The SMURF'S Enchanted Voyage - Updated 3/5 - Chip & Dales and the Great Meltdown

[nextidiot]

LOVE the updates!!!
You have such a beautiful family

Looks like you guys had a fab trip... I am loving all the pics! I LOVE the mickey's mantel one with the stockings.. I have never seen that in person before and its on my list lol

It is a people trap but it is worth seeing.
That's a tiny house for so many house guests.

 

[nextidiot]

Day 5 - Test Track and Smurfette's Episode



This will be a text only update.



The following takes place between the hours of 5 PM and 6 PM



Off to Test Track. Test Track is one attraction that Smurfette did not get to experience during our last trip. I don't recall why, but I suspect it was because of Brainy, who was a clingy 2 ½ year old at the time. This time, I wouldn't let her miss it. Having said all of that, Smurfette still insisted Brainy and I ride first. It is like she doesn't quite trust me. You know, like I am going to send her on some kind of ride to her death or something. I dunno.


Brainy and I queue up and go through the silly preride show... oh well. At least Disney tries to entertain you while you wait in line.


The anticipation builds as we near the usher. This would official be the fastest ride or attraction Brainy has ever ridden. I just know he is going to love this ride.


Getting Brainy seated and buckled and getting myself seated and buckled was a white knuckle experience in itself. I am a pretty big fellow but I can't imagine how difficult it would be to get buckled if I were any bigger.


I recall having read some advice regarding these kinds of rides. This advice is especially critical if you are Pooh sized like me and it is especially critical for these attractions where you have literally seconds before imminent death or a berating from a cast member.




IdiotTIP: As you are sitting down but before your but hits the chair, grab the seat belt and pull that sucker out as far as you can. Hold it extended as you sit down. Once seated, it will be much easier to buckle.


Up the hill to the suspension test. Brainy was cackling like a rooster as we passed over the cobblestones and you get the prerequisite hum from all the passengers in the ride vehicle. Why do we do this? It is innate within all of us, apparently, that when ever we are bounced, or vibrated to the bone, we must hum.


Break check, then hot, then cold, then wet and up the hill and down the hill and this curve and that curve and to the barrier test... Brainy exclaims, “uh oh, Daddy!” Ha! He is falling right into Mickey's trap!


We wind up and sling shot toward the barrier just as it opens---NARROWLY escaping a HORRIBLE death on MICKEYCART! :jaw drop:We accelerate down the track and reach our pinnacle of 64.835496778 MPH (Mickey uses exacting specifications ). Brainy is just in awe. His jaw is in his lap as we make the high G turn and by the time the car stopped, Brainy had laughed himself silly. I knew he would love this ride. Sure enough, he couldn't wait to “show Mommy.”


We head back to Grumpy and Smurfette, who doesn't really say much, she just gets Brainy's hand and they head for the Fastpass queue. I take Grumpy and stroll around.. because that's what you do in a stroller. You may think it is rough on Grumpy having to stroll around while Brainy rides, but in all honesty, he doesn't seem to mind at all. Grumpy can have just as good a time walking around, playing on a bench, feeding the ducks, etc. Despite his Grumpyness, he is actually a really happy kid who loves the simple things in life. :mickey:He thinks everything is just hilarious—especially his father.


I also cherish these opportunities to do nothing. The reason is simple. When we are hustling from this attraction to that attraction, queuing for this or that, rushing the food counter to get lunch before the hoards of other Tour Guide Mike readers follow the same advice and eat at off peak times... in other words, Disney World can force us planners into a one track mindedness where we miss the nuances that make Walt's world so truly special.


Grumpy and I strolled around for a while looking at the gardens, ponds, and the people, and then met Brainy and Smurfette coming out of the TTGH (that's Test Track Gift Hut). Smurfette, who was just fine when I left her 20 minutes ago, was not fine now. You see, Smurfette has been having these spells lately where something happens within her, either her blood sugar drops, her blood pressure goes up, or she is developing ocular migraines. She gets extremely light headed, her vision gets “fuzzy” or “spotty” and experiences other bizarre symptoms. This happens very infrequently and there seems to be no rhyme or reason. Something happens and to this day (over a year later), we STILL can not pinpoint these episodes.


Any way, she had an episode while queuing for Test Track. Had it been just her, she would have simply left the queue and skipped the ride, but since Brainy was with her, she decided to tough it out and ride anyway. She knew, or at least she hoped, the episode would pass as it always had in the past.


At the time, we were convinced these episodes were caused by a sudden drop in her blood sugar. So once she informed me of her episode, I rushed over to the nearest gift hut and bought some chocolate covered peanuts and raisins. They were just over the snack limit (go figure) so I plopped down a $20, get my change, and rushed back to where Smurfette was sitting.


Fortunately, she was already feeling a little better but she munched on some yummy confectioneries anyway as we headed for the bus. We were headed to Fort Wilderness for Chip and Dale's Camp Fire Story Time or whatevertheycallit.



As time progressed, Smurfette got over her episode and things continued as normal from there.



Up next: Chip and Dale's and The Great Meltdown of 2007.

 

[nextidiot]

Day 5 - "Chip & Dales and the Great Meltdown of 2007"

As parents, we have all experienced this once or twice---especially at Disney World. The point in the day where it just hits the wall. Literally, everything is perfect. The weather is beautiful, winds are calm, the sun is setting, there's a calmness and stillness that we, as parents, know is as combustible as dump truck... driving through a Nitroglycerin plant. We, as parents, know I am not talking about the weather. I wish I were.

For the Smurf's, this combustible weather pattern would come once.. and I am very proud to say, only once. For the Smurf's, this combustible weather pattern would converge on Fort Wilderness Campground. Tonight.

My plans were broken. I made a costly mistake of planning for too much in one day. We had just done Epcot (recall that today was supposed to be our AK day. AK is a much easier park to tour than is Epcot). We were now headed over to do the campfire. AND, my plan was to surprise Smurfette with her 10 Anniversary gift while taking a carriage ride around Fort Wilderness after Chip and Dale.

Too much for one day.

Back to the story.

After a much longer wait for the Fort Wilderness bus (we must have seen 6 or 7 Coronado Springs Resort buses pull up, load up, and take off.. I am telling you, the bus service to CSR is that good!), we spot one that will suffice. It wasn't Grumpy's preferred bus type (yes, he has a preferred Mickey bus style. No, I don't know why), but it had Fort Wilderness on the marquee so we loaded up and after a short delay, we were off to Fort Wilderness, which is in the Florida Wilderness, right next to some place called the Magic Kingdom. It all sounds so 15th century England, doesn't it?

We pull up and unload at the Outpost. Seriously, if we can build 5 star attractions inside 5 star theme parks, why do we still have to transfer buses at Ft. Wilderness?

We wait on a pink, purple, or blue bus. I dunno. Honestly, why do we still have to transfer buses? It is confusing. Some colors do this loop or that loop, while others bypass stops six, seven, and eight. I don't get it.

Idiot TIP: When a bus pulls up and opens the door, yell, “Driver, I need to get to Chip and Dales, can you drop us.”

Wait.... that came out totally sounding like I was looking for a male strip club... No matter, the driver didn't skip a beat. He knew exactly where I was going and said “hop on!”

The same strategy worked in 2004 when we were looking for the Backyard BBQ. Don't even try to figure out the bus service at Ft. Wilderness. Just ask the first driver you see. He will tell you which bus you need. Bus drivers are a wealth of information. Did you know they are planning a 5th theme park? Did you know that it will be open only to Florida residents? I didn't know either until asked a bus driver.

We head for The Trading Post, unload, and hike a short distance over the river and through the woods, past the pool, and too the camp fire. We could smell the fire burning.

I immediately acquired some marshmallows and we began roasting and consuming until we were all hyped up on sugar.

We head over and make one failed attempt after another to get Brainy and Grumpy to sit down. Both are working on an explosive concoction of adrenaline, sugar, and misfiring melatonin hormones (since neither took a nap today). As a result, they were in rare form—even by their standards.

They were running around the bleachers, chasing each other Tom and Jerry style---trying to poke each other with marshmallow roasters, hit each other with fly swats, and just generally causing a big scene. This problem was exasperated by the fact that they were responsible for getting other children, who were otherwise behaving very well, fired up and running around like Daffy Duck after he pulls Elmer Fud's hat down over his eyes.


We were yelling, grabbing, bribing... anything we could think of to get them to stop and watch the show. They were having none of it.

Then... the rock throwing began.

Parents: You know how sometimes you wish you could just walk away and pretend like you kids don't really belong to you.

These were not large rocks. They were the tiny playground gravel rocks. Grumpy would pick up a hand full and sling them over the crowd.

That was it.

That was the pinnacle moment during our trip where it just hit the wall.

One of us grabbed one kid and one of us grabbed the other and we dragged them (figuratively) kicking and screaming to the nearest bus stop. Parked their bottoms on a bus, made the transfer at the Outpost to the next available theme park bus, which happened to be Epcot, transferred to a CSR bus and marched their behinds back to the hotel room.

There was no carriage ride. Not tonight.

I would have to come up with another plan AND continue to carry her present disguised in AAA battery box.

My drained Smurfs were in the bed and sound asleep by 7:30 PM. Smurfette was, too.

Without reiterating my previous tip, make sure your youngin's get a nap.

Smurfette, Brainy, and Grumpy were sound asleep. I, on the other hand, was starving. We had planned to munch on some nachos and such at the campfire and order a pizza afterwords. So, I was craving pizza in a big way.

I had heard that the pizza at the Pepper Market was quite good and a reasonable value (12” pizza + drink + desert = one counter service credit). So I head down and order a monster of a pizza with all the meats. While waiting on the pizza, I gather my drink and desert and decide to go ahead and check out. Bad idea. Once my pizza was done, they wanted to charge me again when I tried to leave. It created all kinds of confusion—as if the Pepper Market “system” isn't confusing enough.


Pizza in hand, I head outside to the bar and order a libation to set free my inhibitions and party like its 1995. Not really. But I did very much enjoy the pizza and the drink. The desert would go back to the room and join the pile of other unconsumed deserts.


With my gut filled with the glee of greasy pizza, I showered and was off to bed by 9:30 PM. Now that's some hardcore partying!


Up Next: Day 6 "Chef Mickey's and MVMCP"

 

[Mallow]

Hi:

I've been lurking & I am really enjoying your report. Just thought I'd post to see how things are going since we haven't heard from you in a while.

 

[tinawv]

Another mountaineer here. I am really enjoying your trip report and pictures. Your boys are so cute, and I glad I got to see a few pictures of Grumpy smiling. Anxiously waiting the next update.