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Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Tink's *~*~* Fall Fantasy Trip, Part 2 |
Tink *~*~*
Cast Member
Posts: 1066
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 11-12-02 10:12 PM
Thursday 07 November 2002
Zzzzzzzzzz
One of the advantages of living alone is that there is no one to complain bitterly that you snore. One of the disadvantages of bunking with your brother and his family is that they will never let you live it down. So ok, I snore. With the lungs and fortitude of a trained opera singer, I snore at apparently high enough volumes to wake the dead. My brother is a light sleeper. Nuff said! Next time, separate accommodations! As it is, none of us stirred from bed until 8:00 am and we got a late start. But that was ok, because we all needed sleep.
Breakfast Rip-off Lesson Learned
When my brother ST made these arrangements for this trip, he did not anticipate that I would be coming along for part of the time, and he negotiated some sort of deal with the hotel whereby he had vouchers for breakfast buffet at the hotel at a reduced rate. We only realized that I was not included when we got down there and had an “Ah-HA!” moment about it. No biggie, I thought, I’ll just pay my own way. Well, breakfast buffet at that hotel is $10! Can you imagine? I had coffee and oatmeal, and it was $10! Well, never again. I had breakfast alternately at either the 7-11 or Perkins after that, bringing it back to the hotel patio. It actually gave me a chance to record bullet points for my trip reports, so all was not lost.
Magic Kingdom on a Thursday
According to brother ST, it was a crowded day at Magic Kingdom, but I didn’t see any difference between the crowds then and the crowds when I was there during the ides of March. Our mission was to primarily do Fantasyland. I’ve never been to a theme park with a bona fide child, so I thought it would be a blast to take in all the Fantasyland rides with nieceling AN.
Cranky Time
ST usually gets motion sickness and therefore takes Dramamine. He’d noticed a little motion sickness in AN too, so they bought her the children’s chewable version. We headed right for the Teacups. The line moved swiftly, and soon we were spinning away. After the ride, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum showed up and we got in line for autographs and pictures. AN started to act really cranky and bratty, like she does when she is tired. I started to feel really bad about the snoring thing, and started to talk about getting my own room for the remainder of my stay. ST owns his own business and started getting phone calls about problems back in the office on Long Island, so we decided to find a quiet spot to park the stroller and let ST make phone calls and let AN take a nap. We parked at a bunch of tables (Enchanted Grove) around the corner from Fairytale Garden. I went across to Starlight Cafe to get some food and when I brought it back, AN was out like a light. It was only noonish! There was something seriously wrong, and I was feeling more and more guilty. ST was looking a bit on the sleepy side as well, which only made me fee worse.
101 Number 1, and the Dramamine Blues
It was decided that SIL AD and I would leave them to their naps and venture forth on our own to Peter Pan’s flight. When we got there, it was 101. The boats were going by, but two CMs were standing outside telling people that the ride was under repair and should be back online soon. Bummer! So we did Small World instead. After Small World, we went back and found that SN was still sleeping and ST was still making business calls. We couldn’t understand it. It was time for ladies’ room break, and on the way out, we simultaneously hit on the same thing – it was the Dramamine! AD kept insisting that AN had not woken up at all in the night, so she could not understand why the child was so tired and cranky. Now we realized that at least in the nieceling’s case, it wasn’t Auntie’s snoring, it was the Dramamine! Whew, off the hook for that one! She was finally awake when we returned from the ladies room, and once fed, she was in a much better mood.
Back on Track!
Off to Snow White we went. I’d never been on this ride before, and I can understand why some small children find it frightening – it is dark and scary! Peter Pan was back up, but there was a huge line. ST hooked some Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh, and to pass the time, we went on to the Haunted Mansion. There was something wrong with the audio – it was sort of crackly and skippy, like an old 45 RPM recording. Then we hit the steamboat ride, and AN went up to steer the boat for a while. ST stood outside and snapped some pictures of her at the wheel. ST and I crossed over to Splash Mountain during the parade and hooked Fast Passes for that, then went back to Winnie the Pooh. So we did Winnie the Pooh, which was very cute indeed, and then headed back to Splash.
Batteries and Magical Moments
Stop salivating LL, I mean something totally different than what you are thinking! Actually, once we were over there, I sent them for Fast Passes to Big Thunder Mountain, and I went to the camera place to get batteries for my old Magical Moments pin from last March. Learned my lesson there too - $4.00 for a 3v battery! OY VEY! But I wanted my pin to flash again, so I bit the bullet and paid. Next time, if magical moments is still happening when I go again, I lay in a supply of 3v batteries ahead of time.
Have a Zippa Dee Doo Dah Day!
A couple of weeks ago, I had taught Zippa Dee Doo Dah to AN while we were in the car going to the mall. This was her chance to see the song in action. However, she had this small fear of the big drop, but the thought of seeing all the characters that sing that song was enough to make her brave. Off we went to the Fast Pass line and we stopped at every portrait of every character along the way, so I could tell her, to the best of my recollection, what the story was about. She ended up loving the ride, we got soaked, and she sang her little heart out (even though the words I taught her were a bit different than those on the ride). After the ride, I bought her the little Splash Mountain car with the characters sitting in it with their arms up in the air.
101 Number 2
When we got off Splash, we headed over to Big Thunder. As it turned out, there were no more fast passes being given out when I sent them over there, but the wait was listed as only 15 minutes, so we got on the line. Toward the end of the ride, it suddenly went dead. Complete stop, cute announcement telling us to stay put and we’d be going in no time. Several minutes went by before the ride resumed, and gave us a sort of anti-climactic ending.
Aloha and Alas!
We had a PS for dinner at Akershus, so we decided to leave the park and head over to Epcot. I persuaded the gang to cut through that Restrooms tunnel that goes from Frontierland into Adventureland, so we could swing by the Dole Whip shack. I wanted them to feel the sensation, but alas! The Dole Whip shack was shut down! Woe R Us! Ajax, I thought of you then, and how devastated you would have been, had it been you staring at the abandoned Dole Whip shack.
On the way out, we did stop momentarily to enjoy the ragtime ivory tickler, jamming away outside at Casey’s.
101 Number 3
Since we’d driven to Magic Kingdom, we wanted to pick up the car and drive to Epcot. We hopped on the monorail to the TTC, and just as it was passing the beach between Grand Floridian and the Poly, it went 101. We sat there for about 15 minutes. The explanation offered was that the one in front of us was suffering from some sort of mechanical failure and we were waiting for a crew to come and fix it so we could move on. By this time, I was pretty tired of all the 101s, and was fretting that we would miss our PS. Finally, we got moving, got to the car and headed over to Epcot for our dinner.
Epcot and Akershus
This was my first time in the World during the Food and Wine Festival. It was dark upon our arrival, but I could still see the gardens that were set up with the topiaries of Lady and the Tramp, and Pumba and Timone. Also noticed the array of veggies planted there and the variety of peppers. This was also my first experience dining at Akershus. I was really pleased with the experience. The CM wait staff at Akershus is very friendly and helpful. The buffet was a marvel. I went in with the intention of taking a little bite of every single thing in the buffet, and I almost succeeded! I’m sorry, I just didn’t like the brown cheese. I could have made an entire meal out of the cold buffet, especially the shrimp salad and other cold fish offerings. For dessert, we got the mousse with the little chocolate sorcerer hats and horns (“catch da wabbit, catch the wabbit, catch da wabbit....oh, sorry, wrong cartoon characters!). I was only able to finish half of it, and the staff gave us little plastic sippy cups to take home the chocolate sorcerer hats.
Shopping!
After dinner, we waddled out of there and ST staked out a place at the lagoon for Illuminations while AD, AN and I went to Mouse Gear. AD was on a mission for gifts for our other nieces, and I was there to investigate any Tinkerbell watches that may have surfaced since my last visit in March. There were three that I hadn’t seen before, but I didn’t like one of them, so I only bought two! They are both purple-faced. OK, it is my weakness. I am a Tink Watch-a-holic. I have a shrine to Tinkerbell in my living room picture window, where I display my Tink stuff, most notably my watches. ST called soon to tell us that he was having difficulty holding off the hordes at the rail, and could we please come back. So we raced as fast as AN’s little six year old legs could carry her, back to the railing.
Illuminations
ST was engaged in conversation with a family from New Jersey that had found an advertisement in the classifieds for $59 a night at one of the All Stars resorts. We were jealous! Finally, the show started. It is just as wonderful as ever. At that time, I found out that all the while they had been down there, ST and family had spent nearly every Disney night at Epcot so they could see Illuminations.
Weaponry for Bedtime
When we got back to the hotel, I had the evil thought that we should go to Walgreen’s, so AD and I went over there. We bought those anti-snoring nose strips for me and we bought earplugs for ST! Thusly armed, we returned to the hotel confident that a good night’s sleep would be had by all.
TOMORROW: Universal Studios is way too loud!
Tink *~*~*
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inkydinkydoo
Cast Member
Posts: 112
Registered: Sep 2002
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Posted 11-20-02 12:34 PM
Nice report, Tink! I learned the battery lesson, too, last fall. The only difference is that I actually took an extra camera battery WITH me to WDW. I just didn't think about the battery being of more use to me in my backpack than it was in my suitcase back at the Boardwalk. And, just as we approached the Magic Kingdom's main gate, I found that my camera was deader than a door nail. If I remember right, the battery that I paid $4-something for at home, cost me $17-something at the Camera Shop on Main Street. Ouch!
That mistake, though, led to the discovery that the Goofy statue on the bench in front of the Camera Shop occasionally talks. So, it wasn't all bad.
Pat
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Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Tink's *~*~* Fall Fantasy Trip, Part 2 |
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