The Monsters' World Tour: Part VI (August 30, 2002)

[MickeyMonstersMom]

The Monsters are:
Myself (Lori), 32: Single mom and anal planner; previous trips to WDW in 1972 and 1993
Grandma, 68: Just had back and heart surgery, determined to share kids’ first trip; also went in 1972
Bryn, 8: Loves all rides; first trip is also celebration of 8th birthday
Ethan, 4: Tall enough for almost everything, but not as daring as his sister; we’ll have to see...

<u>The Monsters’ World Tour, Part VI: More Magic - but - The Last Day </u>

Brynna and I woke up before the alarm, so we turned it off to give the others more sleep and went for a walk over to All-Start Movies. The resort is cute, especially the “Andy’s Room” section, with everything to “Toy Story” scale. Bryn loved the car and had to hug the little Dalmatian watching TV. The Mighty Ducks pool still creeped me out, though - I think of Jason rather than Disney! We also spent some time watching two armadillos ambling along - just like before, by the time we brought Grandma and Ethan back to the spot, our little friends had moved on. I guess they just liked Bryn and me.

My original plan had been to get to AK at opening and check out the Safari in the early hours, finishing up with a last round at MK in the afternoon. However, after spending a few days in the World the kids begged to do the Mountains again with no wait. Grandma declared that she was not up to the parks today, and volunteered to do laundry. I felt awful for abandoning her at the hotel, but she insisted - as it turned out, my gregarious mother chatted with several other vacationers in the laundry room and pool area, and had a great time just hanging out.

I left the fanny pack in the room so that we could travel light and fast. We arrived at MK at 8:40 to find it much like a cattle market - yikes! (Mental note: do the character breakfast every time in the future - it’s definitely worth it to avoid this mess!) The CM’s waited until the exact stroke of 9:00 to open the gates, and (moo) off we went. I’d done a rope drop back in 1993 when running was de rigeur, but I knew better this time and was grateful that I did not have to fear for the children! As it was, we moved briskly but did not hurry, and encountered another rope near the Swiss Family Treehouse. Most people bypassed it and continued on into Adventureland, but we stayed put with only one other family and ended up being the first people escorted through the hallway near the arcade and into Frontierland. We encountered a few more families at that point, all of whom headed for Splash Mountain, so we decided to go to BTMRR instead. A family in front of us went the wrong way inside the queuing area - we nearly followed them like sheep (mixing agricultural metaphors now?), but Bryn pointed out the right way and we ended up the first people to ride BTMRR that day! Cool! The kids had already ridden in the front car, so we chose the back and enjoyed the seemingly faster ride. As we got off, a CM came up to us with a certificate honoring us as the first family of the day (very cool), and offering to take us onto SM through the back door (wow! VERY cool)!

Whoops! Brynna was wearing a boy-leg swimsuit with no shorts, and the CM informed us that she would be unable to ride SM. What?? The CM graciously waited for us as we ran into the SM gift shop and grabbed a pair of shorts (for $18 - sheesh), then took us in through the exit to ride in our very own log, just the three of us. We look ridiculous in the photo, but bought it anyway - priceless to have a shot of just us in the log. I also forked over the dough for the cool frame with ceramic figures of the Brer pals on it. The kids think it’s awesome - and worth every cent for the great memory of that bit of magic on our last day.

We had to wait for the photo to be processed, so we ran back onto SM for our “goodbye” ride. Next came the final trip on BTMRR - but standby times were already 35 minutes, so we grabbed a Fastpass and headed over to say goodbye to the Haunted Mansion, which had no wait as always. Exiting the HM we hit the little souvenir cart - Bryn and I bought lovely $2 rings that looked like the crystal ball, and Ethan chose a - um, sword?? Whatever! Our Fastpass window had just opened by the time we got back to BTMRR - yay! But then the train broke down in the mine cave (the part Ethan is afraid of) - boo! At first we found it humorous that our first and last rides on the Mountains involved breakdowns, but after 20 minutes of waiting, punctuated by periodic unbearably loud announcements as to the status of the ride, the tempers of all riders were beginning to flare. Some people were swearing rather vociferously. On the upside, with the sound off and the lights on, Ethan got to know this part of the ride pretty well (lol) and is no longer afraid of it! Over 25 minutes later, we finally got moving again, and to make amends for our wait, we were allowed a second ride without disembarking. Nice touch on Disney’s part.

The delay had me worried that we would not have time for the shows at AK, so we hurried back to ASMu and Grandma. The kids voted for Dinoland (how could I forget??!) and the trails instead of the shows, with a goodbye trip down Kali River Rapids. I was bummed to be outvoted on Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonder, but hopefully the shows will be here when we come back someday - and maybe we’ll have time for one show - I hope. I didn’t remember the fanny pack - and cameras - until we got to AK, and Bryn cried bitterly when I admitted it. Dang it all - no photos of AK! Grandma tried to get us to park her by the shop again, but I had none of it, and pushed the wheelchair over to Asia. She saw the wet people coming off KRR and practically set the brakes right there in the middle of the trail, so I conceded defeat and ran the kids the rest of the way to KRR. We went right on with less than a 5-minute wait, and laughed all the way down the river with a Japanese family - they knew no English, and my Japanese comes from reading Shogun, but we all laughed and pointed together and had a fantastic time. We decided one trip wasn’t enough and ran back to find the wait a little longer, and were placed with one of those families who were covered head to toe in rain gear. They went down the ride in grim silence, and Bryn asked me why they went on the ride, as they seemed to hate every moment. Huh - takes all kinds, honey.

I pried the kids off KRR with the promise of food at Restaurantosaurus, one of our “must-eat-there” choices. I’d planned to grab a Fastpass for Dinosaur and then eat while we waited. The kids wanted to come with me while I picked up the passes, so once again Grandma stayed in the shade near the eatery while we ran to the ride. Amazingly, there was no wait there as well - at noon! Not believing our good fortune, we decided to get right on the ride. I’d been apprehensive about taking Ethan on this, but he’s such a dinosaur enthusiast (seriously plans to be a paleontologist) that I couldn’t tell him no. I remember little of the ride itself: Bryn clutched my left arm and Ethan my right, so I was pinioned in the seat trying to lean over Ethan as well in case he became too frightened. I had no idea about the last carnotaur on the right until it was - literally - on top of us, so I threw myself on Ethan just as the camera flash went off. Hehe, Ethan wasn’t even visible in the photo! And he disgustedly informed me that the extra protection was unnecessary - “Mo-om, I didn’t even get to see it, and it sounded so cool!” He also added that he could wait until our next time to do the ride again, though. Hmmm.

Well, back to Grandma and lunch. We spent far too much time in there, but Ethan was enthralled with the “dig” atmosphere and had to have every sign read. The dinosaur poster near the restrooms almost derailed us completely! I finally got him out of there by promising to go back to the Dino gift shop to buy souvenirs. This stop is just for Ethan, and what does he choose? An Indiana Jones action figure! What??! Again, whatever. I buy him a dinosaur washcloth, which starts a trend - Brynna picked out one with Tigger on it (to dry those happy tears, lol), and I decided on one commemorating the 100th year. Grandma refused to buy anything, which made me realize that she had not chosen anything at all so far, and I started trying to figure out how to get something for her on the sly.

I understand and don’t have a problem with the concept behind Hester and Chester’s, but Ethan was too short for Primeval Whirl (he was SO disappointed, even though I’d told him of this before we’d left), and Triceratop Spin looked like another Aladdin, and I had no desire to do that again. However, the kids wanted to go, so we got into the slowly moving line, Grandma watching from across the way. The sky had again been growing dark and of course it started to rain as we were on the ride. I noticed someone giving my mother a trash bag to put over her head and I cursed myself for leaving my fanny pack (with our ponchos) back at the hotel.

The rain turned out to be a sprinkle and we all headed for the Maharajah Jungle Trek, to be stopped dead in our tracks by the Boneyard. I have to say, this is one of those things that I did only because I love my children. We (IMO) wasted an hour in that place, and later found that what appeared to be a misty rain from inside was actually quite a downpour. As usual, Grandma had not come with us (it would have been a chore to get the wheelchair in there, anyway), and she had to huddle under that trash bag the whole time. Arrgh. I sat there watching my angels having a great time and silently kissed goodbye any chance of seeing the shows. Ah well, next time, right?

Finally I dragged the kids out of the dig site and got us back on track. The trail was wonderful, and the CM’s did a fantastic job describing the animals. The theming is out of this world! I can understand why so many people write that they enjoy going to AK by themselves - I’d love to take that trail at my own pace and just cogitate. At any rate, the sky grew frighteningly dark as we came to the end of the trail and Grandma threw in the towel. She did not care what we did with the rest of the afternoon, she said, but she wanted to get back to the hotel before she had to hide under a trash bag again. Everyone else at AK had the same instinct to flee, and we fought terrible crowds trying to get out. Of course, the skies opened up just as we got to the entrance! The kids and I were still soaked from KRR, but poor Grandma!

In the 5 minutes it took for the bus to get to ASMu, the sun had come back out and everything was gorgeous. Grandma would not change her mind, so the kids and I took off to MGM for a goodbye ride on ToT - and then, some souvenir shopping for my mom. There were no Fastpasses left for the day, and the kids were just crushed about the 35 minute wait (boy, had they been spoiled!), but we decided to go anyway. Luckily, we exited the ride only 25 minutes later and set out to find a souvenir for Grandma.

Now, my mother is a very picky person. She refuses to “waste” money on “frivolous” things - this means anything other than food, shelter, and other basic needs. This vacation was her first since coming to WDW in 1972, and I had to hide a lot of the food receipts so that she wouldn’t have a stroke about the totals. Our dinner at ‘Ohana almost had her on the next flight home! I knew that any souvenir we bought her would have to be somehow practical, and considered a good value. Yeesh. We trolled all the shops in MGM looking for a polo top that would fit her small frame, but with no luck. After an hour and a half the kids were getting antsy and I wanted to get everyone ready for Fantasy in the Sky, so we admitted defeat and headed back to ASMu. After another half hour in the hotel shop, we decided on a snow globe photo frame and a 100 Years refrigerator magnet - she still feels we spent too much, but I’m glad she has something to remind her of our trip.

We all changed our clothes and got ready for our final park visit. We were debating whether to eat at ASMu or at MK when the skies just opened up again - and this was no ten-minute cloudburst, either. A CM at the front desk informed us that FIS had been cancelled, and the kids were crushed. We did not even consider visiting another park, but spent a low-key final evening in our room, watching TV and eating snacks brought back from the food court. As much as I hated to do it, I packed up the suitcases while the kids watched a movie. It was a huge letdown for me, who wanted everyone to see MK after dark and enjoy the fireworks, but overall everyone was pretty upbeat. After all, doing 3 parks in one day was a pretty impressive way to finish our vacation.

The next morning we dragged our behinds out of bed and had a last dip in the pool. Ethan had his last meltdown, and to be honest, I did not blame him. When I told the kids we had to get ready to leave, he held on to the side of the pool, wailing that he was not ready to leave, that he wanted to stay here forever. It must have been quite funny to witness, and I’m sure more than one parent understood. My mother took a few photos of us in the pool - aside from the Splash Mountain shot, the only ones with me in them - and we made a sad procession to Melody Hall. Our driver was already there so we had no time to be maudlin, and off we went, feeling like we’d just arrived.

We’d already decided to make a family tradition of coming every four years - the children are four years apart, so it makes some wacky mathematical sense. I wish we could come more often, but it will take me that amount of time to save properly and maximize our fun. Next time we will celebrate Ethan’s 8th birthday, and he has already chosen Coronado Springs Resort. The kids don’t look at the photos much, but keep turning to the guidebooks to discuss the new things we’ll try and the favorites we’ll revisit. I’m so glad my planning and saving paid off and some of the magic rubbed off on them - and that my mother was able to be there with us, even though she did not participate as actively as the rest of us. I can’t wait to be there again, and am thankful to have the Dis to tide me over in the meantime. I hope that reading these reports helped bring some of the magic back to you, as reading others’ reports does for me. Take care, everyone!

Lori

 

[pumba]

for me......but made me more excited for our next visit.....thanks so much for your great report.....I enjoyed it all.....