To See Characters?
Suffice it to say, the sixteenth dawned a new day. We would hope, right? I mean a new day being an old day would just be a weird day. Or something like that. Where was I?
Ah, yes. This day held a lot of promise, my friends. It's the day we were to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. And I write in full, as it deserves to be written in full. Because even though we're not even going to come remotely close to the party in this chapter, and I am fairly certain it will take me several chapters to write about it in full, let's just say that it was the
BEST Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party I've ever been to. Ever.
And that's all I'm going to say about that right now.
Back to the morning at hand.
I was so nervous about our breakfast at Chef Mickey's, but some nagging little voice in my head told me not to cancel. My Jiminy Cricket, if you will. But I was very, very nervous, given DS total aversion to characters thus far. Of course the boys were in the bathroom when we got paged, but they seated me and we were in the same room as the past two years, which I actually prefer. It's that smaller room in the back where you can look out and just have a great view. And it feels more intimate being tucked in that little back corner. I even speculated to DH later if the time of our reservation had anything to do with it. I know they seat larger parties back there as well, but I wonder if they have the later ressies there, too, since this time, it was just the three of us. Ah. A Pirate's Life for Three.
I digress. Who's surprised?
So the lovely hostess asked me my husband's name and what he and DS were wearing. That was some nice service, right there. So as they were arriving back in the lobby area, DH was called by name by the hostess and brought to our table. Which startled the heck out of DH, but I thought it was as nice touch and teased him a little about it. It was quite funny, too, before they got back the nice hostess was explaining the routine to me. "And you'll want to put your child on the outside so the characters will be able to say hello," and I started shaking my head slowly and explaining our dilemma, and she abruptly changed gears and said with a smile, "And you'll want to put your child on the inside so the characters will know to just wave." God bless her. She got it. So, at their recommendation, we put DS on the inside, making a parental wall between him and the characters.
I went to get some food for DS, and aimed for fruit. I was shooting for healthy, folks. I was wrong.
He instinctively knew there were better things to be had. So we headed down together, and passed Goofy on the way. And DS panicked. And hid behind my legs, gripping them with little three year old death grips that screamed oh my goodness, what are we doing here and why is Goofy here? I was worried. He wasn't crying or screaming or anything, but clearly something was amiss.
After I brought him back, DH graciously offered for me to get food first. Since I was starving, I didn't pass on him being so gentlemanly, and I went to partake of the buffet. On a side note, I love the breakfast at Chef Mickey's. It's not fancy. It's not anything unordinary. Now, I know I can be a signature dining snob, but sometimes you just want a good old fashioned breakfast. It's just perfect, with a hint of Disney magic thrown in. We are truly Chef Mickey's people. Something I would realize more than once on this trip.
Now, while I was gone, there was a little conversation that took place.
I like to call it Disney Magic, but really, it was ALL my DH.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love this man?
If not, let me say it again. See, while I was gone, DH and DS had a little chat. And I don't know how DH did it, but somehow, when I came back, DS wasn't afraid of the characters anymore. He even wanted to meet them.
So I sat on the outside, with him in my lap, and we waited.
Mickey came by first. Isn't that how it should be?
And DS smiled!
And talked to him, and showed him his race cars. Remember those? How I bought the Buzz one, and how we already have Mickey, Goofy, the monorail, etc. Those cars would become a godsend. A talking point. As would some other key treasure, but that's later.
I swear, when DS and Mickey were talking and as they gave high fives, I almost cried right then and there. I was so grateful. That he was okay, that my husband was an amazing father who could turn something around so easily, that he was showing them all his race cars and offering them his breakfast, it was adorable. So DS tried to feed Goofy, and Goofy patted his belly like he was already full.
And can we just give homage to the duck for a moment here? Donald was AMAZING! And I am always amazed, because Donald is ALWAYS amazing. And I never expect that. I expect him to be a short-tempered foul, one quack away from disaster. And he's always wonderful with children, and he was so good with my son.
He played with those race cars with DS for at least five minutes solid. One of the benefits to a later breakfast time, folks. As people start leaving, characters have more time for you. Dang, now the secret's out.
Anyway, Donald played with those cars, raced them back and forth across the table, and then took and raced them back and forth across that big ole bill of his! I was hysterical. I was laughing, I was almost crying, and my boy was so happy. He giggled. Like only little boys giggle, and it was just one of the best feelings ever.
I have a deep and abiding love for character interaction. It's part of the theater in me that won't die, it reminds me of improv and when I did plays, and all of that. It's just the fun of it, the quality of it, the magic of it. Never mind the deep abiding childhood love of certain characters. And I want that for my boy, and he had it. In spades. If I posted pictures of us, these would be the ones I would post. But for now, you'll just have to be satisfied with the duck.
Racing DS' Cars Across His Bill
Playing Race Cars Like Only Donald Can
And this...
See, at the end of our meal, Goofy, Mickey, and Donald were all in the room with us, and the few diners left. Mickey grabbed a carpet sweeper from one of the servers and started cleaning. Apparently, he's a chef whose not afraid to get his hands dirty and clean up after himself, savvy?
Now in Mickey's great zeal to clean, he was backing up and just bumped right into Donald, who was playing with our DS for the second...or third time.
And then, it was on, my friends.
I swear, I thought I was going to see a Mouse vs. Duck smackdown right then and there, with good ole Goof as a referee. Just as I thought Donald was about to get his brawl on, Mickey apologized, and the day was saved.
PHEW!
I mean can you imagine the feathers that would fly?
After breakfast, which was a rousing success, on the character front and the eating front (the boy actually ate a decent meal), we decided to head over to the shops. On this trip, I hadn't really wanted anything for myself, but oh the toys for DS! I was so going to do Christmas shopping for him in the World!
DS was so well behaved. He touched a lot of different toys, but he was very, very good about putting them back. We decided to head over to the arcade, and I had a lot of fun. I played skee ball. By myself, and with DS, which is an art in and of itself. I won against DH at ice hockey. I was so proud. I never, ever win. After we'd had our fill of game time, we showed DS how to feed the tickets into the machine and trade them in. Our spoils? Two rolls of Smarties (DS picked those, who's surprised), a green and blue swirly bouncy ball, and a multicolor Slinky. We still had some points left over, but planned to save them, we knew eventually we'd be back.
It was finally time to head back to our hotel, for the customary before
MNSSHP nap.
Up next - Did anyone actually sleep?
Seriously, isn't the dump shop itself enough?....I mean other than something like Mouse Gears where you choose to go in, just leave it alone already!
