ddoll
07-04-2003, 10:48 AM
Us vs. Teens part 3
Day 6: Thursday 6/19/2003
Today is Epcot. It’s also a big day for me, as I have plans to meet up with several clubhouse members later on in the day.
Another rainy day, we’re all dressed up in rain gear. Even Evan has decided to don a poncho by now. It’s not worth being soggy all day just to try to look cool. Either that, or it has occurred to him that you can’t look cool when you’re all wet, either.
We follow the smallest member; Chase’s lead and start off by doing Body Wars. This has been a sort of obsession with him since he’s had “issues” with illness and bodies. We then get caught up in the Life pavilion, playing games. As we’re about to leave and head back out into the rain, DH notices he no longer has his special, lightweight umbrella I bought for the trip. He backtracks and searches each game he stopped at, to no avail. It’s gone. He even goes back and searches on Body Wars to be sure, but it’s definitely gone. No one turned it in either. Poor DH is very disheartened to realize that someone has stolen his umbrella… in Disney, of all places.
So we go back out into the rain with one less umbrella, and Chase now determined to spot the umbrella-thief somewhere in the park. (“Is that it, Dad? How about that one? Is that yours?”) We drop into the Electric Umbrella (how appropriate, eh?) to grab a bite to eat. Chase is complaining that he isn’t hungry and his tummy doesn’t feel right.
After a light lunch, we go our separate ways: DH and the kids to play in Innoventions, and me to find Lori, ChrisR and Kaycee in the World Showcase. We had agreed to meet each other in front of the Norway Bakery.
From under my umbrella, I spot a familiar face sitting at Norway. Yes! It is Lori. We wait a few minutes and Chris shows up. Not having heard from Kaycee at all, we set off to tour the countries. Lori and I ‘fess up that neither of us have spent too much time touring the countries. Since Chris lives nearby, and is a veteran of several “Behind-the-Scenes" tours, we draft her into being our tour-guide.
The rain ends up not being a deterrent to having fun for us. The temperature is pleasant, even if we are having a bad-hair day.
Chris shows us a great time. We got to see the surround movie in China, “Reflections of China” after touring around to see all the artifacts. We went into the American pavilion and watched the a capella group; American Vybe before heading in to see the American Adventure. We just LOVED all of it! Lori remembers hearing something about the US flag from the World Trade Towers being displayed at the American Pavilion. After checking with a CM, we find out that it has already moved on. Too bad! We leisurely cruise around the other side of the WS and lo and behold…it's time to show up in The Land for our group PS for the Ice Cream Social.
At the Garden Grill, Lori and I meet up with our families. Chris is flying solo today. We find we have only a cell phone message from Kaycee, but she’s not anywhere around. Neither can we find J&J’s Dad and Mom and their family. So we go in, leaving word at the desk where to find us should any more members show up.
Now, I had arranged to have the Re-Hitching ceremony for DH and me ahead of time. I also double-checked this at the desk before we went in. But after having so much fun at the Ice Cream Social with all the characters coming over, taking pictures, finding J&J’s Mom and Dad, etc, I forgot about it. Lori was kind enough to remind me just before we left. I asked the waiter about it when he was dropping off the check, and he returned just in time with a CM named Steve to perform the “ceremony”. We had to go drag my DH back in, as he’d already gathered up his backpack and was standing at the doorway. It was great fun. They did a silly little ceremony, then asked us to kiss to the count of 100 while everyone around us did the counting. Then they presented us with a certificate signed by the characters and the all-important, “Steve”. It was a big surprise to my DH, but he seemed excited and the kids especially loved it.
We then returned to Innoventions to play some more games, until Dane complained about wanting to go home. There was just enough time to get home for our afternoon revitalization, i.e.: nap…. before we had to be at Boma for a 7:00pm PS.
Boma was beautiful. The food was very different, which this time didn’t faze the kids. Evan and Jess actually tried some new and unusual foods along with the kid’s staples of chicken fingers and mac & cheese. The soups were the best things we found on the buffet. They were outstanding. Dane and I each had a different soup and one was as good as the other. We all tried the Zebra Domes, recommended by our waitress. They were very good, but I found other desserts that I liked even better than those. Chase was not eating. He appeared to be acting difficult and refused to try anything but a baked chicken drumstick. He couldn’t even be persuaded to get dessert.
Unfortunately, when we got home we found that our little Chase had a fever along with all the other dreaded symptoms of “sick stomach”. As it turned out he had to have had a flu, because he couldn’t keep anything in for a few more days. Now we realized Dane hadn’t just been being hard to get along with over the past few days, but must have had a touch of this bug too.
Day 7: Friday, June 20, 2003
Today is the start of our 5 consecutive Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure days. We purchased the on-line 2-day passes that allowed 5 days admission. Chase is too ill to go anywhere, so I stay home with him. That turned out to be a good thing for me too, because I got to straighten out our things: the new purchases, pictures, dishes, bathing suits, the laundry, etc. Chase and I got to spend some time in the pool and hot tub together, too.
The family returned to the house by late afternoon, all wet from the rain. We all (except Chase…yikes!) got something to eat, and then DH stayed home with our sick child while I returned to IOA with the teens. The rain had mostly stopped by then.
We got to do Poseidon’s Adventure and Dueling Dragons all together. I tried in vain to get a decent photo of the water vortex in Poseidon. Then I went into the store to find something for my sick baby back home while the teens went on the Hulk ride. I found a Hulk toy for Chase on sale, plus the extra 20% off with the AAA coupon, and I grabbed several Superhero pressed pennies for him while I waited. There were no lines anywhere at this time, so the kids were back very quickly. The park was now closing, so we headed home.
Day 8: Saturday, June 21, 2003
Chase has no fever today and seems to be empty of all ammunition, so we talk him into going out to the park with us. Today is planned for Universal Studios. DH pays for Preferred Parking, but as it turns out, they end up parking us at the very end of the parking line. That’s aaallll the way in the back of the parking garage. When we have to walk that far to get in, it’s sure not worth paying the extra money. All it does is put us in a closer parking lot, which isn’t important anyhow due to the moving sidewalks. What they really need to do is make the closest half of all the parking lots be the Preferred Parking area. I’d pay extra for that.
Everyone is looking forward to going on the two new rides: Jimmy Neutron and Shrek 4-D. After enduring the brutal search process….. (That’s sarcasm, folks. It’s a laugh after Disney’s bag searches. Here all they do is poke a stick into your bag after you’re through the turnstiles.) we form our strategy. Dad moves straight to the Express pass machine to grab passes for Shrek, while we go on Jimmy N. Unfortunately, the next available time for Shrek is at 7:00pm….and this is at 9:50am!! He gets passes for Jimmy N instead, as the standby line there is pretty long now. So, we form a change in attack plan. Seeing as all of creation is here at the entrance waiting to see the two new rides, we head to the other end of the park.
This turns out to be a wonderful plan. Men In Black and Back to the Future are both walk-ons. Evan and Jess decide since the crowds are still so low, to go do the rides in Amityville, too. We repeat MIB.
Now it’s time for our Express Pass return time for Jimmy Neutron. What cute theme-ing they did here. It was a great idea to make the cartoons current. It includes most all Nickelodeon cartoons: Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Rocket Power, Thornberrys, Spongebob, Invader Zim, Fairly Oddparents, Ren & Stimpy, etc. All shows familiar not only to kids, but parents with school age kids as well. The motion ride appears to be the same as the old Hanna-Barbera ride, just the movie and theme has been updated. They also have up-to-date characters around the park. We got some good pictures of Eliza Thornberry and Donnie (who delighted all with his recurrent “wedgie-dance”), as well as Jimmy Neutron. We saw, but did not get photos of Angelica and Tommy Pickles.
Now, using our AAA 20% off coupons, we get a discount lunch at Mel’s Drive-In. I had to go back to Schwab’s Pharmacy to grab my own sandwich first. Chase won’t eat, but that’s okay with us. As long he’s drinking enough water, I’m satisfied.
Now comes the event we’ve all been waiting for: Beetlejuice presents the Extreme Ghostbusters. We hurry over for the first show, get seats on the ground with a terrific view, and settle in. Beetlejuice comes out, starts his schpiel, the music starts, the Ghostbusters emerge and run right off again as an announcement comes over the PA that due to inclement weather (yes, a slight sun shower has started), the show has been cancelled. We all head dejectedly over to Twister. Wouldn’t you know it? A very large guy at least seven feet tall stands in front of us against the rail and completely obliterates our view! As if anyone that tall would need to stand in the front to see!! Sheesh!
We all go over now to Nickelodeon Studios for the tour…one of our favorites. Now they have only a few scheduled tour times, and unbelievably, the tour is much shorter than before. They rush us directly into the game room to have a mock game show. It was very funny, as they dressed two parents up in Jimmy Neutron costumes to participate. However, when the show ended, they led us right back outside! No tour of the facilities, sample-tasting of gak, or anything! What a gyp!!
At least it’s time now to catch the next Ghostbusters show. We hurry back to the NY street, when …oh no! More rain!! They begin with Beetlejuice’s intro, then the music, then we hold our collective breaths, and…..YES! The Ghostbusters start the show! We LOVE this show! It’s very funny and the guys really know how to dance. The premise is that Beetlejuice puts a hex on them so they start to involuntarily lip-synch and dance to songs, much like the characters in the movie did to Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O”.
Too bad they run back inside immediately after the show, delicate fellows that they are. No autographs or pictures with the guys today. Oh well, at least we got to see the show, so we’re happy about that.
The Shrek line now longer than ever, we decide to retreat home for our daily break and rest.
Poor Chase still isn’t feeling very well, but we head out to our PS at the Sunset Grill in Hard Rock Hotel for a character meal. We hoped to get to sit with Lori and family, but they’re all done with dinner when we arrive. The restaurant was only half-full, but they had been told they couldn’t change their seating time to the later time like ours. There doesn’t appear to be any valid reason for this that any of us can see, though.
They had only two characters at the character meal: Scooby Doo and Woody Woodpecker, both attired in leather jackets. They did okay, but it wasn’t really exciting. Lori spotted clues that the same person was playing both characters. My lobster wasn’t very good. It was dry and tasted like Florida sulpher-water. Chase ate only a little bit of macaroni from the children’s buffet. The others were pleased with their dinners, though.
We then went outside to the HRH pool to find Lori and her family. It was very pretty there. Chase immediately removed his shirt and shoes and jumped in the pool to play with Lori’s son. He went down the water slide and had a good time. The teens however, were standing around tapping their feet, looking impatient as we talked with Lori and her DH. After a too-brief visit, we took our wet kid and bored teens and left for home. Unfortunately, poor Chase didn’t make it into the house with his little bit of dinner intact.
Day 6: Thursday 6/19/2003
Today is Epcot. It’s also a big day for me, as I have plans to meet up with several clubhouse members later on in the day.
Another rainy day, we’re all dressed up in rain gear. Even Evan has decided to don a poncho by now. It’s not worth being soggy all day just to try to look cool. Either that, or it has occurred to him that you can’t look cool when you’re all wet, either.
We follow the smallest member; Chase’s lead and start off by doing Body Wars. This has been a sort of obsession with him since he’s had “issues” with illness and bodies. We then get caught up in the Life pavilion, playing games. As we’re about to leave and head back out into the rain, DH notices he no longer has his special, lightweight umbrella I bought for the trip. He backtracks and searches each game he stopped at, to no avail. It’s gone. He even goes back and searches on Body Wars to be sure, but it’s definitely gone. No one turned it in either. Poor DH is very disheartened to realize that someone has stolen his umbrella… in Disney, of all places.
So we go back out into the rain with one less umbrella, and Chase now determined to spot the umbrella-thief somewhere in the park. (“Is that it, Dad? How about that one? Is that yours?”) We drop into the Electric Umbrella (how appropriate, eh?) to grab a bite to eat. Chase is complaining that he isn’t hungry and his tummy doesn’t feel right.
After a light lunch, we go our separate ways: DH and the kids to play in Innoventions, and me to find Lori, ChrisR and Kaycee in the World Showcase. We had agreed to meet each other in front of the Norway Bakery.
From under my umbrella, I spot a familiar face sitting at Norway. Yes! It is Lori. We wait a few minutes and Chris shows up. Not having heard from Kaycee at all, we set off to tour the countries. Lori and I ‘fess up that neither of us have spent too much time touring the countries. Since Chris lives nearby, and is a veteran of several “Behind-the-Scenes" tours, we draft her into being our tour-guide.
The rain ends up not being a deterrent to having fun for us. The temperature is pleasant, even if we are having a bad-hair day.
Chris shows us a great time. We got to see the surround movie in China, “Reflections of China” after touring around to see all the artifacts. We went into the American pavilion and watched the a capella group; American Vybe before heading in to see the American Adventure. We just LOVED all of it! Lori remembers hearing something about the US flag from the World Trade Towers being displayed at the American Pavilion. After checking with a CM, we find out that it has already moved on. Too bad! We leisurely cruise around the other side of the WS and lo and behold…it's time to show up in The Land for our group PS for the Ice Cream Social.
At the Garden Grill, Lori and I meet up with our families. Chris is flying solo today. We find we have only a cell phone message from Kaycee, but she’s not anywhere around. Neither can we find J&J’s Dad and Mom and their family. So we go in, leaving word at the desk where to find us should any more members show up.
Now, I had arranged to have the Re-Hitching ceremony for DH and me ahead of time. I also double-checked this at the desk before we went in. But after having so much fun at the Ice Cream Social with all the characters coming over, taking pictures, finding J&J’s Mom and Dad, etc, I forgot about it. Lori was kind enough to remind me just before we left. I asked the waiter about it when he was dropping off the check, and he returned just in time with a CM named Steve to perform the “ceremony”. We had to go drag my DH back in, as he’d already gathered up his backpack and was standing at the doorway. It was great fun. They did a silly little ceremony, then asked us to kiss to the count of 100 while everyone around us did the counting. Then they presented us with a certificate signed by the characters and the all-important, “Steve”. It was a big surprise to my DH, but he seemed excited and the kids especially loved it.
We then returned to Innoventions to play some more games, until Dane complained about wanting to go home. There was just enough time to get home for our afternoon revitalization, i.e.: nap…. before we had to be at Boma for a 7:00pm PS.
Boma was beautiful. The food was very different, which this time didn’t faze the kids. Evan and Jess actually tried some new and unusual foods along with the kid’s staples of chicken fingers and mac & cheese. The soups were the best things we found on the buffet. They were outstanding. Dane and I each had a different soup and one was as good as the other. We all tried the Zebra Domes, recommended by our waitress. They were very good, but I found other desserts that I liked even better than those. Chase was not eating. He appeared to be acting difficult and refused to try anything but a baked chicken drumstick. He couldn’t even be persuaded to get dessert.
Unfortunately, when we got home we found that our little Chase had a fever along with all the other dreaded symptoms of “sick stomach”. As it turned out he had to have had a flu, because he couldn’t keep anything in for a few more days. Now we realized Dane hadn’t just been being hard to get along with over the past few days, but must have had a touch of this bug too.
Day 7: Friday, June 20, 2003
Today is the start of our 5 consecutive Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure days. We purchased the on-line 2-day passes that allowed 5 days admission. Chase is too ill to go anywhere, so I stay home with him. That turned out to be a good thing for me too, because I got to straighten out our things: the new purchases, pictures, dishes, bathing suits, the laundry, etc. Chase and I got to spend some time in the pool and hot tub together, too.
The family returned to the house by late afternoon, all wet from the rain. We all (except Chase…yikes!) got something to eat, and then DH stayed home with our sick child while I returned to IOA with the teens. The rain had mostly stopped by then.
We got to do Poseidon’s Adventure and Dueling Dragons all together. I tried in vain to get a decent photo of the water vortex in Poseidon. Then I went into the store to find something for my sick baby back home while the teens went on the Hulk ride. I found a Hulk toy for Chase on sale, plus the extra 20% off with the AAA coupon, and I grabbed several Superhero pressed pennies for him while I waited. There were no lines anywhere at this time, so the kids were back very quickly. The park was now closing, so we headed home.
Day 8: Saturday, June 21, 2003
Chase has no fever today and seems to be empty of all ammunition, so we talk him into going out to the park with us. Today is planned for Universal Studios. DH pays for Preferred Parking, but as it turns out, they end up parking us at the very end of the parking line. That’s aaallll the way in the back of the parking garage. When we have to walk that far to get in, it’s sure not worth paying the extra money. All it does is put us in a closer parking lot, which isn’t important anyhow due to the moving sidewalks. What they really need to do is make the closest half of all the parking lots be the Preferred Parking area. I’d pay extra for that.
Everyone is looking forward to going on the two new rides: Jimmy Neutron and Shrek 4-D. After enduring the brutal search process….. (That’s sarcasm, folks. It’s a laugh after Disney’s bag searches. Here all they do is poke a stick into your bag after you’re through the turnstiles.) we form our strategy. Dad moves straight to the Express pass machine to grab passes for Shrek, while we go on Jimmy N. Unfortunately, the next available time for Shrek is at 7:00pm….and this is at 9:50am!! He gets passes for Jimmy N instead, as the standby line there is pretty long now. So, we form a change in attack plan. Seeing as all of creation is here at the entrance waiting to see the two new rides, we head to the other end of the park.
This turns out to be a wonderful plan. Men In Black and Back to the Future are both walk-ons. Evan and Jess decide since the crowds are still so low, to go do the rides in Amityville, too. We repeat MIB.
Now it’s time for our Express Pass return time for Jimmy Neutron. What cute theme-ing they did here. It was a great idea to make the cartoons current. It includes most all Nickelodeon cartoons: Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Rocket Power, Thornberrys, Spongebob, Invader Zim, Fairly Oddparents, Ren & Stimpy, etc. All shows familiar not only to kids, but parents with school age kids as well. The motion ride appears to be the same as the old Hanna-Barbera ride, just the movie and theme has been updated. They also have up-to-date characters around the park. We got some good pictures of Eliza Thornberry and Donnie (who delighted all with his recurrent “wedgie-dance”), as well as Jimmy Neutron. We saw, but did not get photos of Angelica and Tommy Pickles.
Now, using our AAA 20% off coupons, we get a discount lunch at Mel’s Drive-In. I had to go back to Schwab’s Pharmacy to grab my own sandwich first. Chase won’t eat, but that’s okay with us. As long he’s drinking enough water, I’m satisfied.
Now comes the event we’ve all been waiting for: Beetlejuice presents the Extreme Ghostbusters. We hurry over for the first show, get seats on the ground with a terrific view, and settle in. Beetlejuice comes out, starts his schpiel, the music starts, the Ghostbusters emerge and run right off again as an announcement comes over the PA that due to inclement weather (yes, a slight sun shower has started), the show has been cancelled. We all head dejectedly over to Twister. Wouldn’t you know it? A very large guy at least seven feet tall stands in front of us against the rail and completely obliterates our view! As if anyone that tall would need to stand in the front to see!! Sheesh!
We all go over now to Nickelodeon Studios for the tour…one of our favorites. Now they have only a few scheduled tour times, and unbelievably, the tour is much shorter than before. They rush us directly into the game room to have a mock game show. It was very funny, as they dressed two parents up in Jimmy Neutron costumes to participate. However, when the show ended, they led us right back outside! No tour of the facilities, sample-tasting of gak, or anything! What a gyp!!
At least it’s time now to catch the next Ghostbusters show. We hurry back to the NY street, when …oh no! More rain!! They begin with Beetlejuice’s intro, then the music, then we hold our collective breaths, and…..YES! The Ghostbusters start the show! We LOVE this show! It’s very funny and the guys really know how to dance. The premise is that Beetlejuice puts a hex on them so they start to involuntarily lip-synch and dance to songs, much like the characters in the movie did to Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O”.
Too bad they run back inside immediately after the show, delicate fellows that they are. No autographs or pictures with the guys today. Oh well, at least we got to see the show, so we’re happy about that.
The Shrek line now longer than ever, we decide to retreat home for our daily break and rest.
Poor Chase still isn’t feeling very well, but we head out to our PS at the Sunset Grill in Hard Rock Hotel for a character meal. We hoped to get to sit with Lori and family, but they’re all done with dinner when we arrive. The restaurant was only half-full, but they had been told they couldn’t change their seating time to the later time like ours. There doesn’t appear to be any valid reason for this that any of us can see, though.
They had only two characters at the character meal: Scooby Doo and Woody Woodpecker, both attired in leather jackets. They did okay, but it wasn’t really exciting. Lori spotted clues that the same person was playing both characters. My lobster wasn’t very good. It was dry and tasted like Florida sulpher-water. Chase ate only a little bit of macaroni from the children’s buffet. The others were pleased with their dinners, though.
We then went outside to the HRH pool to find Lori and her family. It was very pretty there. Chase immediately removed his shirt and shoes and jumped in the pool to play with Lori’s son. He went down the water slide and had a good time. The teens however, were standing around tapping their feet, looking impatient as we talked with Lori and her DH. After a too-brief visit, we took our wet kid and bored teens and left for home. Unfortunately, poor Chase didn’t make it into the house with his little bit of dinner intact.