When we last left this TRs authoress and her friends, the friends had fallen asleep while the authoress lay awake in bed, trying to think of a way to salvage the Touring Plan for the Magic Kingdom the next day, since Melneth had suggested skipping attractions that would be open during the Pirate and Princess Party to ensure the completion of the attractions she liked, which had caused the authoresss planets to misalign and whatnot. After the authoress had come up with a planeach person pick three must-do-attractions and then follow the Touring Plan to complete themshe had fallen asleep herself at about 1:30 in the morning.
And I (moving back into the first person because with the length of my posts, third person would become tedious in about three more paragraphs) woke up again at about 5:00. Which is normal for me; I get up at 5:15 at home. But it was nonetheless aggravating since my cell alarm wasnt set to go off till 6:00, and I really do need at least six hours to function well.
So I continued to lie in bed till 5:50, when I couldnt take it anymore and got up to take my shower and put on my Woolited Matching T-shirt once I was clean myself.
We were all moving around by 7:00, so I sprung my plan. So, Melneth, I said oh-so-casually, I was thinking about what you said last night, and have come up with an idea." Which I then elucidated.
Oh, said Melneth, actually, I ended up looking at the Guides suggested visitation times for all the attractions, and it looks like skipping attractions may not work so well after all. I was thinking maybe we should follow the Touring Plan after all.
Cue choir of angels. The TP had been saved!
Not the TP you need in your bathroom. Saving that would just be gross.
But we act as a democracy, so we asked for Nevis input. Well, said Nevi, if were really concerned that we might miss something we really want to do, I think we should each pick three attractions.
Yes, were a democracy, but I also wore the Trip Planner Tiara. How about we follow the plan till at least lunchtime, I said, and then see where we are? The Guide says that by lunchtime everythings a lot looser anyway.
Nevi shrugged. She did not wear a Trip Planner Tiara and nor would she really care to. Sure.
Melneth also agreed. We had reached an accord.
Remember what I said in my last post about stretching out the drama? That was it. Sorry if you were looking for more fireworks. The three of us really do get along very well. We have never had a full-blown fight, and even our spats are few and far between. If you want more tension, you can always look to the Hilton sisters.
So we finished our morning ministrations and headed down to Pearl. Pearl happily took us to the Magic Kindgom TTC, and we boarded the monorail to head to the park.
MK pre-opening is much more crowded than AK pre-opening or Epcot pre-opening. And we were there an hour early. So we entertained ourselves with a Gratuitous Video.
I should explain the Gratuitous Videos. Well, I probably dont have to;
gratuitous is a very descriptive word. But we like our GVs. And my digicam will film video clips for as long as there is space on the memory card. My camera has a 2 gig memory card, and then the 256 mg card that came with it to use as a back up, and I had my laptop with me to save photos/videos to it and free up space on the memory card as needed.
Our first GV was filmed in the hotel room our first full day after we got back from AK. Epcot, sadly, did not have any GVs (no, the seagull video doesn't count; GVs must have amusing blath--er, commentary but the Wearers of the Matching T's). The reason is probably related to why I failed to take photos.
But oh, the Magic Kingdom! Completely GV-worthy. The part I find most hilarious about this GV is the blond tween girl who gives me, the filmer, a nasty look as Im babbling about the Year of a Million Dreams banner. Clearly, Tweenie was Too Cool to ever stoop to appearing in a Gratuitous Video, and she resented that I had the gall to even sweep past her as I focused on the banner.
Ah, to be eleven again.
Not really. Those hormones sucked.
But not being eleven myself, or having an eleven-year-old around, I can mock.
Anyway, we amused ourselves, as we always do, and after rope-drop our Touring Plan told us to go to Space Mountain, so we did. Melneth was a little nervous since the cars have you sit single-rider, but she did all right in the dark. I employed my patent-pending breathless and soundless scream (not that you can actually patent a noise, but still) and admired all the pretty lights. Nevi remained silent, but later told us she liked it.
Next up was Buzz Lightyear. Melneth and I rode together, and Nevi had a car to herself so she got to woman two rays.
We will not spend much time discussing Buzz since this my TR, not Nevis or Melneths, and I didnt score above a Space Cadet. Moving on.
Our Touring Plan next had us head for Fantasyland and Winnie the Pooh. Ahh, sweet Pooh and friends, you do not care if I am a mere Space Cadet. You accept me as I am. Particularly since I am in a pot of honey.
I do believe this section of the Touring Plan may have been Melneths favorite, because from Pooh we went to Peter Pans Flight (Fantasyland was pretty empty, BTW; all the rides were walk-ons or wait-five-seconds-to-walk-ons). Though Im sure Id gone on PPF during my previous trip when I was ten, I didnt remember it at all, and so enjoyed admiring the detail Disney had put into the scenes. There really isnt anything to the ride, of course, but the details are spectacular. Details are what Disney does best, and I enjoyed having the chance to slow down a little (since, you know, the ride doesnt move all that fast) and just look at things. Which I hadnt done much during Pooh, as I suppose I was still trying to come to terms with my Space Cadet status.
PPF landed us safely back on the ground, and our Touring Plan seemed to think we should get Fantasyland done in one go. So we headed to the Valley of the Singing Dolls. Or Valleys. Or Countries. Or, its proper name, its a small world. (BTW, my editor-self despises that its a small world is all lowercase. One capitalizes proper nouns, and its a small world is a proper noun. Just whats the deal with the lowercase? To emphasize that it is, indeed, a small world? Bah! No world is so small that there is no room for CAPITALS!)
Now, I didnt mind Pooh or Peter Pan, but I couldve skipped IASW happily. Because of the song. And because when I get in a room full of dolls, I often feel like theyre staring right at me. I dont have this issue with stuffed animals or wooden cutouts. But dolls? ::shudder:: I mean, Ive never seen any of the Chucky movies for their duration, but I think some of that may have seeped into my subconscious.
Or maybe its just the song.
But it was on Melneths must-do list. It had been on Melneths must-do list from the beginning. So we had to go. Because friendship means sometimes doing things you dont want to do. And frankly, if the worst thing I have to do to maintain a friendship is subject myself to singing dolls, I'm getting off pretty lightly. Except for the song, of course.
And unless the dolls are, in fact, alive, and want to kill me, a la Chucky. But since millions have gone on IASW without being Chuckied, I think I'm okay.
Anyway, there had been no warning about flash photography or video-taking, so I decided to do both. I started with the GV. My dialogue consisted mostly of Okay. Singing dolls. Look! Singing dolls. Then at one point I started singing/humming/lalaing along with the dolls. I dont know why, but no one punched me. Not Melneth, not Nevi, not the man in front of us or his children. No one. No one even turned around to me and said, Look, lady, youre off-key!
Quit scaring the children!
In my defense, I wasnt trying to sound melodic. I was trying to retain my sanity. By singing along with the dolls, I know. I think it was something akin to Stockholm Syndrome. Or maybe reverse psychology; as if that could work on objects that are animate only because theyre attached to some sort of machinery.
Unless they're really alive-- But we've already gone down that road.
Still. Iall three of us, actuallyattended a Christian university where we had chapel every weekday. I am capable of singing on-key, particularly if someone sets the pitch.
Maybe the issue is that the dolls were off-pitch.
Anyway. Eventually I stopped lalaing and stopped filming the GV and instead took some pictures. This was definitely Stockholm Syndrome.
And it seems the Stockholm Syndrome is in effect even now, because I particularly like the photo of the hippo.
We wended our way at last to the last scene, heaven or Shangri-La or whatever its supposed to be. I took note of the white-haired royalty-ish figures on the right that are just before the exit. My brow arched. Hey, I said. The king and king are lower than the can-can dancers [because what heaven is complete without can-can dancers?] and goat-herders! Its biblicalthe last shall be first and the first shall be last!
I think Melneth and Nevi murmured some sort of agreement. They were probably just happy Id stopped humming.
We returned to the sunshine and fresh air at last. No, I did not get out a magic marker to fix the its a world sign. And truly, it didnt occur to me.
Being just a Space Cadet (see, capitals!) threw everything off for me.
Up Next: Ghosts and cruises and pirates, oh my!
) [TR author says: at least one of them was an adult! I remember that much!] so hard that it was not until the last few seconds that I realized that I should take a picture to record for posterity's sake and could only manage to get one shot taken before the game was over. If you wish to go back and try again, I promise to take better pictures.
at the whole installment, but mostly about the flipping VELCRO!!!! Methinks it would be a fun one to which I could send my DS6 and a buddy or two of his. 
Welcome! Catch up when you can or jump right in, whatever!
ixiedust: for being my 250th reply! 
