Jennifer_and_Chris
10-27-2011, 05:17 PM
5:55am – Stitch is all Mickey can talk about these days. I do my morning ritual of getting up, looking out the window. Don’t know what I’ll see since it is pitch black but, I look anyways. Babysit the coffeemaker. That on/off button is mocking me. I get ready, Chris is up and gets ready, Natalie is up and tells Isabel to get up so they can open their present from Minnie.
We are all feeling the burn this morning and are dragging our feet.
8:30am – We finally leave the room and drive to Animal Kingdom. I forget how close we are.
8:50am – We are through the gate. It’s not crowded at all - Just the short rush of people coming through the turnstiles. We walk through and I grab the showtime schedule. The kids are mesmerized by a bug in a box that one of the CM’s are holding. My hair is standing up on the back of my head because one of the boxes holds a huge spider of the fury nature. I take a few pics to hide the terror in my eyes. We walk through the oasis toward Discovery Island and stop to take FP pics w/ Tree of Life in the back. Our first order of business is Kilimanjaro Safari. Standby is 10 minutes so we decide to queue up. It was more like walk on. It took us longer to drop of the strollers and get the kids upright than it did to wait in line. This safari was probably the best one we’ve ever been on. The animals were soooo close to us I could have reached out and touched them. The lion and lioness were proudly lying on the most prominent rock together watching us with curiosity… or hunger… I don’t know which is which. We had to wait for several minutes because of animal blocking the path. It was a great ride. So many good pictures.
One of our must do’s for this trip is Rafiki’s planet watch. We haven’t done this since 2003 (before kids) so, it’s almost brand new to me. We are the 2nd train of people to board. Chris takes the kids to do the petting part and I stay back. I’m allergic to just about every animal that walks so, I can’t go unless I want to probably be shot with an epipen in my leg. I shop around and take pictures and go potty. Of course, as soon as I start taking pictures, my battery low light blinks. AND I REALIZE THAT I FORGOT MY OTHER BATTERY IN THE ROOM CHARGING ON THE WALL. I’m so mad because Jiminie Cricket and Pocahontas are there and I won’t have enough juice to take pictures. And there are no FP photographers around. Oh this is painful. This is what happens when I fall asleep in the laundry room and am drunk with a refillable mug full of wine. Things like camera batteries are forgotten. This is pretty tragic for me.
I go outside because I’m just sick of myself and my forgetfulness and its just in time. Chris and the girls are coming out of the wash station. I anti-bacterial them off and we browse the outdoor store a bit before going in. The kids need to go potty and we then queue up for Pocahontas and the Cricket. I am able to take a few pictures with each character before the battery totally dies. After looking at the many animals here, and wiping off the hee bee gee bees off of me after looking at the snake who is much thicker than my thighs of mass destruction, we walk back to the train. And it is of course waiting for us to board.
Once we are back in Africa, we go through a store to cool off and decide to walk towards Dinoland. On the way there, we just decide to go ahead and to It’s Tough to be a Bug. Standby said 15 minutes but, we walked right into the theatre. These lines are awesome! After becoming an Honorary bug, we decide to have lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. This place is MUCH better than I remember from last year and I thought it was good last year. See the food review coming soon for details.
After a very pleasant lunch, we finish licking our lips and fingers and head over to Dinosaur. This said 15 minutes but, it was more like 8-10 minutes. I hate this ride. But, Chris loves it. And the kids are just now tall enough. They showed interest in the ride but, I don’t think they realized that the dinosaurs are not the cartoony gentle ones like Dinosaur Train on PBS but, the really scary kind. Anyways, after the scream filled ride, Natalie and Isabel both say they don’t like it. Isabel says to me, that’s not real right mama? No, all dinosaurs are dead honey. Chris admits that it may have been too scary for them but, just makes light of it with them and says, well, now that you have tried it, you can say that you don’t like it. Thank goodness I won’t have to go on that thing again.
We distract them (they have both grown very quiet in their strollers probably reliving the scary dinos over and over.. or was that me reliving it????) by taking them onto Triceritop Spin. They can see that the ride is just like Dumbo but, green. So, we ride. After, we leave the dino carnival and go to the boneyard for them to go wild. After, we walk to the car (only 3 isles after handicap parking) and head home for some rest before going to MK for MSEP and Fireworks.
3:00pm – We are back in the room and Isabel fell asleep on the walk to the car. She’s a bump on the log all the way to the room. She’s napping on the bed. So, Natalie and I go to Johari to pick up the dolls that they bought yesterday at DHS. Back at the room after opening the dolls, Natalie decides about 3:40 that she wants to lay down and rest. So, Chris lays down. If I lay down, I will not get up. The plan was to be back to the park around 5pm or so. Chris gets up after about 15 mintues and goes to fill his mug and walk around and I’m on the balcony watching the wildlife.
4:45pm – just as I think I should send out a search party for Chris, he shows up. We talk a little while on the balcony and I start to hear the kids stirring. Perfect timing. There’s a cool breeze and it feels heavenly on our balcony.
5:35pm – The wind doesn’t feel so heavenly at the bus stop (MK is the only bus we take because of the parking situation vs. bus stop at the gate). So, we turn back around and go to the room to change to pants and get warmer layers just in case.
6:45pm – We walk through the gates. We notice IMMEDIATELY that the crowd is VERY heavy. Everyone seems to be here. So, we decide that we need to get in and get a spot for the parade and park it. We find a spot almost right in front of the red wagon stand that is on the left side if looking directly at the castle. Right before the “bend” of the hub. We quickly make friends with those around us. We are right in front of the CM’s directing traffic. “NO STOPPING. THIS IS THE ONLY DIRECT ROUTE TO FIRST AID AND IT MUST BE CLEAR AT ALL TIMES. NO STOPPING. YOU MUST BE TO THE RIGHT OF THE TAPE ON THE GROUND, YOU CAN NOT STAND HERE….. “ We had our own parade police! Yes! So, we are lined up at about 7:10pm. The kids are exclaiming how hungry they are. So, I go off in search of sustenance while Chris holds the line of parade battle. I run over to Adventureland and, do my eyes deceive me? – it’s the eggroll cart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been in search of this cart since the beginning 11 years ago. And I finally found it. And the cart has corn dogs. Natalie and Chris will be happy. Isabel want’s a plain hot dog. I look at the ingredients list… Egg in the corn dogs, egg in the pork/shrimp eggrolls but, veggie eggrolls and plum sauce are EGG-FREE!!!!!!!! But, Isabel asked for a hot dog. After getting 2 corn dogs and 2 pork eggrolls, I go in search for a hot dog. I go all the way around to Liberty Square. I could have sworn there was a hotdog stand somewhere here…. But, no one has it. So, I go back to the egg roll cart and get Isabel 2 veggie eggrolls.
By the time I get back to my family, they are almost unrecognizable. There are people all over them trying to squeeze in on the right side of the tape. The CM’s are doing their best to move people along but, they are greatly outnumbered. A very tall CM walks past and gets people moving. I slid into our spot. All the parents have pushed their strollers back to the tape and stood with their heels on the tape. YES!!! I’m so happy that I start to pass out the 25 necklaces to everyone around us. The parents are grateful and we laugh about not breaking this line… no one gets through.
MSEP begins. Mickey waves to me… YES, IT WAS ME HE WAS WAVING AT. NOT THE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS AROUND ME. It was me all along. I don’t know if it was because I kept getting shoved and pushed but, MSEP is just not as emotional to me as SpectroMagic was. I think I can definitively say that I am a Spectro kinda girl. I hope they bring it back.
Once the parade is over, we all count to three and turn 45 degrees to face the Castle. Then people really get rude. When M,M&Y start, I am just in awe. It is sooooo beautiful. I’m trying to hold in my sobbing and my tears are falling in Isabel’s hair since she is standing on her stroller leaning against me. When the shuttle takes off and walts dedication, I swallow my sobbing. Why am I doing this???? Quickly enough I am reminded that it is do or die for our spot for the fireworks. And I am not moving. I don’t care, we are not moving. Wishes starts and I think this is the first time that I didn’t cry. I think maybe the tears were already spent during M,M & Y. It was still great nonetheless. However, because of the wind, the fireworks were behind the castle instead of on top of the castle. If that makes any sense. Next time, I think we’ll try to get further down main street more towards the train station to watch the fireworks.
We are all feeling the burn this morning and are dragging our feet.
8:30am – We finally leave the room and drive to Animal Kingdom. I forget how close we are.
8:50am – We are through the gate. It’s not crowded at all - Just the short rush of people coming through the turnstiles. We walk through and I grab the showtime schedule. The kids are mesmerized by a bug in a box that one of the CM’s are holding. My hair is standing up on the back of my head because one of the boxes holds a huge spider of the fury nature. I take a few pics to hide the terror in my eyes. We walk through the oasis toward Discovery Island and stop to take FP pics w/ Tree of Life in the back. Our first order of business is Kilimanjaro Safari. Standby is 10 minutes so we decide to queue up. It was more like walk on. It took us longer to drop of the strollers and get the kids upright than it did to wait in line. This safari was probably the best one we’ve ever been on. The animals were soooo close to us I could have reached out and touched them. The lion and lioness were proudly lying on the most prominent rock together watching us with curiosity… or hunger… I don’t know which is which. We had to wait for several minutes because of animal blocking the path. It was a great ride. So many good pictures.
One of our must do’s for this trip is Rafiki’s planet watch. We haven’t done this since 2003 (before kids) so, it’s almost brand new to me. We are the 2nd train of people to board. Chris takes the kids to do the petting part and I stay back. I’m allergic to just about every animal that walks so, I can’t go unless I want to probably be shot with an epipen in my leg. I shop around and take pictures and go potty. Of course, as soon as I start taking pictures, my battery low light blinks. AND I REALIZE THAT I FORGOT MY OTHER BATTERY IN THE ROOM CHARGING ON THE WALL. I’m so mad because Jiminie Cricket and Pocahontas are there and I won’t have enough juice to take pictures. And there are no FP photographers around. Oh this is painful. This is what happens when I fall asleep in the laundry room and am drunk with a refillable mug full of wine. Things like camera batteries are forgotten. This is pretty tragic for me.
I go outside because I’m just sick of myself and my forgetfulness and its just in time. Chris and the girls are coming out of the wash station. I anti-bacterial them off and we browse the outdoor store a bit before going in. The kids need to go potty and we then queue up for Pocahontas and the Cricket. I am able to take a few pictures with each character before the battery totally dies. After looking at the many animals here, and wiping off the hee bee gee bees off of me after looking at the snake who is much thicker than my thighs of mass destruction, we walk back to the train. And it is of course waiting for us to board.
Once we are back in Africa, we go through a store to cool off and decide to walk towards Dinoland. On the way there, we just decide to go ahead and to It’s Tough to be a Bug. Standby said 15 minutes but, we walked right into the theatre. These lines are awesome! After becoming an Honorary bug, we decide to have lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. This place is MUCH better than I remember from last year and I thought it was good last year. See the food review coming soon for details.
After a very pleasant lunch, we finish licking our lips and fingers and head over to Dinosaur. This said 15 minutes but, it was more like 8-10 minutes. I hate this ride. But, Chris loves it. And the kids are just now tall enough. They showed interest in the ride but, I don’t think they realized that the dinosaurs are not the cartoony gentle ones like Dinosaur Train on PBS but, the really scary kind. Anyways, after the scream filled ride, Natalie and Isabel both say they don’t like it. Isabel says to me, that’s not real right mama? No, all dinosaurs are dead honey. Chris admits that it may have been too scary for them but, just makes light of it with them and says, well, now that you have tried it, you can say that you don’t like it. Thank goodness I won’t have to go on that thing again.
We distract them (they have both grown very quiet in their strollers probably reliving the scary dinos over and over.. or was that me reliving it????) by taking them onto Triceritop Spin. They can see that the ride is just like Dumbo but, green. So, we ride. After, we leave the dino carnival and go to the boneyard for them to go wild. After, we walk to the car (only 3 isles after handicap parking) and head home for some rest before going to MK for MSEP and Fireworks.
3:00pm – We are back in the room and Isabel fell asleep on the walk to the car. She’s a bump on the log all the way to the room. She’s napping on the bed. So, Natalie and I go to Johari to pick up the dolls that they bought yesterday at DHS. Back at the room after opening the dolls, Natalie decides about 3:40 that she wants to lay down and rest. So, Chris lays down. If I lay down, I will not get up. The plan was to be back to the park around 5pm or so. Chris gets up after about 15 mintues and goes to fill his mug and walk around and I’m on the balcony watching the wildlife.
4:45pm – just as I think I should send out a search party for Chris, he shows up. We talk a little while on the balcony and I start to hear the kids stirring. Perfect timing. There’s a cool breeze and it feels heavenly on our balcony.
5:35pm – The wind doesn’t feel so heavenly at the bus stop (MK is the only bus we take because of the parking situation vs. bus stop at the gate). So, we turn back around and go to the room to change to pants and get warmer layers just in case.
6:45pm – We walk through the gates. We notice IMMEDIATELY that the crowd is VERY heavy. Everyone seems to be here. So, we decide that we need to get in and get a spot for the parade and park it. We find a spot almost right in front of the red wagon stand that is on the left side if looking directly at the castle. Right before the “bend” of the hub. We quickly make friends with those around us. We are right in front of the CM’s directing traffic. “NO STOPPING. THIS IS THE ONLY DIRECT ROUTE TO FIRST AID AND IT MUST BE CLEAR AT ALL TIMES. NO STOPPING. YOU MUST BE TO THE RIGHT OF THE TAPE ON THE GROUND, YOU CAN NOT STAND HERE….. “ We had our own parade police! Yes! So, we are lined up at about 7:10pm. The kids are exclaiming how hungry they are. So, I go off in search of sustenance while Chris holds the line of parade battle. I run over to Adventureland and, do my eyes deceive me? – it’s the eggroll cart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been in search of this cart since the beginning 11 years ago. And I finally found it. And the cart has corn dogs. Natalie and Chris will be happy. Isabel want’s a plain hot dog. I look at the ingredients list… Egg in the corn dogs, egg in the pork/shrimp eggrolls but, veggie eggrolls and plum sauce are EGG-FREE!!!!!!!! But, Isabel asked for a hot dog. After getting 2 corn dogs and 2 pork eggrolls, I go in search for a hot dog. I go all the way around to Liberty Square. I could have sworn there was a hotdog stand somewhere here…. But, no one has it. So, I go back to the egg roll cart and get Isabel 2 veggie eggrolls.
By the time I get back to my family, they are almost unrecognizable. There are people all over them trying to squeeze in on the right side of the tape. The CM’s are doing their best to move people along but, they are greatly outnumbered. A very tall CM walks past and gets people moving. I slid into our spot. All the parents have pushed their strollers back to the tape and stood with their heels on the tape. YES!!! I’m so happy that I start to pass out the 25 necklaces to everyone around us. The parents are grateful and we laugh about not breaking this line… no one gets through.
MSEP begins. Mickey waves to me… YES, IT WAS ME HE WAS WAVING AT. NOT THE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS AROUND ME. It was me all along. I don’t know if it was because I kept getting shoved and pushed but, MSEP is just not as emotional to me as SpectroMagic was. I think I can definitively say that I am a Spectro kinda girl. I hope they bring it back.
Once the parade is over, we all count to three and turn 45 degrees to face the Castle. Then people really get rude. When M,M&Y start, I am just in awe. It is sooooo beautiful. I’m trying to hold in my sobbing and my tears are falling in Isabel’s hair since she is standing on her stroller leaning against me. When the shuttle takes off and walts dedication, I swallow my sobbing. Why am I doing this???? Quickly enough I am reminded that it is do or die for our spot for the fireworks. And I am not moving. I don’t care, we are not moving. Wishes starts and I think this is the first time that I didn’t cry. I think maybe the tears were already spent during M,M & Y. It was still great nonetheless. However, because of the wind, the fireworks were behind the castle instead of on top of the castle. If that makes any sense. Next time, I think we’ll try to get further down main street more towards the train station to watch the fireworks.