DisneyDINK
09-26-2013, 03:31 PM
At the WL I went back to Sturdy Branches, took a shower, changed and returned my towel to the pool bin. It was now 3:15 and there was no point showing up that early for ME and the Territory Lounge with its oh so desirable air-conditioning wouldn’t open until after I left, so I hit the Trout Pass bar and Brucie, the barmaid, poured me 3 $8.50 cherry lemonades which I thoroughly enjoyed. While I sipped I talked with Tom and his wife (Audrey? Annie? Aida? If you’re reading this I’m so sorry I forgot your name. It was so nice talking to you and Tom. I hope your holiday went/is going well!) who were on a first name basis with Brucie and big fans of the WL as well. We talked about our park experiences, WWoHP, our hometowns (Them: London, Me: Seattle), flight times (9 hrs. on Virgin, 6 hrs. on Alaska), our trips to Alaska (the glacier cruise on Prince William Sound, brilliant!) and then I told them about my solo trip. They were both a bit surprised “Your wife let you come alone?” meaning they love the parks and the other would be too envious as opposed to some kind of control issue. As it turned out I had a canned explanation. I whipped out the Galaxy S4 and pulled up Intercot and let them read the “I DINK Alone” pre-trip report paragraph about my justification for the solo trip. “What does DW stand for?” “Darling wife/Disney wife. You pick.” At 3:58pm I said I’d better be off. I had already settled up with Brucie and bid my new friends safe travels and I scurried off to the ME stop. As I walked past the bell services desk it was pulling up. I was feeling good on the ride. I was loopy from the drinks and grinning from ear to ear. I chatted a bit with the parents of Lily who had just turned 3 two days ago and was still wearing the button. They were from NJ and had also stayed at the WL. The father filled gave me some ideas of what to do if I took my little 9-10 year old niece to the parks. Lily was crying a bit and got passed from mom to dad and mom then enjoyed some well-deserved smart phone alone time so I elected not to disturb her.
I watched the video, got off at terminal A and went to TSA Pre Check. Total security time: 2 minutes! I took the train to gate 10 and sat down for a nice dinner at On the Border Mexican Café. There I met my last new acquaintance of the journey, Fernando. He’s from Honduras, lives in Jersey City and works in NYC for a homeless outreach non-profit. Like most of the others, he was glad I butted in. His parents have moved from Honduras and now live in Costa Rica where he was just returning from. He has a long layover and was glad to have the company. I talked about how the Midwest was more open to strangers and new friendships and overall just more friendly, more so than my home in Seattle and much more than LA where I grew up. He said that went double for NYC. I often use the analogy about having a party. In Minneapolis I would invite 40 people to a party and 39 would come and one person would have a good excuse and feel very sorry about it. In Seattle you invite 40 and you maybe get 20 (though my parties tend to do better than average, DW and I are known for them). Fernando says you invite 4 people to a party in Costa Rica and 40 show up. People are just more outgoing there. They’ll stop in unannounced and you are glad to have them. Culturally it is very different than the US. This kind of sums up my trip: as cool as all of the polished Disney Magic is it takes good interactions with CMs and other guests to make the trip truly special for me. I took chances and introduced myself many times and I was richly rewarded for my efforts. Moreover, my fellow guests were just great, perhaps better than any other trip. An example, a kid of about 12 accidentally poked me lightly with his toy light saber at the boat dock at the MK. He immediately and sincerely apologized. “No sweat kid. I’m fine. Thanks for the courtesy.” I had lots of affirmations that parents are doing a good job out there throughout my trip. Despite my complaining and ranting about the wake-up calls, the rain and the shortened cartoons on the Duffy channel, I was NEVER angry, not once. Sure I was cranking and ranting a bit, but I like doing that; I must have been channeling Ian. Anyhow, things would happen and I just shook them all off and went on having a magical time. Yeah, there was the one mom and dad bickering loudly neat the closed Jungle Cruise, but other than that people were just nice. A few kids screamed that 2 year old Mariah Carey-esque high-pitched “check out the pipes on me” happy squeal, others cried, there might have been a minor tantrum or two, but there were very few and it was all good. Like I said, we were all having fun, at least as far as I could tell. A had a great trip. Now if I could just convince DW I would always rather have her there with me and “No, I don’t want to go alone more than I want to go with you.” I think she’s coming around.
Awesome 4 day trip! DINK out.
:plane:
If you can’t get enough of my sardonic, whimsical and slightly inappropriate take on the Disney experience then here’s a link to my last reports from our trip in February 2013 – Dinking ‘Round the World – Day 1 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197798&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 2 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197803&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 3 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197804&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 4 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197805&highlight=dinking+round+world) and Day 5 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197806&highlight=dinking+round+world). Thank you for reading and have a magical day here at Intercot – Where Dreams come to Obsess!
:goofy2:
I watched the video, got off at terminal A and went to TSA Pre Check. Total security time: 2 minutes! I took the train to gate 10 and sat down for a nice dinner at On the Border Mexican Café. There I met my last new acquaintance of the journey, Fernando. He’s from Honduras, lives in Jersey City and works in NYC for a homeless outreach non-profit. Like most of the others, he was glad I butted in. His parents have moved from Honduras and now live in Costa Rica where he was just returning from. He has a long layover and was glad to have the company. I talked about how the Midwest was more open to strangers and new friendships and overall just more friendly, more so than my home in Seattle and much more than LA where I grew up. He said that went double for NYC. I often use the analogy about having a party. In Minneapolis I would invite 40 people to a party and 39 would come and one person would have a good excuse and feel very sorry about it. In Seattle you invite 40 and you maybe get 20 (though my parties tend to do better than average, DW and I are known for them). Fernando says you invite 4 people to a party in Costa Rica and 40 show up. People are just more outgoing there. They’ll stop in unannounced and you are glad to have them. Culturally it is very different than the US. This kind of sums up my trip: as cool as all of the polished Disney Magic is it takes good interactions with CMs and other guests to make the trip truly special for me. I took chances and introduced myself many times and I was richly rewarded for my efforts. Moreover, my fellow guests were just great, perhaps better than any other trip. An example, a kid of about 12 accidentally poked me lightly with his toy light saber at the boat dock at the MK. He immediately and sincerely apologized. “No sweat kid. I’m fine. Thanks for the courtesy.” I had lots of affirmations that parents are doing a good job out there throughout my trip. Despite my complaining and ranting about the wake-up calls, the rain and the shortened cartoons on the Duffy channel, I was NEVER angry, not once. Sure I was cranking and ranting a bit, but I like doing that; I must have been channeling Ian. Anyhow, things would happen and I just shook them all off and went on having a magical time. Yeah, there was the one mom and dad bickering loudly neat the closed Jungle Cruise, but other than that people were just nice. A few kids screamed that 2 year old Mariah Carey-esque high-pitched “check out the pipes on me” happy squeal, others cried, there might have been a minor tantrum or two, but there were very few and it was all good. Like I said, we were all having fun, at least as far as I could tell. A had a great trip. Now if I could just convince DW I would always rather have her there with me and “No, I don’t want to go alone more than I want to go with you.” I think she’s coming around.
Awesome 4 day trip! DINK out.
:plane:
If you can’t get enough of my sardonic, whimsical and slightly inappropriate take on the Disney experience then here’s a link to my last reports from our trip in February 2013 – Dinking ‘Round the World – Day 1 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197798&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 2 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197803&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 3 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197804&highlight=dinking+round+world), Day 4 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197805&highlight=dinking+round+world) and Day 5 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197806&highlight=dinking+round+world). Thank you for reading and have a magical day here at Intercot – Where Dreams come to Obsess!
:goofy2: