Day 1, Part 2: Im ashamed of myself 
(and beware: I use a lot of these
in this episode!)
Its after 8pm, but were IN the MK! And were starving. Those double cheeseburgers from Wendys seemed a really, really long time ago. And they had been. About 7 hours ago. I must say, Wesley had not even complained of being hungry. But the first order of business was food. Pecos Bills sounded good to both of us. We stopped in front of El Pirata y Perico (Im guessing on the spelling) to get our EMH wristbands
the line was much shorter there than at the park entrance. And by the way, has anyone ever been to WDW when El P y P was actually open? We have been in all 12 months of the year (or we will have been, when we go in Oct this year). And I have never, not once, seen it open. Not in the last 6 years or so, anyway. If theyre not going to open it
what a waste of space! Think how much more Johnny Depp merchandise they could sell in there! Or they could turn it into the character greeting area for Peter, Wendy, Hook and Smee. Disney NEEDS me and my ideas. Really.
Back to the meal
Wesley and I found a table in Pecos Bills while Mark went to order. When we eat counter service, Wesley ordinarily eats an Uncrustables (which we bring with us) and drinks juice boxes. Not JUST because were cheap. Actually, he really likes them. And he thinks they are a TREAT. Just ask him. Wesley, Whats your favorite thing to eat at Disney World? Round peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!! Makes me wonder why we spend $60 (or more) on a character meal. Oh, right. Its not for the food. Its for the characters! So never mind. Wesley eats his Uncrustables and has a juice box. Or was it orange soda? Dont remember. And he ate a little package of Chips Ahoy cookies. All before Mark got to the table with our food. Mark finally arrived with his double cheeseburger and my chicken wrap. With cheese sauce for my fries. Cause that is some goooooood stuff. And the only time I ever eat it is at WDW.
After all this time (it is now nearing 9pm), Wesley is ready to ride something! And so are we! We take our handy dandy little fast passes, a gift, if you recall, from OUR Wendy (which are, sadly, quickly running out), and head to BTMRR. Pecos Bills, then BTMRR. Always a great combination, dont you think? With FPs, we waited about 10 minutes. Not bad, since the standby line was 50 minutes or so. Wesley squealed and cackled and didnt bang up his arm one bit! (We had it cushioned in Daddys tummy, LOL!) I absolutely adore riding this with him. ADORE it, I say!
By now Spectro has started, so were using the parade avoidance walk-way to get to Haunted Mansion. Wesley wanted to show the entrance CMs his hitchhiking ghost impression, but there was no entrance CM. A minor disappointment. But in we go. A good time was had by all.
Toon Town isnt open during EMH. Which meant no Barnstormer ride, if we didnt go right now. So we bypassed all of Fantasyland, much to Wesleys initial dismay. But as Ive said, weve trained him right. As we passed Peter Pan, he said, Wow, a 50 minute wait! We dont want to do THAT! Right you are, buddy boy! Onward to Toon Town! Barnstormer was pretty much a walk-on. Very nice! Wesley probably cackles and squeals on this, too, but Ive only ridden it with him once. He prefers to ride with Daddy. Its their thing. I dont mind, really. I just sit behind them and occasionally take pictures.
We decided that we should hit the princess room next. After all, the line was much shorter than it normally is. And here is where I began to act like those OTHER parents. We forgot that, although Wesley LOVES the characters
it does take him a bit of time to warm up, so to speak. And historically, he has preferred the fur characters, because they dont *talk* to him. There are exceptions, of course. Because he does love Princess Aurora, as you all know. And Peter Pan and Wendy are usually special cases, too. But insisting on seeing face characters when wed been in the park for less than two hours was probably not one of the smartest things weve ever done. For some reason, he had it in his head that everyone, characters included, were going to make fun of his cast. I have a suspicion of where that came from
(NOT from us, or from our house)
but we were trying to overcome that
trying to help him understand that when people ask him about his arm, they arent making fun of him at all
they are just concerned, and maybe just want to know what happened to him. At this point, however, he was still in the theyre going to make fun of me mode. We get in the room, and there are Aurora, Cindy and Snow White. But it was a no go. Oh, he went up to them, all right
he allowed them to hug him
he allowed pictures to be made. But he did not say a word. To ANY of them. And the pictures are
less than stellar. And we didnt get a single cast signature. We didnt want to do it if he wasnt really into it, you know?
So heres where we are. Wesley took a 30 minute nap, when we were hoping for a 2 hour nap. Wed done a lot of waiting, just to GET to the MK. Then wed waited a fair while to get into the princess room. To see princesses that Wesley didnt really even want to see. We were all feeling a little less than magical. Or at least, I was. And I think Wesley was, too. Now this was better than the last trip, for sure, when Mark was sick when we arrived, and Wesley was sick the rest of the time. But still
not quite the magic Id been hoping for.
Wesley had requested to see the 11pm Spectro parade (he even knows what times the parades are
why does Disney not pay my child??) So by now it is time to find a good spot. (We skipped Wishes, to do the ToonTown stuff. Sacrilege, I know!) It was about 10:40, and we were pleasantly surprised at how empty things were beginning to feel. Still a lot of people
but most of them were not waiting for the parade! Mark went in search of a diet Coke. Or water. Or something. Wesley and I stayed to guard our spot. And this is when I get really frustrated with Wesley. For quite some time, he had not been listening to things we were telling him. And at this point, he was sitting with his feet out in front of him. And people
BIG people (meaning, adults)
were walking right in front of us. We were behind the parade rope, but his feet were sticking out a bit. I asked him four times to move his feet. He didnt. One particularly large person, not paying attention, was inches from stepping squarely on Wesleys feet. He would have, had I not grabbed Wesley and pulled him back. I am AT Disney World! I am SITTING in Frontierland! I am about to watch SPECTROMAGIC! Why on earth am I so grumpy?? But I was sure giving him what for! Mark got back. And took Wesley to the restroom. While they were gone, I managed to calm down and gain a little perspective. This sort of thing happens to other people, not to me! When they returned, I helped Wesley into his Peter Pan tunic and hat, and snuggled him in my lap and apologized for being so mean to him. Then he said, Its okay, Mommy. And Im sorry I did all those things I shouldnt have done, too. I will try to listen better now. Dang. Im supposed to cry HAPPY tears at WDW! Tears of joy! NOT mean-mommy-guilty tears!
I know. You cant believe it. The Whirlwind Trippers have now been at the MK for almost 3 hours, and no magic. I cant believe it, either. Have we lost our touch?
The parade begins. Am I the only person who thinks the beginning of Spectro is creepy-dee? NM? I know you love this parade
do the clown/doll/instrument-playing/whirling whatever they ares not kind of freak you out? Because they do me. But once they go by, I really enjoy Spectro. Tink mustve realized my need for pixie dust. I think she dumped a pound or two on us!
Fauna and Merryweather blew him kisses. As did Ariel and Cinderella. And Dopey. And Gepetto. And the White Rabbit. The Queen of Hearts came over to shake his hand. The Queen (Snow White) saw him and turned around to tell Captain Hook. Hook crossed the float and shook his hook menacingly. Peter saw him and waved, but couldnt come over to him (time to do a little dance step). But at the end, something happened that had never happened before. Snow White saw him from the middle of the street. She came over to him, even though, like Peter, I dont think she was supposed to at that time. She gave him a big kiss
, then ran to catch up. Wesley BEAMED. Thanks Tink! This was just what we needed!
Weve had some magic, were feeling better
a perfect time to do one of our all-time favorites: PhilharMagic. We did have to wait a little while, but it wasnt terrible. Wesley was a little concerned that he wouldnt be able to conduct with Mickey at the end, because of his arm. We assured him it was fine to conduct with one arm. He did, and it was as cute as ever!
Then we found that some characters were out, but Wesley was being particularly choosy, and would only agree to see Goofy and Donald. He was still a little shy, and worried about them making fun of him, for whatever reason. And then our BAD PARENT side came out again. And we both uttered words that I never thought either of us would utter at WDW: Well, if you dont want to see any characters, maybe well just CANCEL the princess breakfast in the morning! Which led to crying by Wesley. Which led to more guilt by us. Which, admittedly, we deserved. What is WITH us??
Then things got better again. We headed towards Buzz, which had a terribly long line~we didnt care to wait in it. So we thought wed just see what the line for Pirates looked like
expecting it to be really long, as well. But it wasnt! We basically walked on! It was fun to see the changes
I think Wesley liked the old version better, though.
A quick stop for some lemonade, and we went back to Tomorrowland, where the wait for Buzz was now a much more manageable 5 minutes. At the very end of the scoring opportunity, we got stopped. Mark was able to get his all-time best score. 994,000-ish, I believe. And now its 1:30. And we know that Wesley has been extremely good, especially since hed been up for 18 hours, with only a 30 minute nap. Which made us feel even worse about the way wed treated him.
Back to the car (there was a tram at the TTC when we got off the monorail. We were back at our car before the tram ever left the front of the TTC!), and a short trip back to the YC. I was the last one in bed, around 2:30.
We all went to sleep hoping that tomorrow would be a REALLY MAGICAL Disney day!
for Wesley. It has definitely helped ALL of us!! 
Amy
I can't wait to see how your night went
So NM...when we get rid of the stroller (in, what, 6 more years?? LOL!), I promise, we'll try the bus again! 
