PART 9: Day 4 - Magic Kingdom at last (!!); to do or not to do Fantasmic and bonding time at the resort (contd.)
Friday 27th October, 2006
Sorry about the ludicrous delay!! But hopefully I'll be on a roll now....
I'll add photos to this later.
So where were we? Dum de dum de dum... ah yes, still early on Friday in Magic Kingdom. So our all-knowing, all-powerful plan
dictated that we should be in Frontierland by 10am to do Splash and Big Thunder and it was around that time now or just after it. But when we left Fantasyland, Wayne said that his thighs were hurting and it sounded like he was chafing. Poor guy. This was a problem for him last year but I hadn't brought anything for it this year, thinking that the weather wasn't going to be scorching so he'd be ok. But he said it was very, very sore. So we decided to visit the First Aid Centre to see if they'd have something that could help.
But also, we had an important phone call to make today. I had actually just typed a whole long spiel about it and then realised there was no need whatsoever for all that detail
In short, Wayne starts secondary school next September and we had applied to a school but we needed to call them today as they would have their decision made by then as to who had/hadn't got places and we had only a few days to accept or decline the offer. If he didn't have a place, then we would need to apply to a second school we were interested in. And that second application needed to be in by November 3rd with an application fee. So we had filled out the form for the second school, written the cheque for the application fee, left the whole lot with my mother and depending on whether or not he got the place in the first school, we would then phone her to say whether or not she was to mail the second application. Does this make sense?!! No, I didn't think so. I've only gone and done it again, haven't I?
So...... it's hot now, it's 10.15ish and we put a stop to the whole plan which is fine, better than fine, it was probably very wise. We've already discovered that I get just a tad stressed (ahem!) when we obsess about the schedule so it's okay to let it go. But, mainly, I was concerned for Wayne and was mindful of the fact that we had a long day ahead in the heat and I wanted him to have fun and be comfortable.
So Grumpy went on ahead with Wayne, Garth and Alice to the First Aid Centre and I took a quick detour to get FPs for Space Mountain. I was still in the 'avoid the crowds' frame of mind. I hadn't totally given up on our plan. I'm not mental. When I caught up with them, a very nice nurse had suggested Vaseline for Wayne and gave him some which is what we would have used ourselves so I was quite pleased with her suggestion. She was really lovely and once more, I can't say enough good things about the 'above and beyond' service that Disney provides. Wayne did what he needed to do, felt a bit better already, we signed the book, thanked her profusely and off we went.
Even the First Aid and Baby Care places look so pretty....
We spotted a public phone next to the First Aid Centre so we thought we'd better make that call to the school right away because, with the 5 hour time difference, time was getting on. Believe it or not it took us the best part of an hour to make that call.
I don't know why but I always have trouble using the phones in Orlando. I follow all the instructions and yet, I hardly ever manage to successfully make a long-distance call. I'm not totally stupid nor am I a techno-phobe (and even if I was we can hardly call telephones new-fangled gadgets) but honestly in Orlando I can't hack the public phones. After trying it with a phone card, then with coins, direct, then through operators, all numerous times, we finally managed to get through to the school by going through the local operator and quoting our Visa number (and naturally paying through the nose). And what was the news? The principal hadn't reached a decision yet. We would need to phone back the following Tuesday.
It's now around 11.30 and as the plan has more or less become redundant we decide to play it by ear - ish! [Never fully letting go of the almighty plan of course!]. So off we go to Frontierland to grab some FPs for Splash Mountain - the wait was only 10 minutes so it was tempting to just go straight on but it's a long ride and we wanted to really get moving at this stage. It felt like, after all the months of intensive planning, we were standing still and wasting a lot of time. So, FPs in hand, we moved on to Big Thunder and Grumpy and the boys go straight on that, no wait at all. We also got a child swap pass for later.
While they're on BTMR I take Alice for a little stroll down by the dock where the raft leaves for Tom Sawyer Island. This is just an incredible spot, as is the entire Frontierland area. In a way, it's a shame to rush by such wonderful surroundings to merely go on a ride (great and all as the rides are!) - if you haven't checked out Frontierland in detail, it's so worth your time. Sitting on a bench with Alice, looking at the raft en route to Tom Sawyer Island and watching the beautiful Liberty Riverboat float by, I felt like we'd just stepped into another era or straight into the middle of an old TV show like House on the Prairie or indeed, Huckleberry Finn.
But it came time to move on and by then the atmosphere, which is one of sheer fantasy and magic, has taken over. The boys come off BTMR smiling - they had a blast. Garth got a couple of nice shots...
We get that wonderful smell of Disney popcorn and I indulge the boys in a souvenir bucket each, forgetting that Alice adores the stuff too. She commandeers Wayne's bucket and he chivalrously walks back to buy her her own one, much to her delight. At this point, the stress of earlier is seriously diminished and now it really feels like a wonderful family holiday. Phew!!! So off we go to Adventureland and, at the risk of getting very boring with yet another mention of the theming and atmosphere, that walk from Frontierland to Adventureland was wonderful. On our first trip to WDW I never made it to Adventureland so this was all new and I adored it. The little stalls and market-type shops, the leather, the pottery, the tarracota and blue paintwork, the...... well, everything - it's that theming again! DH suggested that I take the boys on Pirates of the Caribbean but I decline and decide to stay with Alice again. Looking back now, I guess I should have gone on that ride as I still have never done it but I think my guilt at having ruined the atmosphere earlier after breakfast made me want to ensure DH and the boys had fun and part of me was afraid that I'd get all cranky again and stress everyone out. Silly I know. But Alice and I had quite a nice time waiting for them.
We caught some of the Jack Sparrow live act and that was fun - honestly, I'm not entirely sure what the big fuss is about, but then again I'm not a huge pirate fan and certainly not a Johnny Depp fan (I wanted to slap him when I saw his take on Willy Wonka but there you go, another forum, another time). What I did enjoy, once more, was sitting down, chatting with Alice, watching people walk by and soaking up that.... yes, here we go again, ATMOSPHERE! It's incredible though just how much my mood is affected by the atmosphere of my surroundings. That's both a good and a bad thing. If I start off happy on any given day, and then, for some reason, end up walking through a grim area or witness an unsavoury event, it affects me on every level possible and alters, it seems, my entire brain chemistry. Of course, the upside is that, in a place like Magic Kingdom, I can soak up that vibe and that amazing theming until I am filled to the core with pure magic. I know that even if I never did any attraction I'd still have the time of my life in Magic Kingdom.
When the boys return, DH is very anxious that I get to ride something so we decide to do Jungle Cruise as we hadn't done that before. It was a lot of fun. At first I wasn't sure about all the animatronic animals and much later it hit me that before the existence of Animal Kingdom, Jungle Cruise was probably all that and a souvenir bucket of Magic Kingdom popcorn on top. Remember I'm really a novice at Disney World so it was only a few days later that that hit me. But still, overall we enjoyed the ride and Alice loved all of us being together on a relaxing boat trip.
Next we decide to use our Splash FPs. This was also a first for me as I was a scaredy pants last year and just kinda assumed it would be terrifying, which of course it isn't at all. Basically, it was the EE situation in reverse - assuming a ride would scar me for life so fore-going it as opposed to assuming I should ride it and being scarred for life (EE).
We get a baby swap pass so DH can ride later and off I go with the boys in our log and I loved it! I can't believe I let that one slip by me last year, especially as I have such fond memories of Song of the South (one of my late Dad's favourite movies). The boys had big smiles on their faces from beginning to end and it was so nice too to spend time with them in the flume chatting and 'dreading' the upcoming drop! Again, they were so kind, reassuring me that the drop would be okay and telling me not to worry but I wasn't worried. I smiled and laughed all the way and just loved it! The characters (Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit etc) look worn and old, but I hope they never change that - as we passed them I imagined all the people who had done this ride through the years and all the pleasure it must have brought to so many people and to so many children especially who are now grown. Once more, we exit with a smile and meet DH.
Alice had done a fair bit of waiting around so far this morning as she did on our first trip in '05 and I really wanted her to be involved so much more in this trip and for her to have a hell of a lotta fun! So I decide to take her to the Pooh Playground while DH did Splash with the boys and used the Big Thunder child swap pass for another go.
This is where the planning really pays off - planning for Alice to have fun on one thing while the others are having fun somewhere else by making the most of FPs and baby swap passes is so worthwhile. It worked a treat that day. On our way to Fantasyland it was very hot so I put more sun cream on Alice. She wanted out of the stroller (can't say I blame her) and we stopped to watch the end of the Woody/Jessie/Bullseye dance show thingy in Frontierland. It was okay I guess. I think I'm just not a fan of those live dance shows. I like big furry huggy dotey characters - not too keen on the skinny co-ordinated dancing ones. On we went and we spotted Brer Bear and Brer Fox doing a character greeting. There was no line to speak of so, trying to remember my decision to take advantage of any unexpected opportunities to have fun, I take out the autograph book and pen and within minutes they greet Alice. She loved it. She didn't know who they were but it didn't matter at all, she loved meeting them. They were very funny trying to sneak off with her pen and book but she was having none of it. Here she is...
So onwards to the playground but first a quick detour to change Alice's nappy. At this point she's getting impatient but honestly, she's such a good child, she hardly ever complains. She just kept saying "but Mom, I thought we were going to Winnie?", "where Winnie gone?" She gives deep sighs like an ageing mother of seven, throws her eyes to heaven, hands in the air and shakes her head and tut-tuts. *lol* So I sped up a bit and finally we got there. While I wouldn't call her shy, I would say Alice has a very gentle approach to things, which is a trait I love in her. She went to the water fountains but stood back, keeping a safe distance, just like she did at Blizzard Beach, watching the other children run in and out, getting soaked and loving it. She was very weary of it but eventually was squeeling with delight just at the look of the water. Slowly but surely she built up the courage to get just a tad wet but always planning her escape in advance!
We spent the entire time there at the water fountains and I loved watching her running around and laughing. This playground is beautiful - they've done an amazing job. I don't know how they do it but these colourful butterflies soar around you and you hear bees buzzing around your ears. Fabulous!
At least an hour passed and she would never have wanted to leave but Grumpy, Wayne and Garth joined us then and we were all starving so decided to have lunch at Columbia Harbour House. Well ok, ok, we didn't just decide on a whim, it was on the schedule and had been thought-through and analysed many months prior. lol! I had been looking forward to going back there as we loved it on our first trip and weren't disappointed this time round either! Never letting go of my desire to avoid queues, I asked DH to go to Tomorrowland to get FPs for Buzz Lightyear and to follow us to CHH. We had a lovely lunch there and DH got back with said FPs just as our food was ready.
By now it must have been around 3pm and we had to decide whether to go back to the hotel to take a break or keep ploughing on. We really wanted to go to Fantasmic at MGM that evening because it was closing for refurbishment the following Tuesday and all our other evenings, bar the Monday, were full up. So what to do? The sensible thing would have been to take a break asap (of course we were hours behind schedule but even so....), get in a little rest and then get to MGM for Fantasmic. But, as much as we wanted to see Fantasmic, we also wanted to finish this first day at MK and it's hard to resist just staying put when you have FPs in hand! So we decided to get a few attractions in and then see how we felt.
We all agreed to do Philharmagic next - we adored this on our first trip and I would say it's one of our favourite things in all of Disney World. So off we went to Fantasyland. Garth took this en route, which I love....
The wait time for Philharmagic was a mere 5 minutes. It was so quiet they never even opened the FP machines that day. First though, I remembered I had a fastpass for the Pooh ride which I'd picked up earlier. Something that came in handy on a few occasions was the fact that we had the option of getting one FP for a baby/toddler ride while getting 3 FPs for a ride Alice wouldn't be doing. To explain just a bit (can I ever do that??? Say anything "just a bit"? lol), with baby swap you don't need a fastpass for the non-riding parent so each time me or DH were doing a ride with the boys, we'd only need 3 FPs and then get a Baby Swap which was all we needed for the second turn on that ride - hope that makes sense! So earlier, when I was getting FPs for Space Mountain, I picked one up on the way for the Pooh ride.
So we reckoned now was a good time as she still had Pooh fresh in her thoughts from the playground so DH decided to take her to it while the boys and I browsed in that lovely store next to Philharmagic. Wayne always headed straight for the pins. He's built up quite a collection at this stage. I don't remember which one he bought on this occasion. I was quite strict about not overdoing it as we had got some good ones two days previously at the Disney outlet store and also I had purchased some really good ones on Ebay for about 4 dollars each and we were eagerly awaiting their delivery to All Stars any day - turns out they never arrived but that's a drama I'll come back to at a later stage - if I digress anymore I'll type myself off onto another forum or even another planet
. But suffice to say, Ebay pins or not, I wasn't keen on paying between 12 and 20 dollars per pin in WDW and, of course, multiply that by 2 each time to please both boys. I don't mention it a lot in my report but money was/is an issue and so, without being a spoilsport, I always had to be careful to not overdo the spending. The boys saved up their own money but I wanted them to spend wisely.
We waited quite a while in the store but eventually all met up again and went straight through to Philharmagic which was as terrific as we expected. Alice got a great kick out of it and in the more intense parts we removed her glasses - after a while she started to do this herself if she felt herself getting a little bit scared. Mainly though, she loved it and clapped in the end.
By now we were shattered and this was the time to definitely, 100%, no question about it,
positively put an end to the day but.......... well you know how it is, just one more thing! And those fastpasses were burning a hole in my pocket. So, bleary eyed but dizzy with happiness and still soaking up the magic, we head for Tomorrowland and go en masse to Buzz Lightyear - another first for all of us.
Another pic from Garth - I'm not a Stitch fan but I love this....
We loved Buzz. What a ride!! DH and I took Alice in our car and tried to resist spinning so as not to freak her out. Grumpy and Wayne were behind us shooting up a storm and spinning with glee. What a hit! I can't remember my score but it was about 2000% better than DH's.
Can we manage Space Mountain? Nah, too darn tired. We all agree, it's time to call it a day. We fancy a spin in the train as we missed out on that this morning so off we walk to Toontown and hop on the train to Main Street, disembark and finally leave Magic Kingdom, exhausted but on a high - despite the stress of early this morning and despite the setbacks, we got such a huge amount achieved today and I don't just mean the number of attractions we experienced, I mean the 'together' time, the chatting, the ambience, the food and mostly the MAGIC!!!! Such a great day.
A bus comes along within minutes and we head for All Star Music debating whether or not we should stick to our plan to see Fantasmic. I'm looking at Alice asleep in my lap and Garth struggling to keep his eyes open and I'm thinking "no way" but Grumpy suggested that we have a quick rest and go for it as he didn't want us to miss out. But by now it's well after 5 and we'd need to be getting to MGM at 6.30ish so I talk him out of it, saying that we just can't do everything. And I meant it. It's okay. How could it not be ok after the wonderful day that we had? I suggest we take pleasure in what we *can* get done rather than lament the things we can't get done.
So we get off the bus, drag our weary selves to our room, the walk seeming incredibly long at this stage and we wash up, change clothes and try to relax. Alice stayed asleep the whole time and is out like a light and Grumpy said he'd fancy a rest. The boys were asking all week if they could go to the arcade so I decided to head to the food court and arcade with them, leaving DH and Alice to sleep.
It's now probably around 7ish. We're not hungry, still full after Columbia Harbour House, so we decide to treat ourselves to a big fancy dessert. I got the boys the ice cream cookie sandwich to share (oh my!!) and I get the brownie sundae. Sheer luxurious sinful pleasure. Both of them were delicious and, much as they complained about having to share, even between the two of them they ended up leaving about half of the cookie sandwich behind. I made a fair dent in the Brownie Sundae though - I'm such a trooper!! So then we made our way to the arcade because, let's face it, much as I despise the sensory overload and grinding noise of such places, they're sheer nirvana for boys of 9 and 12 and they're good lads so I was happy to treat them.
They have a wonderful set up in the arcade whereby you don't need to engage in the annoying and constant search for coins. You put 5 or 10 (or anything up to 25 I think) dollars into a machine and it spits out a card to that value to use as you wish until all your credits are used up. It can be topped up if you choose. For each point you win you get a ticket, similar to the old way except another great feature of the arcade is that you can feed all those tickets into another machine and it spits out a simple receipt with your points printed on it. Garth experienced a bit of magic here in the arcade - shortly after he arrived he was browsing through the prizes in the glass counter and had his eye on a bag of magnets which required, I dunno, something like 250 points. The CM saw him eyeing them up and asked him how many points did he have. He explained that he had just arrived and had only 30 points or so and she said "that's okay, you're in Disney World, here you go" and handed him the bag of magnets. What a nice gesture!! He was thrilled.
Once the boys were established in the arcade I hauled my laundry (in the stroller in a true white trash manner) to the laundry room. First I got myself a coffee in my refillable (and oft-used) mug. I get such a kick out of using that thing, especially when you've mentally calculated that you're way past the 11.99 value.
So laundry got done (after much fuss and bother trying to locate one dollar bills) and after a while the boys finished up in the arcade so we went back again to the food court to just chill out and chat.
After that we went to explore the shop for a while. I love that All Stars shop. I could truly buy out the whole place if I weren't constantly reminding myself to budget, budget, budget. But I always buy a few little things nonetheless. So, items in hand, I get to the checkout to pay, having decided to use my credit card and, hmmmm, where is it? It must be somewhere I reckon but no, horror of horrors, it's gone. Now I know that credit cards can be cancelled quickly but, if you recall back in part one I mentioned how my credit card *is* my savings.
I didn't bend over backwards paying off the card for months leading up to our trip in order to score a great credit rating. Nah, that's for sensible people. People who paint their house, build a much-needed extension or replace their knackered car *way before* even thinking of returning to Disney. I did it to have Disney spending money. I did it for the pins, for the mugs, for the Brownie Sundaes and the Chef Mickeys dessert bar. Well the word "irresponsible" is in the title for a reason you know. So, sweet God on high, if that card is gone there's no way in hell we have enough to get through the holiday.
Not to mention the fact that we're hiring a car the very next morning so I can't very well do that with a cancelled credit card. I panic but try to keep things in perspective. Then I realise how crappy the perspective really is so I panic even more. But then I remember the machines in the arcade and the fact that Wayne's 10 dollar note just wouldn't go into the damn thing and how I pulled out my Visa and got his arcade pass with that. So I run into the arcade and ask the CM if anyone handed in a Visa and she said "yes". Oh sweet blessed relief. She tells me to go to the front desk. I am beyond grateful for this and once again that CM has brought Disney magic to my heart and my pocket.
I tell the boys of this news and they're very relieved too. They don't know the holiday is hinging on a credit card. They think I have some sense. I don't want them to worry about money - there's a fine line I think between teaching a child how to budget and keeping them up nights worrying that their home might be re-possessed. So anyway, unaware of it's importance, they weren't too freaked out but are very happy for me that it's been found. After queueing for a while at the front desk, I ask the CM there about it, and having proved my identity with my passport, he hands it over with a smile. *Phew*
As I'm at the front desk, I ask about the Ebay package and alas, it's not there. By now I was getting worried but all in all, it's a small thing compared to the credit card incident so I don't dwell on it.
So, happy and chatting, we head back to our room, credit card in pocket, clean clothes in stroller and yet another coffee in hand.
What a great evening we had overall. It was so nice just to chill out without a schedule and spend time at the resort. It's something I regretted about our trip in 2005 - we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and Wilderness Lodge then but I felt we didn't make the most of what the resorts had to offer. This was our last night at All Star Music and I felt satisfied that, this time, we got the most out of it.
Now I forgot to say that earlier, when we left the room with DH and Alice sleeping, I reckoned DH would be out cold for a few hours, if not the whole night, as he was really exhausted. He knew where we were because I had told him before he drifted off to sleep, but I hadn't said how long we'd be, thinking there was no need. But when we got back to the room, at around 9.30 he looked very worried and quite relieved to see us. It turns out he had slept for just 30 minutes or so and spent the next few hours sitting in waiting for us. He was totally pleased that we'd had a great evening but I did feel bad that he was on his own for so long, because Alice was of course still sound asleep. My sister in law had let me borrow her U.S. mobile phone but I hadn't charged it or got credit for it so DH had no way of contacting us to see where we were. But like I say, he was fine about it and had got started on the packing for our departure the next morning. I couldn't quite face any packing that night as my eyes were now closing so I decided to get up early instead and do it then.
As it turns out, we probably could have managed Fantasmic or at least either DH or I could have gone with the boys while the other one stayed behind with Alice but really I think we did the right thing. It took a lot less energy to hang around the resort than it would have to make our way to and from MGM and sit through a show.
So another packed day comes to an end. I'm excited at the prospect of spending the next day and night at Cocoa Beach and visiting Kennedy Space Centre the day after that and then, of course, checking into the Boardwalk!!! Still, I would be sad to leave All Star Music. We loved it there and have no complaints whatsoever, despite us having the furthest room in the furthest section of the furthest block in the resort!!
Before I sleep, I call down to the front desk to ask them if it would be possible to have most of our luggage transferred to The Boardwalk the next morning even though we wouldn't be checking in there until the day after that. She said it wouldn't be a problem, just to leave them in our room when we check out! Yay!!! This is such a convenience as we really didn't want to lug 5 or 6 big cases/bags all the way to Cocoa Beach and back.
We fall into bed and, once more, I can't even remember one minute of awake time in that bed - Disney is the only place in the world (including home) where I have slept immediately upon getting into bed - without an intervening hour of thoughts racing in my mind and a stack of books at my side as sleeping aides. Can Disney do no wrong? Can you tell how much I love it!
Thanks for reading along. Apologies for the typos - I want to post this fast! I wish I'd not let it go for so long but my workload in December was simply torturous. I will never ever work that many hours again. I was too tired to truly enjoy Christmas Day with the children and I love Christmas and it's only now that I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again. Exhaustion like that can take quite a while to recover from.
When I started this chapter, I was worried that I would have to abandon the whole report forever as I feared,with so much time passed, I wouldn't remember enough details to carry on. But so much came back to me as I typed. I enjoyed writing this chapter and am grateful for the opportunity to get it all out there before I do forget all that we did on this trip. I'm sure there are some more details which I can't recall so thank your lucky stars for that because you might have noticed (!!) I tend to babble on in painfully minute detail about the most trivial things - how many more paragraphs of minutiae could I have squeezed in had I written this sooner? Ah yes, there is an up side to this month-long gap.
Up next: All roads do truly lead to Disney World and, in so doing, all roads (it seems) are set up to keep us trapped there forever. We simply cannot navigate ourselves away from the place and we circle Orlando until we've entered the Disney gates 5 times. That wonderful feeling when the Disney World entrance first comes into view has long since been replaced by "if I see that entrance one more time, someone's gonna die". But finally, *FINALLY* we arrive at Cocoa Beach....... more laughs, more stress, more bonding, more anxiety but ultimately, more fun.....
Next chapter: Page 10, Post no. 142!!
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deb!...got my fingers crossed in hope
..it like having your first baby...dosen't mean one 
and 
too...& she the baby...
.
?
has kept me busy, esp.
.."pot of gold""..well it is sure making me feel good!
can't wait to read your latest!!!
Glad someone else can relate to my title!! lol Thanks for reading. 
