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

[HaleyB]

No.

Actually... I respect you for not trying the Beverly!

Heh heh.

Keep rollin', my friend.

Melly.

Well I am dissapointed. Very.

But not about Beverly, I don't drink it either, so we are both wussies. About that.

But, this dissapoints me. That you did not know about the wussie version of Mission Gary. Ur, um, Space, I mean. The one for people who are too afraid of the real deal. Which is not us. Tfi.

Sophia has been going on M::S since she was 5. I even rode it twice in a row one time. We are a Silly thrill seaking bunch. Of loons.

Love the pictures.

 

[latoberg]

Okay, I'm feeling the love here.

Time to move past the past.

 

[latoberg]

I believe I said somewhere many, many pages ago, that I love the World Showcase. I could spend two or three days here. And we started with Mexico. I think it is just cool. I said that somewhere, too. But it is an awesome pavilion. We wandered in and took a picture by the fountain.

We walked by the mariachi band. And headed straight for our destination: el Rio del Tiempo. I hadn’t been on it since 1984. Not much has changed. And the boat got stuck again. I asked #1S if he broke the boat.

After we got out of the boat, we exited Mexico. NO I didn’t eat any Mexican food. Because I knew we would get around to American Adventure. I didn’t want to miss it again. Because of the same reason as the first time.
Next we entered the virtual homeland of the Maelstrommers: Norway.

For you blogsters, Lisa and I connected with a group of people on the internet who share in the passion we have for DisneyWorld. We have shared jokes and laughter. We have talked on the phone. We have even ministered to one another at times of pain and sorrow and just general funks. We name ourselves Maelstrommers after this pavilion in Epcot. More specifically, a ride in this pavilion: Maelstrom.

This particular day, this ride took on new meaning for us. It is sort of like a Pirates of the Caribbean with trolls. And polar bears. And oil derricks. It’s fun in a simple way. Or I’m simple in a fun way.

But we knew we had to ride it in honor of our Maelstrom friends. But we got stopped. No, it wasn’t a broken down FastPass machine. It was a Norwegian CastMember. And he looked like he had something to say. So we stopped to talk to him. His name was Fredrick. He was a nice guy. Very friendly. And he was looking for honorary Vikings. To have a special ride on Maelstrom. And guess who stopped to talk to him to get this special honor. The Bergberts. Right to the front of the line. But we didn’t get to get on the ride right away. The trolls knew the Bergbert boys were coming and broke the ride. (That’s 3 rides that broke down when we came close. For those playing the home game edition.) But the next ride out, Fredrick set us up with our own boat.

While we were waiting he helped #1S find hidden Mickey’s. Which was very cool. And we rode the maelstrom all the way to the end. And we got an honorary Viking magical moment certificate. I didn’t have the heart to tell those good people that our family was already a Viking family. But now we have papers.

We headed through the shop and had to take the obligatory Viking and troll pictures.

And then made our way to China.

There is a new exhibit in the Chinese pavilion. And it happens to be one of my favorite subjects of Chinese history. I’m not an expert in this, but I find this very fascinating. This ruler died. And when he died, the people created an army of soldiers to be buried with the ruler.

Each soldier was unique. They had different facial features. They were individuals.

And there were thousands of them. Along with horses and carts and weapons and all kinds of stuff. I just find that totally awesome.

We left out of China and walked by the African drummers, the German pavilion (ummmmm, sausage), the train display, and Italy. We didn’t stop to really look at much along the way.

We were headed for the American pavilion. Home of hamburgers, hot dogs, and funnel cake. At this point, that was about all the boys were focused on. They wanted to eat. So we pitched camp at one of the tables while Lisa rustled up some chow.

I sat there looking at that building

knowing that one of my most embarrassing moments happened within its walls. I also knew that one of the greatest exhibits of audio-animatronics was presented. And the last show of the day was starting in 10 minutes. So decision time. Do we cram those tasty morsels down the throat of our boys and hope they don’t choke so we can see the show and miss seeing the rest of the world showcase? Or do we skip this show, catch it later in the week, and wander the rest of the pavilions? We opted for the latter. We had plenty of time to get back over here. Let’s just take it easy and wander around the rest of the countries.

So we headed off around the lagoon to see the rest of the world. We swung through the Japanese pavilion. This is my favorite outdoor pavilion. I love Japanese culture, art, history, architecture, and atmosphere. If there is one place on earth I want to see before I die, it would be Japan. And I would love to see all of it. Not just Tokyo Disney. #1S likes Japan also. I never get enough time here. It is just beautiful.

Speaking of beauties. The next stop on our little jaunt around the world was Morocco. And what do you know. The very first sounds and sights we have are of the band Mo’Rockin. Although we didn’t get to see the belly dancer do her thing. They just finished the set as we walked up. Sorry MarkyMark, no pics.

France is….France.

We didn’t get time to swing through the toy store in England. I could see Tigger in there, but I had a sense about something. It was hearing. I heard the classy and moving sounds of music. My favorite Epcot music. And it was coming from Canada. And I saw a crowd. And I knew it was my favorite band in kilts: Off Kilter.

and that was the best pic I got (sorry Horsey)

Now, let me say for my Canadian friends, that I love Canada. Not just the pavilion, but also the country. This is my third favorite pavilion. I don’t know what it is. But for some reason Canada is….comfortable. Kind of like your favorite sweatshirt. It just feels right. And some of my favorite things are from Canada. Red Green. Due South. Celine. William Shatner. Matt Frewer. Celine. And Off Kilter. Yeah, I know it is all pop culture stuff. But they really have some cool people in Canada.

So anywho. I forced marched my family from France, through England, just to make it to Canada to hear the last few sounds of Off Kilter. This is an international group of musicians who play Celtic Rock. And they use the bagpipes as a featured instrument. And all the guys where kilts. They are so cool. #2S thought they were so cool that he jumped out of the stroller and started doing a reel. That’s a dance. It was very spontaneous. And he was enjoying himself. Until the music stopped. Then, like a little music box ballerina, he stopped. And sat back in the stroller.

We checked out the stuff cart. Not to be confused with StuffMart. That’s because, while Bob and Larry are from up North, it’s not that far North. But I was looking for my next Off Kilter CD. And the boys were being entertained with some weird fan belt on a handle spinny-lighty-uppy thingy. Well, they were masters at it and got certificates for crawling through the hoop, or something. Hey, it entertained them so I could look at the music. But I didn’t get a CD.

It was getting about time for Illuminations by now. People were lining up. And we were not staying for it. I hear the collective gasp. Sorry. Lisa declared it a little on the dull side. Hehehe. Take it up with her. For me, it’s just not moving. I think it may be a little too abstract for me. I do abstract. But it doesn’t speak deeply to me. Mostly because I stand up to watch it and get a little tired.

So we headed toward the house. But we took the bus. It was quicker.

 

[NAB]

I see you broke the lights in the store with the troll too.

Cool pics of the soldiers.

I am glad you like Canada too...

We don't stay for IIlustions either, try to high tail it to the rides if it is late evening or out to the buses.

 

[Minnie_Moo]

I'm telling you, Todd - if you don't have Off Kilter's "Live" CD, that's the next one to get! I enjoy it because a lot of the band members' "schtick" is included along with the songs.

My favorite is Randy singing "watermelon-watermelon-watermelon, watermelon, watermelon-watermelon-watermelon, WATERmelon!"

There are some repeats on the CD from previous CDs, but what's not to love about their version of Amazing Grace?!

I enjoyed seeing the new pics of Lisa and the boys.

Dre!

 

[HaleyB]

For you blogsters, Lisa and I connected with a group of people on the internet who share in the passion we have for DisneyWorld. We have shared jokes and laughter. We have talked on the phone. We have even ministered to one another at times of pain and sorrow and just general funks. We name ourselves Maelstrommers after this pavilion in Epcot. More specifically, a ride in this pavilion: Maelstrom.

What he is trying to say here, is this. We are dorks. So he fits right in.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

And we rode the maelstrom all the way to the end. And we got an honorary Viking magical moment certificate. I didn’t have the heart to tell those good people that our family was already a Viking family. But now we have papers.

France is….France

Obviously you didn't get a good look at the wait staff at Le Chef's.....

And some of my favorite things are from Canada. Red Green. Due South. Celine. William Shatner. Matt Frewer. Celine. And Off Kilter. Yeah, I know it is all pop culture stuff. But they really have some cool people in Canada.

Thank you!

Great pic's!!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Lacto,

How cool is that? you are the only paper carrying officially certified members of this tribe!!! I am soooo proud of you.

Great job again!

 

[UtahMama]

I caught the Veggie Tales Stuffmart reference! Very good one, that Mme. Blueberry!

Can I say your family is just adorable! Loving your report!

 

[AshClan]

Thanks for the wonderful trip through the World Showcase. It was fun to do that tour without sweating my asp off like I did when we were there. Of course, I didn't get to eat as much this way. Your comments on the China exhibit were cool. And Japan is a place that my boys really, really want to visit, too. (My BIL is married to a woman from Japan, so they have 4 cousins with a Japanese heritage.) I told them we can go when they expand their diet selections. Because if we went today, they would starve to death.

Love seeing all the pictures, too.

 

[sheridac]

#2S thought they were so cool that he jumped out of the stroller and started doing a reel. That’s a dance. It was very spontaneous. And he was enjoying himself. Until the music stopped. Then, like a little music box ballerina, he stopped. And sat back in the stroller.

Now THAT I would have liked to been there. For. Because, you know, I KNOW what a reel is. AND. Can do one. Too. And would have. Too.

Who needs music??!!!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[DisneyObsession]

Finally able to catch up! No power here in Buffalo! Thank Heavens for church family/friends!

 

[latoberg]

Well thank you all for dropping by.

UMA - we are all over Veggies in this house. Currently we are in a Veggie lull though.

Minnie_Moo - I was thinking about the live one as one of my next CD's. Thanks for the recommendation.

Marita - I always feel better when I have documentation. It feels "official".

Ash - The China exhibit is very cool. I didn't know about it until we were down there. I jumped online and allears had a feature on it. So I knew I had to drop by.

DisneyObsession - I hope everything is all better now. My aunt lives in the area, also. Glad you had some good folks to help you out.

The next chapter is still in the note stage. But I should have the next chapters up on Tuesday.

 

[latoberg]

Epcot was a tiring day. We spent all day without the break back at the resort. But the boys did great. The stroller helped for #2S. But everyone was tired that next morning. Thus we skipped EMH (that’s Extra Magic Hours) at Magic Kingdom that next morning. Everyone slept in a little. Even me. I didn’t get up until 7:00. I had been getting up at 6:30. That was so I could get up, get ready, get coffee. In that order. Although up may be relative when speaking about pre-coffee. Or pre-Nescafe.

When I got back to the room with my coffee-like substance, Lisa was up and around. And not happy. She had a sore throat. She was complaining the day before about a scratchiness. But she had been popping acetaminophen and cough drops. No problem. But today it was a little more persistent. But we all ready to go and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. We left about 8:30. Hopped the Contemporary launch and grabbed the monorail. Without all the details involved – it took us 45 minutes to get to the MK. It was quite a pain to travel.

As soon as we got into the park, we saw characters around the Town Square. We only bothered to get pics and ‘graphs with Pinocchio and Gepetto.

The boys were excited about meeting them. Which is cool. By this point they were up to meeting any character. But the weird thing is they had never seen Pinocchio. But they wanted pics and ‘graphs.

Lisa was hungry, as were the boys. So she wanted to drop in by the Main Street Bakery. I had the stroller to guard. So I stood out on the street to watch the Main Street Dancers. And I waited….. Again. One interesting thing I witnessed standing out there was the Cookie family. No cookie was not their name. I had no clue what their name was. This family was sitting on the curb in front of bakery (presumably waiting for food from inside). Some kids came out and joined the rest of the clan out there. Then I saw a Cast Member in “bakery” costume followed by a couple of “official” types. The odd thing about this CM’s costume was the very large chocolate chip cookie sitting on top of her hat. It kind of looked like a flat Gibson Girl-style hat. But it was a cookie. And I know what cookies look like. She walked out and presented the family this large chocolate chip cookie. To go along with all of the other sugary, fattening treats they purchased in the bakery. A little magic for them.

After Lisa and boys came out and we picnicked, we headed for ToonTown. For some reason, #1S was all in a tizzy about going to ToonTown. But we wandered over to Mickey’s place.

The boys wandered through the house. They looked at some of the sights. But they were focused on meeting the Mouse. We got back there and met THE Mouse. And had pictures.

Then we headed over the Minnie’s house. Here, the boys looked around, but just weren’t excited about Minnie’s stuff. Although I did see that Minnie had a Viking in the closet.

The Judge’s Tent held the chance to meet more characters. And as I said, the boys loved meeting and greeting characters. We hopped into line for the “classic” characters. The lines for the princesses and the others (I can’t seem to remember who they were) was atrocious. The classics was very short. So we zipped up the line. And waited. Again with the waiting. We stood there forever. And Lisa was getting cranky. She wasn’t being mean. But she just didn’t feel good enough to deal with this waiting stuff. So I knew she really felt bad.

We got in to see the characters. And we met Donald, Chip, and Dale. Chip and Dale had a good time messing with the boys. They must be related somehow.

Notice Chip attempting to choke #1S with his Pal Mickey.

After dealing with the line in the Judge’s Tent, Lisa had reached her line quota. She didn’t want to have to wait for anything else. I was now quite familiar with the Waiting Attraction. But since she was not feeling the Magic, I let that go. We headed over to Fantasyland to hit #2S’s favorite ride, Peter Pan. But the line was a little longish. See above note about Lisa. So we explained that we were going to get a piece of paper that said we didn’t have to wait in a long line and then ride some other things, then come back. He wasn’t satisfied. He knew that was a lie and he would never ride Peter Pan again. He goes for the drama.

We grabbed our FastPasses and took in Snow White (another favorite) and Small World. We still had a lot of time before we could ride Pan.

The lines were moving quickly on those other rides. We wandered around the dump shop at Philharmagic. We grabbed some what nots and doddads.

Actually I grabbed a handy little whatnot – a Philharmagic FastPass holder. I was able to keep my Key to the World card, PhotoPass, and FastPasses in there. And I didn’t have to dig out my wallet. Very handy indeed. And it was the cheapest FastPass holder I had seen.

As we were paying out, we saw Peter and Wendy finishing up a Family Magic Tour. But they disappeared before we could meet and greet. Instead, we used our FastPasses and went to Neverland.

After we returned to jolly old Orlando, we headed to Frontierland. Lisa was having an internal struggle. She really wanted to do Splash Mountain. But she also felt that it might make her throat feel worse. So we vetoed getting soaked. But along the way to that decision, we encountered a wily brer patch inhabitant – Brer Fox.

He was messing with folks and ducks. Seems Brer Fox was feeling a might bit peckish. He kept chasing after the ducks. Wonder if he likes duck confit?

We finally got around to our destination: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

If you are new to this report and have not read the beginning of this epic journey, it may behoove you to return to about part 5 and read about one of my embarrassing moments. It involved a runaway mine train coaster. And it left me with a lasting fear of coasters.

But I believe that if you are going to have fears, you must face them. It is something we are trying to teach our boys. If you are afraid of something, don’t let it control your life. Confront that fear and lead your own life. If you would like to hear more, order the current sermon series I am preaching.

We hopped on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I will be honest with you. I was not the least bit afraid. No fear. No butterflies. No nothing. I loved this ride. #1S wasn’t so keen on it. I was totally into it. I was raising my hands and laughing. I told him to put his arms up. He had a very resolute face on. And he said with conviction, “I think it’s okay if I just hold onto the bar.” Yes son, it is very okay.

Well, the morning sweets and treats had worn off. And the family was feeling kinda like eating again. And there was only one place nearby. Pecos Bill’s. It is truly amazing what one person tends to remember versus what others forget. My mind is full of useless information. Trivial Pursuit used to be one of my favorite games. But I tend to remember less than important stuff. But one thing I did remember very clearly was that #2S would not eat anything on the menu at Pecos Bill’s. Wifey forgot this little tidbit. So she hops into line and then looks at the menu. Then announces the following, “#2S won’t eat anything here.” Again, because she was feeling less than magical, I saved the “I told you so” type comments. And we left.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

Lacto - Another great chapter and loved the pictures.

Since I ready knew Lisa was sick, in reading I felt so bad for her. Wow - I give her credit for sticking it out that day!

Loved the "Moustrom" at Minnies!

 

[drebert]

Thanks for posting the butt shot honey. Appreciate that.

Yak- I was kinda impressed with myself actually. But by golly! It was our vacation and I was NOT going to spend it in bed!

 

[Grammyof2]

Thanks for posting the butt shot honey. Appreciate that.

Yak- I was kinda impressed with myself actually. But by golly! It was our vacation and I was NOT going to spend it in bed!

All caught up!!! and what do I quote, hahahahhahahahaha that is funny Dre

 

[tink38]

Wonder if he likes duck confit?

AAAACK!!!!! That is a BAD word in my house!

Have you ever actally MADE that dish? Have you? Huh? Beccause I have. Do you KNOW how long it takes to make? I'll wait.




THREE WEEKS!!!! That's how long it takes!

Oh. And. Great report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[FSUMARCHIEF]

Thanks for posting the butt shot honey. Appreciate that.

Yak- I was kinda impressed with myself actually. But by golly! It was our vacation and I was NOT going to spend it in bed!

LOL Dre - If it makes you feel any better, I hadn't noticed the butt shot until you pointed it out. Thanks! LOL

Blessings!
MarkyMark