Esmerelda
04-18-2003, 07:28 PM
August 31st
After some two hour naps, we awoke ready to face the world again. Elayna immediately turned on the TV and was content. We don’t have cable at our house and only get one channel, so she really enjoyed watching TV. We soon got ready to go and after a brief meltdown when I told he we were not taking her stroller with us we were ready to go to our evening’s activities.
Our great friends from Germany picked us up in their car and we headed to Boardwalk Villa’s to valet park for our evening’s activities. Valet parking is still free for DVC members. We walked around to the Beach Club Villa’s and headed to the arcade since it was too early for dinner. This was a really nice arcade and luckily was uncrowded. I was shocked though to realize that some of the games cost a $1.00! Where did the 25 cent games go? Oh I guess that was ummmm 25 years ago? Luckily for my pocketbook I realized that Elayna was just as happy “playing” without money, so I let her “play” to her heart’s delight. I am such a generous Mama.
We headed to Beaches & Cream at 6:30 and realized that the nine of us would not fit at the same table. “Duchess” very graciously volunteered to sit at the kid’s table. Duchess is incredibly gifted with children and the respite from being responsible for a child was very much appreciated. She is responsible for the next two lessons learned.
LESSON #12. The way to have children love and even worship you is to NOT be their parent!
LESSON #13. I think I didn’t initially put enough thought into my opinion about cloning. I initially thought it was extremely unethical. Now, I think it is an excellent idea. I would love to bring a “Duchess” home with me.
Back to the story. We were seated at two tables near each other. I don’t eat red meat so I ordered a strange combination-chicken noodle soup and onion rings. Everyone else at my table ordered burgers and I have to admit-they even tempted me! They are huge and I think could easily be shared by two people. Meanwhile, we look over at the kid’s table and they all have their head’s bent down and are examining something on the table. Upon closer evaluation, we realize they are looking at a SNAKE! Oh, not a real snake, but a straw wrapper snake( or was it a worm)? Who is responsible for this? Of course! It’s Duchess! I overhear her telling the kids-My father taught me how to do this as a little girl and my mother STILL has not forgiven him! The waiter comes and instead of them getting in trouble for making snakes on the table, he brings them a whole box of about 100 straws! We decided they shouldn’t have all the fun so we try to do it too. Well, we weren’t quite as successful since we didn’t have the top quality instruction that the kid’s had but it was still fun. I don’t think anyone is going to admit to being the ringleader, but then there was a brief lack of sanity as some adults tried to blow the wrapper off their straws at each other. All in all, it was a very entertaining evening. The food was great too-the chicken noodle soup is the best I’ve ever had.
Now it was time for our next adventure. The Illuminations Cruise! We were supposed to meet at the Boardwalk boat dock and were debating whether to walk around or ride a boat. We just missed the boat and Duchess realized that the Pontoon boat was going to leave from the Beach Club to pick us up at the Boardwalk so she asked if we could just catch the boat from there. My legs were very appreciative when they said we could. Our guide, Jeff was fabulous. He first took some pictures of our group before we left. Several of us are serious photographers, so I think he had at least four cameras to take pictures with. We got on the boat about 8:30 and he was a great guide. We had a pretty lively group of people and can you believe he kept us all under control? On the way to the cruise, he asked us a lot of Disney trivia and taught us quite a lot! We had some excellent trivia participants though, and I think he was very impressed. Did any of you realize that the fountains on the Dolphin and Swan hotels were switched by mistake? The fountain on the Swan are on the sea shells and the Dolphin fountain are on custard cups? It was supposed to be the other way around but they were too heavy to move, so they just kept them that way. When we got under the bridge to where we were going to watch Illuminations he pulled out these large flash cards of Disney characters. He had photographed the characters himself and made flash cards out of them. He then spent the waiting time for illuminations cruise asking the kids who the characters were. Some of them were pretty hard! He then tried to figure out how we knew each other-the nine of us came from Florida, Alabama, New York, California and Germany! He didn’t even look surprised when he said we all met on the internet-he said he had run across that several times. Our Illuminations Cruise was made even more special due to the yummy snacks Pammy, Duchess and LindaB had gathered. The kids were surprised with some great gifts-It appears that the adults who don't have children are a lot more generous in buying gifts than their parent's are!
Viewing Illuminations from the boat was a totally new experience. I believe it is worth the price to just not have to stand and stake out a place an hour before it begins! Another great benefit is you don’t have to have park passes so it would be a great first night outing and a day would not have to be used on your pass. The view was great and their was very little wind so we had a very enjoyable time and yes there was the brushing away of tears at the end. I was with a great core of friends including my best friend, my “adopted” mom, and it was very emotional to watch it with friends and realize just how much we had survived together and that yes, life WILL go on. Only with the support of my friends would I have made it through a very tough last couple of years and it was great to spend one of my favorite “attractions” at WDW with some very important people to me.
After a brief but very intense meltdown because I wouldn’t buy Elayna one of those bouncy balls that one of the street vendors was selling, we headed to get our car. While waiting I got an excellent picture of Duchess, Elayna, Jutta and Carolin on the huge loveseat inside the lobby at Boardwalk Villa’s with such looks of contentment on their faces. We all have our struggles, but at that point, the only statement I think they were thinking of is “Life is GOOD”
After some two hour naps, we awoke ready to face the world again. Elayna immediately turned on the TV and was content. We don’t have cable at our house and only get one channel, so she really enjoyed watching TV. We soon got ready to go and after a brief meltdown when I told he we were not taking her stroller with us we were ready to go to our evening’s activities.
Our great friends from Germany picked us up in their car and we headed to Boardwalk Villa’s to valet park for our evening’s activities. Valet parking is still free for DVC members. We walked around to the Beach Club Villa’s and headed to the arcade since it was too early for dinner. This was a really nice arcade and luckily was uncrowded. I was shocked though to realize that some of the games cost a $1.00! Where did the 25 cent games go? Oh I guess that was ummmm 25 years ago? Luckily for my pocketbook I realized that Elayna was just as happy “playing” without money, so I let her “play” to her heart’s delight. I am such a generous Mama.
We headed to Beaches & Cream at 6:30 and realized that the nine of us would not fit at the same table. “Duchess” very graciously volunteered to sit at the kid’s table. Duchess is incredibly gifted with children and the respite from being responsible for a child was very much appreciated. She is responsible for the next two lessons learned.
LESSON #12. The way to have children love and even worship you is to NOT be their parent!
LESSON #13. I think I didn’t initially put enough thought into my opinion about cloning. I initially thought it was extremely unethical. Now, I think it is an excellent idea. I would love to bring a “Duchess” home with me.
Back to the story. We were seated at two tables near each other. I don’t eat red meat so I ordered a strange combination-chicken noodle soup and onion rings. Everyone else at my table ordered burgers and I have to admit-they even tempted me! They are huge and I think could easily be shared by two people. Meanwhile, we look over at the kid’s table and they all have their head’s bent down and are examining something on the table. Upon closer evaluation, we realize they are looking at a SNAKE! Oh, not a real snake, but a straw wrapper snake( or was it a worm)? Who is responsible for this? Of course! It’s Duchess! I overhear her telling the kids-My father taught me how to do this as a little girl and my mother STILL has not forgiven him! The waiter comes and instead of them getting in trouble for making snakes on the table, he brings them a whole box of about 100 straws! We decided they shouldn’t have all the fun so we try to do it too. Well, we weren’t quite as successful since we didn’t have the top quality instruction that the kid’s had but it was still fun. I don’t think anyone is going to admit to being the ringleader, but then there was a brief lack of sanity as some adults tried to blow the wrapper off their straws at each other. All in all, it was a very entertaining evening. The food was great too-the chicken noodle soup is the best I’ve ever had.
Now it was time for our next adventure. The Illuminations Cruise! We were supposed to meet at the Boardwalk boat dock and were debating whether to walk around or ride a boat. We just missed the boat and Duchess realized that the Pontoon boat was going to leave from the Beach Club to pick us up at the Boardwalk so she asked if we could just catch the boat from there. My legs were very appreciative when they said we could. Our guide, Jeff was fabulous. He first took some pictures of our group before we left. Several of us are serious photographers, so I think he had at least four cameras to take pictures with. We got on the boat about 8:30 and he was a great guide. We had a pretty lively group of people and can you believe he kept us all under control? On the way to the cruise, he asked us a lot of Disney trivia and taught us quite a lot! We had some excellent trivia participants though, and I think he was very impressed. Did any of you realize that the fountains on the Dolphin and Swan hotels were switched by mistake? The fountain on the Swan are on the sea shells and the Dolphin fountain are on custard cups? It was supposed to be the other way around but they were too heavy to move, so they just kept them that way. When we got under the bridge to where we were going to watch Illuminations he pulled out these large flash cards of Disney characters. He had photographed the characters himself and made flash cards out of them. He then spent the waiting time for illuminations cruise asking the kids who the characters were. Some of them were pretty hard! He then tried to figure out how we knew each other-the nine of us came from Florida, Alabama, New York, California and Germany! He didn’t even look surprised when he said we all met on the internet-he said he had run across that several times. Our Illuminations Cruise was made even more special due to the yummy snacks Pammy, Duchess and LindaB had gathered. The kids were surprised with some great gifts-It appears that the adults who don't have children are a lot more generous in buying gifts than their parent's are!
Viewing Illuminations from the boat was a totally new experience. I believe it is worth the price to just not have to stand and stake out a place an hour before it begins! Another great benefit is you don’t have to have park passes so it would be a great first night outing and a day would not have to be used on your pass. The view was great and their was very little wind so we had a very enjoyable time and yes there was the brushing away of tears at the end. I was with a great core of friends including my best friend, my “adopted” mom, and it was very emotional to watch it with friends and realize just how much we had survived together and that yes, life WILL go on. Only with the support of my friends would I have made it through a very tough last couple of years and it was great to spend one of my favorite “attractions” at WDW with some very important people to me.
After a brief but very intense meltdown because I wouldn’t buy Elayna one of those bouncy balls that one of the street vendors was selling, we headed to get our car. While waiting I got an excellent picture of Duchess, Elayna, Jutta and Carolin on the huge loveseat inside the lobby at Boardwalk Villa’s with such looks of contentment on their faces. We all have our struggles, but at that point, the only statement I think they were thinking of is “Life is GOOD”