Jaime - May 2006

FRIDAY, MAY 5TH, 2006

Plans: Plans: MK in the morning, ride monorail to EPCOT to see Paul Revere @ 5:45pm
Rhonda & I will stay late. Hopefully we'll be able to see the fireworks from the restaurant!

Breakfast: French Quarter
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House (CS)
Dinner: 9 Dragons @ 8:45pm for Jaime & Rhonda/ Italy @ 6:30pm for Judi, Ron, & Lauren (TS)

Reality: WE DID IT!!! We walk over to POFQ and have breakfast!!! I'm actually a little surprised to see Rhonda only gets 3 beignets instead of 6 - I know she can eat 6, the woman can finish off a Tonga Toast like nobody's business!

Rhonda has been planning this trip since Lauren was born - when Lauren turned 5, she was going to get to go to Disneyworld for the 1st time (that was a little undermined by the fact that we got to use my boss's condo for free when Lauren was 3 in January, 2005, making this trip her 2nd) So, Judi and Ron said this morning, they would sleep in, and Lauren, Rhonda, and I would head off to the Magic Kingdom alone.

So the 3 of us ate at POFQ. From here we take the bus to the Magic Kingdom - we have some unfinished business with a certain mermaid... I read somewhere that Ariel is there from the time the park opens - not true, at least on this day. So, we ride Dumbo!

If you ever want to feel like a big dork - ride Dumbo alone! If you ever want to feel like a nauseous, big dork - ride Dumbo alone and backwards, taking pictures of someone else!

So they finally open Ariel's line, there's a 20 minute wait. Not too bad. And the CUTEST baby I've ever seen was behind us!!! She was 18 months old, her name was Arden, and she spoke so well, I could understand EVERYTHING she said!!!

She introduced Daddy and Mommy to me, told me her name was Arden, and announced that she wanted to meet Snow White. All in perfectly understandable English! It was amazing!

So, we get to the front of the line. Lauren tells Ariel she has a present for her - she knows her song. Ariel tells her to sing it as she signs Lauren's autograph book. Lauren's off and singing!

As Lauren continues to sing, Ariel tells her that was nice, but be careful because Ursula might hear you and steal your voice (Lauren's still singing) and then you won't be able to talk. Nope, not a word. And that won't be fun. (Lauren's still singing) Why don't we take a picture? Lauren stops singing and climbs up on the rock. Meanwhile, Ariel's still babbling on about when she lost her voice Prince Eric didn't know her name and was calling her Rachael.

Lauren gets down and says good-bye Ariel! Ariel's telling her now that she sang good and to keep it up and maybe Lauren could go to rehearsal for her because Ariel never goes and..... we left.

No wonder the line took so long!

We head towards ToonTown next, stopping in the Winnie the Pooh playground because I heard about the carving of the submarine inside the big tree. I go inside the tree (using the grown-up door, not the kid door) and there it is - a little blue submarine!

Now we wander into ToonTown to ride the Barnstormer. I get Lauren to do her high-pitch scream/shriek through the whole ride! We are going to see about the Princess line next, but it turns out it would be 40 minutes, and 1.) my feet said no!, and 2.) we have to meet Ron and Judi in 40 minutes.

We tell Lauren we can't wait in the line and she announces, "I'm mad at you guys!" Fine, but we're still not waiting in this line! Rhonda and I confer anddecide the best course of action is to take the train over to the Main Street station and see if we can find Pluto (someone else Lauren had been looking for all week).

We head over to the train station, and Rhonda says something to me about the "guest conductor". Now, this may have been Rhonda's favorite moment of the trip - because I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE'S TALKING ABOUT. Yes, I'll admit it right now, right here - RHONDA KNEW SOMETHING DISNEY I DID NOT KNOW.

Apparently, if you ask at the train station, you can sit in the special seat in back and get to announce "All Aboard!" over the microphone! Rhonda asked the station attendant and Lauren got a little certificate showing she was the "Guest Conductor"!

When the train pulled up, we went to the back of the train and showed the card to the cast member there. But there was already a little girl sitting in the special seat. (I think she and her mother had been sitting a couple of seats ahead and saw another child say all abourd and just shifted seats without asking if she could be the conductor.) But it didn't matter, they both got to say it (and, in my humble opinion, Lauren did a much better job!)

We got off the Train at Main Street and I know we didn't find Pluto (although some teenage girls told us he was across the way), but we ended up in line for Pinicchio and Geppetto - I don't know why, but that's what Lauren wanted to do...

Now we have to hightail it over to the Columbia Harbour House for lunch or we're going to be late meeting Ron and Judi! Oops, too late. We're late!

This is another favorite place to eat. We always head upstairs, and it's usually pretty quiet up there, but today the word was out! It was not super crowded, but it was noisier than normal.

After lunch, we head over towards Frontierland. I have to tell this stupid story - it will make Rhonda so happy. Years ago, when I got back into Disney after a 7 year break we'll call the Unhappiest Marriage on Earth, I read on a Disney website about "cheese" pieces on top of the Haunted Mansion. For 3 years, I have searched for what I could only imagine would be "swiss" cheese. I have taken pictures with the zoom lens, I have stood there and studied the building from all angles. I have never been able to see the cheese.

A couple weeks before the trip, I'm reading another Disney website - this time CORRECTLY. Yes, you know what's coming.... the Haunted Mansion roof does not contain "pieces of cheese", it contains "Chess pieces"!!! I AM AN IDIOT!

We decide to head over and find some of the Toy Story characters by the Diamond Horseshoe. We find Woody and Jessie outside across the street from the saloon (near the water). There's a small line, so we hop in. We are 3 families from the front when Woody & Jessie need to take a break. The woman in front of us says to her husband, "Every time!" So I say, "Well, thanks then!" and we laugh. They are obviously from NY or NJ by their accents. We are from Chicago, btw.

They had 2 or 3 (they seem to multiply to me at that point) little boys and they were eating popcorn out of a souvenir container. Now, I'm going to try to describe this in the order it happened, so I'm going to name one of their kids - let's call him Taylor.

• Taylor spilled some of the popcorn.
• A man with 2 small boys and a Disney double stroller edges into the area where the characters had been and nonchalantly sits on the railing while the 2 boys play with the stroller where the characters were standing a few minutes before.
• The Chicagoans (us) and the New Yorkers (in front of us) realize this man's intentions and start to make comments. The people at the front of the line must have been from somewhere NOT New York or Chicago, because they just glanced at the rest of us and didn't seem to be willing to be the ones to make a fuss. Not to worry - Chicago or New York will handle it. My vote is for NY - I think this might get good!
• Taylor falls off the railing he was climbing on - spilling more popcorn and ripping a nice hole in his elbow. I feel bad for the kid, but you know how I feel about kids climbing on railings, and jeez!, now the New Yorkers are distracted!!! And the characters will be back soon!
• Judi, being from Chicago, decides to take matters into her own hands, and saunters over to the cutter. She asks if he knows this is where the characters come out. He just nods slightly and smirks at her. She asks if he realizes this is the front of the line. Nod and smirk. Judi turns to the group of people and announces, "He know this is the front of the line." And walks back to the group.
• The characters are coming back across the street. Smirky guy tells his kids, "Come on." And yells at his wife, "We need to get in that line" pointing to the back of the line he was trying to cut in front of, like it was HER fault they weren't already IN line! Jerk.
• As the line starts to move forward, Taylor steps on the popcorn container, spilling the rest and falling down again.
• We leave after seeing the characters, hoping Taylor's parents take him to have either his sight or his balance checked in the near future!

More blurring of the day - although I know at some point we're in Adventureland and we stop so Rhonda can get a pineapple spear and Judi can get a Dole Whip. I'm not in the mood for food right now, so while they sit on a bench and eat, I look at a nearby jewelry kiosk. I find a pair of Stitch earrings for DD15.

Rhonda takes Lauren over to see Rafiki and Timone across the way and I decide I do want something. I go up to the Dole Whip counter and notice the Dining Plan stickers next to almost everything on the menu! What???????? I ask if the root beer float is now considered a snack option and I'm told yes! "Snack Option" changed WHILE WE WERE THERE!!! So that's what I got.

When I caught up to Rhonda, I asked why didn't she tell me those were snack credit option, and she didn't know they were! They paid for their snacks - they never noticed the symbols! I spent the rest of the day looking at menus and seeing snack credit options EVERYWHERE!

I should also point out that Rhonda wanted a "pineapple spear". What they served her was a "wedge of pineapple". NOT the same, harder to eat, very disappointing.

Blur, blur, blur... time to head to EPCOT!

The plan was to leave MK about 5 to get to EPCOT in time to catch Paul Revere and the Raiders at 5:45. Judi, Ron, and Lauren had a diner ADR in Italy at 6:30. It was 6 and we were just getting to EPCOT! Security took FOR-FREAKIN'-EVER! I don't know WHAT the problem was, but they had to run to make their dinner reservation! We had planned on splitting up for the night anyway, this just wasn't how or where that was going to happen!

So, Rhonda and I are on our own in EPCOT. We need a locker. Please tell me WHY the locker rental is not right by the lockers??? OK, done... finally. We get right on Spaceship Earth. Then we head over to the Innoventions walkway to get our wristbands - it's Extra Magic Hours tonight - the park is open until midnight - and it's our last night on vacation!

We head over to Journey into Your Imagination, because Rhonda didn't get to ride that earlier in the week... huh, I remember her saying that, I wonder where she was.... We wandered into one of the Innoventions buildings looking for the House of the Future (we picked the wrong building), but we did find a spot where you get to try a SegWay for about a minute. They were taking the very last group of the day, so we went in. I've done the SegWay tour once, Rhonda's done it twice, but it's so much fun. That was cool, and we discovered something neither of us knew was there!

Next we wandered around the sculptures in Future World that were out for the Flower and Garden Festival, then headed out to catch the 8:15 performance of Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Now, a couple of NOTES:

At a family bar-b-q yesterday (May 28th, 2006), Ron tells us he DID have something to eat Monday at the Magic Kingdom - when the rest of us were on a ride, he got a strawberry smoothie. So, he did NOT go all day without eating anything. But, for the life of us, the 4 of us could not figure out when, or where, this occurred. So, I ask you: If a man says he drank a strawberry smoothie in the Magic Kingdom, but no one recalls seeing him do so, and he can not tell you when or where he got said smoothie; did he truly have one?

OK, there was just 1 note...

Where was I? Oh, yeah! Judi, Ron, and Lauren are at dinner in Italy (and I was informed they didn't have to run). They also told me that there was a very long line outside the restaurant and they thought it was strange, so Ron went around the line and found the actual entrance to the restaurant, which is where they were supposed to go. Anybody have a clue what the OUTSIDE line was for? We thought maybe walk-ins?

They were seated in the back by the kitchen (as were we in 09/2005 for the Ladies' Trip!) and Judi didn't find the waiters as lovely as I normally do... (aaahhh.... Diego... I miss you so...)

Lauren had a blast waving her napkin around in the air! They all liked the food.

Meanwhile, back in Future World... Rhonda and I feel like kids in the candy shop - 2 Disney Freaks alone in EPCOT! Except, by this point, we're headed towards the World Showcase!

We head through Canada and the UK (whoa!!! LOOK at the line for Fish 'n Chips! It had to be 30 families long!) and, on the bridge before France, we run into Judi & crew coming back from dinner. We stop and chat for a couple minutes (yes, in the MIDDLE of the bridge - isn't that the RULE in Disney?) and we're all kind of shocked about how crowded it is! Hmmm.... Friday night, Flower and Garden Festival, Concert, Extra Magic Hours......

Rhonda whispers to Ron to try and stop to ride Spaceship Earth on the way out - Lauren wanted to earlier in the trip and it just never happened. BTW, they don't stop. They get a bus, pack up, and go right to bed. To be fair, Judi and Lauren DID have to catch a 7:30 Magical Express tomorrow morning.

Rhonda and I, however, head over to America to get seats ear the back we can sneak out of quickly. Dinner is at 8:45, we can't stay for the whole show.

FLASHBACK: A couple months back, as we're planning this trip, I find out who's playing the F&G concerts for the week we are there. I call Rhonda at work and read them to her. Now, I grew up in the 80s - Duran Duran and Rick Springfield ruled my day. She gets very excited about Paul Revere and the Raiders and I decide right then that we're going to see them. (The funniest part was that my head was thinking Herman's Hermits for weeks! I had no idea who these guys were!)

So that's why we hopped from MK to EPCOT. And I am really not looking forward to this, except as a time to sit and be off my feet. Let me officially say right now: I EAT MY WORDS. Paul Revere and the Raiders were WONDERFUL!!! They were hysterically funny, the music was good (although it took 4 songs before I heard one I knew - "Kicks", btw), and we were both very sorry we had to leave for dinner. They mentioned they have a theater they perform in, sounded pretty regularly, in Branson - it'd be worth a weekend trip to see them. (But do it quick - the guy's like 70 or something!)

So, sadly we leave them, but perk up 'cuz we're goin' to China! A lot of people trash this restaurant - sorry, but we love it! It's an "almost-every-trip" place.

Despite a good 20 people hanging around (must-a been walk-ins!), we're seated immediately. Our waiter's name was Lei - and I only remember this because he's the first server we've had in 9 Dragons who spoke English. Ever. He was wonderful!

Appetizers: Rhonda went with pickled cucumbers (which I can't find on the Allearnet menu) - you know what pickled cucumbers taste like? Yup, PICKLES! I went with something new and exciting sounding: Salad in a Vase - Enjoy a bouquet of Daikon radish, carrots, asparagus, celery, romaine lettuce and fried noodle ribbons served with our deliciously spicy Guai Wei ("strange flavor") dressing $5.99

It was pretty cool.

For our main courses, Rhonda got what she always gets: Honey Sesame Chicken - Batter-fried chicken breast served with tangy honey and sesame sauce $17.99 Tasty, but boring.

I went with something new and exciting and expensive: Sichuan Sea Treasures in Red Rice Sauce - Sichuan style seafood casserole with lobster tail, scallops and shrimp sautéed with Cantonese choy sum, Chinese mushrooms, Buddha's Hand squash in spicy red rice spice and XO sauce $29.99

Very tasty! Lei informed us that the dessert they were serving today was cheesecake. OK! Again with the tasty!

At some point while we were eating, the world outside EXPLODED! I never realized how CLOSE Illuminations seems if you're in China! It looked like it was happening right outside the window! (We were about halfway back through the restaurant) I've read a ton of reports about how crowded EMH is at EPCOT. Well, not the way we did it! With every intention of getting on some rides, Rhonda and I proceed to spend 2 ½ hours wandering through a mostly deserted World Showcase! It was wonderful!

We looked at shops; we talked to cast members. We had a great time. We were both very full, so we just strolled. I loved the way the countries looked all lit up at night.

In Germany, we are standing by the tiny village and the trains are running all over the place. We end up in a conversation with a couple about the Hidden Mickeys. We're trying to tell them about the hidden Mickeys at the church in the tiny village. I'm snapping shots, in the dark, with my digital camera - so I can show them the Hidden Mickeys in the monitor. Except, the hidden Mickeys are gone! I think it's a different church - Rhonda thinks it's the same church. I take about 12 shots to compare with the pictures from September. And we drive these poor people away.

Right after they leave, Rhonda spots a hidden Mickey bush in the village!

For the record - it's the same church - they repainted it, covering the Hidden Mickeys! We wander through the Japanese ponds and someone walks past me and says, "Man, those is some big fish!" O-kaaayyyy.....

As we walk, I'm oohing and aahing over all the open food stands. Just goofing around, because we are stuffed. As we get back around to the bridge between France and the UK, it's been 2 hours since we've eaten, and there's NO LINE at the fish 'n chips stand! I say, let's split a counter service meal! Rhonda says, "You're kidding, right? We just had a huge meal 2 hours ago!"

Now, it was almost midnight, my feet hurt so bad I couldn't even feel them anymore, I was in the happiest place I could ever imagine being, and I lost my mind! I doubled over laughing so hard - I could barely say the words, "But it was Chinese, I was hungry an hour later!"

FLASHBACK EXPLAINATION: I have allergies. I love dogs. I am allergic to dogs. So I get 2 dogs that total about 130# of dog. I sleep with them for years. I take Zyrtec for years. I use an inhaler for my allergy-induced asthma symptoms for years. At one point a few years ago, I end up with pneumonia and could barely breathe. I must lay in bed for days. I love sit-coms. I can't laugh out loud at the sit-coms, because it causes me to cough and cough and cough. I develop what is (I hope) affectionately called, "Mom's TV Laugh". The children will ask me to do it at parties. The TV Laugh consists of a (VERY) loud HA! The funnier I think something is, the louder the HA! (Not that it's ever a quiet HA! in the first place)

I get divorced and lose the dogs and have to move to a dog free apartment. I no longer need Zyrtec or the inhaler. Life is good (but I miss the dogs). But the TV Laugh stays. Not all the time, I can laugh like a human being on occasion. But sometimes it slips...

Like now... on the bridge between France and the UK. I "TV Laugh". This one's REALLY LOUD! 30 people turn and look at me. I'm not kidding. It was funnier than the line about Chinese food to me. I don't know how I stayed on my feet or not peed my pants!

Rhonda's laughing but says, "OK, you're done. Let's get you outta here!"

We wander through Mouse Gears, spending a bit first, then over to the bus stop. The line's kinda long. We finally get to the front of the line, but we'll have to stand on the bus. I'm sorry, no WAY that's happening. We let a few families past, saying we'll wait for the next one.

Yeah, seats! We go back to the hotel, pack up what we can and maybe we loaded it into the van...

HIGH: Paul Revere and the Raiders (who'da thunk it???); cracking myself up on the bridge; Salad in a Vase; Arden, the Wonder Baby; ok, forget this - the whole day was wonderful!
LOW: my feet (always my stupid feet), the cheese/chess confusion, Smirky Cutter-man
MILES WALKED TODAY: 10.5 (Holy Toledo, Batman!)

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