fantayzya
07-26-2003, 01:05 AM
Or...
Well, I Thought I Had Packed Everything…
If there‘s one thing you would think I might have learned by now in regard to Daddio, it‘s that if I say I‘ve never done something and that I want to, it‘s going to happen. While this might sound great, there are times where one might regret it and wish they had kept their mouth shut. This was kind of one of those times. After WWIII during the night, taking into consideration that I don’t generally get a lot of sleep anyway and as such am usually on the tired side, and toss in a rather drastic time difference and that wake up call at 6 was…Well, Nate would say (If he hadn’t slept through that too) ’Mama, that was really rooood.’ But silly me, I had mentioned to Daddio that despite all my trips to WDW I had never actually seen a rope drop. We either waited to miss the crush of the crowd and got there right after, or went to Early Entry and were already having fun and didn’t take the time for it. Leave it to Daddio to try to make it so.
In order to assure that we were able to get spots right on the rope, Daddio kept us moving double quick and we fell into the car. Must have moved fast enough, the parking ramp wasn’t even open yet. Daddio knows me well, I needed (way beyond a ’want’ thing) my jump start. Get me coffee and I’m good to go. We had left before the continental breakfast (more on that later) was even open at the hotel so I needed my eye opener. Around the loop (Disneyland Drive, Katella, Harbor, Ball) and a stop at Mickey D’s for breakfast combos all around. Parking still wasn’t open, but at least we could use the time to eat. Were about the 6th car in line. We had to laugh a bit at the parking thing. They direct you on a grand tour of that great big empty structure that would have provided shade for those that get there early (and logically might also leave while it’s early - and still sunny, making your vehicle toasty) and then they park you outside in an uncovered lot. Upside is that we weren’t very far from the trams.
Folks were starting to line up at the entrance to the park but we figured we would still have a shot at good spots for a rope drop if we hurried to the end of Main Street. We waited, and waited. Why weren’t they letting folks in? We could see CM’s having a meeting at one end of the entrance plaza. Opening was at 8 a.m. and it was now 7:45. What’s up with that? At 8 sharp, they finally let us in. Seems there is no rope drop when it’s that early an opening. It was scheduled to be that early our whole visit. So, despite Daddio’s efforts, I still have not seen a rope drop. Ahh well, guess we need another trip. This wait did give me time to get some shots of the entrance to DCA without people in them. This is also where I discovered that I had left my big (256) Compact Flash card at home. I take lots of pics to keep records of my gardens and had dumped them to my hard drive before we left. Must have had a ‘moment’ and forgotten to put it back into it’s slot in the camera and left it in my ‘Dazzle’ reader. Fortunately I had a couple of smaller cards with me, but at 48 and 20, they just don’t have the capacity that the big one does. Ben has his camera too and he has a 64 so we should be okay. I just really thought I remembered everything. I got the pictures, and was going to get a shot of the star/compass thingie in the center of the plaza there but this ever so charming family came up and plopped right dead center in it asking me as they strolled on in if I was taking a picture of it. Yeah, they actually asked. I said I was going to if I could get one and do you think they would move? Nopers, they told me they were supposed to meet someone who was a CM who was going to get them into DCA for that day free and they were supposed to meet them just before the park opened right there on that star. I mentioned that DCA didn’t open till 10 and it was now about 7:30 . They said yep, they knew but didn’t want to be late or miss getting this spot. I never did get the picture.
The plan was to make a b-line for Indy. We did and it was pretty much a walk on. This is great, but also kind of a bummer as you get no time to explore the queue. We had told Nate about the fun stuff you can see while waiting for this one and we didn’t see any of it as the line of people practically ran through the queue area. Nate did fair. For a kid who isn’t afraid of anything in movies and such, he sure has his skittish moments. He said he didn’t like the big snake and insisted he didn’t want to go again either. So, since we were in the neighborhood, we thought the tamer Jungle Cruise might be in order to help him relax again. Had a fairly good captain, but we‘ve been spoiled by Maynard (who we unfortunately didn‘t get to see again on this trip) so even the great ones will seem only ‘fairly good to us‘.
Working our way around the loop, brings us to Tarzan’s Tree House, but we’re going to skip that one, at least for today, in favor of Pirates. I like to compare the rides common to both the MK and DL and try to find the differences. Pirates is obvious in many ways and not so obvious in others. In either place it’s one of our favorites. This ride is one that Nate has fairly clear memories of from the MK so it was fun pointing out things to him. He was quite excited when we told him we’d be back later for lunch at those tables you can see in the bayou part of the ride.
From Pirates, we had to figure out how to get through the grand stand that had been put up for the premiere party. They had put a narrow walkway under part of it to serve that purpose, but it was a very congested area most of the time we were there. The Haunted Mansion was our destination now. I love the HM. Ever since my first MK visit when the hitch-hiking ghost joined us in our ‘doom-buggy’ I’ve been hooked. Verdict on this one in regard to the comparison thing, MK is better outside, DL is better inside. I was busy snapping pictures of the outside stuff, the horseless hearse amuses me in a warped sort of way, so the family got ahead of me a bit. We were to be the last allowed in for this round in the stretch room so they were waiting for me. I entered the room, spotted DaGuys and began to swap my cameras from stills to video when one of those wonderfully dead pan CM’s let loose with a screech right behind me advising us to ‘move our wretched bodies to the dead center of the room’ I nearly jumped out of my skin causing DaGuys to nearly fall on the floor laughing at me. What a hoot! Ben and I rode together and he had fun spotting hidden Mickeys and teasing Nate and Daddio. The ride was all I knew it would be yet again. Someday I’m going to actually take the time to find the ring though.
Our next logical stop was at one of Nate’s all time favorites., Splash Mountain. We tease him from time to time about his first visit to Mickey’s House when he was 3 for our ‘Familymoon’ The ‘Zip-Dee-Doo-Dah Ride’ was his favorite on the night of the espresso tart caper he re-wrote the song a bit so it’s now a family joke. Poor kid, we’ll probably tell that story to his fiance’ someday and mortify him. The b’rers were all fine form as always and as with the others we spotted some differences between the parks as well. One thing that stands out to us in this ride each and every time we enjoy it and seems to be present in both versions is this obsession with Brer Bear’s behind. Nearly every scene he’s in his behind is the feature they are presenting most prominently. Or maybe it’s just us.
It was about 9:30 now (yes we did all that in about an hour and a half) and lines started to stretch a bit about then so we decided to cut across the park to the Matterhorn before it got too busy. We had to reassure Nate a bit after the upset tummy from Screamin’ but he was a trooper and really wanted to try it out. He chose to ride with Ben and I was right behind them being a drama queen about the tiny splatters that would (or wouldn’t) hit me as we flew by the various waterfalls. It kept him giggling at the thought that I was getting soaked while he stayed nice and dry. Even if it was a little bit of over acting. He loved the ride.
Next up was Toon Town. I have to admit I’ve not spent a ton of time at Toon Town Fair at the MK, but we did goof around in Toon Town on this trip. What funny fun! I wish they would put a Roger Rabbit type of attraction, it’s so silly. Pulling on door knobs , opening mailboxes and such can get you lots of silly surprises here too. Heck even getting a drink of water can be an adventure in Toon Town. DaBoyz and I spent some time having fun and poking around in the shops.
It was getting a little close to our PS time for Blue Bayou and as the lines had stretched a bit more, we just wandered a bit. Here’s where I found my next ’Oops, I forgot it’
I collect pins. Sometimes I trade, but since I only pick out pins that I really like, I don’t trade a whole lot. That said, I do have a pin bag that has some duplicates I picked up at TDS or somehow acquired along the way. Well, the opportunity presented itself to trade and when Daddio asked me if I had brought my pin bag to the park, I realized that this too was sitting by my desk at home. Ya know, I promised I wouldn’t get obsessive in my planning for this trip, but there really is something to be said for all the making of the lists and checking them hundreds of times that I usually do I guess. Our answer to the trade issue became a trip to the AAA booth to collect our free pins and lanyards as part of the passport packages I had bought. We were each to get 2 pins and a lanyard. I really didn’t need 8 copies of the same pin so the extra 7 became my traders for this trip. It worked out. I didn’t plan on getting too nuts about the pins this time anyway. Momentary lapse right there as I had completely forgotten that Daddio is a very accomplished enabler.
It was finally time to head over toward the Blue Bayou for lunch so off we went. It was only a very short wait till we were escorted to our lovely waterfront table. How cool is that? I hadn’t even put in a special request for that. (forgot that too) It was perfect! Daddio had the special. Beef medallions, and crab cakes. Mom had jambalaya, Ben had the Monte Cristo and Nate had the Long John Mickey nuggets. Mint Juleps all around. Yummy stuff. Ben and I had made an agreement to split our meals so as to both try them both and we did. We were both very surprised at how spicy the Disneyfied jambalaya was. Thank goodness for pepcid as my tummy doesn’t always do extra spicy so well these days. It was yummy, but I’d bet many people can’t do it. It was very hot and I like jambalaya. The Monte Cristo was also quite yummy. Poked around a bit more in the local shops and visited with the witch version of the Evil Queen from Snow White in her cage in Le Bat en Rouge then back tracked to Tomorrowland for a shot at Star Tours. The stand-by line was long so we got fast passes and then checked out Innoventions. While there are some pretty interesting things there, and in the ones at EPCOT, we rarely spend much time checking them out. It just doesn’t seem to hold our interest for very long. But Tomorrowland is kind of a bust for now as Space Mountain is closed so we thought we’d try it. Didn’t last long this time either though and we went back to our wandering and browsing the shops.
Nate was getting a bit overheated so he stayed in the shade with Daddio at the ‘Bad Boys’ area’ while Ben and I went to get him a personal fan and waters for all. After cooling Nate off, and the rest of us too, Daddio realized that it was time for the clock to chime on It’s a Small World. This is another attraction that I think is better at DL than at the MK. On the outside at least it is so much more interesting. Of course we had to take that charming little boat ride while we were there. Daddio just LOVES that little ditty.
By we were close to our time for Star Tours. This is another favorite of Nate’s. He is so able to suspend disbelief that he is convinced that we get the best of Darth Vadar each and every time we ride. Wish I were still able to do that.
Well, it was time. Big Thunder was calling our name. Nate was able to go on this one at MK on his first trip, and wanted to so badly. However, when we got going, he was so scared that he dropped to the floor in terror sliding under the bar, so at that point there was nothing holding him in and I had no way to get to him as the bar stopped me. Scared us both very badly. He doesn’t remember that, fortunately, and though I was nervous about his reaction, we wanted to try it again, and he did too. This time he would ride with Daddio. This line as we expected was also long so we had to get FP and wait., but not too long.
Saw that it was a walk on for the Mark Twain, and a leisurely cruise sounded quite nice. Plus it would take up just about the right amount of time so we boarded. Even though we had to stand the whole time, it was a nice cruise and relaxing. I often wonder if maybe I was born into the wrong time. This slower mode of travel has a definite appeal to me.
Sure enough it was now Fast Pass time but bummer, when we got to the entry of the queue the CM’s told us the ride was down. Whaaat!!! Don’t they know we have an excited though apprehensive young boy with us that we’ve been programming for weeks so he might be able to enjoy this attraction? Ahhh well. Can’t be helped. Though, now what were we to do?
I know, we haven’t had a Dole Whip yet and that was one of the things I was most excited about. This plan was adopted whole heartedly and we were off in that direction. Yeah we were off allright. Off on our timing or something as the Juice Bar was closed. This was a serious bummer as we had all had our hearts (and tummies) set on this tasty treat. No matter, we can adapt. How ‘bout ice cream, I’d heard about that Fantasia Ice Cream from the Gibson Girl shop on Main Street. It’s a bit farther to walk, but we all decided we were up for the task. The lure of a creamy cold treat was just too strong to be denied. Fantasia is all I read it was. YUMMY! We had the added bonus of the CM messing up our order, so one of the dishes of ice cream ended up being comped. Somehow treats always taste so good when they are free don’t you agree?
Well, let’s give that mountain one more try, shall we? Hey, it’s running. The line was huge but thank goodness for those Fast Passes we flew through the queue. Nate loved it. Ben and I sat behind Nate and Daddio and could hear him giggling the whole way. Daddio even got him to try raising his hands. He even wanted to go again so we got another fast pass.
We thought maybe things had died down a bit for Splash Mountain so we wandered that way to kill some time but it was still backed up and they weren’t offering fast passes for that one. Since our new fast passes for Big Thunder weren’t that long a wait, we just wandered some more till it was time for our trip on that runaway mine train. This time Nate rode with Ben and Daddio and I rode together behind them. Nate kept his arms in the air the whole ride and screamed and giggled through it all. When it was all over Daddio and I had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard at DaBoyz. What a great ending to this DL day.
DaBoyz mentioned that they were hungerful so we stopped for a corn dog and chowed a bit before leaving the park.
This was as good a time as any to do a quick look see around Downtown Disney so we did just that but weren’t really impressed. I think even Daddio is partial to the Orlando version. But we were shopped out for the night and not hungry. That didn’t seem to leave much in the way of offerings for us right then. Plus a bit of jet lag was setting in and we were getting pretty tired. So we hopped aboard the next available tram, found our wheels and went back to the hotel for some pre-pass out tubbing.
The fireworks show was a tad earlier than last night and DaBoyz were still conscious. After watching them they couldn’t believe they slept through the explosions the night before. PJ’s on we settled in to wind down with a movie before passing out. Then called it a night.
Think we got much sleep? Not hardly, our roood visitor tonight was in the form of the smoke alarm in our room about 4 a.m. It didn’t want to shut off either. Daddio finally had to rip it from the ceiling to get it to quiet down. There was no fire or any smoke so we have no idea why it went off. Daddio called the desk and they said just pull the battery and leave it on the table. Guess this isn’t abnormal for them. Yet again we had trouble getting back to sleep and finally gave it up around 6.
Well, I Thought I Had Packed Everything…
If there‘s one thing you would think I might have learned by now in regard to Daddio, it‘s that if I say I‘ve never done something and that I want to, it‘s going to happen. While this might sound great, there are times where one might regret it and wish they had kept their mouth shut. This was kind of one of those times. After WWIII during the night, taking into consideration that I don’t generally get a lot of sleep anyway and as such am usually on the tired side, and toss in a rather drastic time difference and that wake up call at 6 was…Well, Nate would say (If he hadn’t slept through that too) ’Mama, that was really rooood.’ But silly me, I had mentioned to Daddio that despite all my trips to WDW I had never actually seen a rope drop. We either waited to miss the crush of the crowd and got there right after, or went to Early Entry and were already having fun and didn’t take the time for it. Leave it to Daddio to try to make it so.
In order to assure that we were able to get spots right on the rope, Daddio kept us moving double quick and we fell into the car. Must have moved fast enough, the parking ramp wasn’t even open yet. Daddio knows me well, I needed (way beyond a ’want’ thing) my jump start. Get me coffee and I’m good to go. We had left before the continental breakfast (more on that later) was even open at the hotel so I needed my eye opener. Around the loop (Disneyland Drive, Katella, Harbor, Ball) and a stop at Mickey D’s for breakfast combos all around. Parking still wasn’t open, but at least we could use the time to eat. Were about the 6th car in line. We had to laugh a bit at the parking thing. They direct you on a grand tour of that great big empty structure that would have provided shade for those that get there early (and logically might also leave while it’s early - and still sunny, making your vehicle toasty) and then they park you outside in an uncovered lot. Upside is that we weren’t very far from the trams.
Folks were starting to line up at the entrance to the park but we figured we would still have a shot at good spots for a rope drop if we hurried to the end of Main Street. We waited, and waited. Why weren’t they letting folks in? We could see CM’s having a meeting at one end of the entrance plaza. Opening was at 8 a.m. and it was now 7:45. What’s up with that? At 8 sharp, they finally let us in. Seems there is no rope drop when it’s that early an opening. It was scheduled to be that early our whole visit. So, despite Daddio’s efforts, I still have not seen a rope drop. Ahh well, guess we need another trip. This wait did give me time to get some shots of the entrance to DCA without people in them. This is also where I discovered that I had left my big (256) Compact Flash card at home. I take lots of pics to keep records of my gardens and had dumped them to my hard drive before we left. Must have had a ‘moment’ and forgotten to put it back into it’s slot in the camera and left it in my ‘Dazzle’ reader. Fortunately I had a couple of smaller cards with me, but at 48 and 20, they just don’t have the capacity that the big one does. Ben has his camera too and he has a 64 so we should be okay. I just really thought I remembered everything. I got the pictures, and was going to get a shot of the star/compass thingie in the center of the plaza there but this ever so charming family came up and plopped right dead center in it asking me as they strolled on in if I was taking a picture of it. Yeah, they actually asked. I said I was going to if I could get one and do you think they would move? Nopers, they told me they were supposed to meet someone who was a CM who was going to get them into DCA for that day free and they were supposed to meet them just before the park opened right there on that star. I mentioned that DCA didn’t open till 10 and it was now about 7:30 . They said yep, they knew but didn’t want to be late or miss getting this spot. I never did get the picture.
The plan was to make a b-line for Indy. We did and it was pretty much a walk on. This is great, but also kind of a bummer as you get no time to explore the queue. We had told Nate about the fun stuff you can see while waiting for this one and we didn’t see any of it as the line of people practically ran through the queue area. Nate did fair. For a kid who isn’t afraid of anything in movies and such, he sure has his skittish moments. He said he didn’t like the big snake and insisted he didn’t want to go again either. So, since we were in the neighborhood, we thought the tamer Jungle Cruise might be in order to help him relax again. Had a fairly good captain, but we‘ve been spoiled by Maynard (who we unfortunately didn‘t get to see again on this trip) so even the great ones will seem only ‘fairly good to us‘.
Working our way around the loop, brings us to Tarzan’s Tree House, but we’re going to skip that one, at least for today, in favor of Pirates. I like to compare the rides common to both the MK and DL and try to find the differences. Pirates is obvious in many ways and not so obvious in others. In either place it’s one of our favorites. This ride is one that Nate has fairly clear memories of from the MK so it was fun pointing out things to him. He was quite excited when we told him we’d be back later for lunch at those tables you can see in the bayou part of the ride.
From Pirates, we had to figure out how to get through the grand stand that had been put up for the premiere party. They had put a narrow walkway under part of it to serve that purpose, but it was a very congested area most of the time we were there. The Haunted Mansion was our destination now. I love the HM. Ever since my first MK visit when the hitch-hiking ghost joined us in our ‘doom-buggy’ I’ve been hooked. Verdict on this one in regard to the comparison thing, MK is better outside, DL is better inside. I was busy snapping pictures of the outside stuff, the horseless hearse amuses me in a warped sort of way, so the family got ahead of me a bit. We were to be the last allowed in for this round in the stretch room so they were waiting for me. I entered the room, spotted DaGuys and began to swap my cameras from stills to video when one of those wonderfully dead pan CM’s let loose with a screech right behind me advising us to ‘move our wretched bodies to the dead center of the room’ I nearly jumped out of my skin causing DaGuys to nearly fall on the floor laughing at me. What a hoot! Ben and I rode together and he had fun spotting hidden Mickeys and teasing Nate and Daddio. The ride was all I knew it would be yet again. Someday I’m going to actually take the time to find the ring though.
Our next logical stop was at one of Nate’s all time favorites., Splash Mountain. We tease him from time to time about his first visit to Mickey’s House when he was 3 for our ‘Familymoon’ The ‘Zip-Dee-Doo-Dah Ride’ was his favorite on the night of the espresso tart caper he re-wrote the song a bit so it’s now a family joke. Poor kid, we’ll probably tell that story to his fiance’ someday and mortify him. The b’rers were all fine form as always and as with the others we spotted some differences between the parks as well. One thing that stands out to us in this ride each and every time we enjoy it and seems to be present in both versions is this obsession with Brer Bear’s behind. Nearly every scene he’s in his behind is the feature they are presenting most prominently. Or maybe it’s just us.
It was about 9:30 now (yes we did all that in about an hour and a half) and lines started to stretch a bit about then so we decided to cut across the park to the Matterhorn before it got too busy. We had to reassure Nate a bit after the upset tummy from Screamin’ but he was a trooper and really wanted to try it out. He chose to ride with Ben and I was right behind them being a drama queen about the tiny splatters that would (or wouldn’t) hit me as we flew by the various waterfalls. It kept him giggling at the thought that I was getting soaked while he stayed nice and dry. Even if it was a little bit of over acting. He loved the ride.
Next up was Toon Town. I have to admit I’ve not spent a ton of time at Toon Town Fair at the MK, but we did goof around in Toon Town on this trip. What funny fun! I wish they would put a Roger Rabbit type of attraction, it’s so silly. Pulling on door knobs , opening mailboxes and such can get you lots of silly surprises here too. Heck even getting a drink of water can be an adventure in Toon Town. DaBoyz and I spent some time having fun and poking around in the shops.
It was getting a little close to our PS time for Blue Bayou and as the lines had stretched a bit more, we just wandered a bit. Here’s where I found my next ’Oops, I forgot it’
I collect pins. Sometimes I trade, but since I only pick out pins that I really like, I don’t trade a whole lot. That said, I do have a pin bag that has some duplicates I picked up at TDS or somehow acquired along the way. Well, the opportunity presented itself to trade and when Daddio asked me if I had brought my pin bag to the park, I realized that this too was sitting by my desk at home. Ya know, I promised I wouldn’t get obsessive in my planning for this trip, but there really is something to be said for all the making of the lists and checking them hundreds of times that I usually do I guess. Our answer to the trade issue became a trip to the AAA booth to collect our free pins and lanyards as part of the passport packages I had bought. We were each to get 2 pins and a lanyard. I really didn’t need 8 copies of the same pin so the extra 7 became my traders for this trip. It worked out. I didn’t plan on getting too nuts about the pins this time anyway. Momentary lapse right there as I had completely forgotten that Daddio is a very accomplished enabler.
It was finally time to head over toward the Blue Bayou for lunch so off we went. It was only a very short wait till we were escorted to our lovely waterfront table. How cool is that? I hadn’t even put in a special request for that. (forgot that too) It was perfect! Daddio had the special. Beef medallions, and crab cakes. Mom had jambalaya, Ben had the Monte Cristo and Nate had the Long John Mickey nuggets. Mint Juleps all around. Yummy stuff. Ben and I had made an agreement to split our meals so as to both try them both and we did. We were both very surprised at how spicy the Disneyfied jambalaya was. Thank goodness for pepcid as my tummy doesn’t always do extra spicy so well these days. It was yummy, but I’d bet many people can’t do it. It was very hot and I like jambalaya. The Monte Cristo was also quite yummy. Poked around a bit more in the local shops and visited with the witch version of the Evil Queen from Snow White in her cage in Le Bat en Rouge then back tracked to Tomorrowland for a shot at Star Tours. The stand-by line was long so we got fast passes and then checked out Innoventions. While there are some pretty interesting things there, and in the ones at EPCOT, we rarely spend much time checking them out. It just doesn’t seem to hold our interest for very long. But Tomorrowland is kind of a bust for now as Space Mountain is closed so we thought we’d try it. Didn’t last long this time either though and we went back to our wandering and browsing the shops.
Nate was getting a bit overheated so he stayed in the shade with Daddio at the ‘Bad Boys’ area’ while Ben and I went to get him a personal fan and waters for all. After cooling Nate off, and the rest of us too, Daddio realized that it was time for the clock to chime on It’s a Small World. This is another attraction that I think is better at DL than at the MK. On the outside at least it is so much more interesting. Of course we had to take that charming little boat ride while we were there. Daddio just LOVES that little ditty.
By we were close to our time for Star Tours. This is another favorite of Nate’s. He is so able to suspend disbelief that he is convinced that we get the best of Darth Vadar each and every time we ride. Wish I were still able to do that.
Well, it was time. Big Thunder was calling our name. Nate was able to go on this one at MK on his first trip, and wanted to so badly. However, when we got going, he was so scared that he dropped to the floor in terror sliding under the bar, so at that point there was nothing holding him in and I had no way to get to him as the bar stopped me. Scared us both very badly. He doesn’t remember that, fortunately, and though I was nervous about his reaction, we wanted to try it again, and he did too. This time he would ride with Daddio. This line as we expected was also long so we had to get FP and wait., but not too long.
Saw that it was a walk on for the Mark Twain, and a leisurely cruise sounded quite nice. Plus it would take up just about the right amount of time so we boarded. Even though we had to stand the whole time, it was a nice cruise and relaxing. I often wonder if maybe I was born into the wrong time. This slower mode of travel has a definite appeal to me.
Sure enough it was now Fast Pass time but bummer, when we got to the entry of the queue the CM’s told us the ride was down. Whaaat!!! Don’t they know we have an excited though apprehensive young boy with us that we’ve been programming for weeks so he might be able to enjoy this attraction? Ahhh well. Can’t be helped. Though, now what were we to do?
I know, we haven’t had a Dole Whip yet and that was one of the things I was most excited about. This plan was adopted whole heartedly and we were off in that direction. Yeah we were off allright. Off on our timing or something as the Juice Bar was closed. This was a serious bummer as we had all had our hearts (and tummies) set on this tasty treat. No matter, we can adapt. How ‘bout ice cream, I’d heard about that Fantasia Ice Cream from the Gibson Girl shop on Main Street. It’s a bit farther to walk, but we all decided we were up for the task. The lure of a creamy cold treat was just too strong to be denied. Fantasia is all I read it was. YUMMY! We had the added bonus of the CM messing up our order, so one of the dishes of ice cream ended up being comped. Somehow treats always taste so good when they are free don’t you agree?
Well, let’s give that mountain one more try, shall we? Hey, it’s running. The line was huge but thank goodness for those Fast Passes we flew through the queue. Nate loved it. Ben and I sat behind Nate and Daddio and could hear him giggling the whole way. Daddio even got him to try raising his hands. He even wanted to go again so we got another fast pass.
We thought maybe things had died down a bit for Splash Mountain so we wandered that way to kill some time but it was still backed up and they weren’t offering fast passes for that one. Since our new fast passes for Big Thunder weren’t that long a wait, we just wandered some more till it was time for our trip on that runaway mine train. This time Nate rode with Ben and Daddio and I rode together behind them. Nate kept his arms in the air the whole ride and screamed and giggled through it all. When it was all over Daddio and I had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard at DaBoyz. What a great ending to this DL day.
DaBoyz mentioned that they were hungerful so we stopped for a corn dog and chowed a bit before leaving the park.
This was as good a time as any to do a quick look see around Downtown Disney so we did just that but weren’t really impressed. I think even Daddio is partial to the Orlando version. But we were shopped out for the night and not hungry. That didn’t seem to leave much in the way of offerings for us right then. Plus a bit of jet lag was setting in and we were getting pretty tired. So we hopped aboard the next available tram, found our wheels and went back to the hotel for some pre-pass out tubbing.
The fireworks show was a tad earlier than last night and DaBoyz were still conscious. After watching them they couldn’t believe they slept through the explosions the night before. PJ’s on we settled in to wind down with a movie before passing out. Then called it a night.
Think we got much sleep? Not hardly, our roood visitor tonight was in the form of the smoke alarm in our room about 4 a.m. It didn’t want to shut off either. Daddio finally had to rip it from the ceiling to get it to quiet down. There was no fire or any smoke so we have no idea why it went off. Daddio called the desk and they said just pull the battery and leave it on the table. Guess this isn’t abnormal for them. Yet again we had trouble getting back to sleep and finally gave it up around 6.