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TrpltJanie
Cast Member
Posts: 1661
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-02-03 01:36 AM
Trip report--November 30th-December 14th
Main characters:
Me-mid 30's with a frazzled look permamently etched on my "nun-like" face
Brad-my husband the straight man in our "Burns and Allen" marriage
The Chorus:
Sarah- 8 years, batty over Digimon and Dinosaurs
My 4 year old triplets:
Jonathan-adores Buzz Lightyear
Rachel-carries her much loved "Dot" beanie everywhere she goes
Samuel-loves cars and always has a pocket full of toy cars
My mother-semi-retired school teacher
Richard-my oldest brother with his 11 year old daughter
Michael-my youngest brother with Devon, his 5 year old son
December 4th and 5th--
Woke up and was a little surprised to see Rachel and Samuel sleeping next to me. Strange--went to bed with Brad and woke up with two kids. (Later Brad explained that they both had nightmares so he put them with me while he took the lower bunk). I took a quick look at the clock by the bed and freaked out. "It's 10:30 in the morning and we gotta check out by 11 or Disney will send their thugs over and throw us in the lake!" I threw a pillow at Brad to get him up, got out of bed, tripped over a shoe pile thanks to my kids, and conked my head on the bedroom doorknob. I got up, rubbed my head for a second then stumbled over a stroller and hit my funny bone on the window still next to the bedroom door. I hit one of my toes in the bathroom doorway and with a yelp, I hopped into the bathroom, and slammed the door.
OUCH! The perils of having small children who are messier than a group of monkeys.
Took a quick shower, got everybody up by screeching "It is a Small World after...(screech!) AAAALLLLLL!" Ran over to my brothers' cabin, banged on the door, and yelled. "This is the Disney Police so come out with your hands up and your pants down!" I did that a couple of times (My brothers told me that they thought it was a couple of thugs trying to get in and rob them of their boxer shorts. Yeah RIGHT!) and they refused to answer the door. I stopped when I saw a security guard in a golf cart go by so I acted normal and waved at him. As soon as I made sure that he was gone, I banged on the door once again and a few seconds later, Richard quickly opened the door and I didn't have time to react so the door hit my nose pretty hard.(the door swings outside not the other way around)
OUCH! The perils of having deranged brothers.
Me: "OW! You did that on purpose! You never did like me, did you?"
Richard: "Oh, I do love you and that is my way of showing my affection for the people I love."
Me: "Bull pucky! I don't see you smacking the door in mom's face."
Michael: (sticks his head out) You were wrong about the boat last night."
Me: (changing the subject) "You guys got 20 minutes to get dressed so move it!"
I threw most of the stuff in the suitcases while I got the kids dressed at the same time. Brad and Michael got all of the stuff loaded in the van and we checked out at 11:05 am. Oh, I didn't want to leave WDW and I loved the cabins. It was a perfect size for my own family and Michael was a little sad about leaving and said that the next time we came back to WDW, we'll stay a whole lot longer at the cabins because it is so nice and very quiet. I wouldn't mind getting lost at Ft. Wilderness again providing that my brothers aren't there to see it and gloat!
On our way out--I think it was I-192 that we were on, the traffic moved at snail's pace and Rachel was getting ornery because she didn't have breakfast, I was ornery because the stubbed toe started to ache and I knew I had broken it. Sheeesh! I've broken toes in ballet thanks to certain silk medival torture devices and once a while, I tend to break them again and there isn't much I can do except WHINE! Michael was ornery because I hid his gameboy because he did that lousy victory dance "You're wrong about the boat! You're wrong about the boat!" My mother was ornery because I ate the last sweet roll. Jasmyne was ornery because she didn't get enough sleep. Okay EVERYBODY was ornery.
(helicopter sounds) Back to the traffic report, We saw the fire trucks and police cars in an area under the overpass just ahead of us but we couldn't see what was going on so we just sat there for around 5 minutes before we got moving...van-wise I mean. We were already snapping at each other and I even started hitting other people wave-style. I hit somebody and that somebody passes on. Wave style! Got tired of it so we had a "Phhhhhhfffffftttttt" contest and by accident, my mother won the farting contest hands down. She's not a fan of body noises and her excuse was that everybody was having a go just like yawning.
As we got closer to the overpass where the action was, we were shocked at what we saw: Chunks of cement all over the road, firemen and police officers inspecting the damage as they directed the traffic; exposed rebars under the overpass; a huge semi with a backhoe on its trailer parked in the middle of the road; and a firetruck that said "Reedy Creek Fire Dept" on the side. From what we could tell, it looked like the elbow of the backhoe was too high so it hit the overpass and scraped across the cement and rebars causing quite bit of damage. I don't think the backhoe was damaged too badly--from what I could tell.
Michael: (freaking out) "Janie! Janie! Janie!"
Me: (spinning my head around to what he was screaming about) What? What's going on?!
Michael: "You were wrong about the boat!"
Me: "Dumbass!"
My mom: "Janie! How many times do I have to tell you that nice ladies don't say those things?"
Me: "OmaLyn (nickname that the grandkids have for her) is a dumbass!"
My mom: (bursts into tears) "You are soooooo mean!" (She's a very good faker! Sheesh!)
All of the kids took turns poking me constantly until we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We all took a spin on the rocking chairs in the front of the restaurant.
I got pancakes with fried apples on top. Brad reminded me that I was on a diet and I shouldn't be eating fried apples. I retorted. "Diet, my ASS! I'm on vacation and what are you gonna do? Ground me? Tell the doctors on me?"
Brad: "Take away your credit card."
Me: GASP! "You wouldn't dare!"
Brad: "Then give me the fried apples when your meal comes. You can eat your pancakes."
Me: "Ha! I dare you take those apples away from me because I'm not giving them up because they make the pancakes taste better!"
The waitress came with our meals and the fried apples were in a tiny bowl next to the pancakes and before I could react, Michael snatched the bowl prompting me to screech "Michael you lunkhead! Give it back! " I picked up a fork and held it over Devon's plate of macaroni and cheese and warned. "Give it back or I'll take a bite of his meal!" Devon has a little quirk on getting upset when people eat his food. He had a meltdown at KSC when my mother swiped a french fry and she had to buy another order of fries to calm him down.
Devon: "Daddy! She's gonna touch my food!"
Me: (laughing manically) "Give me the apples!"
Michael: "Don't you dare touch Devon's food!"
Me: "Ppphhhhffffttt!"
He handed the bowl to Brad who promptly shoved the entire bowl of fried apples into his mouth and I freaked out! I got a forkful of macaroni and Devon, in turn, flipped out.
Devon: "Aaauuuuggghhh! She got my food!" (a few people turned to see who was screaming---the restaurant wasn't very busy at all and I didn't care. I wanted my apples back)
Michael: "You're a grown woman and you're tormenting a five year old boy?"
Me: "Serves you right for taking my apples!"
Brad: (opens his mouth at me) and mumbles. "Good apples! Vewy good!"
Me: "Stop that!"
Devon: points at me. "You're MEAN!"
Me: "I'm not mean. Your father made me MEAN!"
Devon: "Give my noodles back now!"
Me: "No!"
Sarah: "Let's put mommy in time out."
Rachel: "Baaaaaaaaad mommy! Baaaaaaad mommy!"
Samuel: (makes farting noises) "Hehehehehehehe..."
Me: "Samuel! That is not nice!"
Jonathan: (snort-laugh and makes farting noises as well)
Brad: "My beauuuutiful boys! I taught them well!"
Me: "Whaaaaaat!?"
At that moment, Michael grabbed the fork with noodles from me and gave it back to Devon. It was so funny to watch this little scene: Devon carefully pulled the noodles off of the fork and placed it very gently on his plate and then started eating.
I got our waitress' attention and told her to give me another order of fried apples and guess what? I never got it. She had to be in cahoots with my mother! DANG! They are sooooo MEAN! No wonder why I'm so dysfunctional.
We went over to Lake Berkley where the vacation home was and it was a very nice place: quiet and in a gated community. The swimming pool was a little too cold to swim and the company just turned the pool heat on and we had to wait two days for it to be warm enough. Wal-mart was just up the road so it was very easy for us to jump in the van, zip over to Wal-mart, and be back at the house in no time at all.
December 5th--We decided to head over to Universal Studios' Island of Adventure since we were worried that WDW would be busy because of MVMCP and weekend crowds. The parking garage was pretty interesting and both times that we visited the parks, we always ended up parking on the top floor of the garage and it was a loooooong walk to the parks.
Go on a moving ramp and I took few steps and found that it made interesting noises so I jumped up and down a couple of times and it was funny to see my family bounce up and down. I found that if I jump on the edges of the ramp sections--not the outside edges---it made a nice squuuueak-clunk noise. I don't know how to describe it but it was neat to jump up and down on that metal ramp.
We all decided to go to Island of Adventure and the first thing we saw was Incredible Hulk rollercoaster so we walked over to see what that roller coaster did. I saw what the coaster looked like, took a step back and shook my head with a "I can't go on this ride." Brad agreed with me. My mother was kinda confused and asked me if I somehow developed motion sickness five minutes ago. I explained what was going on.
Before we flew out, I saw my audiologist for a check up to make sure that everything was okay and I asked her about the rides and if I was going to be okay on them. She warned me about the headrests on some certain rollercoasters and how people's heads bang around a bit during high speed rides. She simply told me to play it by the "implant" *snicker!* I even had the the opportunity to see what happened if I banged my head when I accidently bumped my implant (it is behind my right ear) against the door of my van and endured a flash of intense pain then got a lousy headache afterwards that lasted for several hours so I've been very careful after that.
The *big* boys decided to ride it first and see if it is okay for me to take a spin. Jasmyne was the only one tall enough to ride the coaster so we decided to take the rest of the kids over to Suess Landing and check some things out. Sarah was pretty miffed that she wasn't tall enough and started whining about how it was not fair.
Me: "Sarah--give it up! Whining isn't gonna make you taller."
Sarah: "I don't care!"
Me: acting like Sarah "I wanna go on the ride! Not fair!"
Sarah: "Stop that mommy!"
Me: "Stop that mommy!"
Sarah: "OmaLyn, tell her stop."
My mother: "I've been telling your mom to stop since she was 3 years old!"
Me: "OmaLyn, Tell Sarah to stop!"
Sarah stomped over to the "If I ran the zoo" playground and I followed her like a puppy and my triplets followed me with Devon holding my mother's hand. I continued to "whine" at her and she was getting rather annoyed but she was whiny the day before and that day so I was just giving it back to her.
"If I ran the Zoo" playground was a HOOT! I LOVED that doorbell thingy where you push the doorbell at a certain time to get an unusual creature's ears fly up. I know I sound so hokey but I don't think I could ever get tired of pushing buttons, pulling levers, pumping air, swinging on a rope just for the sound effects.
The zinger that made Sarah fall over laughing so hard was when I did my whiny act as I followed Sarah over to a little water place where one steps on something and a stream of water shoots out of nowhere and drenches the hapless victim. Devon was off inspecting the air pump while my triplets with the help of my mom squirted water at a funny looking bird sitting in a tub and I was right behind Sarah driving her nuts when she stepped on something and I heard a loud pop then got NAILED on the right side of my face by a stream of water coming out of that weird looking machine. Sarah fell to the ground laughing so hard and I was laughing too but was kinda concerned because the earpiece also got wet.
Left the kids with my mother and ran to the bathroom to get the earpiece dry before any real damage set in. I was terrified that I was gonna go "ear piece-less" for the rest of the trip.
Everything was okay so I hurried back and found the the *big* boys there. Brad shook his head at me and said that he banged his head pretty hard on the headrest on the Incredible Hulk and Michael almost lost his sunglasses so it wasn't wise for me to take a spin on the coaster. I was terribly disappointed BUT that's small potatoes because there were so much more for us to discover!
We all backtracked and went on the Spiderman ride.
Whoo hoo! What a ride it was! Surround sounds, visual delight, and amazing tactile experience when a spray of water hit us and I heard high pitched whistle from a flaming pumpkin that was thrown at us and its intense heat as it *hit* the side of a building. I will say this until I'm blue in the face: There is NO way I could have enjoyed the ride as fully as I did if I didn't get the implant. I loved Spiderman's little thud on the car and say a few things to us before he *web slinged* out with that "pssshhht" sound...gee, It is so damned hard to explain that sound when I only had the implant for almost 2 years.
The best part came when we got zapped by the laser and I listened to the car crackle for a bit before it *shot* to the roof. The metallic clang as the car got caught on a roof anntena and the "thud-crash" as the car lost power, and the sound of falling.
Oh---go on the ride! You'll know what I'm talking
about! 
I adored Cat in the Hat ride and so did Rachel. I truly beleive that if I didn't hear the sound effects on that ride, I wouldn't have enjoyed as much as I did with Rachel. I don't think you'll ever realize that sharing and EXPERIENCING the sounds with your kids is so precious and I loved Rachel's scream-laugh when the car spun around crazily.
I took the kids on Flying Unicorn while the *big* boys took the Dueling Dragons ride. The Unicorn ride was so bumpy and noisy! I heard my teeth rattle! I never hear my teeth rattle until that ride. Talk about a major bone jarring, teeth rattling, kidneys shaking, knees banging, whiplash ride! When we got off of the ride, the kids wanted to go AGAIN! DANG! At first, I said no and they did their whining act for a few minutes so I said "FINE!"
I think a kidney stone passed through my poor kidneys during the second trip and a couple of fillings rattled its way out of my mouth.
Skipped over to Jurrasic Park ride. My mother and Richard decided to take my triplets down to the dino museum since Richard wasn't feeling too good and Michael took off with Devon to spend some one on one time. Brad, Sarah, Jasmyne, and me took off to ride Jurrasic ride.
Jurrasic ride started off slow but I jumped a bit when I heard the raptors snarling. I asked Brad if they sounded like that in the movies and he said "Yeah". I didn't see any of the movies before we left but did watch all of them when we got home.
The raptors sounded so..... "wheezy"? It was surreal to go up in the dark and all I could hear was that weird breathing and funny little "honking" sounds. Heard slashing sounds and claw marks appeared on a wall. The whole area was full of echoes, clicking noises, and that deep, chest vibrating ROAR from the T.Rex as he lunged out at us. I screamed my head off when we went down the deep incline. Screamed when we hit the bottom. Screamed as we floated to the exit platform. Screamed when we walked out of the area. Jasmyne snickered and slapped me Sarah snickered and slapped me also. Brad snickered and I ducked and slapped Brad instead.
We all looked at each other and RAN back in for another round of screaming.
We got the chance to check out Curious George place and several more rides---They weren't that notable--and called it a day since we were still tired and I started to get tad headachy from overstimluation...sound-wise!
On the way home, we got two dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts, two large pizzas, and couple of junk food so we could watch a movie that we rented at the house.
BRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPP!
Janie
The Curb Kicker
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Mary
Cast Member
Posts: 465
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-02-03 02:37 AM
Janie, THANK YOU for another installment. I've been stalking you all over the internet to get these done.
Mary
First Mate, Good Ship Stickey Mickey and Keeper of the Ships Log
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Coastalwader
Cast Member
Posts: 935
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-02-03 07:54 AM
Most excellent!
King Unca Bubba Lord DisneyTex
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Crank
Administrator
Posts: 1957
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-11-03 08:15 PM
Really good!
Keep it coming!
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
BOYCOTT FRENCH TOAST, GERMAN SAUSAGE AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATES
Crank-->
All Content is © the Poster and is to be considered Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. Though Brilliant, Breathtaking and Extrememly Well Written the Content contained herein is Opinion and Opinion only.
ib4cruzn at charter dot net
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Common
Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Universal Brain Salad! |
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