Jaime - May 2006

MONDAY, MAY 1ST, 2006

Plans: Put Lauren in her Cindy dress, make sure we have a change of clothes, spend the day at MK.

Even though breakfast is at 10:10, maybe we can head over to the MK for opening and get some rides in before breakfast.

Breakfast: Cindy's @ 10:10am
Lunch: Split a CS? - Ray's???
Dinner: Crystal Palace @ 6:35pm (TS)

Reality: Last night I went into Judi, Ron, and Lauren's room and set up the wake up call. I gave them instructions on the speaker phone button and had Lauren practice. At 7:00am, Rhonda and I listened to Stitch & Mickey on our speaker phone - in the other room, Lauren grabs the receiver and listens to it herself! So much for instructions!

I was already up, showered, dressed, and had been to the food court! It was our first day in the parks and I was a little excited! We were going to the castle, someplace I had never eaten!

Lauren has very straight, fine hair that doesn't stay put when you put it in a barrette or a pony holder. We did her hair in about 8 different styles during the week. Today's was a pony on the back of her head, I had clips to hold the sides back, and she brought a tiara to wear with her light-up Cinderella dress (there were fiber optics in the skirt that she could light by pressing a button on her waist.)

We took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom and arrived about 9:00. We stood in line for pictures and autographs with Chip 'n Dale, Wendy, and Goofy before it was time to head up to the castle. Judi taught Lauren to curtsey in her fancy dress and she curtsied to the characters all day (even after she took off the dress).

Now, we had planning this trip forever and Judi wasn't sure if she was going until a couple of months ago, so we had made the reservation for breakfast at Cinderella's Castle for 4 people (at the 180 day mark - it had just changed and we caught it early, thanks to the Dis!). When Judi decided she was going, Rhonda called again but could not ADD a person, they would have to cancel the original reservation and make a new one. They said we wouldn't be able to get a table for 5 that day, so we just left it for 4. Ron "volunteered" to stay at the hotel, have breakfast in the food court, and meet us about 11:15 behind the Walt Disney Partners statue.

Now, in the last 2 years, Rhonda and I have - separately and together - gone to Disney in May, 2004; September, 2004; January, 2005; and September, 2005. The May, 2004, trip was the 14th - 27th and was a little more crowded than I was used to, but it was SOOOOOOOOOO hot, that the heat is all I remembered! We aren't used to going at crowded times, is what I'm saying. Plus, I know better than to go to the Magic Kingdom on a Monday - but when Rhonda called me and said she got a reservation at the Castle on a Monday, did I tell her to call back and change it? Noooooooooo..... stupid, stupid, stupid! I said, let's see how it is, I guess we could always catch the monorail over to EPCOT. I'll get back to breakfast now:

We head over to the podium inside the castle - and let me just say how annoying it is to not be able to get THROUGH the castle during the day! - passing the wishing well on the way. We check in and they give us a slip of paper. Now you enter the downstairs room of the castle, Cinderella is there for the picture that they give you with your package. The way I believe this is supposed to work is that you enter the room, get in line, have your picture taken, and wait for your name to be called. But there were 2 families I saw who were just sitting on the bench, I thought they were waiting for their names to be called, but their names were called and they all got up - cut through the line, climbing over the guide ropes - and went up front to get their pictures taken! Why weren't they IN the line to begin with???

The organization in this room was zilch! The 2 people they had calling names to send you upstairs had no control at all, in fact the woman sounded like she was having an asthma attack! You couldn't hear her and she kept gasping for breath in between words. It was not a pleasant experience. I swore I would never return - now, my next trip is in December and my DD16 wants to do this for her Sweet 16 Breakfast and I have agreed, so before you start thinking I'm complaining A LOT, let's go upstairs after our name is called (right before our picture is taken...)

We climb the winding staircase and are seated fairly promptly. I love the room and the place settings and our waitress is wonderful and the food is good. They announce Cinderella's friends - Aurora, Mary Poppins, Belle, and the Fairy Godmother.

Now, if you remember from the pre-trip, Lauren had a song to sing for Ariel (I wonder just how many little girls sing those notes to Ariel every day....). As we leave the castle, we are hit with a barrage of, "I want to see Ariel. I want to see Ariel." But first, we have to find Ron. Wow, that was easy - he was right where he was supposed to be! We had also gotten a locker this morning for our jackets and a change of clothes for Lauren, and Rhonda headed back there now to put the picture from Cinderella's castle in there for safekeeping.

We went over to Fantasyland to see about Ariel - 40 minutes. Ariel's busy right now, Lauren, we'll come back. Now this is the point in the trip where we had problems because Rhonda and I just weren't used to not being able to get on whatever ride we wanted, whenever we wanted. We grabbed fast passes for Winnie the Pooh, but Dumbo's line was nuts, so were most of the lines (I know - duh!)

Rhonda took Lauren on the carousel and I suggested we get out of Fantasyland! We headed over to Tomorrowland and got in line for Buzz (20 minutes), the Carousel of Progress, and the TTA. With the 5 year old in tow, none of us even considered Space Mountain - she's a thrill ride junkie and just not tall enough.

We then headed back through Fantasyland to use our FPs before heading to Frontierland. On the way, we grabbed FPs for Mickey's PhilharMagic - which turned out to be a waste of the FPs because we saw it twice with a 5 minute wait each time - I still have the FPs.

Haunted Mansion, 5 minute wait. Lauren freaked out a tiny bit in line, she seems a little more aware of her surroundings this time than the trip when she was 3, and showed signs of anxiety at little things. For example, the automatic flush toilets that didn't bother her at all last time, FREAKED HER OUT! If we had known, we'd have brought the post-it notes.

We pick up Fast Passes for Splash Mountain, and on our way over to Big Thunder Mountain, a nice person gave us their Fast Passes for Splash, telling us that "someone" in their party doesn't want to get wet! Lol, we've all taken THAT trip, haven't we?

Yes, Rhonda, I know that person is usually ME. Shut up.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Have I told you I'm afraid of Splash Mountain? I rode it once - in 1997. I have been able to avoid it for 8 years - too cold, knee hurts, etc. Not anymore. I'm with a 5 year old who will ride ANYTHING, even if she IS afraid of toilets! So now we have a set of 5 FPs and a set of 4 FPs... I know who's sitting that one out! We get in line for Big Thunder Mountain (about 20 minutes) and something REALLY WEIRD happens. I mean REALLY WEIRD! Weirder than the "cheese" incident of 2005 (see 09/2005 trip report).

As we wind through the queue, the family behind me is not paying a lot of attention to their children - a boy and a girl, to be exact. They're climbing all over the handrails (I HATE that!) and the little girl keeps poking me in the behind. Well, the 2 kids start to fight - and I mean pushing fighting - in line! - ad one of the adults tries to break them up by grabbing both of them by the arms. This is where it got weird - the little girl shakes off the woman and THROWS HERS ARMS AROUND MY WAIST! I say, "Excuse me!!!" and the woman and I pry this weird kid off of me. She screams and GRABS ME AGAIN! I pry her off again and kinda yelled, "Hey!!!" The woman says sorry (yup, that's it - one word) but I don't know what the kid's problem was - why would a CHILD grab a total stranger TWICE?????

I'm afraid of how this is going to make me sound, but I didn't know these people, so I quite obviously checked all my pockets as I walked through the line. I got away from the kid when the cast member at the top of the ramp leading down to the loading area of the ride, stopped that family to let the fast pass people in behind me. Whew!

Now it's time to ride! We end up in the last 3 cars - Rhonda and Lauren in the back, me in front of them, and Ron and Judi in front of me. I've only been on 2 Disney rides in my entire life that have broken down - Judi was with me both times! (She also has the ability to make it rain on vacation, but she refrained this trip!) As we went up the first hill, Big Thunder Mountain just STOPPED!!!! I've already told you I'm afraid of Splash Mountain... well, I haven't told you how TERRIFIED I am of Expedition Everest - especially the backwards part, which is the only thing I can think of whilst (great word!) stuck on BTM!

We eventually did go forwards, but I wasn't enjoying the ride. What I WAS enjoying is that Lauren likes to scream on roller coasters! I mean SCREAM!!!!!!!! The cutest little blood-curdling screams! She had a blast! Wasn't even holding on. Man, she makes me look bad!

We head over to Splash. Before I can say anything, Judi announces she'll sit this one out. AND I LET HER!!!!! Idiot!!! We get in the FP line and it's about a 15 minute wait. I see a chicken exit come and go, crud. I see another chicken exit come and go... what's wrong with me? Get off!!!!!!!!! Nope, not me. I climb into the log next to Ron (Rhonda and Lauren are in front of us) and I'm still thinking, "Get off!!! Get off!!!" and the log starts to move. I turn to Ron and say, "Ohsh**!!!"

I scream my stupid head off the entire 3 drops and it turns out, it was fun! Who knew (yes, I know - EVERYONE knew but me!)

We ended up riding it 3 times this trip! And I'm not afraid of it anymore! I am such a weenie... you have no idea yet!

I love the huge gaps in my days at Disney where I can't remember much except random rides or incidents. Here comes one now!

I know I insisted we head back into Fantasyland when the parade started - we hung out just long enough in Liberty Square for Lauren to see Mickey. We did Peter Pan and Snow White very quickly - our big mistake was going into Mickey's PhilharMagic before the parade ended - by the time we were out, the lines were getting long again. When there's a line for It's a Small World, you know it's crowded!

I don't now if we ate anything this day, but I don't think we did because Rhonda and I found out on either the 2nd or 3rd trip on Splash Mountain that Ron hadn't gone to the food court for breakfast... so he basically ate nothing until dinner!

We had booked through AAA, so I had gotten us reservations for AAA's Story Time. It takes place in the back of Exposition Hall. There were cardboard cutouts of different Disney movies to take pictures with and then we sat in this little theater to hear a story. Our reader was the Fairy Godmother. We were afraid Lauren would say something about having seen her already today, but she really seemed to get into the story. After the story, there were autographs and pictures. It was a really nice, quiet time. I think there were about 10 or 15 kids.

Let's see... that was at 5:10. Let's cut to 6:35, because that's dinner at the Crystal Palace! (and I don't know where we were for about an hour!) I had never eaten dinner here, only breakfast. It was really good!

It took a while for our first character to get to us, but Wow! It was worth it! Tigger was first, and no sooner did he finish with Lauren, then the cast member came over with Tigger's "HIP" sign (the front says "HIP" and the back says "HIP") and Piglet carries a sign that says "HOORAY" and they get all the kids in the room to make a parade. So I sent Lauren out there right behind Tigger! They come around the restaurant and she's now 4th in line - but at least I didn't lose her! We learned on this trip that Lauren's sense of direction isn't the best and, if you send her off in a restaurant, she may or may not show up again unless you stand up and wave (more on that at another meal).

She finds her way back and I thought it was just great that a cast member came over and asked who we had seen so far. Piglet had only been 1 table behind Tigger, so we got Piglet right away.

Then nit was a little while before Winnie the Pooh and eventually Eeyore came by - long enough for me to tick off a couple of senior citizens...

I went up (OK, jeez, for the 3rd time) and decided on this trip I wanted prime rib. I approach the chef dude from the left side of the buffet. There's an older man and, I assume, his wife standing to the left of the prime rib station in front of the gravy. There were a couple of other items in front of them, but the gravy I'm sure of. I step around them (they weren't moving at the moment and I knew exactly what I wanted) and hand my plate to chef dude - now I want to be perfectly clear - I was not cutting - they were stationary, no one was to their left or right - and they were busy with something in front of them. At this precise moment, elderly couple takes a step, in tandem, to their right - right where I'm standing.

The man says, "Well, would you look at that! Just cutting in line!" And the wife responds, as the chef dude puts the prime rib on my plate, "Well, she just took your prime rib!"

In my defense, not that I really think I need one, there was a whole freakin' slab of meat there, it's not like I took the last piece of beef in Disney! And, there was no line!!!! I did not cut. IT WAS JUST THE 2 OF YOU STANDING IN FRONT OF THE GRAVY!!!!! Which was my next stop! Back around the elderly to put gravy on HIS, I mean, MY prime rib!

After dinner, we decided to hit Adventureland for the first time today. We went in the Tiki Room, rode the Jungle Cruise, and hit the Magic Carpets while people were lining up for Spectromagic. I think. I don't know where the day went, or what we were doing to make it speed by so quickly. I know Lauren was thrilled with the spitting camels on the Magic Carpets. At some point or another, we were back in Fantasyland and Ariel's Grotto had just closed. I just steered the unhappy 5 year old to the tea cups and into Tomorrowland. Maybe. I know we did all these things, I just don't know the exact order - heck, could be later in the week some of these things occurred! Somehow or another we ended up on the bridge between Liberty Square and the Hub to watch the fireworks. Not the best spot (trees), but not the worst either. I really like being in front of the Castle about halfway between the Castle and Main Street.

We're watching the fireworks, and I'm pacing up and down the bridge. My feet are KILLING me! And walking is far better than just standing! When the fireworks end, I announce to the group that they should just go on ahead, I have to sit for a while - the thought of standing in the bus line to Port Orleans hurts almost as much as my feet. Rhonda says she'll stay with me, so we say goodbye and head over to the hub to sit behind Walt & Mickey. We watch the castle, the people, and the cleaning crews. About 20 minutes later (maybe, I'm not sure, I don't think it was VERY long), I decide I'm ok. We stroll to the bus stop, where, amazingly, there is a bus and NO line, AND we get seats!

Wow! That was a LONG day!

HIGH: Breakfast in the Castle for the first time (once I was UP there), seeing Wishes (even through the trees), AAA's Story Time, conquering Splash Mountain! (I know, I'm such a weenie!)
LOW: my feet (always my stupid feet), MK being more crowded than we were used to, the anxiety of Splash
MILES WALKED TODAY: 6.5 (sure felt like more!)

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