Upgrades, Underwear and Upside Down Fun -5/7 King Louie totally ROCKS!

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay all caught up! YOU ROCK! I'm happy you got the upgrade!

I want to take you with us - upgrade on your room, able to make lines disappear with a wave of your hand, and a discount card to boot!

I love to read your reports - you are so funny! Looking forward to more!

 

[karajeboo]

You are just the funniest, funniest writer- I LOVE your TR's! I LOL and LMAO at sooooooo much of what you say- thanks! Your conversation with the CM before you got on MS Orange was HYSTERICAL!!

And I agree- for anyone else, it would have been a squirrel- but of course, for YOU it was an alligator upgrade!!

Oh, yes, and this is one of those upgrades that I would have traded if Monty Hall had given me the chance.

okay I have to ask --what's up with the underware part?

Patience young grasshopper.

I'm glad the fact that I was almost eaten whole by a 72 foot alligator entertained you. Not that I would EVER exaggerate!

 

[karajeboo]

Okay all caught up! YOU ROCK! I'm happy you got the upgrade!

I want to take you with us - upgrade on your room, able to make lines disappear with a wave of your hand, and a discount card to boot!

I love to read your reports - you are so funny! Looking forward to more!

Thanx, Tammie! Yup, I seem to have the mojo lately. You won't believe what I talked Jeff into this weekend!!!! New bedroom furniture AND a new TV for the new bedroom! He told me I should have hit him up for a DVC cause he was in a spending mood!

 

[alan_renfroe]

You are hilarious!!! I dub thee - "Queen of the Upgrades!"

Being a fan of all things CSR, I'll bet it really was an alligator. We saw several when we were there. We even saw a racoon/badger? something along those lines! (and yes, that was after a few cocktails at Siestas!)

 

[CRdisMom]

Alan you have to find her a wand for the big meet in May.

 

[karajeboo]

OK, so here's a little sidebar..... I was lucky enough to see the shuttle liftoff last night from the clubhouse in our neighborhood. It was THE most incredible thing EVER!!! I want to share the pics with you and say that if you EVER get the chance to see this spectacle, DO IT!!! We are about 150 miles from Cape Canaveral and it was clear as day. Next time there is a night liftoff, we will definitely drive about 60 miles further south and watch from the beach. Jeff and I saw a daytime liftoff about two years from the beach further south and it was incredible, but the nighttime lauch is beyond words.

I'm not sure why the white fireball - maybe someone who has more scientific sense than me can tell me. I'm wondering if it is the shuttle breaking the atmosphere? This was right at rocket separation I think.

Look closely at these next two and you can see the rocket separation - the shuttle is the tiny dot on the left, and the rockets are to the right falling off...

The cloudy looking thing on the left (again, my scientific prowess is shining through!) appears to be the aftereffects of breaking the atmosphere??? All I know is that it wasn't there BEFORE the shuttle took off.

Now, after riding Mission Space and living to tell the tale, I'm thinking I'm ready for a shuttle mission, whatcha think?

As we were riding home on our golf cart, just staring at the sky, Jeff said, "Hmmm, makes Mission Space look kinda wimpy, huh? I looked at him like I was crazy and said, "But I was the NAVIGATOR!!!! I could have done that!"

 

[karajeboo]

You are hilarious!!! I dub thee - "Queen of the Upgrades!"

Being a fan of all things CSR, I'll bet it really was an alligator. We saw several when we were there. We even saw a racoon/badger? something along those lines! (and yes, that was after a few cocktails at Siestas!)

Alan, first off, thanks for reading! And after living in Florida for the past year and a half, I have seen the most, uh, "interesting" creatures here, so let's call it a racadger! I'm sure it's real! I've written some vignettes on my "experiences" with lizards in the house, frogs in the house, snakes in the yard, scorpions in the house, skinks on the porch, and armadillos in the yard! My husband is TERRIFIED of anything reptilian. Not that I"m brave, mind you, but I secretly call neighbors to get rid of the creatures and then let Jeff think I did it!

Alan you have to find her a wand for the big meet in May.

Watch it! I'll zap you with my wand!

 

[CRdisMom]

as long as it is a zap to join everyone in May.

 

[Hallowishes]

wow, im totally jealous of your good fortune! ive never been upgraded before! i love the bedding in your room .. its fab! cant wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

wow- very cool pics!!!

 

[heaven2dc]

Oh...my....gosh!! You are SO funny!! I am truly loving your TR! (can I swing by and pick up your family on our way down next trip?!!)

I loved the Test Track/orange version part...I was too chicken to ride it when I was there in December (I was solo for the first 4 days of my trip and ventured over to try it but ended up in the Green side and now I wish I had gone on the Orange version.) Now that I know YOU survived it - I will definitely try it next time

btw congrats on your upgrade (even tho it was a resort you had already stayed it, that is a really awesome upgrade! Your room is beautiful My oldest son wants to stay there next trip for a couple days and I'd love to get that room for him.

 

[karajeboo]

as long as it is a zap to join everyone in May.

Oh, how I wish!!!!!

wow, im totally jealous of your good fortune! ive never been upgraded before! i love the bedding in your room .. its fab! cant wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

It really is a great room. So much nicer than the non-remodeled rooms at CSR and I loved those too! I'm thinking after our good fortune this past trip, that when we go for another weekend in early May at AKL, we'll be downgraded to sleeping under a bush in the Savannah with wild animals stalking us or something!

Thanx for reading along!

wow- very cool pics!!!

Thank you! It was really something I'll never forget. If it hadn't been such a beautiful weekend and we hadn't gotten busy working in the yard, I'm sure we would have made it to the beach to watch the lift off. Next time for sure....

Oh...my....gosh!! You are SO funny!! I am truly loving your TR! (can I swing by and pick up your family on our way down next trip?!!)

I loved the Test Track/orange version part...I was too chicken to ride it when I was there in December (I was solo for the first 4 days of my trip and ventured over to try it but ended up in the Green side and now I wish I had gone on the Orange version.) Now that I know YOU survived it - I will definitely try it next time

btw congrats on your upgrade (even tho it was a resort you had already stayed it, that is a really awesome upgrade! Your room is beautiful My oldest son wants to stay there next trip for a couple days and I'd love to get that room for him.

Be careful what you wish for! First of all, I'm sure you'd drop us off before you even got back on the interstate. And I'm not sure you'd even slow down first!!! Second of all, well, see the first of all. That about sums it up!

The ONLY reason I did the orange side of Mission Space is that Ally guilted me into it. But I'll NEVER do it again. It really wasn't that "bad" but it wasn't enough of a fun thrill for me to do it again. Some rides can be scary and still be fun - like Tower of Terror for me. MS just wasn't all that.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Wow! That shuttle launch looks incredible! It is so cool you can see it from your club! I hope to see it at night sometime

 

[karajeboo]

We woke up Saturday morning to a Chamber of Commerce day! High of 80, not a cloud in the sky – perfect!

We had an ADR for Sci Fi Dine-In for lunch so off to Hollywood Studios we went!

We got all our pins situated on our lanyards, bags loaded, and out the door to catch the bus. While we were waiting for the bus, Ally took off her backpack so she could lean back on the bench – you know where this is headed already, don’t you???

So we all hopped on the first DHS bus to arrive, after a very short wait. I swear, CSR has the best bus transportation of any of the resorts we have stayed at. Never a long wait!!!

Shortly after we sat down, and Mr Disney Bus Driver pulled ahead, I looked at Ally and said, “Where’s your backpack?”

And of course I got the dumb stare, as in what backpack? Ah, the mind of an almost 8-year-old. I hopped up and raced to the front of the bus. Wait, not much of a race as we were sitting right behind him! But then again, that’s about as close to a race as I will ever get. Those things take a lot of energy ya know! Coincidentally, my neighbor was getting ready to run in the Princess Mini Marathon the next day at Disney.

But I digress.

I “raced” to the front, and after two steps, and panting uncontrollably, I asked the driver if he could let me out RIGHT HERE! We had just pulled to the other side of the entrance portico, so he let me out and I sent Jeff and Ally on their way.

This time I really DID race back to the bus stop. Ally has a personalized autograph book in that backpack that is irreplaceable! Well, I get I COULD replace it, but it was a lot of work to print out 130 – 5x7 pages personalized for EACH character that we might possibly see, including each of the country bears, Max, a Stormtrooper, an Ewok (seriously, because one of these days……), etc.

She already has 54 pages autographed and removed from the book (and thus removing about 15 lbs it seems like!).

So I ran like the wind…. On a calm day.

To the bus stop.

Muttering, “please be here, please be here.” And as I looked at the bench, all I saw was EMPTY bench. My heart sank.

Until the CM that was standing there asked, “What are you looking for?” I was on the verge of tears at this point. How could someone steal a little girl’s backpack? This is Disney! Nobody steals in Disney – it’s the happiest place on earth! Who steals in the happiest place on earth? Wouldn’t that make it the most larcenous place on earth?

Then she held out the most beautiful purple and white flowered backpack. Complete with tears and stains from being carried on 4 different Disney trips. Then I looked inside and found her Nintendo DS, ipod, AND the autograph book. Somehow she snuck those into the bag, so it wouldn’t have been just a sentimental loss if the bag had not turned up.

It would have been a red tail loss – as in her tail would have been red because we specifically told her NO DS and NO ipod in the parks.

So I popped a squat and waited for the next bus. And texted Jeff to go ahead and run on ahead to TSM to grab fast passes once he and Ally got there.

And I was texted back, “I would love to get fast passes but you have all our tickets.”

Oh. Yeah. That would be my anal retentive side. NOBODY carries tickets except me.

I literally arrived about 5 minutes after they did. Maybe because when I got on the bus I stood up front by the driver, holding the pole and leaning forward, yelling, “Follow that bus!” every 60 seconds.

OK, not really. But I do think I was willing it to go faster and it must have worked.

I arrived to find Ally pin trading in front of the gates, and it’s only about 15minutes after park opening, so I knew we were still in good shape. It was a morning EMH and the park was EMPTY so far.

We raced (again, MY version of a race!) to TGM and grabbed our fast passes – good for 12:15. Seriously, how is this possible? We get there 20 minutes after opening, the park is empty, and our FP is for 4 hours later???

No matter, we then decided to go grab a quick bite for breakfast and only hit the attractions we are most interested in today. Our ADR at Sci Fi is for 11:05 and because it’s an EMH day we knew the park would begin to fill up and we wanted to be gone after lunch.

We ran into this guy and of course Ally has a page for him, too....

Did you see the thickness of that autograph book? That is with 80 pages, it started out with 130!!!! Now do you see why she carries a backpack? Cause I'm not schlepping that thing around! It's child abuse, I know!

For my girl Cammie!

So we strolled toward Tower of Terror, and took some shots along the way. I love this park…. When it’s not crowded like this!

Now again, my Disney math was in full swing. Park empty = short queue lines. Right? So why does ToT have a 40 minute wait 30 minutes after opening? How did the same people get all the TSM FPs and then beat me to ToT?

Maybe their idea of a race is better than mine. Or maybe Disney is cooking the books/lines? Either way, I didn’t want to wait. So I took some more pics and then I hear Ally, “C’mon Mommy, we’re going to check out Rock n Rollercoaster!”

Seriously.

She knows how much I hate this ride. It’s not the ride. It’s just the takeoff. I hate that pressure and loss of breath, and riding around like Willie Wonka’s Violet. I just don’t look good when I’m BLUE from lack of oxygen!
But if ToT has a 40 minute wait, then RnR will have the same. Whew! I’ll be safe.

20 minutes?????? WTH? Who is messing with the Disney wait times and why do they hate me? What have I ever done to deserve this? I come to the parks and stay on property. I don’t litter. I help little old ladies across Main St. I buy overpriced souveniers. I drink overpriced drinks allllllll around World Showcase. I don’t use foul language. And I most certainly do NOT throw up on Mission Space!

And this is the thanks I get. Because it was not 20 minutes. Try less than 5. Someone was messing with the times. At my expense.

The only good thing about a short wait is that I don’t have time to freak out. We literally walked right into the Aerosmith recording studio. Wow, those guys look exactly the same as the first time I saw them, 11 years ago. Even their manager hasn’t aged a day. I want to know who their surgeon is…

And dude really DO look like a lady!

So we got the invite to join Steven and the group in their stretch limo and head to the concert, and headed out to the queue.

The only part I don’t like is watching all the other cars “take off.” But for some reason, this time it didn’t seem like they were going as fast. Hmm, that looked easy.

Wait! If they don’t go as fast, how will they get through the inversion? What if we get stuck upside down and Ally slides out of her harness? What if we lose her backpack? I’ll be racing around in the dark track looking for it!

I got to ride with Ally because she and Jeff rode together on our last trip. I told Jeff we should have had a second child just so we'd have an even number for our Disney trips!

Needless to say, we made it through the inversion, and it WAS just as fast! But I think I was so focused on holding onto my teeny weeny little buddy, that I forgot to hold my breath and I was okay the whole way through. I think the holding my breath is what caused all the problems before.

Ally just giggled the whole way through, which made me laugh at her. She’s so much fun at Disney. Well, she’s so much fun all the time, but at Disney she is just awesome! Even when she makes me ride the two most frightening rides in the World.

Actually, I’ll go on RnR again and again with her. It was a blast!

So we decided to head back to ToT and grab FPs for later. Oooops, couldn’t get more FPs yet, so we wandered back through the park. Even though ToT showed 40 minutes, and it was probably more like 10, we decided to take our chances and ride later.

Up next, Sci Fi Dine-In and more DHS!

 

[TigerKat]

How on earth have I missed this hilarious report? You are too funny woman! My DS was in WDW playing baseball the past 6 days and saw the space shuttle launch from CBR last night and said it looked like it was right next door.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Whoa! Close one! I'm glad you got the backpack back! I was laughing out loud at the thought of you standing behind the driver and yelling, "follow that bus!" As for TSM - I've heard that all the FP for the day are gone by noon! Good job keeping Ally in her seat on RNRC! It's so fun to hear how she giggles on the rides! That's what made it so fun to ride with my niece! I do that too - but it's not as cute!

 

[karajeboo]

How on earth have I missed this hilarious report? You are too funny woman! My DS was in WDW playing baseball the past 6 days and saw the space shuttle launch from CBR last night and said it looked like it was right next door.

Hey Kathy! I'm glad you found me! Ya know, the shuttle went off back in November when Ally and I were there and we hoped to see it, but it was pouring down rain at the resort so there was no visibility. But that one was about 9pm so I'll bet it would have been amazing! I'm thinking that WDW is closer to Cape Canaveral than our house.......

I'm so glad your son got to see it! It's something not everyone can say....

 

[UsNew2Disney2008]

First off, I LOVE your new hairstyle - very cute!!!!

Anyway, as we rode through, with just a couple of other people on this ride with us, we got to the Smells chamber. As soon as Ally held her nose and uttered, “oooh!” Jeff and I yelled, “HE WHO SMELT IT DEALT IT!!!!” and pointed obnoxiously to Ally!

Yeah, that was us! I’m sure Scooter and Muffy riding a couple of cars behind us did not appreciate our humor. .

So we all hopped on the first DHS bus to arrive, after a very short wait. I swear, CSR has the best bus transportation of any of the resorts we have stayed at. Never a long wait!!!!

Okay, so in my "Uptightness", you know I'm totally hoping to get a room in the Cabanas and then make everyone on the bus actually walk over to bus stop 2 (the first pickup) think it is unnecessary? Where did you guys get on? BS1?

NEVER EVER Will I ride MS. No thank you. I'll go back to mine and Cammie's original pack to not ride that or ToT, or Everest, or RnR.

I have a wand I got for the KIDS! It GLOWS in the dark and everything!!!!

I'll brink it with me to Boma - and we MUST take your pic with it!

 

[karajeboo]

Okay, so in my "Uptightness", you know I'm totally hoping to get a room in the Cabanas and then make everyone on the bus actually walk over to bus stop 2 (the first pickup) think it is unnecessary? Where did you guys get on? BS1?

I have a wand I got for the KIDS! It GLOWS in the dark and everything!!!!

I'll brink it with me to Boma - and we MUST take your pic with it!

We have always used bus stop 1 - and never had a problem, even though it is the last pickup in the mornings. But it is also the last drop off at night. And extra 7 minutes or so to make the rounds, no big whoop.

And I will carry the wand with pride!

 

[karajeboo]

Whoa! Close one! I'm glad you got the backpack back! I was laughing out loud at the thought of you standing behind the driver and yelling, "follow that bus!" As for TSM - I've heard that all the FP for the day are gone by noon! Good job keeping Ally in her seat on RNRC! It's so fun to hear how she giggles on the rides! That's what made it so fun to ride with my niece! I do that too - but it's not as cute!

Yeah, I'm picturing myself as Keanu Reeves in Speed!

You have no idea how scared I was when I looked down and saw no backpack. And then to find that her DS and mp3 player were in there! Whew! Even though Santa brought a knockoff mp3 player - $14 at Belk! sshhhh!