"That’s one really expensive bottle of cologne" Trip report - Thread two "The final hours and a magical send off from the “World”" - UPDATED 12/29 About This Page:

[DyanKJ130]

Just found your second thread! Sounds like a wonderful reunion with Teena!! Too funny about Daisy still being 'with egg!' And, I honestly don't understand why those butterflies wouldn't land on Kiara!! Can't wait to hear more

[Nala]

We made our way to the Soarin’ FP queue and as we got close, Kiara began to put up a bit of resistance. Prior to our trip on Living with the Land, we had made a stop in the ladies room, and much to my surprise, she didn’t even attempt to use that excuse to dodge the line. If anyone has ever taken a reluctant pet to the vet, where they stop dead in their tracks and begin to pull back on the leash and drag their feet, this was Kiara. Minus the leash, of course. And we weren’t even in the line yet! With some smooth talking from all of us, and reminding Kiara that she would see fireworks (for some odd reason, she loves the fireworks in Soarin’) AND Tinkerbell, she gave up the fight and quietly joined us in line.

Notice I say line. And what a long line for a FP return it was. For some reason, it seemed to be backed up at the entrance. We were about twenty to twenty five people back waiting to show our FPs when we began to wonder what the hold up was. Grumpy and I both took a look around the line at the entrance and what we saw was both heartbreaking and disturbing. Apparently, a family with two young children were having an issue with the height requirement of the ride. While one child was not even close to clearing the mark, and was standing off to the side with the father, the other one was about ¾ of an inch shy. And the mother was not about to accept “No” for an answer from the CMs working the entrance. She repeatedly had them measure her child again and again, coached him to stand up straighter, and even after doing so and still failing to make the mark, began to berate the CMs for not letting her son on the ride. She ranted for a bit, the line behind her continued to grow, and finally the father coaxed her to walk away. But as she did, threw nasty remarks at the CMs. While one of the CMs didn’t seem too shaken by the event, the other one clearly was. The shaken CM then turned her attention to the waiting guests, began to check FPs and let people into the queue, all the while attempting to smile.

Our turn came, I showed our FPs, she waved us into the queue, but I stopped to say something to her before moving on. Before she could turn her attention to the guests behind us I said “I want to thank you for doing your part to keep our children safe”.

The look on her face was priceless. It was one of gratitude that someone, other than a CM, understood and supported why she did what she had just done. I saw tears begin to well up in her eyes and she stated a very heartfelt thank you to me. As I moved away from her, I saw the other CM standing right inside the stand by queue and stopped to tell her the same. While her reaction was not quite as emotional as the first CM, it was clear she also appreciated the pat on the back from a random guest.

As tempting as it is, I am not even going to let myself get up on my soap box about this subject. It would be way too easy and way too long. Enough said.

Anyway, after explaining to Peter Pan, as we walked along the long queue, why I felt compelled to say what I did to the CMs, we came to a stopping point. Kiara was no longer putting up a fight to get on Soarin’ and that made me quite happy. Much to my dismay, we were stopped right at the cut off point for the loading zone for the hangers and had to wait for the next cycle. I wasn’t happy about this as I feared it would give Kiara time to resists and protest for longer than I cared for. But I was shocked to discover that Kiara’s protest seemed to be over. She quietly stood with us until we were escorted into our spots in the hanger waiting area. Besides the bliss of Kiara’s cooperation, Grumpy and I were happy to see that we were going to be in the front row!

The doors opened, we claimed our seats and began to buckle in. I was the only member of my pride wearing shoes what couldn’t fall off, and when Grumpy and Peter Pan took theirs off, we had to convince Kiara to do the same. She became quite distressed about this as she feared she would never see her beloved Hello Kitty Crocs knock offs ever again. We were finally able to get them off her feet and as the lights when out and we started to move upwards, Kiara bid a pitiful goodbye to her shoes. “Bye Hello Kitty Crocs, I’ll miss you!” We all got a good laugh out of this and I promised her she would see them again in a few minutes.

The ride was just as glorious and wonderful as it was the first time, and as I kept a close eye on Kiara, I also watched Peter Pan’s face. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t suffering from any motion sickness, but I also wanted to see his reaction. The smile on both their faces was precious. We soared through the forests and orange groves, my personal favorites, the mountains and over the bay and soon were over the city and all its bright lights. The three of us knew the end was near and Kiara became wildly excited as she knew Tink was about to appear. She squealed with glee when her favorite pixie arrived on the screen, prepared her self for the fireworks, flinched a bit at some of the loud booms, but clearly loved every minute of it. And so did Peter Pan. I was happy both of them enjoyed the ride, and even more happy that Peter Pan was feeling fine!

When we made our way back to the starting point, Kiara was overjoyed to find her shoes waiting for her. As much as she enjoyed her ride, I think the highlight of our flight for her was the fact that she was able to reclaim her Hello Kitty’s.

Getting out of the Land proved to be an adventure as I think 90% of the crowd at Epcot that day was there. Peter Pan and I got split up from Grumpy and Kiara in the massive sea of people, but all made it safely out and hooked up together outside. Once together again, it was time to discuss what to do next. Peter Pan wanted to ride Test Track, but was also hungry. We decided to head to TT, grab FPs in the hopes that the time would be later in the day, and then head to the WS to get some lunch. As luck would have it, the FP return was for several hours later and the time allowed us plenty of time to eat and do some touring of the WSC. Perfect!

Since this trip was spur of the moment, and such a short one, we decided it would be best for us to skip any sit down meals and do only counter service. This really worked out well for us, as it gave us the chance to try a place or two we had always wanted, but never managed to do. One of those places was the Cantina de San Angel. After a quick check with Peter Pan to make sure Mexican food was OK with him, we headed towards Mexico. It was also a happy coincidence that one of my favorite WSC AFBs was served in this location.

After a quick review of the menu, I decided I wanted nachos. I knew Kiara would love these too, so an order to split between us was our decision. Peter Pan also decided nachos sounded good and so did Grumpy. Could it be any easier than that? And while the line at the counter was not horribly long, we discovered the side window, which sold margaritas, also had nachos on their shortened version of the menu. And there was no line there. We stepped up and placed our order for two orders or nachos, two lime margaritas, and two fruit smoothies, or smushies as Kiara calls them, and while Grumpy paid the bill, I took the kids to find a table. This proved to be an easy feat, as the tables behind the bar were completely empty. Grumpy soon joined us with the food and as he sat down said “ Dang! Thirty dollar chili last night, fifty dollar nachos today”. Of course, that total included two AFBs and two FBs, but his comment cause both Peter Pan and I to laugh.

I have to say that those fifty dollar nachos were money well spent. The food was great, and two orders of them were the perfect amount of food for us. The table we were sitting at was out of the way and we were able to enjoy our lunch in a lovely and quiet atmosphere. Munching on the nachos, sipping that wonderful margarita, and having a quiet moment with my pride to just relax and enjoy all around us was worth every penny. The Cantina is a place we look forward to visiting again.

Once the nachos and AFBs/FBs had been properly devoured, it was time to move on. As luck would have it, one of my favorite sites in all of the WSC was near by. There was nothing I could do to stop the huge grin that formed on my face as we approached it.



I am not ashamed to admit that I am a total doof for that grass roof. I have no idea why, and no desire to analyze my obsession with this thing. I just think it is beautiful and awesome and love to look at it. Thanks to the F&G festival, it was especially beautiful as it was dotted with lovely little flowers.

As a side note here, we just replaced the roof on our covered deck, and for a brief, crazy moment, Grumpy, after my suggestion, gave serious thought to doing this to it. I made the fatal error of asking the question “How the heck would you mow something like that?” and within in seconds, Grumpy, who has a fear of heights, (and does the mowing) was checking the price of shingles in Menard’s weekly add. Me and my big mouth! But seriously, how the heck do you mow one of those?

Anyway, we decided to check out Norway and Peter Pan wanted to ride Maelstrom. I was up for a ride, and as we approached it, Kiara got excited and stated she wanted to ride too. This both surprised and delighted me, as she has never been fond of this ride (thanks to the darkness) but once we got to the queue, she backed out. I was so looking forward to an entire family trip on this ride, so we decided to stand at the waterfall, let her watch the boats in the window above, talk to her about the ride and let her have a chance to change her mind. While she did sway back and forth about braving the ride, she soon decided she wanted nothing to do with it. Knowing that we were fighting a loosing battle, and burning daylight, Peter Pan and I decided to head in without her while she waited with Grumpy. I told her to keep an eye on the opening above the waterfall and we would wave at her as we went by.

The posted wait time was twenty minutes, which was about ten minutes more than I cared to wait for this ride, but once again, we were pleasantly surprised that within five minutes we were in our boat. This was really becoming a trend for us this trip. As luck would have it, Peter Pan and I were seated in the back row and I knew that position would provide Grumpy and Kiara with a view of us as we passed by above them. We sailed through the land of the Midnight Sun, dodged the trolls and when the time came, waved wildly to Grumpy and Kiara below us. I was thrilled to see that both of them had spotted us and waved back. When we exited the ride, Kiara was tickled pink that she had seen me on the ride.

As we began to move out of Norway, I remembered something I had read about the pavilion that was special for the F&G Festival. Trolls were apparently hidden all around and after several years of enjoying the festival,. we were yet to spot one. I guess the key to spotting them, is to look for them as when I mentioned this to Grumpy, Mr. Observant began to spot them everywhere.



Isn't troll love sweet?



As Grumpy was finding and pointing them out, I stated I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t one on the grass roof. Mr. Observant looked at the roof and said “What about that one?”



I think at that moment, my heart completely melted. Thank goodness my darling Grumpy has the eyes of an eagle and pointed this adorable little guy out to me.

While I could have happily spent the entire day looking for more trolls and gazing lovingly at the grass roof , I had the rest of the pride to consider The remainder of the WSC was beckoning us to explore it.


Up next: More of the WSC and Kiara finds herself in Hello Kitty heaven.

[B.M.]

great update! Glad everyone enjoyed Soarin' despite the persistant family that was holding up the line.

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Nala!! How nice of you to reassure the CM at Soarin' after she dealt with the very rude guest Glad Kiara rode it and had a great time! And lunch sounded great at the Cantina $50 well spent We too love the grass roof and my DH has had a thought or too of putting one in. Unfortunately (or I guess fortunately) we have a 12 pitch roof so there's no way that would ever work

Hurry back with more

[mcc0313]

Nala I was so ahppy to see a new post from you....I have been missing your TR. Your morning sounded so wonderful with some one-on-one time with Kiara and spending time with Teena I am so glad that Kiara enjoyed her time with her (and had some fun pin trading).

Epcot sounded like bliss (as always - I could have a wonderful day there even in the pouring rain). Nemo is such a great ride....I love the theming glad that you and Grumpy had Peter Pan there so you both could enjoy a few minutes alone in your clam shell...

Reading your rant reminded me of a similar one that I posted in my recent TR....we had the same problem over at Philamagic, there was long lines and people were just bent on sitting dead center (not that I do not understand people wanting to sit there) but there would not even get up so people could pass them....what irrated me the most is how they blantely ignored the CM's as well....

I definitely understood your frustration.

So glad that Kiara's protests on Soarin did not last long and that she ended up having a wonderful ride (and a great reunion with the Hello Kitty crocs). I felt so bad reading about the CM at the ride...it is terrible when you see someone taking their anger over a rule out on the CM especially when the rule is in place in order to protect the visitors - I am sure that you few kind words meant so much to them.

Cantina San Angel happens to be one of our favorites (ok probably my favorite) out of all the CS in the WS. We love the food and we stop there each trip for lunch - plus the servings are so large that you can definitely split one....(and with the FB's sold there as well - definitely a top choice )

Loved the pictures of the hidden (well not hidden to Grumpy) trolls....Can't wait to hear more Nala about this wonderful trip and your tribe.

[ArielsMomto2]

Great update Nala. So glad Kiara decided to ride Soarin and her Hello Kitty crocs were waiting for her. I'm sure that made her very happy. The cantina sounds really good. May have to try that sometime. Love your pics of the trolls. I've never noticed them before. That grass roof is so gorgeous but I too wonder how they "mow" it. Hurry back. Looking forward to hearing more about WS.

[JaimeandChad]

Nala, the nice thing you said to the CM was something talked about on another board (the cm shared their story) and it made their day. about the $50 nachos. Glad you guys had fun!! The mowing the roof, that is a good question!

[KandJluvdisney]

great update nala
glad kiara decided to ride soarin and how happy she was to get her shoes back
glad you enjoyed your lunch at the cantina
hurry back with more please

[Jillybean]

I am just thrilled that Kiara was really able to enjoy her Soarin' ride - - along with Peter Pan! You know that you're doing my favorite thing -- winding your way around WS!

Jill

[disneydani]

Glad Kiara's nerve hung tight and you all could enjoy Soarin'...save the unpleasantness you witnessed with the height requirements. Lunch sounded delish, glad you are enjoying your WS tour!

danielle

[lindawdw]

Sounds like a perfect day so far! That was so nice to meet up with Teena and give Kiara the opportunity to do some pin trading. Glad that you all got to ride Soarin together and that Peter Pan enjoyed it as much as you do. He sounds like such a sweet young man and it's so nice to see how much he enjoys spending time with you all. Hurry back with more.

[pamcarey]

I was so excited to see an update today, and surprised to find out that I missed an update four days ago!! I'm loving hearing all about your trip. I've never tried the Cantina San Angel, but it sounds like maybe I should!

[DyanKJ130]

Great update! for those CMs at Soarin' Kiara's reaction to leaving and reuniting with her shoes had me Grumpy's reaction to food prices is hysterical too! And the grass roof mowing I want to say I saw a photo with some CMs sitting up there cutting it by hand - can't remember where I saw it and couldn't find it with a search, but I sure know I don't think I'd like that job too much - I'd probably be too tempted to roll in the grass and roll right off the roof!!

[piratefreak]

Great update Nala. Way to go with your p[at on the back for the CMs, I am sure that made their day. So glad Kiara braved Soarin and enjoyed herself. Sounds like a great afternoon. Nachos sounds so good right now. I never knew that about the trolls. Now I will need to be on the lookout next year. Can't wait for more.

[POOH]

Way to go in praising the CM at Soarin'. It really frustrates me when adults fight with the CM over the heights. The requirements are there to keep everyone safe. I bet if a CM would give in to one of these adults that berates the CM and then something happens to the child, they'd be running to their lawyers, saying it's all the CM's fault for letting the child on. OK-rant over, sorry.
Loving your updates. So happy that Kiara didn't fight to ride Soarin'.