit of the drama unfolding behind me. Will try to get it uploaded in the next post. Since it's HD it takes for freaking ever to download.



Finally, the parade is about to start and the family that had been sitting by the ropes in the back tried to stand up to watch the parade.

NGL said "Oh no you don't. YOU SIT BACK DOWN. I didn't tell you that you could stand up." talking to the daughter in the group. To which the mom stood up and said "You do NOT speak to my daughter like that." They were in each other faces, yelling at each other as the music begins to play.

Jersey mom got back involved when the youth group tried to fill in at 10 mins til parade time and pushed her teen daughter out of the way.

Jersey mom and NGM were literally nose to nose, Jersey's fake fingernails wagging in the wind.

I motion over to a CM and he walks over to stand in front of me and leans over and I say "Look, I'm starting to get concerned that this is gonna turn physical."

The CM said, "M'am all it takes is one word from me and we'd have more security guards out here than you can imagine. This is not a security presence yet but if we need one they would come from all over."

The lights dim, the parade is on it's way and we still hear " Move out of my way *****" And "How dare you take our spot?" Etc Etc. It went on for nearly the entire parade. It was sad really. I literally was ready to grab Jack Jack at a moment's notice and move him out of the way in case the people came crashing in from behind us.

I've witnessed and heard some stories about drama over parade spot saving but I've never in a million years heard of much less experienced anything quite like that night.

We tried to make the best of the rest of our time in the MK. Not that we'd had a bad night. It had been nothing if not entertaining. Just not very magic filled.

The parade was lovely.

The newly added Tinkerbell at the beginning of the parade.

Jack Jack truly enjoyed the magic much more than he had in years past. Plus the fact that we'd taken the time to get good seats helped.

As Prince Charming was passing us by, he bowed to Dash. Dash bowed back. I got some ok pictures of the parade. It was definitely a walk down memory lane for me. MSELP is one of my only memories of my first trip to Disney when I was 6. It was an awesome memory making night to be there watching it again with my two boys and husband.

The parade got stuck in one spot and we were treated to this view for about 4 mins.

Finally the parade was out of our area and we hopped up and got right behind the pole that marks the end of the parade. We were hasty to get away from the crowd behind us as fast as we could.

We were making a beeline to the castle hub. I wanted to stand up and watch Nightastic.

Thankfully the people that were waiting there had no problem with us standing beside them. We got a great view and the fireworks were AMAZING. SO worth the trip in August!

I could not believe how far out they were on either side of the castle. It seemed like they surrounded you on all sides. We had a great view of Tinkerbell flying down and saving the castle. Dash (and I) especially enjoyed the PoC music part.

I had told my whole party to head to Casey's as soon as the fireworks were over and if we got split up, we'd meet there. Mr. I was in charge of ordering when he got there. I had the stroller and Mom had Dash. The mass exodus was INSANE. I tried my best not to run over anyone on the way. I made it to Casey's after what felt like walking at a snail pass, met up with Mom and Dash in front of the doorway and we nabbed a table in the back of the restaurant. Mom and Dash saved the seat with Jack Jack in his stroller and I went back to see if Mr. I needed any help carrying stuff. I think I had to linebacker a poor woman to get through there but it was NUTS. No one wanted to let someone (ME) go the wrong way. So I just went. SORRY lady! Didn't mean to bump into you but you could've let me through!

Order in hand, we all enjoyed our Casey's. We talked, obviously about our interesting evening. We dipped french fries in chili and cheese sauce. I may have dipped corn dog nuggets into cheese sauce at some point. Mr. I ended up going back for another order of corn dog nuggets and a refill on our soda. We were hungry!! Dash got to talk to a nice CM about pin trading and got the 411 on which pins he should hold onto and which he should trade.

We were done in time to beat the second showing of the parade out of the park.

We walked down Main Street and were in line for the monorail in no time. Met a nice lady on the monorail that was staying at the GF by herself. She was at Disney for the third part of her job interview process to work at Hilton Head's DVC resort. Thought that was super cool. She had worked as a teacher previously and had decided working for Disney was much more fun. Plus she said the benefits were AMAZING!
It was nice to talk to you Christine!

We were back at Poly before too long and were all looking forward to our swim!

Yes that's right. After all that, we dunked ourselves in that gloriously refreshing water until nearly midnight. Mr. I decided to abstain. He stayed back to shower so that we wouldn't all be waiting on the bathroom. Mom swam this night with us. It was a wonderful end to a crazy day!

We were back at the room, showered and in pjs by 12:30. We had a 10:30am wake up call the next morning and a date with a dinosaur.

Up next:
Would we make our lunch ressie at TRex? Would I get any shopping done?
Would we pick up our rental car on time? Would my peaceful merry mood go down like the Titantic?

STAY TUNED!!!!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

That was completely insane!

I can't believe it didn't occur to that woman that it wouldn't work to try and save a parade spot for 50+ people! If you're taking a group that big to Disney (or any group for that matter), I think a bit of advance planning is in order...

I have a bit of a temper sometimes, so I'm not sure if I could have resisted saying something after they continued to ruin the magic during the parade. I'm sure that would have gone poorly though, so I definitely think you all did the right thing by abstaining from direct comments. It's just disappointing that your parade viewing experience was a bit spoiled. At least they provided entertainment beforehand!

I've never seen MSEP, but it has an air of nostalgia about it anyway since the music on the Classic Disney CD collection, and those are some of the very first CD's I ever owned. (I still listen to them constantly, of course.)

I'm really enjoying the TR!

 

[jenjolt]

I'm here!! Way late but I'm here!!! Love the pictures of Jack Jack he looks like he was having such a blast!!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Wow!! Some people are craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy!!

It sounds like you were able to have a lot of fun in spite of all the drama though.

I'm just sorry you came back from your shopping trip empty handed. Although I have to admit I don't know much about Dooney and Burkes, but I DO know they're reputed to be mucho dinero (did I spell that right??), so maybe I shouldn't be sorry after all.

Thanks to you, I've been working furiously on my Disney Wish List and I've broken it down by parks. Sometimes I've written down snacks I want to try , sometimes merchandise I want to check out, and sometimes rides/attractions I plan to attempt to lure my kids into/onto.

It's looking good so far but I still have a long way to go on it.

Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[Dugette]

WOW to that whole saving-spots-for-54-at-the-parade experience!!!

As I was reading, I told DH, "Gellybean had parade drama behind her. Someone was saving spots for 54!" And he was like, "54, you can't do that!!!!" Crazy. I can't believe there was pushing and shoving!

I'm glad you got to see the parade. And Jack-Jack sure looks like he's having fun with his glow-toy.

Looking forward to more!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Holy Moley Rocky!!!
That parade drama was scary!! I think I would have told the CM, bring on the security. They are ruining the happy parade magic atmosphere!!
WOW! Is all I can say!

Sounds like a fun evening other than the crazies!!
A late night swim sounds so fun!

Love the title explanation!!! It's a great line!

 

[brookelizabeth]

You take the prize for the craziest parade experience EVER!!!!!! Oh my word! UNREAL! And the "Christian" youth group was talking like THAT to others??!! Um...open your Bible lady, isn't there something about kind words? I'm thinkin' so! And where do they even get the idea that holding a space for 54 people is okay?! I mean, really!! How nuts.

However, the cattle prod comment and your Mom's "Oh no I didn't!" is HILARIOUS! And what excellent TR fodder it made. Completely unforgettable!

Sorry they ruined the magic though, how annoying that they argued throughout the entire parade. Seriously.

LOVE that picture of Jack-Jack all glowing and mesmerized by the parade!

 

[jc040404]

And I thought we had some crazy parade drama.. That was the craziest thing I've read yet about waiting for a parade. 54 people?? That woman was nuts. I can't get over how everyone was behaving! I do know that would be an experience I may not have lasted through!

It was pretty sad about the snack credit use, too. I don't know the DDP well enough to butt in and help out when I see stuff like this. I have heard sooo many CMs telling people how awesome the snack credits are because they can get all those free waters. I'm sure most that use it don't have a clue.

 

[gellybean]

Hey everyone!

I wanted to apologize for the lack of replies and updates lately.

My life was thrown a major curveball last week and things are gonna be nuts for a while around here.

It's still very very early and I ask that those of you that are on my facebook not mention this there, at least not yet but....





I'm gonna be a mommie of 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We JUST found out last week and while this was not something we had exactly planned, we're thrilled.

And VERY ILL!




I have ridonkulous morning sickness with pregnancies ( at least the last two) and so far this one doesn't seem to be any different.

As of right now, we are still planning on both the December trip and the Just us Two (which I guess will now be Just us THREE ) in January.

I have every intention of finishing this TR. But all I can focus on right now is functioning. With my last pregnancy, Dash was 4.5 and not in school so it was easier to give in to the nausea and hibernate. This time I have a 2nd grader and a 2.5 year old that needs my constant attention.

This is gonna be a challenge! I just keep telling myself over and over again...

"This TOO shall PASS!"


Thank you for all your patience waiting for the next update!! I promise I WILL finish this TR eventually!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm so very happy for you!!!

 

[Dugette]

Congratulations, Gelly!

I hope the passes quickly this time!

 

[jenjolt]

Awwww... Congrats!! This is awesome news!!! YAY!!!