As we walked back up Sunset Blvd. and towards
Pixar Place, I set the pace.
Slow.
We stopped in the Villains candy store, home of TK's original junky apple, and browsed a bit. I really didn't want to let my belly ruin our very first experience on Toy Story Mania, so I figured if we didn't arrive right on time for our FastPass window, that would be ok. We had the whole hour to get there and let my belly settle down and forget the ToT trauma.
Am I the only one who wants to figure out how to work the two of these, er, statues, into her home decor?
We headed back out into the rain, which seemed a tad more persistent at this point and it quickened our steps towards Pixar Place. Upon our arrival, we both noticed that despite the weather and the later hour PP was as crowded as it was in the morning when we'd arrived. As we handed over our FPs, I glanced up and noticed that the Stand-By line was at an 80 min. wait. God. Bless. Them.
I told Missy that if she caused any trouble while we waited in line, they had a place for people like her:
While I certainly enjoyed the minimal 5 minute wait that the FP line offered, I was kind of sad to miss out on the excellent theming of the rest of the queue. Just as we were nearing the end of our wait (climbing the stairs and then descending the stairs, for those of you who have ridden) we were in front of a rather large family. With sweet, yet unruly children. They children, per se, weren't misbehaving, but the parents were in that they weren't really paying one shred of attention to their 6 and under crowd and only to the 3 year old in the mother's arms. So, imagine my surprise when in the middle of a conversation with Missy my mouth formed a small O, my eyebrows went up and I looked down at the small child, not of my womb, who was now holding my hand.
Now.
This actually happens to me pretty often. Apparently I'm a small-child-magnet and children I'm not responsible for are constantly taking my hand and then looking up in surprise, shock and sometimes tears when they realize I'm not their mommy. I always deal with them gently as their responses often range from a fit of giggles to a monster meltdown.
So, as I looked down, my mental arsenal was prepared for anything.
"Hi. I'm (insert child's name here). Are you going on the ride?"
Except that. I wasn't prepared for that.
I explained to him that I was and then exchanged glances with Missy. If I hadn't seen him with the small herd of children in the family behind us, I might have worried he was lost. I turned to look for his mom and she smiled at me and said, "Aw (insert child's name here) you made a friend!"
Ok.
I'm not judging.
But.
I'm not a parent and STILL I don't think I'm ok with another parent being ok with letting their child hold a stranger's hand. Now, I was obviously harmless, as was he, but still it just sat in my belly (which was already filled with all sorts of WRONG) and felt WRONG.
I retracted my hand from his at an inconspicuous moment. He continued his rather random conversation with me. I didn't want to be rude, nor did Missy, so we talked to him. And tried to include his parents. Who mostly didn't partake and paid more attention to the 3 year old. A few more times the boy took my hand. I bit my tongue from telling him (and his parents) that, while he wasn't in any danger with me, that was a very dangerous thing to do with a stranger, even in sight of his parents.
Finally, as we were in the last few yards of the queue, the mother called him over and said, "Stop pestering those nice girls."
Now, he wasn't pestering. He was actually rather funny. But, so nice of you to finally take notice of your child's whereabouts and whatados.
I took the few minutes before being directed to our vehicle to really enjoy the theming of the boarding area - the big board games, the plug and Christmas lights, and most of all, the BIG Little Golden Book. I had a library of those as a child. I was enamored.
For all of six seconds.
Until I saw the rather agressive motion with which the vehicles moved.
My belly made a small grumble of terror.
I'm not really sure how long this ride is. It might be, what, 5 minutes? It FELT like five HOURS. I really tried to make the best of it. I did. I aimed my cannon. And shot. Mostly with my eyes closed. I numbly registered at one point that something was wrong with our cannons. They weren't registering everything we shot. By the end of the second game, my cannon was no longer aimed and I barely shot while my stomach roiled. Every time the car spun I was so sure I would lose everything in my stomach that I was close to tears.
And then we stopped.
Normally I don't mind the brief pauses for those who need special assistance boarding the ride. Today, though, the pause was making me wonder if I was going to need special assistance OFF the ride.
I looked at Missy. Desperately. She looked back. Like she would rather be in the middle of a street fish market in Jamaica on a 110 degree day than have to be stuck on this ride with me.
The ride resumed and, to this day, I can honestly say I have no idea how I didn't throw up. To say I was miserable would be the understatement of the century. It was so very horrible. So, so very.
We walked out and the rain was just coming down, down, down. I didn't care. I hardly felt it. All I cared about was that my feet were back on terra firma and that I simply would not throw up. We made our way towards the Great Movie Ride and I sat for a bit on a bench that was somehow still a bit dry. While the rain had felt therapeutic at first, I was now downright freezing. When I couldn't stand the gooseflesh any more and finally felt ok enough to move I headed right to one of the clothing shops on Hollywood Blvd. and bought this little beauty:
(photos courtesy of TK's Dec. TR since my sweatshirt was in the laundry at the time of this update)
Appropriate, methinks, for this particular trip reporter.
Once I was a little drier and a little warmer (and $49 happily poorer) I decided that we should try a different approach to settle my belly. We still had some time before our ADR at 50'sPTC, so we headed over to the ABC Commissary and purchased a meal to split. I figured this would either be the kiss of death and decide the rest of our evening or it would help and I'd feel better and we'd be able to finish out the night with some more park touring, dinner and Fantasmic!
We split a cheeseburger meal with fries and fruit.
I eat here on almost every trip and I'm always so surprised and pleased with the quality of the food. The cheeseburger was one of the better CS ones I'd had in recent memory, the fries were fresh and that fruit was AMAZING! The food gods were smiling down on us. And my belly, which, after half the meal and a good deal of just sitting, watching the ABC show spots on the monitors was FINALLY feeling fine.
When we were done, we just decided to walk and not get on a single thing that conveyed motion in any fashion except our feet. I may have actually pointed and laughed at Star Tours. We took our time, as the rain had lightened a bit while we were inside, and explored NY Street. We went back through Pixar Place again and watched some of the kiddies enjoying having their pictures with the characters.
We were about to walk by the Narnia exhibit for the umpteenth time that day when I randomly suggested we try it. There were two lines. One with a 10 minute wait without the benefit of a photo with Prince Caspian. The Prince Caspian line bore a 30 min. wait. We shrugged and got into the 10 min. line. As we passed by Caspian, I rued that decision. Hello! Hottie!
This "attraction", if one could call it that, was a total of about 20-25 min. with the wait. That's 20-25 min. of my life I will never get back. Honestly, it was a glorified movie trailer (albeit shown in a cool room, though with no seats and everyone breathing down each other's necks) with a few cases of props to look at afterwards.
We moved on.
By the time we'd made a full loop, it was almost time for our ADR. I figured we'd give it a shot and check in early.
They gave us a taser and advised they were seating right about on schedule, so we had about a 20 min. wait before us. We sat in the "living room" right by the bar. And we didn't say a word to each other. Not because we'd fought or were tired of each other or anything like that but because it was so LOUD we would've been saying "What?" after every sentence.
Waiting our turn.
Missy wanted to bring her home:
She was such a good dog. Very good at "Sit." And "Stay." And what a shiny coat!
Our taser finally went off and we were brought over to Cousin Byron's table.
We. Hit. The. Jackpot.
I was really hoping for some great interaction at this restaurant and was not disappointed. Cousin Byron was awesome. He had us set the table. And gave us crayons. (No, I'm not kidding.) And because we were being so good, he let me order a milkshake as my drink. At this point I was really starting to feel normal again so I thought it was not only a delicious but also a safe option.
Close-up - this puppy was THICK and could not be sucked down through the straw. It was a spoon all the way...
We decided to forego appetizers and were ready to order when Byron came back. We had made him a present in the meantime:
He didn't see the likeness. We thought it was a spitting image.
Because I said my please's and thank you's, Byron let me order the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and swap out the greens for corn. Missy ordered the pot roast. I don't think I realized, until our food showed up, how hungry I was.
Mine
Missy's
Now, I'm not going to lie. The food wasn't spectacular. The fried chicken was ok, the mashed with gravy was ok and the corn was probably the frozen kind.
It'll do, pig. (NOBABE)
Missy enjoyed the pot roast but did mention that there was some ingredient, she wasn't sure what, that was a little too strong or that there was just too much of. All in all the food was ok, but Byron's service 110% made up for it. At one point someone at a nearby table dropped a glass onto the floor and it broke and while every inch of him was in "CM mode" making sure it was completely cleaned up and there was no glass left on the floor and that it wasn't slippery, you should've heard his "family" spiel. Simply AWESOME. If you ever have the pleasure of dining here, I'd recommend asking for his section. Sadly, during our visit we only noticed one other waitress living up to the restaurant's reputation. Every other server was giving your run of the mill service.
Thank you Disney Dining gods!
When we'd sufficiently cleaned our plates to Byron's standards, he allowed us to order dessert. We both opted for the S'Mores.
De.Lic.Ious.
But VERY tough to eat with a fork. I recommend digging right in and nomming down with your fingers.
Before we left (a handsome tip for Byron on the table) I asked if Byron would take a picture with me.
See? Like family already:
We had been hoping through our meal that the rain would subside so that we could head over to Fantasmic! While they hadn't canceled it yet, it wasn't looking good. As we headed, full I might add, out of the restaurant, we were disappointed to find that the rain was still persisting. After a brief discussion, we decided maybe we should just head back to the room. We could rest up and then later, belly-status dependent, head over to the Tambu Lounge for a Lapu Lapu.
We headed to the busses. We got in line. We looked to the West. We saw the sun.
UP NEXT: Do our intrepid travelers keep their course and head back to the Poly for some rest and rum? Or do they reverse course and stake claim of a (rather wet) bench for Fantasmic! ?
I did, however, ride it a time or two shortly after you did, when I was there with my Maelstrommin' friends. Thanks for not leaving behind any barf smells for us 
Ain't that the truth?! HOW long till the new factor wears off and things get back to normal, I wonder?
I'm sorry -was it the pretzel?!
If not I'll simply write this off as a freak circumstance.
We can't let Bo know though -- if he knows there are girls arguing over him, his ego might become too big for his own good. 
Patiently waiting for more...no pressure...
I have to have one of those Tink jackets, do they come in colors other than white, white & I do not get along?
