The Berg-Berts do WDW, Part 30 – Closing Thoughts

[latoberg]

Ya’ll really don’t care about all that other stuff. What you want to know about is the parks. Well we finally got to the parks. But it took some time. We got to the hotel about 4:30 and out of the room at about 5:00. We stopped long enough to watch the geyser erupt.

Funny. We didn’t take the time to see that last time. But this trip will be different. We will take time to do things. Because the wife said so.

We troop down to the docks to catch the bus to MK. Blue or Green. Blue or Green. This is sort of like Matrix. And our choice resulted in a Neo warped reality. Because I forgot that the boats reverse directions after a certain time in the afternoon. So we hopped on the boat thinking we were headed to MK when in reality we were headed for Fort Wilderness. Now it doesn’t take that much time to get there and back to MK. But this was our first day. And we were ready for some fun. Airports are NOT fun. Airplanes are NOT fun. Buses with broken T.V.s are NOT fun. Boats that don’t go to the Magic Kingdom when I think they should are NOT fun. Double NOT.

Bye Boat!

We arrive at the Magic Kingdom (Disney World to #2S) and there are people leaving. YES! That’s what we want to see people. Get out. We want to visit the parks without you filling up the lines. And you know what. The lines were out of this world, unbelievably short. First ride was PoTC.

The boys were dying to see Captain Jack Sparrow. They had seen the home spun video on the net. They had heard the news. And they were ready to see him. He was cool.

And what was even more cool was that the plan was in place. I knew exactly where every stop was. We were going to wipe out 6 or 7 rides and spend the rest of the evening doing whatever (EMH and all that). Got off of Pirates and saw the wristband distribution. We were now ready to do the plan into the late hours. Except for one thing. The plan got tossed. After 1 ride. Poof! No more plan.

See we were expecting to have a bit of a problem getting the little wee lads with us to cooperate and ride things. But it was the opposite. #2S was ready to tackle the World. After seeing the Disney On Ice production (go back up and read about it), #2S was really enraptured with one attraction in particular. After Pirates, it was the only thing he really wanted to see. And our boys love their heroes types. So when he latched onto this one attraction, we knew it had to be done ASAP.

So we went to the Tiki Room.

Yep. Tiki Room. Why?

In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.
All the birds sing words and the flowers bloom in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.
Got a little something stuck in the grey matter now? Hmmmm? Yeah, me too.

I just had to share.

But #2S had to do the Tiki (in the tiki tiki….stop that) Room. And we obliged. Then he had to do the Dumbo clone – Magic Carpets.
With all lines we had all three were done in less than 30 minutes. And we were ready to eat.

I really wanted to try Pecos Bill’s. And get us back on the plan. MY plan. So we rounded the corner and headed for the Brazos. Or what passes for it in MK. Pecos Bill’s was really looking good. To everyone, that is, except Mr. I-don’t-like-food #2S. There wasn’t anything he would touch on the menu. So we walked out on the promises of a fixin’s bar. And on resurrecting The Plan. In my head I could hear the paper being wadded up into a ball.

We ended up at Casey’s for hot dogs. #2S will eat hot dogs as long as they don’t have brown on them. Brown. Little places on the outside skin of a hot dog that changes color from meat reddish to brownish. He won’t eat it. So we are fortunate that Casey sells brownless hot dogs.3 dogs. On the dining plan. Yumm.

Except #2S. He won’t eat the brownless hot dogs. Not because of the dogs. Because of the ducks. As in the pushy “don’t feed the” ducks. #2S has a serious problems with any animals outside his own species. No dogs or cats in our home. Petrifies him. I had to go to a neighbor’s house one evening to help him out with medicine. The boys had to go with me. The neighbor had a huge golden retriever that was, unfortunately, paralyzed in the back legs. The dog wasn’t going to jump or run after anyone. But it had a big bark. And when we got in the house, it went off. #2S refused to come into the house. So I had to physically pick him up and carry him into the house. I set him on the stairs and told him the dog could not come and get him. I turn around to help my neighbor and Andrew starts screaming again. I go back and check on him. “What’s wrong?” He says, “The dog…….it’s looking at me.”
Somewhere in his mind, he looked like a MilkBone.

So back to the ducks. The ducks kept coming up to the table looking for food. Hasn’t anyone shown these foul fowl the signs? Or even given them a napkin? Of course, technically giving them a napkin, which they might eat, would be feeding them. But you know what I mean. So please, quit feeding the dadgum ducks at Disney. And don’t argue Donald. He’s on the profit sharing plan. Don’t feed him either because he can afford Disney dining without the free food.

At the dinner table, we decided that #2S gets to have desert regardless of how much he eats. It seemed like a small thing to keep family harmony.

Oh, and a little side note. Ladies, I have a beautiful wife who likes to look good. I also have grown up with women who were concerned about their appearance. My grandmother, mother, and sister all owned their own beauty shops. So let me give you a little advice. If you are going to wear white pants or shorts, please, for pities sake, don’t wear rainbow striped underwear. We had to follow one lady who chose to ignore this simple principle for life. And she had to be made known here.

And we came up with a new plan. Daddy’s happy now.

 

[tink38]

Yay! Great installment!

You know, DH calls those the Carniverous Toe Biting Ducks to this day after our experience at the CR!

The 1st day we got there he was on the patio talking to his MOM (serves him right, I say) and feeding pocorn to the ducks. Or something junk foodish.

When he stopped feeding them and said, "That's enough. Go away", they became a tad agitated with him and bit his big toe!!!!!

Glad y'all had a great time mut even happier that you are back home!!!!!!

 

[kpk89]

Lacto! Dre! And your adorable boys!!

I so enjoyed meeting y'all (hee hee Kimmie the Yank said "y'all") Can't wait for the rest of your report.

 

[UtahMama]

What's REALLY wrong is the people who feed TURKEY to the ducks!

I thought I was the only one who has PICKY, picky eaters!!!

Did you get Cracker Jacks for dessert?

 

[NAB]

Welcome back Dre and Lato....

My DD is scared of dogs and cats too. Doesn't matter the size of it either. But she does love to feed those ducks popcorn. Sorry.

Great start can't wait to hear more.....you are bring back memories from when we were at WL. We were on the first floor too just outside the side door that leads down to the pool.

 

[drebert]

What's REALLY wrong is the people who feed TURKEY to the ducks!

I thought I was the only one who has PICKY, picky eaters!!!

Did you get Cracker Jacks for dessert?

You know, I look back and I can't really figure out what my DS#2 ate while we were there.
Sometimes he eats brown hot dogs, sometimes not. Sometimes he eats french fries, another time, not. Sometimes he eats Uncrustables, sometimes not. You get the picture.

We decided that the dining plan was wasted on him. If we had paid for it, he would have been force fed.

Utah Mama, we never saw cracker Jacks for dessert. Lots of chocolate cake though! Yum!

 

[AshClan]

Hi Lacto and Dre,

Hope the trip home went smoothly. We are ALSO now home. And this is the first TR I stumbled upon!! Just had to make one comment:

So back to the ducks. The ducks kept coming up to the table looking for food. Hasn’t anyone shown these foul fowl the signs? Or even given them a napkin? Of course, technically giving them a napkin, which they might eat, would be feeding them. But you know what I mean. So please, quit feeding the dadgum ducks at Disney.

Don't ever eat outside with Horsegirl. She feeds the ducks!!!! They were "nipping" at my toes all through lunch. So, Tink, I know how your DH feels. And tell DS#2 that I understand his fears!!! The crippled golden retriever, though,......not so much.

Can't wait to hear the rest of this report!!!

 

[drebert]

Bumping you to page one again!

 

[latoberg]

Magic Kingdom is a very cool place. But I don’t have to tell the DISer’s that. I do have to tell the folks on my blog that, though. Hi blogsters!

But we head out of Casey’s after eating a pretty durn good dog. And a half for me. And we have a new plan. Off to Neverland. Literally. We headed to Peter Pan.

And horror of horrors, there is a line. A 20 minute line. What is the meaning of this? We walk on Pirates and don’t even have to wait for the Tiki Tiki Tiki room. Now a 20 minute wait. And the boys encounter their first hurry up and stand still location.

When we get on board we split up. I get #1 and Lisa get #2. And that is the way it went most of the trip. #2 needed Momma’s reassuring presence. #1 was old hat at this. By the way. #1 and #2 is not a favorites designation. If it were, then the numbers would be a lot different. And change more often.

#1 is the oldest and #2 is the younger.

#2 LOVED Peter Pan. He has watched it a couple of times. But he loves Return to Neverland. He will be Peter Pan for the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. To my Captain Hook. But more on that later. Right now he is totally enthralled with his new favorite ride. And he insists that we do it again. But we have other places to see. Like the world. With little bitty doll children. Singing incessantly. And since it was right across the way, we walked right on It’s A Small World. ‘nuf said.

We headed the rest of the way around to Haunted Mansion, a family favorite.

Except #2. He didn’t like it. Sometimes. At other times he did. He kept going back and forth on this ride. He finally came down on the side that he didn’t want to ride that again. But just like the weather in Oklahoma, wait 5 minutes, it’ll probably change.

After scaring the crap out of our youngest, we decided to do Snow White’s (Scary) Adventure. You may remember earlier in this epic journey I made the comment about #2S having reality issues. Well, Snow White was too real for him. Not that it scared him. Or scarred him for life. Well, it may have. Time will only tell. But days later he was still trying to process what he saw in the ride. He has seen Snow White. But going on the ride proved to be too realistic for him. He wanted to know days later why Pooey (our family’s name for the Old Hag) was putting the apple in that stuff or why Pooey was trying to push a rock on us or why Pooey fell off the rock. He really had a hard time dealing with that ride.

Oh yeah, I forgot, we didn’t do Snow White then. We couldn’t because it was roped off for the fireworks. And we were right there behind the Castle. So you know what we did next, don’t you? We rode Winnie the Pooh. After which Lisa proclaimed it the lamest ride of the entire trip. There wasn’t any wait to get on, but that didn’t make it any less lame for Lisa.

After Pooh we hotfooted it over to Buzz. It wasn’t a walk on, though. We RAN through the line. There was no one in line. And it was lots of fun. #2S put it on the repeat list. He really liked it. So what about #1S, you’re probably wondering? He is a different kind of child. Not in a bad way. Just….in a different way. He won’t tell you something to hurt your feelings for anything in the world. If Lisa or I makes fettuccine alfredo and we ask him which he likes best, he will say both. But he knows mine is better. If you ask him what he thinks of a ride, he will say it was good. Every ride. So he doesn’t get a lot of air time here.

After #1S and I whomped on Zurg (and desperately beat the ‘Bert car) we headed back and did Snow White. See paragraph referenced above.

Then we headed to Mickey’s Philharmagic.

WoW! That is all I have to say. Well, no it isn’t. That was an unbelievable show. Outstanding. One of my top 3 favorite attractions. See, that wasn’t all I had to say. In the words of the little voyeur kid in the Incredibles, “That was totally wicked.”

But there is one small problem. Disney please take note that you broke the heart of one little boy. #2S was totally psyched to see Goofy. And he was teased with the whole thing about hearing Goofy around the theater. It was really cool, but it only set #2S up for a major let down. Goofy was nowhere in the show. And we had to soothe the poor boy’s broken heart. He wasn’t even satisfied when we looked all around the Fantsyland courtyard and found Goofy taking pictures with folks. He was totally let down and crying his little eyes out. So just a hint Disney, a little Goofy would go a long ways around Philharmagic.

But that little episode proved to us one thing. It was time for bed. We headed back to the Wilderness Lodge to sack out. Here I would like to say a couple of things to process the day.

Getting up at 3:30 is stupid.

Flying on airplanes is a pain in the neck.

The Wilderness Lodge rocks (even though it looks like wood).

Children can be pushed to beyond real physical limitations. They are tough. It’s parents who are wimps.

The beds in our room are heavenly.

 

[drebert]

Andrew, our #2 Son wasn't too sure about Snow White, however, we did have to ride it at least one more time at which he declared "That's enough".

Peter Pan, we probably could've ridden a gagillion times and it wouldn't have been enough. He loved that ride!

The beds at the Lodge, oh my, I would've checked em' at the airport if I could've figured out a way to do it! Very much heavenly!

 

[tink38]

You crack me up! When are you going to do the next one? HUH???

 

[NAB]

I would agree about the beds but we were always so tired when we hit the pillows we would have slept anywhere. Did you rub Humphery's nose for luck. That is the bottom bear of the totem pole.

 

[latoberg]

I would agree about the beds but we were always so tired when we hit the pillows we would have slept anywhere. Did you rub Humphery's nose for luck. That is the bottom bear of the totem pole.

No we didn't rub Humphery's nose. #1S was too busy running into the mercantile to buy something to ever stop long enough to rub a nose. #2S would think that was beneath him. A#1 Wife didn't know. And I just forgot.

 

[latoberg]

You crack me up! When are you going to do the next one? HUH???

You're getting greedy tink.

Go make something with crawdad and wait with everyone else. Just share whatever you make.

 

[DisneyObsession]

Getting up at 3:30 is stupid.

Flying on airplanes is a pain in the neck.

I agree! Getting up in the middle of the night makes no sense, but we do it anyway!

Flying stinks, but we do it as it gets us to our favorite place faster!

Keep the TR coming! Can't wait to read more!

 

[latoberg]

The next day was Animal Kingdom day. So we got up to get ready to head out. In the process of getting ready, I discover the first horrible mistake of the day. Today is Extra Magic Hour Entry at AK. Why is that a mistake you ask? Because I planned it that way and then forgot it. So the plan was for getting to AK for EMH and rocking along. We didn’t get to AK until about 8:30 (30 minutes late in the plan). I was headed to Everest for a FastPass.

The line was only 10 minutes, but Lisa and boys were on Kilimanjaro and I wanted pics of the animals. That’s why we went early. To find the critters. And shoot them. With a camera.

So I grab my FastPass and head back toward the safari. I stopped to takes some pics and checked my phone. Hmmmm. Missed call. Who could it be? Why, it’s my lovely wife. “Hi, it’s a 30 minute line. We’ll wait for you.” I call back, “No, go ahead and go.” I waited for them at the end. And waited. And traded a pin. And waited. And watched folks. And waited. About 1 ½ hours after we get into the parks (around 10:00) they finally get off of the safari. Dadgum. That’s a lot of wasted time. And I knew right there that the plan was shot again.

We headed toward Camp Minnie Mickey to watch Lion King. The boys stopped to do one of the AK version of Kidcot.

By the way, check out the hat. Look familiar?

I'm so proud. But they didnt' sell tube socks.

On the way we spotted the character photo shoots and joined in. We got some real great pics. But again not a lot of magic. No real play time with the characters.

Once we got all the pictures done (except Minnie because we would see her later) we headed to the Festival of the Lion King. This was one of many things we didn’t get to do in the previous trip. We can’t blame the boy for this one, though. We just ran out of time. But we got to see it this time.

Albeit a little late. We were sitting on the benches, ready to watch the show, when Lisa observes that someone may be hurt. I turn to look where she is pointing, and sure enough, EMT’s were headed up into the bleachers. Appeared to me that someone passed out. But she seemed alright from our point of view. So the show went on. And it was a great show. Too bad we missed it last time. We would have repeated it this time. But since we didn’t see it last time, we enjoyed it for the first time this time. K?

At this point in the timeline (it is no longer a plan, remember?), we decided it was chow time. Now since #2S isn’t a picky eater, it was decided to split up and use a dual front attack. Lisa would make the first sortie at Pizzafari because they do PB&J Uncrustables.

Oh. Flashback time.

You may remember a comment about us getting groceries way back in this report. WELLLLLL, that little plan didn’t work out, either. We sort of forgot to order the food before we left. And then, when we tried to place our order online at the hotel the night before we left, all delivery times were filled up. So no groceries for us. Flashback over.

Current past trip now resumes.
Lisa heads off to find the munchkin a munchies. I take the two boys firmly in hand and we head off to Restarauntasaurus to get #1S McD’s type munchies. This kid can eat. He blows us away on the amount of food he can pack away. So he orders…..a happy meal. 4 chicken McNuggets. Just so he can get the lame-o toy. And then didn’t eat the fries. And was hungry 15 minutes later. And begging. It was pathetic. Him going up to complete strangers and looking pitifully at their trays of food, looking for a hand out.

Naw, just kidding. He WAS looking at my tray of food, though. My dessert, actually. After Lisa returned from her safari for the elusive PB&J, she took the boys out on the deck of the DinoDonald’s. #2S had plenty of time to eat his meal. DinoDonald’s took forever. And all I ordered was a Happy Meal. But she took the boys and #2S began to dig in. I brought #1S’s meal to him and he snacked. I left before he started, though. I was off to secure cooked meat. The only kind of meat right for a country boy like me: bar-b-que. Flame Tree to be precise.

Now I love me some bbq. I eat it whenever I get the chance. And the Flame Tree has some downright tasty ribs. If you get a chance, eat them. Lisa had the chicken. I didn’t like it so much. I went back to the ribs. Picture it: large bald man hunched over a rack of tasty, chewy, nicely seasoned meat. Don’t bother me, I’m eating them again. In my mind.

But once the food was gone (insert whimper), it was off to find dinosaurs. Lisa took the boys to the hottest place in the entire park, the Boneyard. I went to the chiropractor for a realignment. No, wait, that was Dinosaur, the ride. Some family sat behind me. They were trying to convince their poor little girl that it wasn’t a scary ride. Folks, look. Children know better than you do what to be scared of. Don’t try to convince them otherwise, okay? Just drag their little behinds on the rides that will scare the bejeebies out of them and deal with the consequences later. See referenced part above about my relationship with my Mother.

I liked Dinosaur. And didn’t scare my children.

Next was something a little lighter. Bugs. It may be tough being a bug, but it is a long way to walk to find that out. That queue goes on forever. By the way, that’s queue as in “q” or “cue” not “cue you”. Cute show. No therapy for the children.

Now Lisa wanted to get soaked on Kali. Only one problem, it is a 40 minute wait. And we don’t do that. And the FastPass is shut down for the day. So no soaking for her. The boys got to play in the cool little fountain across the way though. And they were happy with that.

It was time to go, then. The parade was starting soon and I wanted to be out of there before it started. So we took off. Just outside the parks we saw Stanley and Dennis (the goldfish – you figure it out). Which is really cool. But our kids don’t watch him, so it wasn’t a big deal. Sorry Stanley. But I like Dennis. By the way, how come he has a British accent?

Back to the room to prepare for the night ahead.

But not before this pic. It defied any cute way to set it up. So take it for what it's worth.

 

[drebert]

So I grab my FastPass and head back toward the safari. I stopped to takes some pics and checked my phone. Hmmmm. Missed call. Who could it be? Why, it’s my lovely wife. “Hi, it’s a 30 minute line. We’ll wait for you.” I call back, “No, go ahead and go.” I waited for them at the end. And waited. And traded a pin. And waited. And watched folks. And waited. About 1 ½ hours after we get into the parks (around 10:00) they finally get off of the safari. Dadgum. That’s a lot of wasted time. And I knew right there that the plan was shot again.

Ok. This was a slight exaggeration. IF he would've had his phone to where he could hear it this would not have happened. First I called to ask him if he wanted us to wait. No answer. So, we decided to get on because my understanding was that he was going to ride Everest if the line was short (which it was).

When he decided to finally check his phone and called me back, I told him exactly where we were in line so that he could join us. At that point, he said "No, go ahead, I will wait for you". So tell me, does he have a right to gripe about the long time he waited? Uh No! I don't think so

Ok, carry on Honey.
Back to you now!

 

[NAB]

Okay now did you use your fastpass at EE? Did you like it?

You got one good looking family there Lacto. The boys are so cute! Love the hats too. Looks like you were ready for AK.

No Drebert he shouldn't complain. He was invited to the party.

--

 

[latoberg]

Okay now did you use your fastpass at EE? Did you like it?

You got one good looking family there Lacto. The boys are so cute! Love the hats too. Looks like you were ready for AK.

No Drebert he shouldn't complain. He was invited to the party.

--

I didn't get to use the fastpass. I passed on it to wait for wife. Because it wasn't in the plan to ride it then. It was later.

And I was scared to go by myself. I had to wait for horsey and ash to hold my hand. More on that later.

 

[bdg100]

OK, I admit it. This is one of the things I wanted to read before I left but didn't. Sorry. I look forward to reading it when I return. I did look at the pictures though. It sure looks like you had a great time.

BDG