Thanks Flip Flop and bamabelle (aren't all bama gals belles?). I'm gonna get this baby DONE and lovelovelove your kind words. Trip reports can take us to Disney anytime we want to go and this is my favorite place to read Disney. So, if you've ever considered writing one, do it.
Back to our little story:
Chapter 20, still day 9 of 10
Refresher of Remaining cast, though the Gatelatches are with us in spirit:
The Cast
Me, The Fixer (because I fix problems and situations, not things), Jam, Jamal, 42 year-old obsessive Disney planner, wife and mom
DH 44, Baloo! Told me early in our dating he wanted to honeymoon at Disney.
Shrek (sorry, but he is
an ogre with a heart! Everyone calls him Shrek. Weve never been to Universal so dont flame me.), Mr. Incredible, too.
DS11,
A, Calvin AND Hobbes, sweet, the imagineer, black belt, lives for Disney magic, Cal, has firm plans to work for Disney. Not a greedy spender like his brother
DS6, E, Schmev, made of steel but terrified of Splash Mountain, Happy, Golden Sunshine, Buff. Greedy little joker....
After the Lights, Motors, Action photo-fest, the Fixers were starving. What else is new? As we debated our counter-service options, we stumbled into one of As fave locations: the Magic of Disney Animation. I do wish The Studios focused more on this aspect of Disney magic. While this particular attraction does its job well, we would love to see more of the magic behind Disney. The cross-pollination that is the constant Disney advertising (the bus advertises the parks, the TV advertises the movies, the restaurants advertise the DVDs, etc., etc.,) we would think this park would have more geared to future imagineers and Walt-admirers. For this trip, The Fixers had our usual snicker over Mushu, but we never got to do the Animation Academy. They were down (that word again
) an animator or two due to lunch breaks and could we come back in a couple of hours to do the Academy? We said we would see
. But A was disappointed. Its always fun to watch your mother make a mess trying to draw Donald or Pooh
The Grouchy Hungry Fixers settles on sustenancefor thats all it wasat the ABC Commissary, where we were treated to blaring infomercials about ABCs primetime shows. E was mesmerized and asked why we never watch any of those shows
.hmmm
because we try to keep you away from TV?
After lunch E and Shrek were ready for their nap so they headed back to that prized Poly A/C. A and I headed to WWTBAM because, once again, its something weve never done! Now Im especially glad we tried it as it is closing very soon! The people watching was the prime sport here. Why was I surprised to find a whole subculture of WWTBAM addicts in the first few rows? Our mannerisms and expressions screamed ROOKIE!!!!!!!!! even though we were seated in Row 2.
The first contestant was
an 11 year old boy from Nashville whose name was NOT A. Fixer! That was odd but we cheered him until his early demise. The next contestant really intrigued me. I was, at the time, a Mouseketeer in these parts. Oh, I had let you people help me with planning, read your tips, and occasionally read a trip report or two. Well, three or four at the time. Anyway, I knew all about Del, delswife, zurg, and the clan at BadShoe. The guy in the hotseat had on a badshoe.com t-shirt! I wanted to stand and scream, Hey! !You! Arent you the Evil Emperor Zurg? Wheres Commando Nikki? Where were you sitting cause I need to go stalk your peeps while you sit in the hotseat!! Im no good at this game anyway; show me some love! My A kept me calm and seated and we watched, like everyone else, as our own Disser, Zurg, played the game
and played it well. I cant remember how far he got but I did my best to find him and the rest of the crew after the show. No luck.
A and I enjoyed our second day of shopping through the Studios on our way out. We perused a few more animator drawings and then happened upon the very LOUD and gregarious... Chloe Kinnard, Gossip Columnist of the Stars:
She interrogated us about any gossip we may have heard on Sunset and/or any star sightings. I told her I stink at that. I cant even find Nicole and Keith and they hang out, basically, in my backyard. But I digress
Chloe was kind and hilarious and agreed to a pic with my A:
As we made our way to the exit, we spotted the Magician
whose name I cannot remember!! I thought I wrote it down!!!!! Oh, Jack Something. Jack The Card Trick Magic Guy. Anyway, he and his table drew A in and we watched him mess with the crowd for a bit.
My A was NOT jumping up and down (as some were
) to be picked for a trick, but Jack TCMTG did, indeed, choose him for a game. Awwww
it reminded this mom of how Willy Wonka chose Charlie over the greedy children.
But I digress, yet again. He was very good and entertained the crowd for a decent 15 minutes. Oh, Jack was good , too. Ba da dum. We saw two more gossip columnists on the way out. They badgered us about anything we might have learned from Chloe Kinnard (their nemesis). These two were cuties, too.
We finally made it to the bus stop (are you beginning to see why I am always late? I am easily distracted when it is time to stop and smell the roses, people!) only to watch the Poly bus pulling away. BTW, dont you like the MGM bus stop? I think its lovely with the water and the Swan/Dolphin/whichever behind it. So, we saw an Epcot bus and said HEY! Lets hop that bad boy then take the monorail (we LOVE the long monorail ride!!) back to the Poly. Sold. BUT we had the great fortune to have the chattiest bus driver in all of Walts 47 square miles!! Once he heard we were from Tennessee, he told us allllll about how much he loves Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is across the state from us. OK. I thought this was Disney, Mr. Bus Driver. It was funny, and A and I shared some giggles as we exited the bus and hopped on our flying train!!!
Yep, a short one but I will do another tomorrow. Gotta tell you about our (sniff sniff...) last night. Try me!!
I have had so many magical moments from guests on my 2 CPs so far. There is one that comes to mind from this current CP. I was working at Pooh's Playground at MK with Pooh and a family from MAK or GKTW comes up. They have several kids, including 2 little girls who are dressed like princesses. Well, after they visit with Pooh one of the little girls comes right up to me and gave me a HUGE hug. She was the cutest little thing. That moment right there made my whole day.
LY/MI!
!
Habraham Blinkin!! 
