The Fixer,The CookMaster,The Teacher,The President: 2007 sequel-*BACK 10-20-08 * Yep

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Jam ~ Another fantabulous episode, full of, as expected, magic and memories and good times!!! What a sweet family you have!!

 

[Joanna71985]

Do we get to see pictures of the puppy?

 

[MomofCKJ]

Glad to see you back and I hope your family is healing from your loss. I loved hearing about your Illuminations Cruise. We took one in December and same thing, hearing the story behind the Globe made the whole thing much more meaningful. We loved that cruise and it was a real highlight of our week!

Allyson

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Hi Jami!

I know YAK, sort of, LOL We shared a fastpass once.

Sorry about your grandma.
I am happy to report, my mom is doing much better, celebrated her 93td birthday yesterday, and sounded like her own self again.Still going to be in extended care for another 4 weeks though.
I posted something about it last time,only reason i mention it.

My DD did Iluminations cruises as a guide for a while. Got some good tips sometimes, but not always. Sadly, I have never been on one.

Love all your reports!

Hi YAK!!! Hi Ash! Hi Amy!

 

[KathyRN137]

It's good to have you back, Jamal!

Really enjoyed reading about Epcot and your cruise.... still keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Granny.

Kathy

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Hi Marita!!!

The Illuminations cruise was one of the highlights of our last trip! Very magical. Well, except for the flourescent substance in my daughter's mouth. Blech!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Welcome back Jamal. The latest chapter was great. Still waiting to hear how Granny comes out. Let's hope it turned out for the best.

 

[Grammyof2]

Jami - Glad you are back!

Love to travel to Canada. No passport required, yet

Those boys are smart cookies. The adults paid no attention, I am sure. Except Shrek playing matchmaker You do know I have a daughter I would love to marry off She comes with cute luggage Then we could visit

Can't wait to hear what issues you could have had with Soaring?? No front row?

Bring it on. I know you have NOTHING going on this week or next

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

I'm a little bit behind in my TR reading.

Well... A LOT behind. FBI.

Jami ~ Shrek and family. I'm SO sorry to hear of your loss. So sorry. Just know there's some prayers for all of you being said way up here in Canada. By a lousy canuck. Or two. (Hi Yak!)!

Really enjoyed this chapter. As always you bring IT!!! I'm glad you enjoyed Le Cellier and our provincial breadsticks... and that sweet, lovely and friendly Can-A-dian girl... so MUCH!

BTW...we ARE all like that.

Or not.

Heh heh.

Great pictures, too.

Thanks for this!

Cheers, your friend, Melly.

 

[jamal]

Well look what dragged in a cat. Thanks for stopping by, everyone! And Mel.

goofyfan~The puppy, er, arm puller, yes, could be a book of stories. He is lucky he is cute. Thank you so much for reading AND replying. It me!

Ash~No, the Yaks just stalk. Actually, they eat, but only on Tuesdays as you will see. We, on the other hand are expert eaters! It's what we do best!!

Georgia Aristocat~ Meow! SWEET! Ha! Clearly you have not met us at 2:45 PM coming off The Jungle Cruise then wading through parade traffic to get back to the resort.

Joanna~ Are you kidding? My left arm is now three inches longer than my right from the cute puppy pulling it when we walk. He doesn't pose for photos well. Yet. I will see what I can do.

Mom of CKJ~ (GACat too) Isn't the cruise great? I am so glad we did it. The extra emotion made it unique for us, but I recommend it to anyone.

JOE! That's the driver's name!! Shrek just remembered it!!!​

Backstage Gal~ I am so happy about your mother! That must be a HUGE relief for you. On the other hand, the tag fairy must be, um, illing...

Kathy~ Hi there! You are a dear. I am getting back at the writing!!

Ron~Welcome back to you. Thank you for reading, writing, caring, and missing stuff.

Gram~Take your daughter to Canada, then bring the fella here. I hear people want to leave. Let's just say Soarin' needs Operations Fixing.

Melly~Thanks for stopping by and leaving a note you louse-y Canuck.

Let's just say we canot miss Shrek's dad too much because he feels so very close. Every morning E prays for him to have a fun day in Heaven. We know he is doing just that!

 

[Joanna71985]

Well, at least the puppy makes for good exercise.

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

A lousy BuMp.

 

[IkeandMike]

I love reading your trippie. You have such a great sense of humor as well as a sense of humanity. I can't wait to read more, and pray that all is well with your Grandmother.

 

[team weasel]

Loving the TR....can't wait to read more!

 

[Grammyof2]

Happy Mother's Day to Us!!!!

 

[Tanya90210]

Glad to see you guys went back again this year... I loved your report last year!! Can't wait to see what else is in store...

 

[jamal]

Before I tell you about our Epcot day I have to go back to catch up on a tally. Yesterday’s meltdown total was one of our highest ever! We witnessed (granted, we had a bunch of witnesses!) eleven meltdowns. I’m not disputing it, for I snapped a few classic photos. Those may show up here and there. Stay tuned.

As usual, we had a plan for park. Well, I had a plan and everyone was ready and willing to follow it. Since we would enter Epcot from the International Gateway, we needed some speedsters to get our Fastpasses for Soarin’. I had been hearing and reading that Soarin’ had been causing some morning troubles in recent weeks. Apparently Disney decided the weeks of Spring Break would be the time to resurface the floors of the queue area, so half the area was closed. This impacted the entrance, exits, and Fastpass return area. My sources also told me that it was imperative to get to Soarin’ as early as possible as the FPs were usually gone for the day by 11:00AM!

Shrek was certain he was the ogre for the job. Hopped up on Club coffee and doughnuts, he pounded his fists to his chest and waved away any suggestion that the chicken-runner moms might be able to wiggle through faster than he could. No, he was the man for this job and he would meet us all at Test Track with thirteen Fastpasses.

The International Gatekeepers assured us that we would gain entry into the park at the same time or even earlier than the main gate guests. They also reminded us that our small numbers were in our favor for navigating through the back of the park. As usual, we told the kids to give Shrek their Keys to the Kingdom as soon as they went through the turnstiles. The moment arrived, we were first through, we slid our cards, Shrek ably counted cards to thirteen, and we were off.

The older boys followed him. They couldn’t stand it. They couldn’t resist following the World’s Fastest Dad. They wanted, I suppose, to see if he got the Fastpasses. No, they knew they could watch him secure the Fastpasses and still make it over to TestTrack to ride with us before he made it or we made it over there. Rotten fit kids.

Yes, yes. We told them not to run. Yes, yes, they have manners and really are good boys.

We just, well, sort of lost them. The rest of us walked—quickly—to Test Track—to find some of the kids there but TWO of the boys, well, NOT there.

Those boys were my A and Emeline’s oldest, G. So what? They jumped in line, disobeying us and fulfilling their urge to ride Test Track.

About that time my phone rang. Shrek. The Soarin’ Fastpass machine was not working and he had been trying to call (ouchstopyellinginmyear)to tell us NOT to ride Test Track and to come ride Soarin’ right now!

My phone rang again. A, calling from G’s phone inside Test Track. Mom…we are so sorry… we just couldn’t wait…are you mad?

Note that The CookMaster’s son did NOT ride. A rule follower to the end, that one is.

Anyway. Emeline and I looked at each other and decided to just let the boys go on. I told Shrek to come meet us and we would take our chances with Soarin’ in a bit. All the kids now had Test Track fever (even if they couldn’t understand their later fate with Soarin’) and we were all ready to ride. Shrek walked over and joined us.

Shrek and I ended up in a car with E and his buddy G, the seven year old fast car fans. Honestly, the looks on their faces as we whipped around that track made the entire trip worth the effort. You know what I mean? They experienced their own Year of a Million Dreams when they looked at each other, gripped that safety bar, felt the wind in their hair, and zooooommmmeeed at 63.4 mph. Right behind them, we smiled and captured memory snapshots. Shrek had secured almost immediate return Fastpasses so we all enjoyed another spin before checking out the GM dump shop. The older boys apologized over and over, seemed to have learned their lesson about separating from the group, and we moved on to Turtle Talk, another favorite Future World attraction.

The new clamshells are here! Oh boy, our resident Australian was finally at home. Emeline’s DH earned a new name for the trip report as we entered the Living Seas. He loved the pelicans and their constant Mine, Mine, Mine chatter. Well, I could hardly call him Mine as he is spoken for but I did decide to call him Crush. After all, he is an ace tennis player, so it fits all around. I was lucky enough to enjoy a clamshell ride with little G, who wonders at all he sees. That was the great thing about our families’ traveling together. Any of us could happily end up on a ride or next to each other, any time during the trip. We did have one grumpy Castmember encourage guests, through clenched teeth, to PLEASE STEP INTO YOUR CLAM!! The doors will be closing! Ok, ok!

Turtle Talk was fun, too, as that experience depends on the audience questions. Be sure you have some good questions ready for Crush when you go!

As soon as we got on our clamshells we heard the Fastpass machine for Soarin’ was fixed, so Shrek beat a path there. He secured them for later in the day! Boy, those go so fast, especially with the reduced number they distributed while we were there.

It must have been around 11:00, and maybe we were able to ride Test Track again first, but we made our way into World Showcase and the Cantina de San Angel. It was a beautiful Sunday and we wanted to eat lunch by the lagoon. The skywriters were out, doing their best to remind us it was Sunday:

The food at the Cantina is always good, but the service is sloooow!! I think this day it had more to do with other guests confusion over the Dining Plan than CM issues, but I know the Gatelatch family waited about 6 ½ years for their order.

We spent the early afternoon exploring World Showcase, finding treasures, and losing hats. Both my boys had lost treasured hats by now. A lost his favorite Donald hat the night before at Le Cellier. E apparently left his hat right here:

More on Lost and Found later, but this is what we did in World Showcase:

A has enjoyed playing with these sticks every trip! He finally bought some this day:

We didn’t buy any for Shrek:

The kids continued to fill my ears with unusual castmember names. You might guess they spotted a few in World Showcase. In China, I purchased a water bottle from Ting Ting and A bought his sticks from Wing Wong.


We caught the ferry back to Future World in time to go through Figment and play with our Imaginations. We had just enough time to have some intimate encounters with some ice cream and frozen lemonades before it was time to use our Soarin’ Fastpasses.


Let me tell you, Emeline LOVED her frozen lemonade. I mean, the girl was sooo happy at this moment! Never forgetting her first love, she announced she needed a Captain Jack-hammer to eat it. Eye rolls all around…

The evening is coming up next!

 

[averill94]

Ugh~glad to see you did get those Soarin fp's!

Loved the shot with all the kids and Dads. Its beautiful.
Thanks

 

[kpk89]

Oh, Jami. Your crew is adorable, to a person. I love this chapter!

 

[jaycns]

Oh, Jami. Your crew is adorable, to a person. I love this chapter!

What she said! It really is so very true! Please do keep it coming!!