The Shmoopy DINKs 3rd Annual Xmas Trip - new 2/3: The Origin Story

[girlbomb]

Day Nine: But we’re finally getting the hang of this whole “Disney World” thing!

No time for regrets as the alarm went off at 6:45 the next day – we had a breakfast date with Pooh and the gang over at the Crystal Palace, and we were primed for one last day of fun and wonder. Stacy advised us as we dressed about all the amazing stuff we just had to see, and WESH advised us that we might actually have a little rain today, after a full week of sun and warmth. Then we swigged our morning glasses of Emergen-C and headed out to greet the day.

And how cool is it to greet the day by stepping into this?

Pretty darn cool.

We walked to the MK, as we’d grown so accustomed to doing over the course of our stay – ah, the convenience! But would we stay at the Contemporary next year?, we wondered. They’ll probably still be working on the fourth floor in December 2008, since they’re not starting demolition on the Concourse Steakhouse until May, and we heard bad things about construction noise and dust while they were putting in the new shop and arcade. Besides, Space Mountain will be down for renovation next December (oh noes!) – we’d originally thought about skipping our ’08 trip, since our favorite ride will be down, but neither of us could face the prospect of a year without Disney World. But the lack of Space Mountain will probably significantly reduce the amount of time we spend at the Magic Kingdom, so maybe we should stay at one of the Epcot/Studios resorts, now that we know where the walkway is located…

We resolved to think about it when we got home – for now, it was breakfast time. We glided through the turnstiles and onto Main Street, gloriously uninhabited as usual at this time; then got on line to check in to the Crystal Palace, just a few people behind a yellow-shirted representative of the same Brazilian tour group we’d been seeing all week.

The tour group kids were calm at this hour, which was a blessing. Nobody needed to hear any cheering right now, not with the sun trying to poke through the clouds over the castle, the birds chirping, and the ducks waddling around looking for handouts – we were cheerful enough as it was. By this point, the MK really does start to feel as familiar as home to us, with all the comforts of being in a place we know and love (aside from the lack of three beloved kittycats), and we were loathe to share our home with a throng of noisy teenagers. Fortunately, they were seated across the restaurant from us (“They can be so rude,” sighed our server, as he cast a glance their way. “I hope they behave themselves this morning.”), and behaved as well as any group of excited teenagers could be expected to behave.

We filled and refilled our plates, drinking in the atmosphere (and the grapefruit juice). Tigger and Eeyore came around and interacted with the kids at the tables nearby; as usual, I got l verklempt. They came over and said hi to us, their regular visitors this week, and we wished them a wonderful day in their Hundred Acre Wood. Then we settled up and went to go stake our place at the Tomorrowland rope.

Imagine our surprise when we found that we were not the first people there. A family of four must have sped through their breakfast, as they were now huddled near the right-hand side of the rope, doing stretching exercises – mom was pulling her own leg behind her with one hand for a good quadricep stretch, and dad and the kids were doing knee bends and jogging in place. Are they kidding?, Bill and I asked each other, using only our eyebrows. They did know this wasn’t an actual footrace, right? Like, nobody was going to be throwing cups of water over them as they ran 26 miles, or anything. It’s not the marathon, people; as a matter of fact, there’s no running allowed. You might want to take it down a notch.

Uh uh, not these people. “You know, as soon as that rope drops, you have to run,” said Mom to her two boys, who were probably eight and eleven years old. The boys noticed a similar crowd forming over at the rope by the Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace, and started complaining. “They’re closer! They’re going to beat us!”

“Run,” their dad reiterated, as Bill’s and my eyebrows arched ever higher. You win, Crazy Competitive Family, we said silently to each other. We are staying out of your way.

So the rope dropped, and I don’t know if it was an extra-aggressive crowd this morning, or what, but Bill took a shoulder to the chest from a woman with a stroller, and I nearly got pummeled by a family who just had to be in front of us – again, you win! Amazingly, everybody made it onto the ride without incident, despite the rabid ferocity of the crowd – even the people who (gasp) walked to the ride without stepping on other people to get there got to ride! They didn’t shut the thing down after the first three seconds so that people who weren’t FIRST couldn’t enjoy it! Unbelievable!

We rode our old favorite twice in a row, knowing that this would be the last day that we’d see this iteration of Space Mountain before its refurb. The music they play in the queue, the eerie blue lights, the way it jerks you back hard against your seat as it takes you up that first long climb, the chew-chew-chew sound as it powers down at the end – we committed all of it to memory, so we’d always have it when it was gone. Then we grabbed FPs and made a stop at the bathrooms.

Bill had an odd look on his face when we reconvened. “What,” I asked, knowing there had to be some story behind that look. Earlier in the week, he’d noticed a few “Follow Jesus” pamphlets left in that same set of bathrooms (the reasoning being that you can convert non-Christians from whatever their spiritual beliefs might currently be, to a whole new value system, in the time it takes to pee, I guess?); maybe he’d seen something similar just now.

Nope, he said, no Jesus this time. It was the younger of the running kids from this morning, holding his side like he’d just taken a huge spill and sobbing in real pain. “He must have wiped out on the piso mojado,” Bill said, shaking his head. “He looked like he was hurting, bad.”

“Ouch,” I said, wincing in sympathy, then took a cursory look around for his ever-so-responsible parents, who were nowhere in sight. Good job, I might have said if I’d seen them. Telling your kid to run in a crowded theme park, where there are slippery floors everywhere – glad that worked out so well for everyone.

We walked over to Monsters Inc. for a repeat viewing, and were charmed again by its sweet humor (we were also surprised to learn that Bill can burp the alphabet, a feat neither of us knew he was capable of). Then we went over to the Jungle Cruise, and waited maybe five minutes for a boat. Not so charmed by the humor. A new set of jokes would do wonders for this attraction, though I’d bet that the right skipper could sell the material as it is, even though it’s dated. Ours was not that skipper, and the wait to disembark at the dock while the boats piled up verged on painful.

We were entitled to new FPs, so we got some for Big Thunder, as it already had a twenty minute wait. Then we waited five minutes for another ride through the Haunted Mansion. I’ll never forget the first time I saw the ballroom scene as a kid – “Look!” I said to my dad, grabbing his arm, “the man in the picture is shooting the other man!” I was so knocked out by the special effects that even years later, in my too-cool teenage phase when I dreamed of starting my own nightclub, I thought I’d use the same technology to have ghosts dancing on the dance floor with my guests. The idea of ripping off a Walt Disney World ride for my ultra-cool club didn’t seem silly to me at all. These days, I don’t dream of opening a nightclub and filling it with Pepper’s Ghosts any more, but I still kind of want that spookey-eyed wallpaper for the hallway of our apartment.

We were headed back to Tomorrowland, when we noticed that there was almost no wait for the Indy Speedway. We’ve never ridden it before, but Bill thought we should give it a whirl. “Ucch,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s really lame. It’s not like the racecars at Coney Island you’re used to; here you only go about two miles per hour behind some little kid. Are you sure you want to spend the time on it?”

“Come on, we’ve never done it before,” he said. “Besides, I’ll let you drive.”

Yeah. See, as a native New Yorker who’s spent my entire thirty-eight-year life in the city, I never learned how to drive a car. And people never stop ribbing me about it. “FINE,” I said. “We’re doing it.”

The wait was short, but stinky – phew, those fumes! We were directed to take the first race car, so at least we wouldn’t be right on someone else’s tail. I stepped down into the driver’s seat, we belted ourselves together for safety, and then I hit the gas and we took off. Immediately, the car hit the rail underneath us.

“What are you doing?” asked Bill, in mock outrage. “Two seconds in the car, and you hit the rail! How hard is this? It’s not that hard! You’re screwing it up! Jesus!”

For some reason, his overblown yelling made me laugh really hard, so he kept it up for the whole ride. “What’s the matter with you? It’s a road! Stay on the road! What are you doing? Come on!”

And maybe there’s something really wrong with our relationship that this mock abuse was making me laugh so hard, but by this point I was laughing to the point of crying. It’s a good thing that the noise of the speedway drowned out Bill’s performance, because otherwise people would have thought we were sadomasochistic maniacs, with him ranting and raving at me, and me crying my eyes out with laughter. Here’s a picture of me barely able to steer because I’m laughing so hard:

So it turns out that the ride I thought would be the biggest waste of time turned out to be some of the most fun we’d had all day. I don’t know if we’d ever be able to recreate the moment on another trip along the speedway, but if you’re ever in one of those cars, and you see a woman in a pink hat being berated by her Dear Domestic Partner while she shrieks with laughter – yeah, that’ll be us.

Sides aching, we went back to use our FPs for Space Mountain, but it was down, so we hopped on the TTA for a look at Space Mountain with the lights on:

Then we did Stitch’s Great Escape. I don’t know why. We’re happy to skip a bunch of attractions all week, and then on our last day we get all completist about everything, and decide we have to do things just once so we can say we did them. Note that we didn’t wind up doing the Country Bears Jamboree, the Tiki Room, Dumbo, most of Fantasyland, Aladdin’s carpets, Tom Sawyer Island, or the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (which I understand is great at night – I’m sorry we forgot to see it at night during this trip). Somehow we still had to do Stitch.

I am proud to say that I fell asleep during Stitch. Yeah. The minute my butt hit that chair, I konked out for the next five minutes. Take that, stinker.

We walked through the first rain shower of the week on our way back to Frontierland to use our FPs for BTMRR, but it was over by the time we got onto the ride. Then we got FPs for Splash Mountain, and headed over to Pecos Bill’s for some lunch. I called my dad along the way – my dad, who hates Disney World, because, as he says, “That b%&tard killed Bambi’s mother,” a scene that caused him to abruptly yank my six-year-old butt right out of the movie theater. Still, he took me to Disney World one year when he was at a convention in Orlando, and though he gritted his teeth the entire time, I loved it, and remain ever grateful.

“Still having a good time?” asked my dad.

“Sorry to report it, but yes. Apparently, we haven’t developed any good taste since last year; we’re having the best trip yet.”

“Oh, good,” he said, pleased. He may shudder at Disney World, but he’s happy that Bill and I derive so much enjoyment from it.

The lines at Pecos Bill were long – the whole park was more crowded than we’d seen it all week, probably because it was Saturday the 15th, and the Christmas crowds were arriving. Here’s a picture of the midday throng in Liberty Square:

But as crazy as the crowd was, the girl at the register was totally sweet and smiling as we approached. We gave her our order (veggie burger for me, burger burger for Bill), and as we paid, Bill asked her, “How do you stay so calm and cheerful with crowds like this?”

“Well, it’s because of nice people like you,” she said, handing us our change. “Have a magical day!”

It took a few circles around the area to find a table, but Bill spotted one outside and we descended on it like vultures. It afforded us a great view of the drop on Splash Mountain, and it was fun to sit and eat and watch boat after boat drop over the precipice – “AAAAHHHH!” Sploosh!

(Coming next: Doing nothing and loving it!)

 

[Glendamax]

I always feel that I give such LAME responses to people's TRs. But now I feel especially lame, after reading such a well written installment! I LOVE your descriptions of sounds, and the expressions you all exchanged! I could see and hear everything you described.

Now I'd like to know if anyone told you what they are building at the Contemporary . . .

 

[girlbomb]

I always feel that I give such LAME responses to people's TRs. But now I feel especially lame, after reading such a well written installment! I LOVE your descriptions of sounds, and the expressions you all exchanged! I could see and hear everything you described.

Now I'd like to know if anyone told you what they are building at the Contemporary . . .

Lame? Glendamax, your responses are the exact opposite of lame! You are...what's the opposite of lame...totally agile! And your support means the world to me. Yours was one of the first TRs I read, and the one that inspired me to write my own. Thank you!

And nobody was willing to own up to the DVC Contemporary rumors, darn them. But that construction's not what I'm worried about -- it's the fourth floor construction that has me concerned about our planned Dec. 08 trip. "Boardwalk vs. Contemporary" has become a hot topic of debate at the Shmoop-bomb house these days!

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

Great TR!!! I'm glad that you were able to ride so many rides in such short amounts of time! It just makes the trip that much more worth it!!

 

[girlbomb]

Great TR!!! I'm glad that you were able to ride so many rides in such short amounts of time! It just makes the trip that much more worth it!!

Thanks, luckymomoftwo! We definitely like our rides.

So we left off on Day Nine, our last day before leaving, sitting at an outside table at Pecos Bill’s and watching the boats slide over the drop on Splash Mountain. Did you know that a boat drops every eight seconds? That’s an efficient ride! We would have sat longer, but a mom and daughter team were lurking right over my shoulder with their trays, waiting for us to finish that last bite of food so they could sit down.

I was barely done chewing and swallowing when we decamped for dessert at the candy store. JellyBellys may not be exotic, but the opportunity to enjoy a big bag of them isn’t something we get every day at home, so it was a treat to mix and match my favorite flavors, and then eat them one by one.

Three guesses where we went next. SPACE MOUNTAIN, of course, to use the morning’s FPs, and get new ones. After Space Mountain, we went next door to the Carousel of Progress – sadly, I didn’t even see the first scene before I was out like a light. This made five unplanned naps I’d taken this trip: the Indiana Jones Nap Spectacular, the Nap of Presidents, Ellen’s Napping Adventure, Stitch’s Nappy Escape, and now the Carousel of Napping. Which means that I was not being a good parent to my inner child – I was letting her get exhausted!

We’d said ahead of time that we were going to slow down, take breaks, and not try to go commando all day and night, but I guess we were only semi-successful in implementing that plan. We went easier this year than years past, but we still went at it pretty hard. We can’t seem to help it – we’re so greedy for Disney that we just can’t stop ourselves while we’re there.

After the Carouszzzzzz of Progrzzzzzzz, we went for another showing of our beloved Philharmagic, and this one was packed. Earlier in the week, it didn’t matter if you scooted all the way down to the end of the row, as the theaters were half full, but today, everyone had to follow the CMs directions, and those who didn’t (there will always be some of them, won’t there?) made it really hard for the rest of us, forcing us to climb over and around them. Finally, a middle-aged female CM said in a really strident voice, “You need to move ALL THE WAY DOWN THE ROW! DO NOT STOP in the MIDDLE!”

People took heed and started reshuffling themselves accordingly. “Sometimes,” whispered Bill in my ear, “you need to bring in a Sassy Black Woman to get people to pay attention.”

We stopped in the gift shop after the show to buy the Haunted Mansion soundtrack. (And oh, how a friend snickered when she came over to our place and used my computer and saw those tracks on my iTunes! Well, snicker away, dear friend – you listen to Fergie, and I’ll listen to Grim Grinning Ghosts.) (Okay, I’ll also listen to Fergie. But only while working out!)

Then it was over to Splash to use our pre-lunch FPs. This ride was notable because the woman in the seat behind us was giving her friend misinformation about it the entire time. “No, this one’s not based on a movie. It’s based on some old cartoons. Watch out, here comes the drop!” Then we slid down the four-foot mini-drop into the Laughing Place scene. “Wow, that wasn’t so bad. I’m surprised we didn’t get more drenched!”

We criss-crossed the park yet again to get back on Space Mountain (yay! We’ll miss you, little mountain!), then we walked the peaceful trail from Tomorrowland to ToonTown, and took it to Main Street. Sure, it would have been just as easy to walk to Main Street, but the ride is fun. On Main Street, we took the time to investigate the shops we hadn’t stopped into before, including the hat shop. I am so disappointed that they don’t sell Tigger ears or Tigger Santa hats anymore – I never bought them in years past because I was too cool for that, but this year I decided I was uncool enough to succumb to Tigger ears. And now I can’t find any! Maybe I will try eBay, though I am an eBay virgin, and fear becoming an addict.

There was a DVC presentation at Exhibition Hall, so we couldn’t see the old cartoon clips. But we did pass by some little girls getting their Bibbity Bobbity Boutique photo shoots done, and they all looked like they were enjoying it immensely.

Then we crossed the street and looked around the firehouse, which we’ve never done before. They had Mickey ears for pets, and though I knew our kittycats would not put up with Mickey ears, I suspected that my stepmom’s beloved shi tzu would deal with them all right, as he has been trained to endure all sorts of ridiculous costuming in his few years on earth. So we nabbed those to put under the Christmas tree this year.

After that, we stopped in front of the Christmas tree to see the statue of Roy Disney and Minnie. Reading that Neil Gabler biography of Walt made me appreciate just how much Roy did to keep Walt’s dreams alive, and I felt a swell of gratitude and affection for Roy, the unsung Disney brother. Without him, there would be no Disney Studios, no Disney films, no Disney World. Bill sat down next to our gal Minnie to say thanks to Roy for all he did to make our trips possible.

By now, it was late afternoon, and we’d done most of what we wanted to do in park, multiple times. We decided to pick up a frozen pink lemonade at the Enchanted Grove (we were actually going for a strawberry swirl, but the guy in front of us ordered the lemonade, and it looked so good we had to follow his lead); then we walked down through the rose garden and sat in the gazebo, on a bench facing Tomorrowland.

We ate (drank? slurped?) our frozen lemonade, and just sat for a while, listening to the music and the people, gazing at the scenery. A few families came along and cooled their heels at nearby benches – one family was taking pictures and arguing, another family was letting their toddlers ogle the ducks. I put my head down on Bill’s lap, and for maybe the first time in nine days, just relaxed.

“I just love being here,” I said.

“Me too,” he agreed.

And it’s funny – I was reading a Best/Worst thread over in the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies forum yesterday, and one of the categories was Best Overall. And when I thought about The Best of everything we’d done during our trip – the Segway tour, the Adventurer’s Club, the great meals at Boma and Cali Grill and Le Cellier, MVMCP – the first thing I thought of was the half hour we spent at the rose garden gazebo, on our last day of touring, just sitting around doing nothing.

The sky started to dim, and we decided to move along. Only a few more hours of park time before we had to go back to the hotel and pack, so we went to use our latest set of FPs on Space Mountain. It was temporarily closed for a “102” (I don’t know what that code means, but whenever we’ve overheard it, it usually means, “It’ll be up in ten minutes or so”), and the CM assured us that they’d honor expired FPs later, to make up for the outage they were experiencing now.

It was sprinkling again, as we decided to see what the waits were like over in Frontierland, but when we got there, neither Splash nor BTMRR were running. Maybe they were concerned about lightning? The sun had gone down now, the park was crowded, and people were getting really testy with the CMs about the rides being down. Here’s a hint, people – the CMs didn’t shut the rides down to be jerks! There’s a good reason the rides aren’t running – it’s because they’re not working, or they’re not safe to run right now. It’s not a conspiracy to ruin your vacation! Leave the kid at the FastPass line alone! Yelling at him isn’t getting the ride open any faster. Neither is yelling at your kids when they express their disappointment. Just shut up, take a seat on the ledge and wait, or go see the damn Country Bears. Sheesh.

We elected to shut up and wait on the ledge, and within five minutes, the ride was reopened, and we were some of the first people to be admitted. So all in all, we had a five-minute standby wait for Splash on a crowded Saturday night – not bad! The line had only built up a little bit by the time we were done, so we hopped on it again. I was definitely getting my money’s worth out of my poncho, with all these Splash rides, though it was starting to smell a little bit like mildew. Some people look askance at you for wearing a poncho on Splash mountain – I know that Bill would rather get wet than go through the whole poncho donning and refolding rigamarole. But I was much happier to stay dry, thank you, and by sitting on the right side of the log and shielding Bill as we went around the bend where the cannons get you, I might have even spared him a few drops of water, too.

It was about 7pm when we got off our second ride (by the way, riding Splash Mountain at night is a totally different experience than riding it in the daytime, and one we highly recommend), and we wanted to get good spots for the 8pm SpectroMagic, so we waked quickly over to Main Street, which was already lined with people waiting for the parade. This caused me to double my pace back towards Frontierland, as I was determined that we were not standing for this parade, not tonight! I snagged us two spots on the stone wall across the street from the Liberty Tree Tavern, just as the CMs were unspooling the rope to mark the parade route, next to a family of five or six people, including Grandma in her ECV. I smiled at them and asked if there was room for me and Bill, and they indicated that there was. YES.

(Up next: On this [last] magic night...)

 

[VandyFan10]

It also included tears of joy, tears of laughter, and even a few tears of sadness when it was time to leave. Magic moments? We had 'em! Testy moments? There were a few. We managed to pack just about everything into this trip…except sleep. So now that we've got the intros out of the way, I think it's time to begin the report!

Found you from Glenda's report

We were also there the 2nd week of Dec ....I can only hope the hubby wants to go back during the Christmas holidays sometime soon.....it's hard with his work schedule to do so....but here's wishing

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR.....definitely sub'd so I don't misplace it

 

[VandyFan10]

It also included tears of joy, tears of laughter, and even a few tears of sadness when it was time to leave. Magic moments? We had 'em! Testy moments? There were a few. We managed to pack just about everything into this trip…except sleep. So now that we've got the intros out of the way, I think it's time to begin the report!

Found you from Glenda's report

We were also there the 2nd week of Dec ....I can only hope the hubby wants to go back during the Christmas holidays sometime soon.....it's hard with his work schedule to do so....but here's wishing

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR.....definitely sub'd so I don't misplace it

 

[MadiMouse]

I found your TR from my girl Glenda's TR. I will make an appearance in her report at MVMCP. She spent her evening with me and my family and she is truly a terrific person. I am very interested in reading your books and I have added them to my list. Your TR is !!!

Cas
Madimouse

 

[MadiMouse]

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[MadiMouse]

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[MadiMouse]

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[missmonkey]

Brava! I am loving this TR. It's a monument to us no-kid-havin' (as much as we like them) adults who love, love, love the Disney magic.

So the rope dropped, and I don’t know if it was an extra-aggressive crowd this morning, or what, but Bill took a shoulder to the chest from a woman with a stroller, and I nearly got pummeled by a family who just had to be in front of us – again, you win!

Ha ha! And I mean that in an entirely sympathetic way.

On one of the last times I rode the monorail at Disneyland with my sister, we encountered a woman like these overly enthusiastic runners. She had been single-handedly holding back the line so that her family, including her mother in an ECV, would be the first into the station when a train finally pulled up. From where we were, it just looked like an empty waiting area ready to hold more passengers. So we made our way into the very large space with multiple loading gates and Cruella was right on my sister, shoving her from behind and hissing at her about who knows what. After a few attempts at starting a fight (and getting a front-of-line spot at a gate), my sister threw up her hands and said to her, "Okay, you win! You win the Monorail!" It was the funniest phrase I'd ever heard. It's cracking me up to hear it again.

You know, some people just absorb too much of the magic.

 

[Glendamax]

Girlbomb, did you see where the crazy ropedrop people ran to? I have no idea where they were trying to go?

 

[girlbomb]

Found you from Glenda's report

We were also there the 2nd week of Dec ....I can only hope the hubby wants to go back during the Christmas holidays sometime soon.....it's hard with his work schedule to do so....but here's wishing

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR.....definitely sub'd so I don't misplace it

VandyFan10, I'm so glad to see you here! I'm loving your TR as well -- your pictures are astonishing!

I found your TR from my girl Glenda's TR. I will make an appearance in her report at MVMCP. She spent her evening with me and my family and she is truly a terrific person. I am very interested in reading your books and I have added them to my list. Your TR is !!!

Welcome, MadiMouse! I feel like I know you from Glenda's report! Her friendliness is so contagious...

Brava! I am loving this TR. It's a monument to us no-kid-havin' (as much as we like them) adults who love, love, love the Disney magic.

Yay, missmonkey! Thanks for validating us Disney-lovin' "adults." I love the line, "You win the monorail!"

Girlbomb, did you see where the crazy ropedrop people ran to? I have no idea where they were trying to go?

Glenda, they were trying to go to Space Mountain, just like us slightly less crazy people. Fortunately, the ride could hold all of us, and nobody had to go home empty handed without a turn.

And now back to: On This Magic (Last!) Night...

Our 8pm Spectro plan was that one of us would save the spots while the other got dinner from one of the counter service places, but Bill wasn’t hungry for dinner. “You want to see if you can get in a ride on the Haunted Mansion?” I asked. “I’m happy to sit and hold the spot.” So he disappeared for a few minutes, then came back in short order.

“Line too long?” I asked, surprised.

“No,” he said. “I just didn’t want to ride without you.”

Awwww! Shmoopy!

Well, as much as it pained me to be away from him for a few minutes, I was hungry enough to go for a snack. “How about that chocolate covered popcorn they sell over at the Frontierland candy store,” Bill suggested. I noted that he wasn’t hungry enough for dinner, but that he could still put in a snack request.

“Good eye,” I said – I hadn’t noticed the stuff – and I took off to go fetch it.

It was a great suggestion – that stuff was delicious. We happily sat on our ledge and polished off the entire bag, while listening to the family next to us make fun of passing guests. “Look at him, his glasses are so thick, he can see the future.” We watched two or three people in a row amble by eating turkey legs, and Bill jumped in. “Big women eating turkey legs,” he said. “This is the worst parade I’ve ever seen.” Our neighbors cracked up and repeated that a few times. Bill was now an honorary member of their family.

As the parade time got closer, spots along the rope became more valuable. We saw a number of people try the trick where they stopped their stroller and pushed it under the rope, thereby forcing the people who had been sitting there to shuffle back on their butts, but most of the spot-stakers were having none of it, saying, “Excuse me, I’ve been sitting here for a while to get these seats, you’ll have to find someplace else to sit.” Then the stroller-pushers would huff loudly and act like the spot-stakers were the biggest jerks on the planet and stalk off. I was glad we had our lovely stone wall seating, and if the crowd in front of us got too thick, we could always stand on the wall, as we’d seen others do throughout the week. Luckily for us, it was a bunch of eight-year-old boys who stood in front of us, and even I, the short stack, could easily see over their heads.

And boy, was it fun to watch them watch the parade. “Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,” one of them directed the others as the floats swung around the Liberty Square hub. His idea was that you should wait until the float was almost right in front of you, then look up and get its full impact. “Now! Awwwwww!”

Awwww, indeed. Bill and I were never big parade people, but we stumbled across SpectroMagic in action on our first trip, and were awed by the display. Watching it from beginning to end is a real treat – as with all of the Disney shows, the performances are amazing. The guy on this float was in constant, full-throttle motion for the entire length of the show:

Legs, arms, face, all working at full intensity as he perches on his ledge. His abs must be ripped!

Then Minnie came along, and the eight-year-old boys in front of me went nuts. “Minnie! Minnie!” You’d have thought they’d save their biggest cheers for one of the more macho characters, but no – it was Minnie they cheered the loudest. She came over and blew them all kisses. Yay, Minnie!

What a pleasure it was to sit and watch a parade from beginning to end, without having to jockey or be jostled, without worrying about how to execute an efficient retreat as soon as it was over. We waited for the last float to pass, said goodbye to our neighbors, and took a leisurely walk through the throngs to the bridge to Tomorrowland, where we stopped and watched Wishes. Maybe I said this above, but as wonderful as Holiday Wishes was, I still prefer Original Recipe. It was a beautiful capper to a really terrific day.

Well, this was it – our last chance to ride our old friend Space Mountain, then back to the room to pack and rest up for our travel day. We ambled over to SM…and it was shut down. “It’ll be down for forty five minutes,” said a guy near us to his family. “What do you want to do?”

Whine, complain, and moan, apparently. That’s what most people were choosing to do. “It’s not fair!” “But I wanted to go on it tonight!” Meanwhile, people were breezing right up to where we were standing in line, in front of the FP line, and showing their FPs to the CM standing there, expecting to be let in. Uh, the ride’s shut down. Do you think we’re all standing here in an unmoving line for our health? Because if standing in line improves your health, then Disney makes you the healthiest people on the planet.

People were bailing right and left, and soon Bill and I were at the front of the FP line. The CM was trying to remain unfrazzled by all of the whiny, angry people who kept approaching and demanding answers. We smiled at her sympathetically. And of course, as was the case all week, if you gave the ride five or ten minutes, they got it operational again, and you could proceed. So while families all around us lost their minds and had tantrums, we stayed cool and maintained our positions in line, and then waltzed through an empty queue onto a waiting shuttle.

This ride definitely goes faster at night, when the track’s warmed up, and it was thrilling all over again. We did it twice more in rapid succession, drinking in each trip around the track. One last sonic boom in the red tunnel near the end, one last chew-chew-chew, and we disembarked, passing the robot’s outer space archeological dig for the last time. Great ride, that Space Mountain. Great fun.

And great big lumps in our throats as we walked back down Main Street and exited the park. It had been such a wonderful vacation, as were the last two trips – so many happy memories were made here, memories that we would talk about for a whole year back at home. We couldn’t feel too sad, after the amazing time we’d had – the endorphins were still firing! But our feet and hearts were a little heavy as we made our way back to the room, and gazed upon the MK from our window.

In years past, we got up at 6am on our travel day and took a 9 or 10am flight back to New York. Just rip the band-aid off quickly, we figured; don’t dally, or it’ll hurt worse. But this year, we’d decided to give ourselves a break. We’d sleep until 8, get some breakfast at Kona at 10, and take a noon Magical Express bus to catch a 2:30 flight. That still got us home by 7 or so – enough time to unpack, reintroduce ourselves to our cats, and prepare for the Monday ahead. So we comforted ourselves as we drifted off to sleep with the idea that there was still a little bit of magic to be had in the morning. A little magic – and some of that famous Tonga Toast!



(Up next: NOOOOOO! DON' WAN' GO HOME! And thanks again for reading! )

 

[Just2DisneyKids]

I just found your TR and am loving it! I've only finished reading through Day1 but I see you are already almost finished so I thought I'd say Hello! And I must say, just 2 weeks in and you have almost completed a 10 day TR! You are far more prolific than most here!

OK, I must now see what adventures await you both on Day 2!

By the way, hope you are staying warm, I hear it is frrreeeezing in NYC today...

 

[AmericanCaesar]

As a comment to the earlier post, just a few days before, WE'RE the crazy rope drop people, all amped up on biscuits-and-gravy and breakfast lasagna, jockeying for our place on that first space shuttle back after a year's gap between trips. The thing is, after nine days, when we're moving with less intensity, those people (we/us) seem too keyed up.

It's double-standard time!

 

[girlbomb]

(Argh! Double post.)

 

[girlbomb]

(Argh argh! Double double post.)

 

[Glendamax]

Loved your last installment! I have to remember to stick around when a ride is down. I alway BOLT. But next time, hopefully I'll have to patience to do what you did!

The snipet below is why I enjoy reading your report so much!

This ride definitely goes faster at night, when the track’s warmed up, and it was thrilling all over again. We did it twice more in rapid succession, drinking in each trip around the track. One last sonic boom in the red tunnel near the end, one last chew-chew-chew, and we disembarked, passing the robot’s outer space archeological dig for the last time. Great ride, that Space Mountain. Great fun.

Love your decsriptions. I will NEVER ride this, but I felt as if I did! Thanks!!

 

[girlbomb]

Just2DisneyKids, thanks for jumping in! I am trying to write my TR as fast as I can, before I forget everything, and before my other deadlines kick in (too late). Glad you're enjoying it -- writing it has been great fun, and comments like your make it even better.

And excuse me, AmericanShmoosar, but we're the slightly less crazy people than those other crazy people over there. I've never seen you run, push, or throw a shoulder into someone's chest in order to get somewhere first. Have I seen you hotstepping? Yes. Have I seen you bodychecking? No.

Therefore, I, your Dearest Domestic Partner and maker of all your ADRs, am not a hypocrite.