The flawed product of a deranged mind - FINAL CHAPTER - post 100

[JKMJ441724]

Chapter 4 - The Magic is in the air

Our plane landed with no muss or fuss. We made our way to the baggage claim area. We were happy to see that all of our bags made it to Orlando. We then hiked a mile or so to the rental car place. I casually mention to the attendant that it is our tenth anniversary and asked if he could give us an upgrade. He says for $16.95 more per day, he will be happy to upgrade us to a convertible. Apparently, I was too subtle for him. I told him thanks anyway.

Then, when he told the lot guy that we were ready, he said to get us something nice - since it was our anniversary. I’m not sure what we were going to get, but we ended up with a sporty little Volvo. It was cute. Almost as cute as a spotted pup. I was expecting a Yugo or a Focus or some other equally compact car. We made our way out of the lot and completely guessed which direction to go. There were no signs as we exited the airport telling us which way to go to get to WDW. Our guess worked. We were on our way to Disney.

I pulled out my mapquest directions, which were very easy to follow (unlike Pulp Fiction) and totally accurate (unlike James Frey). But once we got on the main highway, there were plenty of signs to follow, like this one

Before long we saw this one

Then we followed the signs to Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. We pulled into the Carriage House, parked our ride, and went inside to check in. We handed our reservation confirmation papers to the nice CM, who had already earned her ears by the way, and she checked us in with no problem. Our room was ready. She pulled out her little map to show us how to get to our room over in Congress Park. It was pretty far away from the Carriage House. Figures. Plus, we were on the third floor. I was already getting myself psyched up for a let down.

But our room rocked. We had an excellent view of Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island.

The quiet pool was just steps away. We stayed in room 2301, in case you want to request it for your trip. I’m pretty sure that Cybant told the DVC people that we were celebrating our anniversary. I don’t know if this was the room we would have received anyway or if we were given a preferred view location as an upgrade.

Well, enough of this drivel. Let’s get on with the show.

We drove over to the ticket and transportation center and caught the first monorail to the Magic Kingdom baby.

What’s up with the new colors on the monorail? I know Disney has a new promotion going on but wow, that’s a lot of color. But that is one of the things we love so much about Disney; their attention to detail. No stone goes unturned. Even the monorails get a facelift.

As we rode through the Contemporary, Babe said that we will definitely have to bring the children back to Chef Mickey’s. If we ever go again, that will make two times that we have been there. But it was an instant hit with us. We were there for breakfast on our first morning last year. The character interaction for the most part was great. We waited a very long time to see Mickey. We had finally given up when the famous one made his appearance. We caught a glimpse of him as we were walking out of the restaurant.

We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom. A very pleasant CM was handing out carnations to all of the women for Mother’s Day. Write that down. Something free.

We had a Photopass picture made in front of the train station. We walked through the tunnel and were met with a wonderful sight - Main Street USA.

I heard the music in the background!! I smelled the wonderful concoctions being baked in the bakery. And oh my goodness, there was a wonderful aroma coming out of the ice cream parlor on the corner!

We had our photopass picture made in front of the castle.

One day, I think I will gather all of our pictures made in front of the castle and see how they have changed over the years. The castle, I'm sure, will look the same, the faces will have changed a bit (5).

I've read so many trip reports where people talk about the music in the background as they stroll around the World. I'm usually one of those people who is so busy running from attraction to attraction that I miss a lot of the little stuff. This year, my plan was to stop and smell the magic. Pay attention to detail.

As we sped past all the slow moving traffic on our way to Tomorrowland, I noticed a couple consulting their park map and trying to decide where to eat. I could hear them questioning whether they should eat at Tomorrowland Noodle Buffet or Cosmic Ray’s. Newbies. I was debating on whether or not I should give them my two cents about their options. But it turned out not to be necessary as the Noodle Buffet did not open until 5:00 p.m.

A few weeks ago while eating my child-friendly cereal, I got a Chicken Little step counter as my prize. It was my plan to use it at the World. That’s the kind of dork I am. I actually wanted to know how many steps I took each day. Not that I would have made any kind of notes about it, nor put it in any sort of trip report. My camera kept hitting the reset button so I ended up just giving up after only an hour or so. It stayed in the bag the rest of the trip. That was one thing I packed that I could have left out.

We grabbed a fastpass for Buzz. We noted that we could not get another fast pass for an hour. That blew our idea that we could get Buzz and Space Mountain fast passes and then kill an hour eating. So we stored our one FP and headed over to Cosmic Rays for lunch. This was our first meal of the day and it was already after 2:00 p.m.

Cosmic Ray's has been the same for as long as I can remember. I love Sonny Eclipse. That is one witty alien. Kind of like Alf. Babe and I both had burgers. In case you did not know, you can get just the burger. The menu lists a combo with fries. It’s about $1.00 cheaper if you don’t want the extra grease and fries. We hit the toppings bar and scoured the joint for a place to sit and enjoy the show.

After lunch, we jumped in the standby line for Space Mountain. I think it was only about a twenty minute wait. I had wanted our girl to go through the line with us last year so she could see the inside of the mountain. The CM at the gate would not let her go in. I told him that we were going to do the baby swap (the first time we had tried it) and he just gave me a ticket and had Babe wait in the gift shop - coincidence, I don’t think so. I thought that we would all stay in line together and when I got off the ride, I would get the girl and Babe would immediately get on. Did not work that way for us. Once I got off the ride, I had to go find my family and Babe just got to go in the FP line. He still had to wait about fifteen minutes.

Back to the current trip…

Next we headed over to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, er, I mean Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

We got in the FP line and another family got in the standby line at the same time. We both worked our way through the queue. The standby family actually got on the ride before us. The lines were shorter than Danny DeVito‘s inseam.

Now this is a ride that I dominate my family on. Seriously, I kick their butts every time. Sure, the boy was barely two and a half when he rode it last and the girl was days away from turning five. So Babe was my only real competition. We waited for the “restraint bar” to lower and we manned our guns. It was ON! Some spinning here and some zapping there. As usual, I won.

Next, we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, formally known as the WedWay People Mover. I have to tell you that this is one of my all-time favorite rides at the Magic Kingdom. No, this ride does not cause your stomach to do flips, nor does it overwhelm your senses with all the detail of other rides. It is a less-is-more type of ride. Of course, it is usually well over two-hundred degrees Fahrenheit in Florida no matter what time of the year you go. Plus, you are constantly on the go or when you are stopped, it is because you are standing in line. It is nice to catch this ride, feel the breeze and just put your feet up and relax.

I love, love, love to look out over Tomorrowland from our new vantage point. I reminisce about other trips to the World, things that have changed and things that have stayed the same. Plus, it’s SO cool to go through one ride while you’re ON another ride.

We skipped that spinning ride that’s up in the air. I don’t remember what it’s called. We rode it a few years ago with the girl. I was pregnant with the boy but we did not know it at the time. I won’t do it again. Momma doesn’t do spinning rides and the whole time I was on it I had to resist the urge to toss my cookies.

We headed over to Carousel of progress. Please jump over to ZZUB‘s report and insert his narration on this ride here. I‘ll wait.

We made our way over to the Laugh Floor. This was a cute way to cool off.

We may have enjoyed it more if the kids were with us. It is something that we would probably skip if we ever come here again without the children. Up next was Stitch‘s Great Escape or whatever it‘s called. This has never been one of my favorite rides. I have to hold my breath when Stitch burps in my face. Our girl, however, loves it. The ride, not the burp.

This chapter is getting tediously long, so I will wrap it up at this point. It’s going to be a cliffhanger. I will have a sequel out in a few days. So, to recap, we landed, drove, checked in, saw Mainstreet, ate some grease, kicked some butt and relaxed and smelled the magic.

 

[nicolemarie]

I've read so many trip reports where people talk about the music in the background as they stroll around the World. I'm usually one of those people who is so busy running from attraction to attraction that I miss a lot of the little stuff. This year, my plan was to stop and smell the magic. Pay attention to detail.

We are definitely guilty of being one of those families that is busy running from attraction to attraction. And our kids wouldn't have it any other way. But when we were there with just us, it was really nice to stroll down Main Street, or slowly make our way around the World Showcase, or - and this is a huge one - not make park opening!

Glad your trip is still going well! I'm looking forward to hearing more.

NM

 

[I Believe n Fairies]

Sounds like fun. It also sounds like you really missed your girl and your boy. PLEASE tell me that I will not spend my entire trip missing my kids. PLEASE tell me that I can have good clean grownup fun without guilt!

 

[JKMJ441724]

Sounds like fun. It also sounds like you really missed your girl and your boy. PLEASE tell me that I will not spend my entire trip missing my kids. PLEASE tell me that I can have good clean grownup fun without guilt!

You can!! You can!! But when you least expect it, the guilt will creep in. Most of our day was fine. Every so often I would see a family having fun, or go on an attraction that was so memorable for us the year before, I would have a moment of of SERIOUS lonliness for the other half of my family. I don't know if it was guilt that I was having a good time (because I know they were having fun swimming, etc back home).

I'm one of those people who's general rule is that if my whole family can't go, then I don't have any business being there. But I really felt and still feel like my husband and I needed this time alone. I am GLAD that we did it. I just don't plan to do it again for a while.

 

[JKMJ441724]

As I previously mentioned, our girl is fairly intuitive. She figured out pretty early on that we were going to the World without her. She wasn’t very happy about it either. Before we left, she “wrote” Mickey a letter for us to personally deliver to the Head Mouse, hereinafter known as HM. She’s five, so she can write her alphabet and a couple of words and her name. So mostly, the “letter” had some drawings (one Mickey head and a smaller Minnie head) and some upper case and lower case letters and her name. She sealed it up in an envelope and made me promise to give it to the HM. I can tell you that on packing day before we left, that was one of the first things to go in the bag. I had made a promise to my little girl and I was going to keep it.

So after we left Mr. Morrow’s hometown, we headed over to the Judge’s Tent in ToonTown to play post office. Wait a minute, that can’t be right. We did go over there to deliver a letter. We got in line to meet the head cheese. The line was not too bad. It was completely inside the tent but the queue inside the tent was full. It probably took us thirty minutes or so (this was one of the longest lines we stood in during our entire stay).

It has been a long time since we stood in line for anything in the Judge’s tent. The last time I can remember was eleven years ago, the last time it was just Babe and me. We had no idea what we were in line for. Turns out it was Mickey and Jafar! What a combination. But my memory of that previous time was fuzzy. I was thinking that we had a few minutes alone with the HM. So this year when they put us in the room with about six other families, I was a little insecure about having a conversation with a rodent. I felt crazy enough being in there without a child in tow anyway. But I sucked it up and went to present Mickey with the girl’s letter.

I would do it for her.

When she was born, I made a sign stating that to be my focal point during delivery. I'll admit that I am a wuss when it comes to pain. And my mom said many times during my pregnancy that I would get in the delivery room and cry and say "I want my momma. She'll do this for me." Of course she was kidding, but I don't mind telling you, my friends - not my mom, that this incensed me quite a bit. If she would do some monumentous action for me, her child, does it not stand to reason that I would do something just as wonderful for my child? So I made the sign and I did it for her.

I prefaced my presentation by telling Mickey that Babe and I came to DW without the children this year. He gasped and covered his mouth with his hand and shook his little (um, big) rodent head. Then I explained to him about our girl writing a letter to him and pointed out the Mickey head and the Minnie head. He took the letter and pressed it close to his chest and swayed back and forth. He was full on. He acted like it was the best gift he had received. I have it all on video. The whole thing lasted maybe three minutes, but it was sweet.

Mickey held the letter proudly as I had my picture made with him.

Then in his little mousy way, he told Babe to put down the video camera and get in the picture as well. That’s one way to get you to buy that Photopass picture.

As we were leaving, I leaned in to Mickey and asked if he wanted me to just take the letter back and put it somewhere for him. He quickly hid the letter behind his back and shook his head no. Those characters, they never lose their focus.

We walked quickly though Mickey’s house and garden.

We skipped Minnie’s house and headed over to the Goofy’s Barnstormer.

Again, I felt a little silly riding this roller coaster without a child. But not silly enough to stop me from riding it. As we waited in the line, we looked out over the Miss Daisy.

And waved to the conductor of the Walt Disney World Rail Road.

We walked past Pete’s garage and made our way over to Fantasyland. I told Babe that our PLAN would completely skip Fantasyland if we felt like we were pressed for time. But the lines had not been bad, so we decided to hit some of the hi-lights of the area. First up Philharmagic.

This is one of those attractions where I have missed lots of the magic in the past. The first time I saw it, my sister and other people in our group were talking about the smells associated with different parts of the movie. The second time I watched it, I made a point to pay more attention. This was probably the fourth or fifth time I have seen the movie and I find something new in it every time.

The show is spectacular. The most awesome part is where Ariel reaches out and her jewels go flying into the audience. It was cool to watch our girl try to reach out and get them last year. Simba is pretty large and in charge, too, when he pushes his head through the leaves to make his mane.

There is a ride in Fantasyland that Babe and I just about argue over. Can you guess which one? It’s one that I think is very cute and Babe thinks is a form of torture, worse than the Chinese water kind. Because this one has Australian, Scandinavian, Japanese, Asian…you name it. This is water torture of the worst kind for my husband. Have you figured it out? It’s a Small World!

Last year, since we were in such a large group, the wives let the husbands slide and miss the boat. They headed off and got something cool to drink while we took the children on the ride. I like this ride. I like the whimsy of it all. I like the intricate costumes, the lavish sets, the song. Plus I ride it because I always ride it. This ride screams Magic Kingdom just as much as the Castle, Space Mountain and the Jungle Cruise.

Babe, however, put his foot down. He was absolutely refusing to ride. He said there was no reason to ride it since the kids weren’t here. But being in the Magic Kingdom makes us all kids again. Finally, I had to dig my heels in and say, “Just be a man and ride It’s a Small World.” In the end, he did it because I wanted him to and to show his love for me, not to prove any sort of masculinity and ability to stand up to torture.

 

[kellyb2000]

As we were leaving, I leaned in to Mickey and asked if he wanted me to just take the letter back and put it somewhere for him. He quickly hid the letter behind his back and shook his head no. Those characters, they never lose their focus.

Awww...I love that mouse. You didn't tell me that part.

 

[JKMJ441724]

After we delivered our girl’s letter to the Head Mouse and Babe gave in to my feminine wiles, we headed over to Liberty Square for another family favorite, The Haunted Mansion.

We walked past the hearse driven by the invisible horse and, one would assume, an invisible coachman. Does that mean there is an invisible corpse inside the coffin?

In all the times I have ridden the HM, it has never failed to creep me out. The cast members play their parts as macabre chamber maids and household servants. Then we are led to another room and asked to stand in the dead center before our ghost host points out that there are no doors or windows. But we can always opt for “his way out.” Now, I’ll tell you that I am thirty (cough, cough) something years old and I can’t look at the ceiling when the lights go out.

We made our way to our doom buggy and I snuggled up to Babe. I can’t remember which room comes first, second and third, but let it be known that we were sufficiently creeped out in that long hallway where all the door knockers are moving and the one door is about to come off the hinges; the clock where time is running backwards and one of the “hands” is actually a finger; and the raven sitting on the piano (pronounced in the South as piana) where you can see the shadow of the pianist on the floor. We saw the hidden Mickey in the ball room scene. For both of you people reading this report who don’t know where it is, it’s in the place setting on the far left.

The bride in the attic has always confused me. I felt that she was simply out of place. One element that did not fit with the others. I stumbled onto a website that said the original concept for the ride was a sea captain and his bride who met their demise in the house. Huh, who knew? - Update to this post - I have finally seen the movie Haunted Mansion and it kinda shows that - Wow, you can get an education by watching TV.

We participated in the séance and went through the graveyard. Then we picked up a hitchhiking ghost who rode with us all the way back to our house. It’s all good though. He was a former member of the domestic staff and now he cleans our bathrooms.

LaLa thrilled us all with her quest for a Dole Whip. That’s how I felt about the turkey legs when I first had one. I stumbled upon the cart years ago as we looked for a place to sit for the Electric Light Parade / Spectro Magic. That’s how long ago it was, I can’t even remember what the parade was called back then. That was back before I knew as much as I know now (and honey, trust me, it’s still not much). I thought that was some good eatin’. I just assumed that you could get them anywhere. I did not realize that even the restaurants and snacks are themed in this mother of all theme parks. So the next day when I wanted another one, I had no idea where to find one. Same for the next year. I had forgotten where I got it and could not find my way back to it. I was upset. Distraught even. So imagine my surprise when last year, I discovered that turkey legs were served in Tommorowland. I had one at 10 o’clock in the morning just because I COULD (6).

So after survived the HM, we stopped at the cart for a turkey leg and debated going across to Tom Sawyer’s Island for the last twenty minutes it was open. We had not been over there in twelve years and I really have no idea what is over there anymore. I wanted to go over just so we could see it, but Babe said we should just skip it.

As we stood there contemplating our next move and sharing the goodness that is a WDW turkey leg, I was immediately reminded that not everyone in the world (both Disney and the actual world) has a full length mirror in their home and/or hotel room. Or if they do have a full-length mirror, many people obviously do not check their reflections. Or if they do check their reflections, they don’t care what meets their eye. I am a pretty practical person. I give diapers as presents for a baby shower, I save for my retirement because I believe there will be no social security insurance by the time I can quit working, I take people at their word. I do not, however, wear high heeled shoes to Disney World, or black pants and a black long sleeved shirt (it was 85 degrees every day). I saw both of these and more on our trip.

So, when I saw a woman reach down the back of her black stretchy pants and pull her thong panties out of her crack, I thought I was going to lose it. She was completely out in the open and made no effort to hide herself, much less excuse herself to go to the restroom. So mothers everywhere: shield your children’s eyes from I-ain’t-got-enough-sense-to-not-wear-whale-tails-to-the-Magic-Kingdom lady (7).

Not sure why that made me want to call home and check on the kids but I decided that this was an opportune moment to see how they were doing. Then I called my sister and asked her to look on the internet and see if any of our photo pass pictures were up. I wanted the children to be able to see them. I was hoping that it would keep them from missing us too much.

I truly believe that this was the first time I had called my sister. She had already called me a couple of times to see what we were doing or seeing or riding. But my brother-in-law did not know she was calling me. He knew that we had talked several times already and it was still just our first day.

When we hung up this time, he asked my sister if I was calling her so much because I just could not have as good of a time without her as I could have with her. My sister said something to the effect of “I like to think so.”

Next up, Big Thunder Mountain. I used to be afraid of roller coasters. Now I have come to love them. One of the things that we all love about Disney is that they go all out with the themes. Even the roller coasters are decorated. Babe spotted this little beauty as we walked up the queue

Neither of us had ever really noticed it before. One more piece of the "magical" puzzle. Babe laughed about it the whole way through the queue where we literally walked right onto the ride. Now I don’t know if they kicked this ride up a notch or if the seats were just coated in sweat, but we slid hard back and forth across the bench seat as we rounded the bends.

When we got off the ride, I wanted to do the hustle because we had already done the Bump. I glimpsed what I thought was a hidden Mickey in the gears at the end of the ride. I had never noticed it before. Babe asked if I wanted to ride again so I could get another look at it, but we decided to press onward.

We walked over to Splash Mountain and looked at the suckers getting drenched. Or was that soakers?

We spent more time working our way through the queue than actually waiting for it to be our turn on the ride. Is it just me or is this one of the cutest rides.

Can you tell that I like this ride?

While we were planning our trip for last year, I started a thread asking people to post pictures from inside their favorite rides. One guy posted one that he had taken right at the cusp of falls. When I look back on that photo, it still gets my heart racing.

Before long we were singing a little ditty called “yo, ho, ho, a pirate’s life for me.”

I overheard a lady behind me in the boat say that there we four Johnny Depp animatronics figures. I have only seen three. Anyone seen the last one or was she trippin'???

In my pre-trip planning, I noticed that the Swiss-family treehouse was going to be closed for refurbishment while we were there. We had skipped it last year because this children were so hot and tired and that was way too many steps for us to be able to carry them.

I was a little disappointed. I had videoed so much stuff for the children to watch once we got home and I believe they would have truly enjoyed seeing this. It would give their little imaginations a star to hitch to when they are playing in the treehouse in our backyard.

I love the Jungle Cruise. Never miss it. Well except this time. There was about a thirty minute wait and we just did not feel standing there in the heat next to that many people for that long. And I love the Jungle Cruise. I mean, how can you walk away from the backside of water? Where else can you learn to tell the difference between an African elephant and an Asian elephant? Where else will someone tell you not to be afraid to go through the ancient ruins, this is Disney World, there’s probably a gift shop in there? Plus, that baby elephant is so darn cute.

But skip it, we did.

Momma wanted to make sure that we got a good spot to watch the parade.

What? What’s that you say? There is no parade today?

What the _____?

There were two things that I HAD to do this trip. See SpectroMagic and Fantasmic. I would be sad to miss other stuff but these two things were on My must see list. Stupid times guide. When will I learn to use it? Seriously people. Is anyone out there feeling my pain? This was supposed to be our only day at MK, my only chance for the parade. And it was gone, Gone With the Wind.

As I stood there pondering my fate, and what I had done to deserve this (and please don’t say it’s because I left my children at home to party it up with Mickey Mouse by myself), I saw him.

A dad.

Looking for his little girl.

I watched for a couple of minutes to see if he found her quickly. He didn’t. He was panicked. And who wouldn’t be? His child was missing in this sea of humanity. A gentleman walked up to the dad and asked for a description of the child. Five years old, blonde, wearing a green shirt and green shorts. I immediately began scouring the area. That’s what I do.

I was a lifeguard for a couple of summers after I graduated high school. I can’t go to a pool, or the lake or the ocean or any other place with a significant amount of water without watching the people swim. All the people. Not just mine. So now I’m a mom. And that’s what I do. I watch the children. If I see a child in the parking lot not holding a parent’s hand, I am watching for the cars. When I know that a child is missing, I’m on the hunt.

And Babe was recruited. We walked around for about ten minutes looking for the girl. Ashley.

Babe spotted her. She was talking to a lady. A lady who turned out to be her mother. Whew. Catastrophe averted. They had found her. Mom was calling Dad on his cell phone to tell him everyone was present and accounted for. Thank heavens.

But that little incident brought sharply in focus a couple of years ago when I lost our girl. At Disney. It was the day that we made a one day pit stop at the MK before we headed over to Port Canaveral to get on board the DCL Magic. We had been in Tomorrowland, and ToonTown. We were headed over to Fantasyland. All of us. I think there were nine of us on that trip and most everyone was in front of me. I could see my mom and step dad. I could see my sister and her family. I could see Babe pushing my son in the stroller.

But where was the girl? She was nowhere to be found. I stopped dead in my tracks and yelled out to those in front of me “where’s the girl?” They all stopped and spun around. They looked at me but did not move. Oh my gosh, people. What’s the problem? Am I the only one who knows how big this place is? Am I the only one who realizes how many people are here? Am I the only one that knows child molesters and abductors hang out at child-friendly locales? Again I scream “where’s the girl?”

Again, I am met with steely gazes.

In that split second, I decide to just go look for her myself. Every moment is precious and I had no idea how long she had been missing. I took three big steps in the direction of ToonTown when I heard my sister call my name. I spun around and with much exasperation yelled “WHAT?”

My sister looked me right in the eye, pointed her finger in my face and said….

Wait for it.

Are you deep in the suspense?

It’s totally worth it.

Just hang in there.

She said, “you’re holding her.”

And I was. She was perched there on my left hip in my left arm. Just hanging out. Wondering if mommy was really that stupid. She cried when she realized the answer was yes(9).

When we got home and I told some other people that story, they asked me if I was embarrassed. The answer was and still is no. I was relieved.

What makes that story even more crazy is that I did it a couple of years before that. I was holding my nephew’s hand and started yelling out “where’s Hunter? Where’s Hunter?” In case you missed it in the previous sentence, I was holding his hand. He was looking at me as if to say “what am I? Chopped liver?”

 

[kellyb2000]

When we hung up this time, he asked my sister if I was calling her so much because I just could not have as good of a time without her as I could have with her. My sister said something to the effect of “I like to think so.”

Wondering if mommy was really that stupid. She cried when she realized the answer was yes.

We all did.....cried LAUGHING that is.

 

[JKMJ441724]

Once we made sure that the little girl lost was actually found, we stood around in front of the castle for a little while and caught a little bit of wishes. But I was so disappointed about there not being a parade that I just was not feeling the fireworks love. We decided to hit fantasyland and hit some of the rides we had skipped earlier in the day. We rode Pooh.

We have a client in my office who’s name has exactly the same number of syllables as Winnie-the-Pooh. I can’t say his name - attorney/client privilege and all, but every time something comes up on his file we sing his name to the Winnie-the-Pooh tune. So the whole way through the ride, I was just singing his name. It’s kinda like when I was in tenth grade chemistry class. My DBFF was sitting behind me and just sang out (loudly, I might add) “oh, Mr. Murray.” and Mr. Murray being the dork he is raised his pointed finger and said “yes DBFF” cause that’s what we all call her, and she very sheepishly replied “oh, nothing. I was just singing your name.”

It was when we were in line for Peter Pan that I noticed the couple behind us sporting buttons that read “happy anniversary.”

I had never seen these before. I knew they had birthday buttons. Our girl had gotten those the past two years (plus one time on the Mickey boat). I made it a point to drop in guest relations and get some buttons for Babe and me to wear the next day. It was then that I noticed that Disney had a plethora of buttons. I saw people sporting "my first visit" buttons and birthday buttons and anniversary buttons. At Disney, everyone is special and they have a button to prove it.

We left the park before the extra magic hour was even over. We were so worried that we would not have enough time to do all the things we wanted to do at the MK this day since we had gotten such a late start and we were planning for this to be our only day at this park.

But everything worked out fine.

As we made our way down Main Street, U.S.A., I reached out and took Babe’s hand in mine. We were tired, but we were happy. We located the rental in the semi-empty parking lot and made a bee-line for the SSRS.

Now, I believe that I have mentioned that our room was nice. I can’t be bothered to go back and check to be sure. But it was kickin’. After we had dumped our stuff at check-in, we set the thermostat to seventy degrees. Imagine our surprise when we walked in, ready to hit the hay, to a balmy seventy-five degrees. We wondered if housekeeping had come in while we were gone and reset the thermostat. We concluded, after this happened several times, that Disney somehow does control the climate in our climate-controlled room.

It’s as if the air-conditioning “knows” if we are in the room or not. Every time we would go in the room, we would lower the thermostat and somehow, when we returned it was back at 75. Anyone know anything about this???

I took a peak at our view. Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney were lit up like the strip in Vegas. Not that I would knowfrom personal experience, but I see and read and hear things. Plus, I occasionally watch the television series with the same name.

I don’t sleep well in my old age. So, many nights I will take a Tylenol PM to help doze off. I knew that was a must for this night. Even though I was exhausted and had taken a sedative, it was still one of the worst nights sleep of my life. I was glad when I got the wake up call from Mickey and Stitch the next day just so I could quit working so hard to try and sleep.

And the evening and the morning were the first day. And we looked around and saw that it was good(10).

 

[JKMJ441724]

We got up and got ready in a flash. We were planning to spend the whole day at what may be our second favorite park - MGM studios. But this year, I have to say it, Epcot gave it a run for it’s money. I’m not sure how that happened. I was a little amazed by the discovery.

Even though we loved The Studios, we did not think we would be able to fill twelve hours of studio time. Fifteen if you include the extra magic hours benefit. So we decided to take a little time to smell the magic at our resort. We walked around for a while. We headed over to the High Rock Spring pool and looked at the kiddie area.

I think this is a great resort for couples. When we come back with the kids, we will stay somewhere else. Compared to say, Pop Century, this is a classy place. From the pictures I have seen, I would say that it is the least childish resort on property. Don’t get me wrong. I think kids would enjoy anyplace at Disney. It’s just that some resorts are more Disney than others.

We made a stop at Artist’s Palette gift shop and bought some postcards to mail back home. Babe filled out one with Goofy on the front to the boy and I filled out one with Minnie on it for the girl.

After we put the cards in the mail, I pretended to go for a carriage ride in the carriage out front of the carriage house.

I tried to get Babe to get on the horse statue out front, but he said that was too silly.

Instead, he held the reins for a picture. Because it’s not silly to hold the reins of a fake horse, just to pretend to ride one.

We got in our car, which was already stifling hot at 10:30 a.m. and headed over to MGM. We parked the car and made it to the end of the row just in time for the tram. The tram was not packed by any means but people did not have room to just spread out and kick back. There were about 4 people in the front two rows of tram. You know the section, where the first row faces the back of the tram and the next row faces forward. Four people - I say. I asked one gentleman if we could squeeze in with them. He moved his feet but not his knees or his bag out of the way. He certainly did not make any room for Babe. I was coming in, though. I was not going to wait on another tram when there was a perfectly good one right there. Babe squeezed in the row behind me. The announcer/driver guy said that there should be five people per row and that if there were not that many in the row, everyone should move over. There should have been room for Babe beside me on this row. All in all, we had three people on my row. Mr. I’m not moving made a smart comment that people would be invading his two feet of personal space. So, I’m going to get on my soapbox for a minute. That is part of what’s wrong with this country. Too many people thinking only of themselves and not for the greater good(11). He did not care if people were left baking in the hot sun, as long as he was able to stretch out on a section of bench made for ten people but only used by four (until I butted in anyway).

Anywho.

We go through security and let them rummage through our bag. I had to pick a bag that would not be incredibly hot, but that was also not the least bit feminine. I did expect Babe to carry it most of the time, for Pete‘s sake. I chose the bag we received as a castaway club member gift from our last cruise on the Mickey boat. Sturdy and functional, and completely manly.

We scanned our Key to the World card and entered into the East Coast version of Hollywood.

Once we were inside, we had a photo pass picture taken in front of the big blue hat.

I was so glad the lovely CM’s taking the photo pass pictures will take a picture using our camera, too. We have some great shots of the two of us.

Usually, it’s pictures of me and our girl or Babe and our boy. Or the other way around. But very rarely do we get pictures of the two of us.

We walked down Hollywood Boulevard and made a right onto Sunset Boulevard. We held hands as we watched a cop give a ticket to a kid in a stroller for going too fast. We smiled as we watched a casting call in the middle of the road.

We gazed into each other’s eyes as we bid one another farewell for the day….

What?

Just kidding. Not for the day. Just for the first ride. Babe loves, loves, loves ToT and I absolutely refuse to set foot on it again. Oh that’s right. I rode it one time. On our very first trip to the World together. I think it is a cool-as-all-get-out ride. Very well themed and decorated and just plain COOL. Then there’s the drop. That’s all I’m saying.

Now, I’m not as little as I used to be. But I’m still pretty skinny (just more jiggley than I used to be, I'm still trying to lose my baby-weight). And that first time I rode, I remember sitting on a bench seat with several other people. There was a lap bar that came down over all of us. It did not come even close to touching my skinny little legs. I bet I came six inches out of my chair. Scary enough. But then there’s that sudden stop at the bottom. BANG!! On my bottom. Not going to do it again. No, sir. You can’t make me. No way. Don’t mean maybe.

Ok. Maybe - maybe. One day, many years from now, my children may be able to talk me into riding it again. But the odds are better that I will win big at the roulette table in Vegas. And as of right now, I have no desire to even go to Vegas.

So Babe headed off to ToT and I got in line for RnR. You’ll never guess who was in the line behind me. Oh, you did guess. That’s right. Mr. Wonderful from the tram. Someone “broke” line to catch up with the rest of his family who was further up in the line. I guess he had to stop to pee or get a drink or even take a smoke. It did not matter to me. It was one guy. It’s not like one person was holding the line for fifteen others. Mr. Wonderful said “we are the only one’s doing right in this whole park”. I wanted to smart off to him so bad, but I graciously held my tongue. Little does he know that I am going off on him (albeit anonymously) on the internet. A girl who was obviously part of his group said this ride goes 0 to 60 m.p.h. in half a second. That’s absurd. Stacey clearly tells us it is 2.8 seconds.

I was finally able to tune out Mr. Wonderful and his entourage. I began to listen to the music. Finally, “What it takes” came on. This is the best Aerosmith song of all time. Yes, I realize there are a lot to choose from. But this is my choice. I choose my choice (12). This song makes me very nostalgic for the glory days of high school. My two best friends and I would skip school and go out for breakfast. Yes, one of those friends is the same one from chemistry. We would always listen to this song. Of course we made up new words.

There goes my old boyfriend.
Yeah. I got another diamond ring.
All those late night promises - hell, they didn’t mean a thing.
So Baby, here’s the story - I have found another man
Yes, it’s easy to sleep in the bed that we made
Cause I don’t look back and feelings just fade away.

Yes. I know. Totally immature. How crazy is it that I still remember that after sooooo many years.

As I stood in line, I watched workers in a huge crane work on the ToT.

I don’t know what they were doing, but you could not pay me enough money to do it. They were WAY up in the air.

I wondered if I would be able to spot Babe on ToT when the doors opened up. I really doubted it, but watched just the same.

I figured that I would be finished long before he was done. I was already planning to get in line and let him “break” to catch up to me. Boy was I wrong. He was sitting on the wall waiting for me as I walked out. Then I rode it again with him.

My boss took his kids to WDW for Christmas a few years ago. When he came back, he said that RnR was awesome, and declared it to be his favorite ride out of all the rides in all the parks. As I stood in line to ride it again, I was temped to call my office and tell him that I was about to ride it just for him. But then I figured he would ask me about some files or some crazy stuff like that and I was on vacation for goodness sakes. I would just have to tell him about it once I got back.

We got in our limo and drove like maniacs to get to the concert. This is one cool ride. Although it made me feel a little bit like a dog hanging it’s head out the window. There was so much wind in my face that my eyes were watering. My eyes were watering enough to sprinkle the people in the limo behind me. But I did not dare close my eyes because I did not want to miss the sign for my turn.

We went into some of the gift shops to look for prizes for the children. Boy, Ursula was right. Life’s full of tough choices - ittn’t it. We finally settled on an Aurora doll with both a pink gown and a blue gown for our girl. Plus we got her a princess coloring book. For our boy, we picked out some Mickey and friends sports stuff. He is all about sports. Our boy, not necessarily Mickey. We had the prizes sent back to our room. It was our right and it was free. Of course we would have to pick them up the next day in the gift shop of our resort, not at the front desk, mind you. Disney does everything they can to get you to spend every dollar you have and a few that you don’t.

 

[JKMJ441724]

And you had me at, "Get out of my room you stupid brat!"

you know I love you more'n my luggage (13).

 

[JKMJ441724]

After we shipped our prizes back to our resort, we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. I remember riding this for the first time years ago when I went to the world with my DBFF in the tenth or eleventh grade. It really made an impression on me, especially the Alien part. I liked it then and I like it now. However, I may not ever be able to ride it again because of our girl. Last year, we were in on the front bench. When the gangster hi-jacked our car and gave his little spiel, he looked right at our then 4 year old daughter and said “what are you looking at?” She cried for the rest of the ride. To this day, she tells me how much she dislikes that ride.

We follow-up what may have been my last time on the Great Movie Ride with a nap during Sounds Dangerous. Seriously, that may be my all-time least favorite attraction at any of the parks.

We have one ADR planned for the our whole vacation. We had decided not to get buy the dining plan this trip. We just did not think we would use it enough to make it worth our while. Plus, we were trying to cram so much stuff into such a limited amount of time, we just did not feel we could justify the wait time that we had experienced while using it last year. But we did want to have at least one meal that was used to celebrate our anniversary. We chose to go to Whispering Canyon. We booked our trip on such late notice that most of the dinner reservations were booked. We could have dinner (or supper, for the rest of you Southerners - dinner is actually lunch for us) at 4:00 p.m. like the snow-birds do, or at 9:00 p.m. We decided to go over for lunch (dinner).

We headed out to find our car. On the way out, I took this picture

Isn’t that gross? Those love bugs were everywhere.

We drove over to the Wilderness Lodge. I’m the type of person that can’t stand to be late, so we left in plenty of time to make our reservation. In fact, we left TOO early. We got to Wilderness Lodge and still had about 45 minutes to kill.

A very friendly, almost overly friendly CM working the valet in front of the Lodge saw our anniversary buttons and offered to take our picture together. I stated that he bet we did not have any pictures together from this trip. We told him that every photopass CM had taken our picture together with our own camera and that we actually had quite a few but we appreciated him taking one as well. After he was so nice, I had to take his picture. And here it is.

And that aint't no bull.

It's a bison.

We decided to walk around a little while and check out the Lodge. I have already decided that this is where I want to stay on our next trip. We looked at pool and went in the Merc. No prizes for our babies in there. That used up a whole fifteen minutes.

Finally, we could take it no longer. We were about to eat our own arms off. We decided to see if we could go ahead and check in. It was almost thirty minutes early. I was not going to be shocked if they told us no way. But it turned out to be no problem. They where not crowded for lunch. But I tell you Mr. and Mrs. Debonair don’t eat here. If you have never been here before, save the pearls and the sports coats. It ain’t that kind of place. Last time we were here, with our huge group of people, it was more festive. Our waitress really played up her part. We had straws thrown at us, gallons of Coke and tea, don’t even get me started on the ketchup.

This time, our waitress was much more low key. I was a little disappointed. I’m not sure if it was because it was lunch time, or because we did not have children and she did not think we would appreciate ruckus.

Babe and I both ordered the all you can eat skillet. The waitress brought out one skillet. It was some kind of good. I was surprised when she asked if we wanted another one. I remember thinking, we paid for two of course we want two. And two was enough for us.

While we were there, I made it a point to listen to the background music (since everyone on these boards has talked so much about it). I listened to a twanged out version of Circle of Life and Zipedeedodah. As we were waiting for our check, they played “Baby of mine” and it made me sad and very lonesome for my children. This was probably the time that I missed them the most. I wondered what they were doing and if they missed us.

That’s the thing about taking breaks, it makes you see just what you are missing and just how importing certain things are. I love my kids all the time and I believe that my husband and I needed (and deserved) this time to ourselves. But I’m not going to lie to you, it was hard at points.

 

[JKMJ441724]

Since I was having some major withdrawal symptoms over my children, we decided to run to DTD to look for some more prizes to bring home to them before we headed back over to the studios. We had plenty of time. We did not have a park hopper option for this day and still had several hours to go before the park closed. I did not want to get burned out on the park and want to go back to the room. Remember, I said that seeing Fantasmic was one of the two things that I HAD, HAD, HAD to do this trip. I had already missed the first one. I was not going to let that happen on this one.

You may also recall that I mentioned Babe was a human GPS. He is so good at it, that I no longer even try to remember landmarks to help us get to or from any certain place. Imagine my surprise when he malfunctioned. We were driving down a road and I said
“Do you know where you are going?”

His response, “I’ve been on this road before.”

To which I replied, “You did not answer the question.”

To quote LaLa once again, the man drove us slap out of Disney World. But it was all good. We were only lost for a few seconds before we saw a sign, an oh so magical sign, pointing us in the direction we should go.

I really enjoy walking around DTD. I look at all the crap that I really don’t need and can’t afford and just drool over it. I want it all. Why is that???? I believe that it is all about the merchandising. The presentation. They show us the stuff in the best possible light and make us imagine all the ways we can use it. So we fork over the dough only to sell it in a garage sale the next year for a fraction of what it cost originally. So, this year, I refrained.

For myself, anyway.

The kids were another story.

But, back to the presentation of the merchandise…

It’s been said that sex sells. So much so that even Disney is doing it.

Using sex to sell that is.

Just look at this pimped out Tinkerbell.

I was appalled. I know Tink is a vixen but she still has that childlike innocence thing going for her. I thought this looked like she should be sitting in front of a fire, waiting for her man. She definately has a "come hither" stare thing going on. I could not believe my eyes. Someone, please let me know what you think. Am I the only one shocked by this???

 

[ILMICKEY]

Yep, she's definitely wantin somthin'!

GREAT report! Sounds like you two were having a wonderful time. I want to do the grownups trip sometime.

OMGosh! I was in tears when you wrote the part about losing your daughter!! That was great.

Keep bringing the funny!!

 

[JKMJ441724]

Yep, she's definitely wantin somthin'!

GREAT report! Sounds like you two were having a wonderful time. I want to do the grownups trip sometime.

OMGosh! I was in tears when you wrote the part about losing your daughter!! That was great.

Keep bringing the funny!!

Thanks for the props. My family still gives me a hard time about losing her. Looking back, even I think it was funny. But at the time I was in absolute panic.

As much as I missed my young children, I would recommend the adults only trip. We really had a great time.

 

[angelmav]

Great TR, I should cut and paste and add it to my own! I have to agree with you that Tink is used a little too adult for my tastes nowadays.

 

[lynn71092]

I agree.
Great report!!

 

[JKMJ441724]

So, we had finally made it to DTD and did a little shopping. I am proud of myself for the amount of restraint I showed by not purchasing the things that I wanted for myself. I focused on my children. I know I would have had more fun if they could have been there to pick out their own prizes, but I would also have been much poorer financially.

I know it was the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, but they did not stop with the landscaping there. There was a beautiful flower bed just outside of Once Upon a Toy. I had to get my picture made in front of it. It was just gorgeous.

We stopped to smell the magic in front of those flowers. We sat on a bench and just talked to each other for a while.
In that same general vicinity, there was a fountain coming up out of the side walk. Kinda like the one at Epcot near Figment. Or at the kiddie section of your resort pool. This boy about our son’s age was playing in the water. The water was coming out of the shoots in a circular pattern and the little boy was chasing it around. Finally his parents convinced him to just stand at one of the shoots and wait for the water.

Can you see what’s coming?

The boy stood astraddle of the shoot looking down at it so he could see when the water was coming. The water shot right up in his little face and just drenched him. Babe laughed out loud, so much so that the kid’s parents gave us a dirty look.

It’s really funny.

I have the whole incident on video. We watch it occasionally just for kicks.

 

[kellyb2000]

So, we had finally made it to DTD and did a little shopping. I am proud of myself for the amount of restraint I showed by not purchasing the things that I wanted for myself.

I'm glad you showed some restraint on something.

I know it was the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, but they did not stop with the landscaping there. There was a beautiful flower bed just outside of Once Upon a Toy.

That is beautiful. I wish I could have been there with you to see it in person.

The boy stood astraddle of the shoot looking down at it so he could see when the water was coming. The water shot right up in his little face and just drenched him. Babe laughed out loud, so much so that the kid’s parents gave us a dirty look.

It’s really funny.

I have the whole incident on video. We watch it occasionally just for kicks.

I wish we had the whole I-lost-my-child-at-Disney episode on video. I know we could have won $100,000 with that one.

 

[JKMJ441724]

I can't believe we did it!!!! Babe and I just put in a bid on a DVC at SS and it was accepted!!!! So, if Disney does not buy it out from under us, we will be the proud owners of a VACATION CLUB!!! Whew-hoooo!

Anyway, I've been caught up checking that out that that I have neglected my trip report about SS. I promise to have a new post up soon.

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate everyone's sweet comments.