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Alexis
age 4 goes to Disney with Papa &
Grandma
Day 0, 4/2/02 A couple of years ago, a woman in the Haunted Mansion line was saying that she brings each of her grandchildren just before they enter kindergarten. Laurie and I looked at each other, thinking of our six pre-school grandchildren (and our kids are still young), and a grand plan was formed ;-) Last April we brought our oldest, and this year it was Serena's turn. The only problem is that she has NO intention of going to Disney World! You never know quite what goes through a child's head, but one of her main objections is that she doesn't want to have to chew gum all day. The only thing we can think of is that we had her sister chew gum on the airplane. In the meantime Alexis (who just turned four) has been talking about it for over a year, waiting patiently for her turn, so we decided to flip-flop the schedule and take Lexi this year instead. This is the second time we've gone the week after Easter, and I wasn't looking forward to the crowds the first few days, but the timing fit with Laurie's school schedule. Half dollar size snowflakes were falling when we left home for the two hour ride to the airport. It always adds something to a Disney trip when the weather stinks at home <g>. We went through quite a bit of "are we almost there" on the way, and at one point she said she bet Mickey was probably saying "I wonder where Lexi is?" When we actually got to the airport and saw a plane coming in, she screamed and we thought she might pass out from the excitement. We let her burn off a little energy in the play room at the airport until it was time to go to the boarding area. Her last act before she had to leave was to get on the play phone and say "I have to go to Disney, I'll talk to you later", and we were off. Lexi's mom has really trained her well that fear is a normal thing, and it's just something you work with. She had to hold Grandma's arm while the plane was taking off, but it turns out the only thing that was worrying her was the plane going really fast on the ground. As soon as we were in the air she said "you can let go now" and started talking about all the little cars and the rivers and such. Both flights were a breeze and her first comment on Florida was that the area outside the airport looked like a jungle, must have been the palm trees. We had the bonus of watching the Illuminations fireworks during the Mears ride. Got checked in to the All Star Music for our one night there before spending the rest of our stay at All Star Sports. We're way back on Broadway, more of a walk than I felt like tonight. (Note to self - next time you get off the bus and the friendly cast members out front say "Can we help you with your luggage?", don't be a dufus, it doesn't matter if everything has wheels, just say yes.) Just time for one trip to the food court for our morning milk and nighttime snack before we go to bed. What, no carrot cake???? Was very tempted to walk over to Movies and see if they had some there, but my feet said no. Lexi's still pretty wired, not sure how well she'll get up in the morning for Animal Kingdom, time will tell. Day 1, 4/3/02 If we had to pick just one thing to get on videotape from this trip, it would have been 15 seconds at 6:50 this morning, long before the video was out of the case. Laurie and I were awake from the alarm a few minutes earlier, so when the phone rang at 6:50 we told Lexi she should get it. Her eyes opened wide, and I could hear Mickey telling her "up and at'em". Her jaw started to drop and she started to shake, and was almost in tears when she handed me the phone. I asked her who it was, and she sobbed "It was Mickey calling me, Mickey called me!!!" Maybe she was right all along, maybe Mickey did know she was coming. We left the room at 7:56, a little later than we wanted, but it was a pretty stressful and late day yesterday. Lexi gave her mom a call while I arranged for our bags to be shipped over to All Star Sports for the rest of our stay. It's extremely crowded at Animal Kingdom this morning. Last year, Elysia wanted to take 20 minutes to look at every animal we came across, but Lexi gives the anteater about 2 minutes and then says "okay, let's go." We think she's definitely on a mission, seeing Mickey is about all she's talked about for months. At 8:46 there's only a half hour wait for the Safari in spite of the crowd, so we decide to do that first. Alexis loved most of the ride, we had giraffes about 3 feet from our vehicle, and seeing a rhino poop was pretty impressive for a four year old as well. But her immediate verdict was that she didn't like it, the racing jeep and the plane and gunfire at the end made her very nervous. The Flights of Wonder was much better in her book, and a lot of that is because her uncle has an African Gray just like the one in the show. After the show, we make our way into Dinoland, where Lexi isn't sure she wants to take a Triceratops Spin, and knows for certain that she doesn't want to take a Primeval Whirl (she's about 6" short for that one anyway.) We finally talk her into the line for the Spin and let her know that if she doesn't want to ride when we get there she doesn't have to. She understands that she will be in the back and have control of the up and down, so she decides to give it a try. Control is the key word here. She's riding with Grandma and has a death grip on the joystick and we're riding right at the bottom all the way around. She wanted to go back and do it again at the end of the day, so it must have felt pretty good to her to conquer that fear. At 11:30 we got our lunch at the Flame Tree, not a very kid-friendly menu but Laurie and I liked it. Our first character encounter happened right after lunch at the old Boat to Nowhere dock, where we met Tigger. Lexi had asked Grandma to walk up to the characters with her because she "might be just a little afraid", but as soon as she was there and the autograph book was signed, she dove right into Tigger's side with her arms around him for the picture. (That was pretty much the scenario with every other character we saw that day.) She wanted to stay and watch Tigger meet some other people, so I took the opportunity to go back out and have a smoke. About the time I got back to the street, a bolt of lightning hit somewhere within a few hundred yards of us. Back down on the dock, Lexi took a few seconds looking around to see what everyone's reaction was. It might have been okay, but when three babies started screaming she let loose also. The characters don't stay out in a thunderstorm, even under shelter, and on Tigger's way out he got down on his knee and gave Lexi a hug and patted her on the head and calmed her down. I think he may be her new favorite. At 12:30 the Primeval Whirl shows a 70 minute standby wait and fast pass return times at 2:35. Neither matters, as it's shut down for the duration of the thunderstorm. Animal Kingdom is much more "show time" driven than the other parks, especially if you're in a group that's going to intentionally miss Dinosaur and the Bug and save Kali River til the end of the day. Still, it always seems like we're about 30 miles from the show we want to see and wondering if we'll have time to get there for the next showing. We decided we might as well head over to the Lion King, and on the way Lexi's concerned about Tigger, "when it's sunny again he'll be okay?" At 12:40, Lex is out cold in the stroller so we decide to find a nice quiet room in the back of Pizza Fari for her to catch a bit of a nap. I'm glad we stopped there, because a half dozen 16 year olds were standing out front and two decided to go back into the men's room and get a picture of the hand dryer. Within a couple minutes, three more of them had gone in to check it out, and they all came out telling me I had to check it out, it was the coolest thing in the whole park, and there was NO LINE ;-) I'm game, and I' ll tell you why this unit was special. This dryer is made by the same company that makes the blowers they use at the Winston Cup tracks to clean water and debris from the pavement. In fact this is the very same model. I'm surprised there haven't been more cases of guys leaving the room with skin partially stripped from their arms, it's that strong. Or maybe the women are right, and most men simply don't wash ;-) The Lion King is a very long show when you're standing up, but still very entertaining. (The tumbling monkeys are still my favorite.) But then they loaded and ran the entire next show while we were in line for pictures and autographs with Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, and Goofy, which somehow didn't seem like nearly as long. She was as excited to get Mickey's autograph and picture as we expected, although the convulsions of this morning seemed to have subsided ;-). We asked her which character she wanted to get an autograph from next. Her response was simple, "who's next in line?" I can tell it's going to be a long day when we get to MK. It was still early enough at this point that we figured we could go cash in our fast passes for the Primeval Whirl and still have time to get back for the parade. (Even had time to see Pooh and Eeyore on the way.) We did the child swap on the Whirl, I rode first while Laurie and Alexis waited with another mom and son in an "on deck" pen. While there, a cast member gave Alexis a certificate that gives her (and her party) a head-of-the-line pass she can use when she's tall enough. She immediately handed that over to Grandma (who could see her thinking "I'm never going on this thing in my life, you take it.") Four thumbs up on the Whirl though, and after seeing the Animal Kingdom parade for the first time, I like it much better than the Tapestry of Nations. We made our way out of the park at 4:30, easily breaking our personal records for longest day spent in Animal Kingdom. Managed to see Baloo and King Louie on the way out, just as a bonus. We made it back to check in at All Star Sports at 5:12, after a very enjoyable day. As we're in line, Laurie said to Lexi "Thank you for coming to Disney with us." The response? "We're not leaving now!?!" She wants to swim, but it's actually fairly chilly out and our feet are killing us, so it will be an early night for these kids, have to get ready for MGM Studios tomorrow. Day 2 (MGM/MK 4/4/02) Lexi enjoyed her call from Mickey again this morning, although it certainly didn't have the same shock effect it had yesterday. MGM Studios seemed very crowded out front when we arrived, but it didn't seem that crowded once we got into the back of the park. (That's not to say that Tower of Terror and Rock'n Rollercoaster weren't jammed, we never made it down that street at all.) The park was fully open at 8:55, I haven't yet been able to distinguish a pattern to the gate opening and rope drop times. Playhouse Disney and Little Mermaid don't start until 10, so we got Fastpasses for Mermaid and headed over to the Muppets. The Muppet fountain didn't seem to do much for Lex, at which point we realized that her TV is probably preset to the Disney Channel and doesn't even get PBS ;-) Laurie and I noticed right away that the pretend wall between the exit and entrance to Muppet Labs is gone. That got us flashing back to our honeymoon trip, when we stood for over an hour on a hot August day in a line all the way down the side of the building and back. We had no clue back then how to avoid lines, but when we think about it, it didn't much matter under the circumstances. Our plan was to show Alexis the Muppet Movie first, then let her reaction determine if Honey I Shrunk the Audience or It's Tough to Be a Bug are in the cards. She's not really sure if she likes it or not, but she figured out very quickly that she could make anything go away by raising her glasses. It was very cute watching her trying to catch Waldo when he came up in front of her, judging from the hand movement I think she was trying to squeeze his nose. She did enjoy the bubbles though, and seemed to like Miss Piggy's "little" song. She also spotted the fireworks on ceiling, and was a little concerned about all the holes in the wall from the cannon blast. I had never noticed the fireworks on the ceiling before (Laurie had), and Laurie had never noticed the holes before (I had). Perhaps Laurie and I should talk more <g>. We made it back to Mermaid Square at 9:54 and got in line for Playhouse Disney. After about four minutes we realized there were probably three shows worth of people outside the sound stage, so we decided to bag it and see the Great Movie Ride. There was no line, I'm not sure if that's because the show is a bit long in the tooth or people just can't find it behind the BAH (which Lexi likes, by the way ;-). <<<note here for clarification, since you're not familiar with our newsgroup -- for the 100 years of Disney celebration, they've constructed a 60 foot tall Mickey hat right in front of the Great Movie Ride that completely obstructs what was the centerpiece of the Studios. It's pretty much uniformly reviled by those in the newsgroup, who have taken to calling it the BAH (Big A** Hat)>>> I don't think she recognized anything in the ride except Mary Poppins. She climbed on Laurie's lap when the gangster came out, but by the time we got to the Alien, she was telling me not to worry, they're all just pretend people. She's probably never seen the Wizard of Oz, so we thought it was cute when we got to the scene of Dorothy and pals gazing on the Emerald City and she told us "She's got shoes just like mine!" It was 10:36 when we exited the Great Movie Ride and our Fastpass window for the Mermaid was from 10:30 to 10:40, so I'm glad they finally made that shortcut for us. As we took our seats, Lexi's main question was "is Ariel going to come off the stage?" She later asked about Sebastian coming into the audience too, it's clear she doesn't want any surprises. We all enjoyed the show as expected. At 11:08 when we came out, the Mermaid standby line said an hour, and there were still more than two shows worth of people in front of Playhouse Disney. Sounds like time for lunch to me, and Lexi wants to find those silver trailers where the characters hang out. We were going to grab a bite at the counter back by the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, but didn't like the menu (what menu). We actually got to be line leaders here, I parked Lexi up on the statue of Flik for a picture and by the time we were done and walking out, half a dozen other families were lined up for theirs. I felt like quite the trailblazer ;-) At 11:25 there was a 50 minute wait at Star Tours, but the Fastpasses were only for 12:00. (For you gamblers out there, that's like paying "more to show" ;-). After lunch at the Backlot Express, Alexis spots a statue in the courtyard and wants her picture taken with it. She's seen the video of her older cousin's trip, in which the moving statue removed a teenage boy's t-shirt, and although she never mentioned it we think she decided this would be a much safer statue picture. We were a half hour from the next show of Beauty and the Beast, but she has her heart set on seeing Buzz and Woody. This was another first for Laurie and me, an hour in line for autographs. The things people do for their kids, amazing. We did have a bit of distraction though, when the green army men came out across the plaza for some close order drills. That was a cute show. (You may not have known that the green army men's names are Sarge, Private Dancer, Private Office, and Private Joke.) We also got to meet 10 year old Darryl, who a cast member coaxed into entertaining the crowd with his "special talent" of folding his ears inside themselves. Pretty cool. His mother happened to be standing right behind us, telling us "I'm so proud." She also told us that he had attempted to perform that trick for show and tell in kindergarten, and when it didn't work he told the teacher that it was because his ears weren't dirty enough. By 1:20 we're headed out of the park for our nap. Shared the bus back with a British family, both the kids were wearing "I Survived Tower of Terror" pins, but they were both too scared to ride Rock'n Rollercoaster. Wimps. I didn't envy them, they were headed home the next morning (which is bad enough in itself), but they had a 9 hour flight ahead of them. Alexis has been pretty good about sleeping by herself in a strange bed, but I think she was dropping a big hint when she told Laurie that "if papa snores, you can get in bed with me if you want." She called her mom before our nap, and talked quite a bit about Goofy "moving around". He was picking on the kids, with his characteristic big gestures, pretending he was going to throw their autograph books into the bushes and such. She really doesn't like surprises, I'm not kidding. It dawned on us at some point that she had Grandma hold her hand as she approached the characters, but when it came to Goofy and Woody and the other big'ns she wanted me to go with her. (I didn't tell her that Laurie could whip my butt if it came right down to it, I think it's just an elevation thing ;-) Laurie couldn't wait another day, so at 6:40 we hit the Magic Kingdom. It's still Easter crowded, it looks like there are still as many people coming in as leaving. We're taking the train to Toon Town, which Lexi really enjoyed. (She's starting to figure out which characters can talk and which ones can' t, she informed us during this ride that "the itchy ones don't talk.") At 7:00 the courtyard is full at Splash Mountain and Toon Town is packed. We spent a fair amount of time checking out Mickey and Minnie's houses, she thought it was really neat that "they live on the same street". All in all, we spent over an hour in the two houses and getting everyone's gifts, might as well take care of that while everything is crowded, the park will be much more manageable in a couple days. We had dinner at one of our favorite Magic Kingdom quick food spots, the windows in Pinnochio Haus that overlook Small World. Quite a bit of discussion at the table behind us about the wheel chair accessible boats we see, and the 6 year old there is wondering "if you're blind, can you go on the handicapped boat?" Lexi had some questions of her own as we walked through the castle to get to our fireworks viewing spot. "Doesn't it bother Cinderella with all these people walking through her house?" She really liked Tinkerbell's flight, but was concerned that Cinderella would be scared with all those fireworks going off "right outside the castle". At 9:15 we took our first ride on Small World, only the second actual "ride" of the day but it seems like the day has been very full. Lexi's head was in deep pivot mode throughout the ride, and when we got to the polynesian dancers the shoulders started bouncing as well. At 9:30 there was a 75 minute wait for Snow White, so we went down to the Haunted Mansion. That started getting a little hairy in the line when she heard a wolf. Screams in the entrance chamber were worse than usual, we managed to get in a group with quite a few teenage girls. (That's not a sexist remark, you know who you are ;-) The rest of the ride went okay, except whenever the teenagers screamed. She did let me know the hitchhiker was just a pretend guy in a mirror, so I wouldn't be scared. She's not one to talk to strangers much, but when we sat down in Liberty Square to wait for the parade she started telling two women next to us how much she didn't like Haunted Mansion. She loved the parade though, very excited when Ariel appeared, and I thought she'd wet herself when she saw the seven dwarfs. Never know what will excite her, she had never mentioned the dwarfs before. We finished the night off with a trip on Pirates of the Carribean. She didn't really like the dark part at the beginning, and in the midst of the gun battle she kept telling her grandma to "DUCK". At the end she decided it was fun, even the "little fall". Very long day, good thing we 're kicking back tomorrow at Blizzard Beach. Day 3 (Blizzard Beach 4/5/02) Today was supposed to be an "off" day, but we just can't help ourselves, we managed to fill it as much as most of the others. We had planned on sleeping in, so we didn't set the alarm or leave a wake up call. At some point during the day, Alexis wondered why Mickey hadn't called her this morning, after all, "he knows my phone number!" Pulled into Disney's Blizzard Beach water park at 10:30, thinking it had opened at 10, but it had been open since 9. It seemed packed, but then the big 120 foot drop wasn't on our to-do list any way. (You know, the ride our grown son refers to as the "world's biggest wedgie".) We thought the family raft ride would be pretty cool, but Lexi didn't like the sound of that so we headed immediately to Tyke's Peak, the kiddie section of the park. We were lucky to score a couple chairs with some shade, and set off for the water. The one longish slide we came to first looked good from the bottom, but seemed a bit too imposing for her at the top. She got to the edge twice, but couldn't quite do it. I talked her into the little six foot slides above that, and I think being able to see the bottom made those okay. We spent most of an hour up there before grandma and grandpa decided it was high time for a lazy river ride. On the way down the path from the little slides though, you walk along side a tube slide that Lexi (surprisingly) thought looked pretty neat. After we got to the bottom and she watched a few kids come down, she said she wanted to do that one. When we told her she had to carry the tube up to the top, she immediately grabbed one and off she went. We finally had to pull the plug (so to speak) on her after she made several trips, as poor papa was beginning to bake. The water was a little deep for Lex in the lazy river, so we weren't sure if she'd like it. Having the tube with the closed bottom made it fine though. It was a little tough on me when we came to the waterfalls, because at that time I was pushing or pulling Lexi's tube and she would change her mind about six times as to whether she wanted to go under the water or not. A bit hard to steer in a crowded ditch with your feet up ;-) Lots of giggles all around. One trip around the lazy river and it was time for lunch. Lexi decided the chair lift looked pretty awesome, until I told her you had to do the family raft ride to get back down. She decided to pass. After lunch, we let her decide whether we'd stay there or go back to the hotel or go to a park. Wasn 't long after that we were on a bus to the Magic Kingdom. We got there at 2:50, just in time for the afternoon parade. On the way in we heard someone say "today it's nice, yesterday it was too crowded", that's a good sign. Turned out to be bogus though, we thought it was just as crowded today. We watched the parade from the porch of Tony's Restaurant, a very nice view of a very nice parade. We shared the porch with a couple from New Jersey who were killing an hour while waiting for check in at the Polynesian. Can't think of a neater way to wait for your room. They were one of several families we encountered on the trip that were taking advantage of military discounts. When the parade was over, Laurie asked Lexi if she wanted to wait in a long line for the Carousel. She said sure and practically started walking up Main Street without us. Laurie was very impressed with the cast member who was working the Carousel by himself (didn't catch his name), he was working his butt off and doing an awesome job. Everything in Fantasyland was packed, so we headed off to Tomorrowland figuring we'd catch the attractions that don't have long waits even during the busiest times. On our way we noticed that (at 4:00) Pooh had a 90 minute wait and a Fastpass return of 8:10, so we picked up three Fastpasses and figured we'd end the night there. Alexis liked the look of "that blue ride with the polka dot roof", so we made one tour on the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority. She really liked that (except for the dark parts). Laurie and I were both excited that the Carousel of Progress was open, so we settled into the theater for a now-rare treat. Unfortunately, somewhere in the early 1900's Lexi had to go to the potty. She held it well into the 1920's, when Laurie finally had to take her out. The theater was full, and the session after we left was full as well, we're sure going to miss it in December. At 5:15, the standby line for Space Mountain was showing 110 minutes, and it overlapped the Astro Orbiter line by 10 or 15 people. There's a 75 minute standby at Buzz Lightyear with FP return of 9:40, so it doesn't look like that's in the cards today. Laurie was prepared to stand with me for Timekeeper, even though she hates it (she's so sweet), but I talked her into standing in a popcorn line with Lexi instead. As it turned out, both our "attractions" took the same amount of time. On our way over to Adventureland, we caught Cinderella's Surprise Celebration in front of the castle, followed by autographs with Tweedle Dee/Dum. Lexi seemed to like the Tiki Room, at least everything except the thunderstorm. It was getting a little chilly as we made our way to Frontierland at 6:30, but hey, I didn't come to Florida to wear no sweatshirt. The Country Bears were a major hit, and I think Lexi now shares my fondness for Big Al. Pecos Bill's was as full as I've seen it in a long time, I think we had to go into the third room to find a table. It was 7:30 by the time we finished supper and we didn't feel like waiting another 40 minutes for our Pooh Fastpasses to kick in, so we gave them to a trio of Brits at the table next to us. We thought we were going to get trapped by the parade crowd on the way out, there was a logjam inside Casey's Corner that we couldn't get through. Within just a couple minutes though, cast member Aaron stepped to the forefront and got people moving in both directions. Amazing what a little "order" can accomplish. All in all, we did pretty well for a "day off" ;-) Day 4 (Epcot 4/6/02) As I took my morning stroll around the All Star Sports Tennis building on Saturday, the last of the buses were lined up to take the groups of kids home. I hadn't noticed on earlier trips a building at the back of the parking lot between All Star Sports and Movies, "Celebration Hall". It looked kind of like a bus depot, which is pretty much what it is. A cast member had told me that's where they do mass check in for groups staying at Music or Sports. When we got here on Tuesday (two days after Easter) we had counted 16 buses lined up around the back of the parking lot, now we're down to a couple and they're headed out. Mickey didn't call Lexi until a little after 8 this morning, since we're going to Epcot which doesn't open until 10 today. (Boy that Mickey's smart, he must know just what our plans are.) We hadn't been on the monorail yet, so we took a bus to Magic Kingdom and then took the two monorails to Epcot. That left us getting to the park just after 10, and I could hear Laurie grinding her teeth. This relaxed pace is hard on her ;-) It looked like they must have opened the park at 9:30, and there was already a 60 minute wait for Test Track, with a Fast Pass return time of 12:10. The park doesn't look all that crowded, I just think everyone goes to Test Track first thing, with most getting Fast Passes whether they ride then or not. We definitely need something in this park to balance that load out for the "thrill-seekers". My short list includes adding a couple drops to the Mexican boat ride (maybe a cliff dive or something), replacing the animatronic buffalo in The Land with live ones, 45 minute Off Kilter sets, and free water mice departing the cellar of the Rose and Crown. We called from the Wonders of Life pavilion for lunch seating, but there wasn't any need, the park really is pretty empty. Our first attraction is Cranium Command, still my favorite. Maybe it's because I have no trouble believing Buzzy is piloting me sometimes. That was really the only thing we did there, because Making of Me would be a little over Lexi's head, Body Wars would be well past her fear threshold, and there was nary an Anacomical Player in sight. The line at Living With the Land was way too long, but we know it will be gone later so we go downstairs to Food Rocks. I still love the little food factoids on the wall there, and get to listen to the BEST music in the parks for a few minutes. Not long after we got downstairs it was time for Lexi's bathroom break (which is of course upstairs). The girls got back about 30 seconds after the theater doors had closed, so we decided to head for lunch instead of waiting for the next show. We always seem to eat too much at Le Cellier, you would think we'd eventually learn that the cheese soup and bread sticks are enough (at least when followed by dessert in France or Norway ;-). At some point during lunch Alexis pointed over to the fourth chair at our table and said "Wouldn't it be nice if Mommy could come and sit in that chair right there." I think she' s talked on the phone to her every day, but it's not the same. We knew it wasn't just an idle thought as we were checking out the gardens after lunch. Lexi spent quite a few minutes watching a solitary black bird with a red face wandering among the flowers, and told us "maybe he's missing his mommy, I bet that's why he's lonely". Okay, let's move on. We're still a little disgusted with the Fast Pass process at Test Track. They still run the Fast Pass line all the way around the exhibits, which has seemed backwards to us ever since they re-routed everything when they brought the singles line indoors. The sign outside had said 110 minutes for standby. That didn't seem likely given that the line was almost inside the door, so Laurie eyeballed some folks in the standby line when we got into our line to see if we beat them on. We didn't, and it took us 25 minutes. The process could clearly use some work. While we were in the queue, Lexi wanted to know "where are all the men to these tools?." Might not have been as confusing to her (or us) if even one of the test props had been in operation, but none were. Her first comment after the ride was "That was fun." Our response was "You want to go on it again?" Instant answer -- "NO". She really didn't like the fact that the train had almost hit us. Nearly crashing into the door at the barrier test didn't seem to bother her, but then I'm not sure how her mom drives ;-) She had sounded kind of interested in going inside the "big ball", although it was clear she had some apprehension about just exactly what Spaceship Earth involved. The dark hill climb had her glued to Laurie's side, but our promise that there were only two short dark parts and one had really cool lights that Uncle Chad had liked seemed to get her through. I guess she gave it a limited thumbs up, declaring as we exited "That wasn't too bad". I think that was the same kind of ringing endorsement Laurie had given on a previous trip after I talked her into our one and only visit to the movie in China. Time to head back to the hotel for a nap at about 2, we didn't really have one yesterday and needed it. We managed to utilize a talking fountain on our way out, and for the rest of the trip she had to put her ear to every fountain we came to, must have looked strange to someone who's never experienced one. We started back to Epcot at about 5:30, and had to wait for what seemed like way too long for a bus. The AS Epcot buses also service Blizzard Beach, and we had two of them pull up that were running BB only, as it was closing. I realize the bus system was in transition today between very high volume days and low volume days, and it seems maybe it's a tough transition. We stopped at Innoventions to send out some electronic postcards, and it seems Laurie has found yet another way to save time. When we send the first card and it asks if we want a copy sent to us, she says yes and puts somebody else from her list in the "copy to" address box. Good idea, when you carry a long list ;-) At 6:30 Epcot isn't December lonely, but it's very uncrowded. We knew it was a bit chilly but didn't realize just how much until we walked past a couple kids playing in the sidewalk fountains on the way to World Showcase. Lexi told us she'd run through them too "when it's summer". Alexis notices that the firepots around the lagoon are ablaze, and it reminded us of our trip last year with Elysia. She spent a fair amount of time at Disney World trying to sort out what was real and what wasn't, and when she first saw those firepots she wanted to know "is that real fire?" We told her it was, and that satisfied her for a moment, but it was clear more information was needed when she asked "is it supposed to be there?" We spent a few minutes hanging around France waiting for the moving statue. Lexi had seen the statue taking someone's shirt off in Elysia's vacation video, so she made sure she didn't get too close. We all enjoyed the show, as we usually do. Afterwards, as we approached the American Gardens Theater from Japan, Lexi looked quite concerned and wanted to know "what happened to that building?" It took us a few minutes to see it, but there's a wall of columns behind the seating area of the theater. When you look at it from the side, it looks like those columns are one wall and the stage structure is another wall and the rest of the building is missing. Once again, a little confirmation is needed that what we're seeing is what's actually there. Our plan was to watch Illuminations that night, but at 7:30 Laurie started having a vision migraine and it was pretty cold, so we decided to head out. Couldn't do that though without spending some time with the trains in Germany. Only had one train running, but that was enough to have Lexi glued for several minutes. (What is it about trains, every kid I've ever been around is fascinated by them.) We figured we'd take the Mexican boat ride, as long as we were on our way by. Lexi liked it so much we took two trips back to back. She reminded me of Laurie, by the time we got through she had about four "favorite" parts. The second time through, she pointed out to us every pinata in both the "Small World" and "street vendor" sections. On the way out she spotted a huge rack of suckers that looked very enticing. That's the third time so far we've saved either $4 or a ration of grief at a candy rack by having baggies with a couple dozen skittles in her fanny pack. As we came into view of Spaceship Earth, Lexi announced "There's the Magic Ball!" Laurie said rather casually "that's the Epcot Ball." After about 15 seconds riding along in the stroller Lexi calmly but firmly said "I call it the Magic Ball." Well, it's settled then ;-) Even with the nap this afternoon, Lexi's a little tired as we get to the bus. The driver tells her she has to give him a high five or he won't let her get on the bus. Easy choice for her, she's prepared to wait for the next bus. Laurie isn't, so she "sneaks" Lexi on the bus and we head home for the night, looking forward to a morning at MK with no crowd to deal with. Day 5 (MK 4/7/02) Finally, the day Alexis has been waiting for (even though she doesn't know it). A prime time Sunday morning in the Magic Kingdom with no crowds, and all of Fantasyland to ourselves. The crowd should be even smaller because of the time change last night, a number of poor souls are bound to get up an hour later than they thought they were going to. At 8:10 the sun is very low in the sky and it's quite chilly. The Character Caravan is in the All Star Sports lobby, so we either sneak Lexi around the outside of the building or chew up half an hour or more here. We're not sure how we manage to once again get in the one park entrance line where the ticket machine isn't working. We finally make our way inside and down Main Street to wait under the castle for the rope drop. That happens just before we get there, so we proceed directly to Dumbo. Lexi still isn't willing to ride any elephant way up in the sky. (When you stop and think about that, doesn't that make her pretty smart?) The Carousel is no problem though, and Laurie and Lex are the only ones on it. Pooh is next, with only about thirty people in line. It's an instant hit with Lexi, every time we go around a corner she's anxious to see what's in the next room. The line is so low we ride twice back to back, and the second time around is predictably much more fun than the first. We didn't know if the speedway would be backed up yet, but the line wasn't even to the top of the ramp. We tried to arrange it so we could be in opposite lanes side-by-side, but Laurie left us in the dust. I could blame it on a fast car or accuse her of just being too darn competitive, but the truth is the car in front of us had a seat belt problem that held us up a bit. Lexi was more than proud of her driving ability, she excitedly told Laurie after the ride that she "never went off the track once!!" I thought we may be in for a bit of trauma during the speedway ride, but she pulled through fine. Since we picked her up the day before we left home, she had been wearing an oversized amber ring on her index finger. Looked kind of goofy, but we hadn't said anything. We discovered on the second or third day that her mom had given it to her a few days before we came, so we think it was her way of keeping a bit of home with her. Well the roughness of the track itself, combined with her death grip on the wheel, caused the ring to break in two places. My first clue was hearing her yell "My RING, my RING!!" I collected the pieces and told her I'd keep them for her, thinking that she was very upset. It turns out though that her immediate concern was keeping control of the car, and she never mentioned the ring again until the day we left and asked her if she wanted to take it home. (She did). Back up the hill to the teacups. Laurie can't handle the spinning, so this is a Lexi and Grandpa ride. Lexi says she doesn't like rides that go fast, but I'll tell you she spun me silly on this. I didn't know a four year old could put that much pull on a wheel. She really got a kick out of it when I stumbled getting out of the car after I had told her she got me dizzy. (I did it on purpose, honest ;-) All the attractions in Fantasyland are just as sparsely populated this morning. We were a bit worried about how she would like Snow White, being that it's pretty dark. It was "a little bit scary, but not too bad". I got ticked off again when we got to Peter Pan, the sign says the standby line is 40 minutes, but this ain't our first rodeo, it looks more like 10 to us. (In actuality, it was 9 minutes from the time we entered the line until we got off the ride.) What would be so wrong with posting accurate times here and on Test Track and letting people make informed choices? Enough ranting though, we finally get to go to Splash Mountain now! Our chosen route to Splash Mountain goes through Toon Town and around the park on the train to the back of Splash Mountain. We found it worked very well with our older granddaughter to approach Splash from the back where you can't see the drop, and not watch a dozen logs go screaming down into the Briar Patch on the walk up. No need to build apprehension needlessly. Laurie thought it would be good to let Lexi try the Barnstormer in Toon Town (a kiddie coaster), remembering that after Elysia rode it she was more than ready for the Big Thunder Mountain coaster when we got over there. The girls went in and were the only ones in line, so everybody already on the ride got to go again. When Lexi saw that the track goes "up in the air", she was very certain she didn't want to ride. She balked at getting into the "plane", and the cm even told her "we can make it go slower for you." She was still having no part of it, so after being assured that they wouldn't start the ride, they did a walk-through the plane straight to the exit. Lexi isn't the kind of kid who stays tense, once you're away from whatever she was afraid to do it's like it never happened. So a minute later, she was making a couple friends in the little house on the playground while we waited for our train. Laurie and Alexis decided they both like riding the train because they can sit back and their feet still touch the floor. (They' re both vertically challenged, but I think Lexi will grow out of it.) The line for Splash was pretty short, I think it was less than 20 minutes until we got on. We ended up with the three of us in the back row, and I think Lexi was in I-don't-really-want-to-do-this mode very early on in the ride. She toughed it out, but when we were done she told us she liked "everything but the slides". Afterward, she made us stand on the bridge watching several people come down, so we think she's trying to convince herself it really is a fun ride. Boy we hope so, because with the lines so short today we'd like to do this several more times ;-) I should tell you that I've shortened this trip report by at least a thousand words by mentioning only this once the times we stopped to look at birds, including otherwise very ordinary blackbirds and sparrows. She even used up three or four of the pictures on her own disposable camera with birds. Geez, mom, maybe you need to get her to a park at home some time!! We knew there was no point in even walking up to Big Thunder Mountain, she's not a coaster girl yet, so we made our way down to the Jungle Cruise. Lexi spotted the rats in the box in the queue, I've never seen them before. Still haven't, she showed them to Grandma but I must have been busy reading the walls again. The sign here is right, with about a 25 minutes line. We're not sure whether she enjoyed the ride or not, as soon as we left she was focusing on Alladin ("I'm not going to ride that.") It was time for lunch in the castle, and we got an autograph and picture with Princess Aurora on the way in. We were seated in the middle of the room, for a pretty ordinary meal, except for watching a girl over by the windows get the Glass Slipper. Wish I would have thought of that, but then Laurie and I first came here together on our honeymoon, so it was a bit late by then anyway. After eating, Laurie took Lex over for her promised look out the castle window (we think she was really trying to get a feel for how Cinderella lives). When we got downstairs, Cinderella was waiting for us in the front room and Alexis looked like she really was in the presence of royalty. Laurie and I get our kicks on the Mountains, but for Alexis, this is the thrill ride right here. It seemed considerably more crowded in the afternoon, maybe everyone had overcome the time change. They had decided this morning to extend the Magic Kingdom closing by an hour until 8, so they must have anticipated a fair crowd. Doesn't seem to me it would be too hard to share that info with the resorts when they change the times, but apparently they don't. We got in another 45 minute line to get Ariel's autograph, but Lexi doesn't have the patience today that she did with Buzz and Woody. (Laurie didn't have the patience then, I was proud of her for sticking it out ;-) We didn't have a problem convincing her to try this again Tuesday, making it the first thing on our final day agenda. We had stopped here first thing this morning when there was no crowd, but Ariel must have had some trouble with the time change too. At 9:00 the cast member there had said Ariel would be there at 10, but when we went back at 10:10 she told us 11. Somebody gots to nail dat girl's fins to de floor. We tried to see the Lion King next. Duh, I forgot that it was gone. (By the way, I believe the first new word you learn in preschool is"duh", we've been steering away from it all week, with partial success.) A quick glance at the watch told us Belle's story hour was next. As we made our way from the castle down to Fairytale Gardens we were reminded of our trip last year, where Elysia spent ten minutes watching rabbits eat in the castle lawn. Don' t think there's enough grass to feed a rabbit this year, we didn't see any. While I went out for a smoke, the girls found a seat along the outside wall at what Laurie knew would be the head of the eventual autograph line. Lexi enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed the half hour we saved by being almost first for pictures. Since it's nearly nap time for all of us, we decided to exit through Tomorrowland and see if we could get on Buzz Lightyear without much wait. Lexi wanted to drive the car again, but when I pointed out the line to her she had no trouble passing it up. She did want to go on "the blue train" again, so we took another tour of the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority. She knows where both of the dark places are now, and it's a fun ride. There' s a 50 minute wait for Buzz so we'll pass it up, leaving Laurie and I to reminisce about the "old" days, when we could ride Buzz six times in a row at night, in separate cars no less. (The separate cars are a major luxury, avoids all those nasty "why do you turn the car when I'm locked in on the 20,000" conversations ;-) On our way down Main Street Laurie wanted to spend some time in the clock shop, so Lexi and I relaxed in the alley outside. (My relaxation was on a park bench, Lexi's was back and forth between the bench and the cm gate about thirty times.) While there, I got to listen to a woman getting voice lessons in a studio on the second floor, that was pretty cool. Laurie didn't find anything she wanted in the clock shop, but Lexi did find a perfect gift for Mommy in one of the other stores on the way. After a very long and well-earned nap back at the hotel, we went over to Epcot for what turned out to be pizza and water. Neither of us remembered that almost all of Future World shuts down at 7. With most of the attractions closed, we had to make do with me giving Lexi a pretend Carousel ride, running around in a big circle bouncing her up and down. There never seems to be any shortage of cool things to see and do though, even when the "attractions" are closed. We finally got to see the full fountain show, with the added bonus of watching a bunch of kids running back and forth on the west side of the fountain where the wind was taking the remnants of the big sprays. We stopped by Innoventions to send another e-postcard we'd forgotten earlier, and to create a Xerox photo calendar we'd promised Lexi. I'm not impressed at all with the Xerox imaging system here, my stomach isn't nearly as large as their equipment portrays it. As long as we're here, we decide to take one more ride on Spaceship Earth, Lexi's an old pro now. We're planning to do a tour of World Showcase tomorrow, could have spent tonight at the pool and saved our legs a bit ;-) Day 6 (Epcot 4/8/02) Today is Monday, the next-to-last day of our trip. We're definitely going to spend our last day in Magic Kingdom, so this is a mop-up day where we see things we haven't seen yet in the other parks. Our quick inventory of what's left on our mental to-do list shows nothing in Animal Kingdom, three stage shows and Star Tours at MGM, and four Future World attractions and a Kid Stop tour at Epcot. So our plan was to see the first shows of Playhouse Disney and Beauty and the Beast at MGM (when they would have the shortest wait), then spend most of the day at Epcot, returning to MGM for the last Hunchback of Notre Dame show of the day (and maybe the parade). We were a little bummed when we picked up the new time schedules for the week. It seems that this week Beauty and the Beast is running everyday *except* Monday and Tuesday, so we won't get to see it this trip. Oh well, we knew we weren't going to see everything anyway. We were at MGM at rope drop, We had a 45 minute wait until Playhouse Disney would open, but missing the first showing was unacceptable so the girls went and got in line. Me? I can't do a morning at MGM without my bear claw and milk from the Starring Rolls Bakery. I had to promise Laurie I'd take second shift in line, but hey, it was worth it. Most of our line time was spent chatting up a couple of families who were there because of current military/fireman discounts. One of the cool things we get from sharing a line early in the day is that we recognize each other several times throughout the day and it makes it like you're sharing the trip with someone. Both these families also happen to be leaving Wednesday, and had both been bitten by the Beauty schedule change just as we had. Playhouse Disney is a much neater show than Bear in the Big Blue House was. It's the same idea, just more characters, including Roly-Poly-Oily or whoever they are (for you old folks, that's like Kukla, Fran, and Ollie without the annoying human) and a special appearance by Pooh and his friends. There's a lot more variety, and the kids loved it. Heck, with all the walking we've done this week, I don't mind a half hour sitting on a carpeted floor. After the show we took a casual stroll down to the docks to catch our boat to Epcot. We stayed on the boat for its stop at the Swan, but when it got to the Beach Club we got off, thinking we'd easily beat the boat to Epcot from there since it also had to stop at Boardwalk. Of course we weren't counting on running into the ducks on the docks. Or two 7 year old boys fishing off a boat moored to the Beach Club dock. Needless to say, the boat beat us but hey, we've got all day. The walk was a little more brisk than we had counted on, it was overcast and a bit chilly. Lexi's conclusion is that "it's still winter", and I guess I can't argue with that. The sun came out big time later in the day though, and she got a bit burned for the first time. Epcot always seems to be the park where you get considerably more sun than shade, even worse than the water parks. Since the Kid Stops don't open until 1, we headed to Future World, with the first stop being Honey I Shrunk the Audience, another interactive 3-D movie. Alexis claimed to like it, but it wasn't long before she put it into the I' m-not-doing-it-again category. One of my favorite non-attractions in the parks, the Leaping Fountains outside the Imagination pavilion were shut off, that stinks. Laurie really enjoyed checking out the floating flower beds in the lagoon though. Hey wait a minute, Laurie gets lots and lots of flowers and Lexi gets lots and lots of birds but I don't even get my leaping fountains? What's up with that? We enjoyed a relatively quiet early lunch at the Sunshine Food Fair, during which we extensively altered our plans for the day. We often do that, we're pretty determined about what we're going to do or see first thing in the morning so we can minimize our waits for the most popular attractions, but then we go into what we call "cruise mode" and play things by ear. We decided to pass on Food Rocks, Living Sea, and Ellen's Energy Adventure to start the Kid Stop mask odyssey. We got to Canada just before 1, they were setting up but immediately moved it inside because of the wind. Lexi got her mask, along with the story about how in each country they'll stamp the handle with the seal of that country and write the word "dream" in their native language. (Which in Canada is either English-French or French-English, depending on where you're from.) There was also some bit about some dream coin you drop in a dream bucket somewhere, but if the story couldn't keep our interest we weren't going to bother Lexi with it ;-) Lexi and I made off on our own and left Laurie videotaping some of the World Showcase sights and sounds for my sister whose husband thinks Disney World is just like Six Flags. England and France went very well, but I could see the wheels starting to come off in Morocco. They didn't have a table set up yet, and the cast member was just getting there as we were. He was perhaps the most American looking Moroccan I've ever seen, but he dutifully wrote "holom" on Lexi's dream circle. I asked him how you pronounce that, and he leaned aside and told me "I really couldn't tell you, but those guys over there probably can." I told him I'd had a suspicion that Africa wasn't his native continent, and he told me that he usually works the Kid Stop in Japan. Ah, now it makes sense <g>. The woman working the Japan stop never once smiled while we were there, but at least she looked Japanese. (I didn't ask her, but she was probably ticked because she usually works in Germany, where the music is better ;-) Laurie had caught up to us by this time, so we continued on to the American pavilion (where it turns out the native word for "dream" is "dream"). Our timing was perfect, as we only had to wait a few minutes for a performance of the Voices of Liberty. These people are one of the highlights of every trip we've seen them. We had a little bonus today though, one of those video moments that of course only comes along when you don't have the camera ready. We were among the first there, so we sat right up at the edge of the circle in the middle. During one of the songs (I think it was Oh Susannah), one of the guys does a solo and sings a verse to one of the guests, which today was Lexi. When he first got down on his knee in front of her, she immediately leaned over onto Laurie's arm. As he slowly leaned in closer, she slowly slid her face farther around towards Laurie's back. He kept slowly leaning in, still singing the whole time, and she kept slowly sliding down, until she finally had her face on the floor at Laurie's back and he was at Laurie's side still trying unsuccessfully to make eye contact. The whole thing was like slow motion, and the crowd loved it. Alexis clearly didn't ;-) We both love the American Adventure, but at least one of us is destined to doze off at some point. Today it was me, that raft on the river is just too darned soothing. Lexi got more than we thought she would from this show, for one thing she instantly recognized the Indian from Pocahontas ;-) Early in the film, there's some scene where the camera pans over the Plymouth settlement or something. She was absolutely positive that the theater was turning, and there was no convincing her that it wasn't. It didn't bother her or anything, she was just stating a fact. When the thunderstorm came, she wondered if it was going to rain, or at least sprinkle. Cool idea, might have woke me up. The Italian Kid Stop was most enjoyable for me, mostly because of the music. Symphonies in the plaza just seem to make a really nice atmosphere. It didn' t hurt that my favorite Mozart piece was playing while we were there, was he Italian? Our timing was again excellent when we reached China just as the acrobats were beginning their performance. After that we updated our mask in China and Germany and headed to Norway for dessert. This has become a tradition for us, having been one of those romantic quiet moments we had on our honeymoon. We got three of their dessert specialties to share, rice cream, the Norwegian Maiden (an applesauce and whipped cream deal), and the berry tart. Lexi didn't like any of them, she wanted a chocolate chip cookie they didn't have. So Laurie and I were forced to eat all three desserts ourselves. (I'm telling you, we'll do almost anything for this kid ;-) It was getting to the point where we'd have to leave if we were going to see the MGM parade at 5:00. The stamps Lexi had received on her mask handle filled one side, so she felt like it was done (if you don't tell her we missed Norway and Mexico, we won't). We made our way to the International Gateway to catch the boat to MGM, and experienced another surprise treat on that trip. As we approached the Swan Hotel, it looked rather odd that people were lined up all along the bridge. That can only mean one thing, shuttle launch, and our captain slowed the boat a bit so that we got a pretty clear view of the whole thing. We were amazed at the brightness of the rocket from this distance, it was awesome. Our timing was just right, we had been in Norway at 4:07 and were walking in the front gate of MGM at 4:59. We all liked the MGM parade. It wasn't too crowded so we were able to get fairly close right at the front gate end of the route where they all turn to go backstage. While we waited for the parade to work its way down to us, Laurie found some place to get Lex her chocolate chip cookie, which she worked at through the whole parade. A double-stroller dad offered her a prime spot right up in front with his son, and she loved it. She was a bit of a yo-yo though, we could tell when characters were approaching the crowd on our side by watching her inch back toward us, then slowly work her way back to the edge of the street when they were by. After the parade, it seemed like everybody that had been along the entire parade route was leaving the park at the same time. It took us a while to wade upstream to a now enjoyably uncrowded park. There was only a 10 minute line for Star Tours, and it didn't even take us that long as they redirected a group of us over into the fast pass line. It's interesting trying to explain a simulator ride to a four year old. She really enjoyed all the robots on the way in, so she wasn't totally freaked as we entered the shuttle. Very early on though, she decided it was too "bumpy". We told her all she had to do if she got scared was to close her eyes, but she said "I CAN'T". Any of you with newly permitted teenage drivers probably know just how she felt. Waiting for the Hunchback show, we spent some time playing with the Singing in the Rain fountain, that was fun. Laurie thought the water was mighty cold, but Lexi had her shoes off and made several trips. The juggler in the Hunchback pre-show did a cute tie-in with the 100 years celebration, juggling some Fantasia-themed broomsticks. Lex wasn't as impressed with the show as we always are, but she didn't hate it either. We almost got her into the Muppets movie again, but there's that darn loud noise part, so we decided to call it a day. We noticed on the tip board at 7:30 that there was a 10 minute wait for Rock'n Roller Coaster and 13 minutes for Tower of Terror, boy on another trip we would have been all over that. On this trip however, at 7:51 we were back at the hotel, ready for our last day tomorrow. Day 7 (MK 4/9/02, the finale :( Our final day, where else would we spend it but Magic Kingdom. We were there at rope drop, but for some reason the Castle was closed off until 1:00, so we had to wait at the Liberty Square rope and make an end around. We had promised Lexi that we would see Ariel first thing, but since Ariel wasn't there yet and we were practically by ourselves, we didn't have any problem talking her into going on some rides while we waited. We rode the Carousel, Pooh, Snow White, Peter Pan, and Small World, all without encountering a line of more than five minutes. Now it's time to get in the Ariel line though, and there are Air Force families on both sides of us, Boston in front, Pensacola in back. Although all three of us have in common a fondness for the parks, it seems the two of them also have in common an intense dislike of North Dakota, which I suppose we might share if we'd ever been stationed there in the winter. Lexi was very excited to meet Ariel, and with good conversation all around, it wasn't too bad for us either ;-) By 10:30 there was a 45 minute standby for Pooh, so we used the fast passes we had picked up earlier and rode again. (Boy, I wish they had a fast pass for Ariel.) Lexi took me on the teacups again, and again she spun it faster than I thought she could. I told her she should sit back and let me spin, and I cranked it up a couple notches. She started to giggle and then scream, but when I asked her if it was too fast, she said "Oh no". We took the train back around to Frontierland again. Somewhere between Main Street Station and Frontierland, Laurie realized she had lost her Annual Pass, probably in the Pooh fast pass machine. I would have been more upset than she seemed to be, apparently she was pretty confident of a no-hassle replacement process. We had decided we would do a child swap at Splash Mountain, since Lexi had no intention of going on it again but we both wanted to. They've changed the child swap process here, and I'll tell you how it's supposed to work (we found this out from other cast members later). If you both have fast passes, it's simple, you just use them one at a time. If you don't, one of you gets a "switch" ticket from the cast member out front and stays with the child while the other gets in the regular line for however long it takes. When the rider gets back, the other takes the "switch" ticket and goes through the fast pass line. The cast member we met out front, however, seemed to have half the change almost right. He told us you couldn't do the child swap unless the child was too short to ride (not true). Logic made no impression on him whatsoever. We finally got it done, but it involved all three of us going through the whole line and then two of us going back. The trip wasn't a total waste though, we did get Brer Bear's autograph. We haven't run into any other members of our internet RADP group that we know of on this trip, but have had three questions about my RADP pin, from two cast members at the old Ellen's bookstore, and now from Brer Bear. We had planned on doing a child swap at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as well, but Splash showed us that it's just not nearly as much fun with each of us riding by ourselves. (Besides, I count on that special little yelp and giggle that Laurie always lets loose at the blind drop to make Big Thunder the awesome ride it is ;-) So we skipped that step and took the raft ride to Aunt Polly's on Tom Sawyer Island for lunch. We've always enjoyed Aunt Polly's by ourselves because of the relative seclusion in the midst of all the hubbub. Our granddaughters have enjoyed it because of the ducks. At least a half hour with each of the girls feeding the ducks. They have completely different approaches too, Elysia was a toss one and watch girl while Lexi has more of a machine gun approach. I actually spotted a grown man here today (with no kids) taking a picture of a blackbird, so maybe I'm the one who's a little off ;-) One thing I'm absolutely sure of though, Lexi and I have two completely different philosophies about whether birds sharing your picnic table is a "neat" thing. After lunch we saw the Country Bears again. It was a very good show this time, it seemed like two-thirds of the crowd were first-timers and that really makes the show. At 2:30, standby on Jungle Cruise was 35 minutes so we decided to visit the Tiki room again. We sat right up in the middle the first time, and we thought Lexi might want to sit in the back now because of the noise. We let her choose our seats though, and she surprised us by picking the seats right in the front row again. She told me that the (animatronic) Queen wasn't real, it was just a person in a costume. Then, as if to prove her point, she walked up and knocked on the"flower pot" from which the Queen will appear, saying "See, it's empty." We didn't quite follow the reasoning, but I guess once you know the pot's empty, everything else is just details. As a reward for seeing the Tiki show twice on this trip, on the way out Laurie collected Iago's missing feather from the vent under the front row of seats, she was quite proud of herself. After three days of walking by it, Lexi finally decided she was going to try Alladin, but "just at the bottom". (This is a new Dumbo-type ride where you have a lever to control the height your magic carpet is "flying" at.) We rode it two times in a row, in fact, each with a death grip on that "elevator" lever. Must have been a boring ride for the folks in the back seat, but hey, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. After the ride, Lex pointed out to us yet another thing we hadn't noticed before, that there are "jewels in the floor" around Alladin. She didn't know what ride we were talking about when we suggested riding Pirates of the Caribbean again, until we mentioned the dog with the keys who won't take the bone. "Yeah, let's see that again!!" The left line happened to be open, so we took that for a much shorter walk (and a walk-on). Must be an age thing with animals, because she pointed out every dog and parrot on the ride. As we walked around the end of Pecos Bill's Restaurant to get back to Liberty Square, Lexi announced "I'm not going on that ride again". Don't worry hon, we're just walking *by* Splash Mountain to get somewhere else. On our way down to the Riverboat, we asked her if she was getting tired and got an emphatic "NO". But once on the boat, before we were even clear of Aunt Polly's she was laying on the floor and nodding off. We finally found the room downstairs where she could sit and relax for a few minutes, and that was all it seemed to take, she had a new lease on the day. On our way back toward Fantasyland again we asked her if she might like to try the Haunted Mansion one more time, but she had been hearing that darned wolf during lunch and had no intention of getting anywhere near the place. This was the second time we've been on Small World when no one realizes there's a right-hand lane as well. I don't know whether people think it's a fast pass lane or what, but the left lane is out just past the roof, while we simply get in the right lane and walk almost all the way to the bottom of the first ramp before we get to people. The girls rode the Carousel again, while I stopped for a smoke and got to see Peter Pan running up the back of the castle, presumably as a part of the Surprise Celebration show out front. I also got to see two ten or eleven year old boys dunking their heads in Cinderella's Fountain, everybody has their own idea of what's entertainment ;-) We think Lexi was truly conscious of this being our last day too, even though we hadn't been talking about it much. It kind of reminded me of cramming for finals, the way she was practically sprinting from ride to ride to do everything she could. And she was much more comfortable with some of the attractions by this time, on Snow White she was even getting to the point where she was growling at the crocodiles. Lex had been saying all week that she wanted to get a princess dress, but when it came down to that tough choice as to which one she decided on Minnie instead. She would have liked to have also had the shoes, the purse, the hair clips, necklaces, the works. If there's one thing that girl knows how to do, it's accessorize, though I don't think her mom usually accessorizes at these prices ;-) She was exceedingly happy with just the dress. We had a 6:15 priority seating for the character dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern, but got there early and ended up getting seated a little before 6. Lexi had known we'd be meeting Minnie there, and was very anxious to show Minnie her dress. She had noticed that Minnie always wears the same dress (red with white dots, just like hers), but for some reason when Minnie is entertaining at the Tavern she wears some blue colonial looking thing with lace. Lexi didn't seem to mind though. Minnie was just as flattered as you would expect when she came to our table and saw Lexi wearing "her" dress. She even took her by the hand to the middle of the room so they could stand together with their skirts held out to the side for a picture. We also met Chip & Dale, Goofy, and Pluto during the course of our meal, which Lexi didn 't touch until all the characters had made their appearance. Aside from the obvious entertainment, Laurie and I also really enjoyed the food, very simple but very good (as Laurie described it, homemade good). It was 6:57 when we left the restaurant. We were excited by the fact that the park was practically empty now, until we remembered that the park closed at 7, duh ;-) Lexi wasn't ready to be done yet, and wanted to know if we could go to another park because "we haven't been on any rides yet today!" That's a little odd, we counted fifteen rides and two shows, but we know how she feels. We took a leisurely stroll toward the front of the park, stopping a while to watch a couple rabbits attempt to de-leaf the freshly planted petunias along the walk. (The stroll was leisurely partly because of reluctance, partly because the Liberty Tree food was homemade good ;-) Lexi and I chilled outside City Hall while Laurie replaced her annual pass (she was right, it was pretty much hassle-free). Lexi was pleased that twice during the wait a family came by and complimented her on her dress. And with our final day in the books, we headed out toward the gates. We have a ton of film and video and memories we'll take with us, and it's been an extremely enjoyable visit. And once again, that final walk under the train station to the exit on the last day is kind of the low point of the whole trip. I guess we'll just have to trust Alexis, and know that "We'll see Mickey again some time." Back to Top |
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