I realized that I made a mistake in my previous story. We only had 3 days left including the last one not four. I have never been accused of having good math skills. Ive been accused of many things in my life (I wasnt always a preacher). But we dont need to go into that stuff do we?! So, for all of you math whizzes that are there shaking your heads, saying, Boy, this kid cant add! Well youre right. I took only one class at Florida State of math. They gave us this placement test during our orientation and I miraculously got out of the first level math class that incoming freshman were supposed to take. We were only then required to take one other math course for our entire college career, unless so required by our major. Well, I was a Social Science major. That building was nowhere close to the math building. I never even approached the math building again. I cant deal with math folks too well. Oh, and to all of you grammar and English majors (like my wife) I know I make you cringe too. But, lets face it. I am from South Georgia. We use words like aint down here. We say things like yall and it is accepted as real English. I have actually preached several times to the church I grew up in and 2 of my former high school English teachers were present. I know they had to be so proud. Plus, Rhonda has to listen to it every Sunday. Its so sad.
Anyway, after our day at Epcot on Friday, we decided that we would return to the Magic Kingdom on our last full day. It had been the most magical for us on this trip, so maybe it would be a good thing to go back there. By the way, the USA just won the gold in the Mens snowboarding cross (at least what they showed on NBC). I dont really know what that is other then a snowboard race. But anyway, I digress. We slept in that morning then headed downstairs. Now this next move is probably going to draw fire from some folks. And in a normal day, we probably wouldnt make the same decision again. But, since we were going to be at the Magic Kingdom, we decided to change our reservation for dinner. We had planned to be at Epcot today, and were going to eat at Le Cellier. Now thats a good steak yall. And apparently everybody knows it, cause its booked for like months in advance. We knew that when we went with the Moltons that we would be eating there, so we cancelled it and went instead with the Crystal Palace buffet. I know, I know they dont come close to measuring up. But Wesley wanted to be in the Magic Kingdom all day, and frankly, I think we did too. So, off we go. To the boat. That wonderful boat that means we dont have to drive anywhere or get on a bus!
Well it was a packed house today. Im certain there have been bigger crowds and when we go back a week and a half from now, Im certain that crowd will be HUGE too. But compared to the crowds we' been experiencing, this one had it beat. We typically start in tomorrowland and work our way around, but the crowds pushed us elsewhere this day. We started with Pirates of the Caribbean today. Then up through Frontierland. We got Fastpasses for Splash Mountain. But there was a catch. Wesley did not want to get wet. So we bought more ponchos, cause the other ones wed left in the room. Our justification was that wed give this new set to the Moltons as a little gift prior to our trip together. So we rode Splash Mountain, which is a cool ride I dont care who you are. Git-r-done!
I dont remember the exact order of how this all worked. But somehow we also got fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain, which, next to Rocknroller coaster is my favorite coaster in the park. We then headed toward the Country Bear show. Wesley had not done this and we felt like it was time to expose him to this wonderful Disney classic. When I was a kid, I used to have the album real LP the vinyl thing, played on a record player with a needle! I think its still at my parents house. Wonder how much I could get for it on ebay
hmmm. Lol. Anyway, I also used to have this big glass mug of Big Al. I thought he was the coolest, though now Im not really sure why. He sings about blood on the saddle. What is that about, huh? Anyway, that is a neat piece of Disney history, that though Ive see n it a hundred times, it still makes me smile. And Wesley loved it.
We then got Fastpasses for Peter Pan and I staked out a spot for the parade. Wesley and Rhonda went to go play in the Pooh playground and walk through the Christmas shop. I got to sit and watch people. I love watching people. Its so entertaining. Now, at Disney, I would probably rather be doing something. But its not so bad. I sat for about 45 minutes. The folks next to me were really nice. The husband and I joked about the stuff people wear on their feet. Wesley and Rhonda finally came back about 20 minutes or so before the parade started. Then something happened that just hacks me off.
The parade had already started in Frontierland. We could hear the music. All of a sudden there appeared the front wheel of one of those 3 wheeled strollers pushing its way between me and the people next to me. Now granted, there was a little bit of room there. About enough for her to put the wheel but that was all. I had been sitting for 45 minutes. The family next to me had been sitting for about 40. And here comes this snotty woman who didnt think enough of her child to park it for a little bit and reserve a spot for the parade. I never saw her husband, though I heard her talking to him. I gotta be honest. I was hacked. She was doing her best to push her way up to the rope. I didnt budge. The family next to me didnt either. So here came pushy woman doing her best to get her daughter up to the rope. Doesnt that just hack you off? Maybe its just me. Maybe Im the only one who gets upset when Ive been waiting to do something did what it took in order to make it happen and then someone else comes in at the last minute having done nothing and tries their best to push in on my territory. It turns out it was the daughters birthday. And I guess you cant always fault the children for the pushy, arrogant, (*&^&^%$ ways of their parents. I felt a little bad for the little girl. She was kinda quiet and shy. And she was standing right next to the cutest little boy in the world. Wesley again caught the eye of several of the characters, only this time not because of Wendy. But every time a character came close to shake Wesley hand, etc. here came momma shouting at the characters Its her birthday, its her birthday! I think 2 of the characters may have done something to acknowledge it. Though I felt sorry for the little girl, I was embarrassed for the mother. Please dont push your way into a space like that. Am I the only one that gets mad when people do that?
We did Philharmagic after that, then Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan. We headed around to the Barnstormer by way of the Pooh ride. At this point we decided to try and get in Crystal Palace a little early. When we got over there, we didnt think it was going to happen. They were turning walkups away. But they said they would seat us within about 20 minutes. Sweet!
Dinner was fine. It was just average. Nothing really bad, nothing outstanding either.
After dinner we decided to find a place to watch the Spectromagic parade. Which was fun again as usual. What is it about grown adults sitting for long periods of time to watch college students in costumes walk down a street huh? When you think about it, it is a little odd. But dadgummit, we love it dont we?
After the parade, we headed around to County Bounty because it was time to add up our luck with the Photopass. As I told you earlier, we had read about the $99 CD. For those of you going in the near future, heres a little advice from me. Remember you get what you pay for. Disney charges $13 for a 5X7. Thats rather hefty. Going at that price, and I know there are packages, but going with that price, I could order7.615 pictures at that price for what a CD costs. So for $99, yes thats expensive too, but when you hear how many pictures we had, youll understand.
So we go to County Bounty. When we get there, we had a big bonus. All the characters from the little character places were inside County Bounty doing the Hokie Pokie. There werent very many people around, and they were just inside dancing. How cool is that? Wesley got to do the Hokie Pokie with Minnie Mouse, Snow White and Princess Aurora. It was really neat. After the song, the kids that were in there got to see the characters and it was cool. When he was talking with Aurora, we mentioned how we have seen him pretending to dance with her at the end of the movie. She thought it was very sweet, and dadgummit it is. So she asked him to dance with her. Surprise! He actually did it. He put out his hand to go behind her back and took her other hand in his. (She was kneeling by the way). And they kinda swayed back and forth to the music. She was very impressed. As were we, cause we didnt think he actually would do it. Well, someone else came up and so Wesley backed away and bowed to her, which she loved. He then kissed her hand (I am not making this up!) She curtsied. Way too cool! So I went off to buy the CD. Rhonda and Wesley played with the characters. Well, while I was being marveled over by the cast members at the desk because of the number of pictures we had, Rhonda came running up to me saying, You missed it, you missed it! I didnt know what I had missed, but I was already ruing it. She then explained that apparently, after he had left her, Princess Aurora wen to the back (after seeing the other child). When she came back out, she had her handler trying to help her find Wesley. She thought it was so cute that hed danced with her that she went somewhere and got a handful of pixie dust that she wanted to give him and to give him a big kiss. She gave it to him (he kept it in his hat and I think we still have it). She talked with him for about 5 minutes, and he actually talked back. Man, and I missed it!
While they were enjoying that magic, I was however feeling very proud of myself. The cast members at the desk were amazed by us. Now, we had been there for 11 days thus far 10 that we had been using the photopass. But I told you that we planned on riding that photopass train very hard. When we turned in our cards, we discovered that we had 302 photos on the cards. YES! They said they thought that was a record so far. So it took some time for them to burn the CD. But get this. I paid $99 for this CD. That works out to like 32 cents per picture! (Again, I refer you to the top of this post and my math skills) However, I think thats right. And say we go to the Wal Mart SuperSinner (read the first post and that will explain it). We would pay like 25 cents for a copy of it. So no matter what, with 302 pictures, its cheaper no matter what! So I was proud of our ride on the Photopass train.
By this time, it was late and time for the Park to close. The really sad part is that this was our last full day. Boooo hoooo.
More maybe tomorrow.
By the way, heres a hint about our Wendy. Shes not Wendy anymore. But thats all I can tell for now
Hee hee
Mark
he seems gorgeous in every way. I too have got to know what has happened to Wendy 
Its going to bug me good. Have another wonderful pixie-dust weekend and we'll hear from you when you return,
It is so cold up here in Michigan 9 degrees at the moment, it would be so good to be in warm or cold WDW.
