WOW!! So sorry to hear about your dinner. I hope your last day in the parks make up for it.
KittyKat08, thanks! I reread this installment after posting it, and thought, "I'm so whiny!" But my whininess is on the record, so I'll have to stand behind it.
Not to distract from your woe, but if I ever have a band I may have to name it Hammy Fish.
Seriously, though, that is a bummer of a dinner. So sorry...
distherapy, Hammy Fish is a great band name! Not a great dinner, but a
great band name.
Oooh, I feel pressure now since you are looking forward to my May TR!
Sorry about your hammy fish, that is totally not cool. What if you were allergic!?! I always thing about that when I dine out. I'm glad I am not allergic to anything because you would have to really make sure you were on your game not to eat anything that could make you ill, like you with your hammy fish.
We did Crystal Palace for breakfast and dinner on our last trip, just not on the same day. I wonder if Pooh will recognize you.
Lady Lallie, I'm not the only one looking forward to your next report. And your pictures!
And now here's
Day Nine: Saturday, December 13: Have a Holly, Jolly MouseFest:
So were finally getting the hang of this Disney thing avoiding work phone calls and emails during the day, sleeping through the night, packing our days full of fun and adventure and now here we are, on our last full day of the trip! But were not leaving until tomorrow afternoon, and were planning to wring the most out of today, so we get a nice early start when the alarm goes off at 6:30. I toss on some extra layers to combat the chill in the air, and feel glad that we went to Blizzard Beach on Wednesday; it was the only day of the trip really warm enough to enjoy a water park. Yeah, all in all, despite colds and crowds and real estate frustrations, we managed to combine some good luck with some good planning and generally great attitudes to have an awesome trip. And we still have a full day in the MK ahead of us!
Okay, not a
full day, because this is the day that were going to the Yacht and Beach Club for the Mega Mouse Meet, the biggest event of the whole MouseFest convention! The Mega Mouse Meet has been the subject of a lot of advance debate between us over the past few months do we want to spend two or three hours of our precious annual vacation away from the parks, so I can sit behind an exhibit table and do a book signing? For Bill, the answer was not so much. Hes been to a bunch of book signings, and if youre not the one whos either signing or getting your book signed, its boring. On the other hand, he knows how much I want to meet certain DISboarders, and how important it is to me to promote my books, so he agrees. Besides, hes an avid listener of the WDW Today podcast, and luminaries like Matt Hochberg and Len Testa are going to be there. And I promise him that we wont stay long.
So as were suiting up, we throw on our fancy MouseFest lanyards and ID badges, and I toss an extra copy of my book into my new reusable canvas Disney bag, to foist on Matt Hochberg (I want to be a guest on that podcast so badly
). Ive also got the new Epcot pen I bought earlier in the trip in my bag, so I can sign books in style!
Once dressed and packed, we take our usual pleasant, sunny, happy walk to the MK, and when were allowed through the turnstiles with the other early breakfasters, I take a minute to grab a locker and stow the bag. I catch up to Bill, and we check in for our 8:05 breakfast at the Crystal Palace; as were waiting to be seated, Bill takes this shot of me, pointing proudly to my MouseFest badge:
Oh yeah whos feeling cool? Me. Ive got my MouseFest badge over my new Ariel sweatshirt over the awesome t-shirt Bill got for me at this summers Science of Disney Imagineering symposium at New York University (where we also got to meet Lucky the Dinosaur, and DISer wildeoscar). You can not buy this kind of cool, people.
Soon, a CM comes out of the CP and announces that Pooh and friends have a table for the El
Ellabom family, and thats close enough for us, so we follow her into the dining room while she explains how it works: The characters start on this side of the room, then they make their way around
We smile politely, thinking, You can skip the spiel; were old pros. But we dont want to be rude.
(A note about the word spiel we noticed one afternoon at the Tower of Terror that theres a button on the control panel next to the elevators that the ride operator presses called RIDE SPIEL, which activates the safety announcement. I always thought that the word spiel was a colloquialism, but I guess its been adopted as the official Disney term for repeated announcements. They also could have called it the RIDE YADDA YADDA YADDA.)
So were shown to our regular spot in all of our Disney trips, weve eaten here eight or ten times by now, and were always seated in this one row of three tables, except the one time we ate here for dinner. There are plenty of cute kids around, and the characters are in good form today, as they usually are. I am happy, happy, happy as I load up my plate full of salmon and fruit and egg whites; even happier when I go back for a second plate of biscuits, strawberries and cream, and chocolate croissants. Then, as Im passing by the buffet on my way back to my seat, theres a seven-year-old girl whos seen fit to put her finger in the bowl of whipped cream. When she sees me looking at her, she locks her eyes on mine and tries to sneak the finger out of the bowl and do something unobtrusive with it, but shes busted with a finger full of cream. Ewwwwww! Parents, please accompany your children to the buffet, so that they are not tempted to put their booger-covered fingers in the food!
But, as noted, I really do enjoy watching the kids around us, booger-covered though they may be, and Im grateful for the parents who are doing the hard work of raising the little suckers, because apparently the species needs propagation, and Bill and I aint doin it. There is one family near us whose daughter looks to be about nine; theyre making a really big deal over her, filming her with the camcorder, and shes playing it up, making all kinds of cutesy faces and stuff. Pooh is about to approach, and the parents get all excited, training the camera on their daughter to catch every expression that flits across her face. Bill and I bug our eyes at each other they know shes nine, right? And not, like, three? Because the way theyre chattering with excitement, youd think she was a three-year-old getting her first gander at Pooh. So we watch surreptitiously while the girl makes a superhuge deal out of throwing her arms around Pooh totally playing to the camera the whole time and the parents are squealing with joy over the cuteness of it all. Huh. For me, the cuteness kind of has to be genuine, or its not really cute. But hey, its not my kid. Maybe if we ever had one, wed be following it around with the camcorder until the kid was thirty-five, going, Oh my god! Look how cute! Hes sorting his tax receipts! Henry! Look up at Daddy and smile! Awwwww!
Anyway, breakfast. Its good. Crystal Palace is good, Pooh and friends are very good, and the people-watching is fabulous. Being in the MK before official opening time is good. Being at the MK any time is good. Were here = were happy.
We take our spots by the Tomorrowland rope, where were soon joined by a family wearing matching tie-dye t-shirts. Theyre taking pictures of each other in all sorts of configurations; of course, being a busybody, I have to step in and ask if theyd like me to take a picture of all of them together. They would like that very much, so I oblige, and we chat for a minute. Mom is on the DIS boards, but says she doesnt post much. I dont post much either, I say, but I read until my eyeballs are practically melting. Yay, DIS boards!
So the park opens, and the hoi polloi approach, and soon theres a BIG crowd waiting with us at the Tomorrowland rope, and they look antsy. Theres a bunch of football players near us, being really loud and borderline inappropriate hey, I like to use salty language as much as anybody, but I keep it in check at Disney, where there are four-year-olds behind every garbage can. Then the rope drops, and a very aggro dad pushes his stroller right into my leg. I shoot a look at him as we trot behind the CMs, and he glares back, as does the sullen-looking seven-year-old in the stroller. Yikes.
Despite the aggressive crowd, Bill and I are the first through the gate, and we speed through the line, hooting football players hot on our heels. We get in the first car, with football players behind us, and they do not shut up for a second. FIRST RIDE OF THE DAY! FIRST! FIRST RIDE OF THE DAY! WOOO! I get the sense that Bill and I are sort of being made fun of they dont say anything outright, but theres a mocking tone that I recognize from having been a teenage jerk myself, and its hard to block it out. Bill catches it too Jerks, he says to me, as we exit the rocket and swing around for Fips and another ride.
But our second ride is footballer-free, hooray, and the line is short enough that we take three more trips in rapid succession, for a grand total of five rides in an hour. We have two minutes until our next Fip is available, so we tap our feet impatiently, then grab our second Fip and start heading out of the park to get to the Mega Mouse Meet. Its hard to leave when were having such good ride mojo, especially because I can see that the crowds are building and the general mood is feisty, but I did go through the trouble of buying an ad in the MouseFest program and arranging things with the bookseller ahead of time, and I really want to meet Circusgirl. So we grab my bag from the locker, hightail it to the Contemporary, and then jump in a cab for a tax deductible ride to the Mega Mouse Meet. (Note: I wont claim the whole trip as a business expense, because somehow I think the IRS might raise an eyebrow over that, but you bet Im claiming the cabs back and forth to the Yacht and Beach Club. Hey, Im on my way to work now!)
Its a quick ride to the Y&B, and we manage to find the exhibition room without too much trouble. And WOW, is it big! And packed! Theres tables for all the major Disney related websites and travel services I hardly know where to begin! But we have to start at the DIS table, where I thank Kathy and Chuck for all their hard work and dedication, and I ask them to please make it easier to find the link to become a sponsor, as right now its hard to find.
Then we split up Bill goes to meet the WDW Today guys, and I seek out the bookseller. Dave Koenig, author of many Disney-related books including Realityland, is at the books table too; it's such a pleasure to meet him, after reading so much of his work! But its crowded behind the table, so I stand in front of the books instead, and when anybody picks up a copy of mine to browse it, I casually remark that the book theyre holding is awesome, and Im not just saying that because I wrote it. This leads to several really fun conversations -- I love chatting with Disney fans, and this gives me a great excuse to do so.
Here I am, caught in the act of hard-selling someone on
Have You Found Her, which Bill and I call
Have You Flounder, because we are helpless when it comes to bad puns and stupid rhymes. A few people wonder what a book about a homeless teenaged junkie has to do with Disney World; I get to tell them a brief version of the Samantha Dunleavy story. I promised her that if she stayed sober for a year, Id take her to Disney. So theres a whole year of trip planning in the book, and then a description of the trip itself kind of a mini trip report. (I dont mention that I am on the record in the book as wearing Just Married buttons, when wed actually been married for three months already. But Ive repented for my sin, I swear!
)
I take a minute to join Bill and shmooze Matt Hochberg, then I head back to the book table for more selling and signing. Im despairing of ever finding Circusgirl in the crowd, when, like a beam of light through a cloudy sky, she appears! HOORAY!
I fear embarrassing her, so I will not gush about how awesome she is, how friendly and witty and huge of spirit. I will just state it plainly: Shes awesome. I knew, from reading her TR, that we had a lot in common, but meeting her in person makes it even clearer I instantly feel like Im with a friend, and really enjoy her company. Its a little distracting to be in this giant room with the raffle going on around us, but its so great to hang out and chat for a few minutes. My first DIS meet, and a huge success!
Soon, Circusgirl goes to find Chuck and Lynn (who I dont get to meet; I hope to make up for that next year), and Bill and I hop back to the parking lot for a tax-deductible ride back to the Contemporary (we figure its faster than going to the TTA and then taking the monorail to the MK). We walk back to the MK, where I stash my bag back in its locker (Ive also taken the time to peel off some layers, as its warmed up quite a bit), and then its over to Splash to get Fips. The standby line says 30 minutes, but our eyeballs say its more like 20, so we join it, and are seated in a log within 15 minutes. Even though the weather has warmed up, Im still grateful that the splash cannons are off on our last three December trips, they were always on, no matter how cold it got. Im glad theyre using them more sparingly this year! Its so much more relaxing to ride through the scenes when you havent already been drenched on the first trip around the outside bend. And you can still get plenty wet on that drop, especially if youre in the front seat!
Its about 1 p.m. now, and were hungry, but the line for Pecos Bills is out the door, and its a mob scene. Uh oh
crowds are really bad today. Pirata Y Perico is closed, so we stop in the Frontierland candy store for a bag of chocolate covered caramel corn to tide us over while we seek out other lunch options. We discovered this stuff last year, and its really delicious a thin coat of dark chocolate over sweet crunchy caramel corn but its not lunch. Fortunately, were walking by the Diamond Horseshoe, and Bill notices that its open, and serving lunch. Huh?
We quickly enter and join the line before even noting the menu options its clear that weve lucked into the only counter service location without a 45 minute wait, so whatever theyre serving, well eat. We get Caesar salads and fruit cups, and take our booty up to the second floor, watching over the balcony as the line gets longer and longer by the minute. Ive never been inside the Diamond Horseshoe, as I think it was closed before our first trip in 2005; its pretty neat, with lots of Wild West photos and paraphernalia on the walls. And Im super happy that we stumbled across it at just the right time. We need fuel for the rest of the days activities!
(Those activities coming up soon. Thanks for reading!)
I just skimmed this one, but I'm s(n)ubbed now, so I can come back and read. I'll have to look for you in my pictures!
My DH and I were in Epcot on that day. It was the only day that he didn't melt from the humidity. You would think that living in OK that he would be ok in WDW in the winter but nooooo. 
I'd just had to move again, for the second time in six months -- I blame it all on real estate! But I hope you and the family had a fantastic time that week -- I love how similar our plans were!
It was late one evening and we had to sprint for our dinner ressies at CR that night and did not have time to make it back before it was time to depart the Happy Place. 
)
