Using My Powers for Good - 4/29-5/7 - Thread 1 - thru Day 4 About This Page:

[Caldercup]

April 30th - Day 2 - part 2

We rejoin our intrepid travelers after their quick sail on the good ship "I-Can't-Get-That-Song-Outta-My-Head!"

Back in the sunshine, we headed over to Haunted Mansion. Michael was hesitant, but Calder was trying to give him some courage. I quietly talked to him in line and asked him if he’d like me to tell him room-by-room what he would see and offered to explain how they did it. He nodded and I started to fill him in.



He even got into it enough to "pet" the invisible horse pulling the hearse.



As we got to Madame Leota’s tomb, I thought he was ready to ride. We got into the stretching room and he was okay – as long as I kept an arm around him and told him when the lightening was coming. Bob tried to show him how funny the revealed sections of the portraits are, but I could feel Michael faltering. We moved on into the doombuggy line and Michael saw the “chicken exit.” That was it for him! He begged to leave and, before Donna could give up her place in line, I took his hand and we headed out – after all, I knew I would get to ride this on my Keys to the Kingdom tour in two days. We went down a hallway and exited right after the area where you get off the doombuggies. I showed him the funny tombs and the engagement ring. He liked the pet cemetery and seemed himself after a minute or so and we had a nice chat. I just loved the look on Donna’s face when they rejoined us!


[Post mortem]

We all walked along the “dock” to Splash Mountain – after Calder pointed out the “Liberty Bell” and the stocks in Liberty Square. Everyone thought this was some sort of cool “shortcut”… I don’t think it’s significantly shorter, I just use it because it’s usually less crowded than the main road of Frontierland. We got to Splash and there was a 30 minute wait for both Big Thunder Mountain and Splash. I asked Michael to decide and he chose Splash. We got into line and …waited and waited and waited. It gave Calder and Michael some good time to chat and for Michael to regain his joie de vivre. I love this pic – it’s about as far apart as they were all week. What a great bonding experience!


[Frick and Frack]

Well, I was getting a tad worried that we didn’t have enough time to get to our PS at the Whispering Canyon Café and the line seemed to be going nowhere fast. Finally, we got to a turn in the ropes where I knew we could escape to the exit area and I took a quick poll. Everyone was starved and willing to just get out and hop the train back to Main Street. Off we went and got some very strange looks from the “cattle” behind us. <shrug> The train ride was fun (although hunger started to wear on Stephen’s patience and he had a little tantrum and got into a little trouble with his dad.) Well, we finally made it to the Main Street Station and headed out to the resort launch. One was waiting for us and we hopped on. Brian spotted this Hidden Mickey on the boat.


[All Ears On Deck]

I sat Stephen next to me so he could have a few moments to chill and to take in the sights. We had a great captain who’s name tag said “Bing”… She was wonderfully chatty and told me that she does this route about 8 to 10 times a day. She had lots to tell us about the boat and the waterways – I love chatting up the CMs. She pointed out that there is a “bear's face” in the Wilderness Lodge from the water entryway. There are two eyebrow windows at the top and a larger one in the middle (nose). There are also two rock pillars that make his teeth. Check it out


[Thems bears in them thar resort]

We got off and headed in for our PS. The place was practically empty and I didn’t see a ketchup-laden table anywhere. Oh, no. I’d been playing up this place as being noisy and raucous. Don’t tell me they don’t do the big “show” for lunch… <sigh> Gram Willa was our server and she was lovely and warm, but not into pulling the gags on the kids. Calder dropped his fork twice and she just brought him a clean one. <double sigh> The boys did love their shakes though and each had two of them – even Bob… who got into a who-can-have-more-shakes contest with Brian. (Honey, never dare a 12 year old boy that you can eat more than him!) Needless to say, Brian won! The kids had chicken fingers and mac and cheese all around. Bob and I split an order of nachos (which were light and delicious and topped with a great black been chili) and a pulled pork sandwich. The BBQ sauce for the pork was fantastic and I’ve got to find a recipe for it or at least find out what brand it is if it’s a purchased sauce. I’m also a sucker for baked beans and these were great. The meal for all of us cost 96.96 after our DDE savings of 18.79 (gratuity included) Despite the lack of a show, the meal was a big hit and everyone enjoyed the hotel, especially the totem pole. (Let me tell you, getting four boys to look at the same camera and have equally good smiles and expressions is hard. I think I had to take 10 pictures before deciding that this one was decent!)


[Totem boys]

We walked out to the dock area and I just happened to check my watch. Wow! If we could just wait for 3 minutes, we’d get to see the geyser. The boys tried to kill themselves sitting on the railing and Donna and I kept letting out little gasps of fear when one would teeter on the edge. I still can’t believe they came away without splinters. Good thing that Bob’s new Canon takes rapid fire shots. He managed to get a great shot of all the boys with the geyser doing its thing.


[Young Faithful]

We took the boat back – the captain wasn’t chatty and I was too full to make conversation anyway. Bob was snapping away with his new little camera and took this shot that he was very happy with. It's hard to see in this size, but what made me so happy about it was that Bob said it captured everything in one shot - the monorail, the train station and the castle. He seemed really psyched and I kinda felt as if I had more than one convert on my hands. Yaay!!




We hopped off and got on a PORiverside bus. Back in the room, we found two towel animals.


[Duck in a pond?]


[An octopus?]


One of the Esterle boys popped in to see if we were dressed for the pool yet and said they were heading over to Ol' Man Island. Calder got into his suit fast (and I was surprised to see that his suit from last summer was actually tight. Boy, Taekwondo had really helped him fill out! Later, I realized that all his shorts were a little tight. Amazing!!) Well, Calder wanted to follow the E boys to the pool, but they weren’t in sight. I walked him down to the path and pointed him to the brown bridge that leads to the pool He took off and I stepped back into the room. Just then, Brian comes over and says that they would all be ready in a minute. Huh? Didn’t someone just say they were leaving? “Uh, I guess they were wrong. We’re all still in the room.” Argh! Calder was now running around the pool looking for them and I hadn’t gotten my suit on yet. Brian offered to run over to tell him and I showed him the way. I dashed into the room and yanked on my suit just as Calder came back without Brian. Ugh… can we never get this right. I grabbed Calder and we headed over to the pool and found Brian coming back to us. Craziness… it was utter craziness. I got into the (very warm) pool and tried to cool off. Michael and Donna and Stephen came right after us and got in too. Now, let me tell you that Stephen is as slippery as an eel and has caused my heart to stop more than once with his fearless jumps into my dad’s pool at the NJ shore – the kid can’t swim yet, but is convinced that he can. Donna wanted to get him a floaty jacket from the marina, but wanted to stay with her boys until Frank came over. Frank was on his cell (he owns his own business, so was on the cell whenever we had a little downtime) so Donna sent him and his phone over to the marina for the jacket. I kept Stephen occupied while the other boys went several times down the slide. When it was finally Stephen’s turn, Bob showed up with his camera and caught each of the kids on the slide. My particular favorite is this one of Stephen (after his jacket showed up.)


[Slip slidin’ away]

<more to come>

[DawnDenise]

Great update and pics!!! More please!

[GATechGal]

What a fantastic report!! And I loved the link to the planSnapScrap.com. I'd love to see their book.

[WEDway Guy]

Eileen, this is a great trip report. It's so easy to read and flows along quite nicely. All signs of a good writer/ planner and taking a great trip!!!!

I think I'd take the chicken exit with you off of HM just to get you to show me the little things like the pet cemetary and ring. Keep up the great work!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Great report, thanks for sharing!

[zacksmom_1993]

[ QUOTE ]
We rejoin our entrepid travelers after their quick sail on the good ship "I-Can't-Get-That-Song-Outta-My-Head!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Eileen- You are too funny! I'm loving every minute of this trip report. I don't know how many times I've been on those boats to the WL, and I've never seen that Hidden Mickey. Very observant, huh? Can't wait to read more!

Karen

[Caldercup]

Thanks for the support!! (Of course, you were too kind to point out my atrocious spelling error!! But I saw it and fixed the original. )

To be honest, I walked right past that HM in the rope. Bob found it and was photographing it when Brian noticed it too!

I'm just now prepping the pictures of our meet at Fantasmic. I'll try to post that this evening.

Eileen

[DrDolphin]

Great update!!! And your photos are wonderful too.

[Caldercup]

<u> Day Two – April 30th - Part 3 </u>

I just figured out how to make my pictures big enough to see them on-line. I'll have to play with the first two parts of this TR to make the images easier to see.

I left the pool a bit earlier than the rest of the gang so that I could get a shower. Luckily for me, I was back in the room just in time for a call from a fellow Passporter. See, just days before we left, I realized that Karen (Zacksmom_1993) and Zack were going to be in WDW the first few days of our trip. We exchanged cell phone numbers and promised to call. Karen was true to her word and we both happened to be going to Fantasmic that night. Since I knew I was going to stake out a large section very early, I told her to come and find us – I would call her cell phone and give her the exact area as soon as I got there.

Everyone else came back from the pool and started getting ready for our night at MGM. Donna marveled at how refreshed she felt having spent some time in the pool. (Funny thing is that this was the ONLY time that we did this the whole trip – something that is an everyday occurrence for CJ and me in our solo touring plans… and we only found time for it once this trip!) We got to the buses by 6:30 and started discussing how to split up after the gates. I suggested that Frank and Brian head out to Tower of Terror and Rock’n’Roller Coaster and that Bob could help Donna shuttle the other kids to Star Tours. I was headed straight to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater to grab seats for Fantasmic (it was 7PM, but I wanted great seats since I’d never seen this before … and because our group was quite large.) I showed Donna where Star Tours was on the map and then told the “big boys” how to find TOT and RnR. Bob looked a little forlorn. He sniffed a little and said, in a very whiney voice, “can’t I be a ‘big boy’?” Donna laughed and said she would go it alone with the three “other” boys and that Bob should be a “big boy.” I took off so I didn’t know until later that Frank and Bob decided to stick with the other group and not separate. (Don’t worry, the “big boys” had their fun later!!)



I got to the amphitheater in good time – man, what a long walk that was. I was schvitzing like crazy by the time I found a long, empty row at the top of the Mickey section – dead center on the “stage.” It was a great spot and I called Bob and Karen and left messages of where to find me.


[The View]

Then I (of course) started chatting with the couple in the row above me. They were there as a surprise present from their kids for their 25th anniversary. They had only found out four days before that they were going and they were still a little shell-shocked. We had a lovely chat – and I recognized them the next day at Epcot and said hello! There was also a young family above me who’s young son was into The Incredibles and wanted to meet them. I told them to head over to the Animation area and that Elastigirl (I refused to call her Mrs. Incredible – as if she has lost her identity now that she’s married! Hmph!) and Mr. Incredible are often joined by Frozone there. They had hoped that Dash would be there too, but I told them that I hadn’t seen or heard that he’d joined them. (I couldn’t imagine how short you’d have to be to wear the Dash costume!!)

As it approached 8PM, my cell phone rang and it was Karen. She and I saw each other on our cell phones and knew we’d found each other. Well,… all I can say is that it was like meeting an old friend. I had adored her last trip report and Calder and Zack sounded like they were cut from the same pattern. Karen and I got to chattering up a storm and were fast friends by the time Donna and the boys showed up. That’s when I found out that Bob and Frank had gone to Star Tours with them before trying to make a last minute dash into TOT before the show. A few minutes before 8:30, the “big boys” showed up and, luckily, Bob had remembered that I wanted a hot dog – since I hadn’t had dinner. (He even commented that it was the first time that a "foot long" hotdog was actually a foot long!) I munched away as the sky darkened and Karen and Zach regaled me with how much they both love the Disneyland version of Fantasmic.

Bob cracked me up at this point because he leaned in to tell me something that tickled him at TOT. He noticed that the height requirement was only 40" for the ride. This thing terrifies him (although he loves it too) and he thought to himself, "what 3 year old would survive that ride?!" After we stopped giggling, Bob got out his new camcorder and prepared to record the whole show.

Well, the lights dimmed and the magic started. All I can say is WOW!! Now, I’m a jaded theatre person – FYI, I have my Master’s in Costume Design – and I’ve seen tons of stuff from all over the world. Somehow, Fantasmic captured my imagination completely and I was totally awed by it. On the video, you can hear me squeal when Sorcerer Mickey (at the top of the stage) suddenly disappears and reappears on the lower stage in his sequined tux. (It took me a second before I realized how it was done &lt;smacking forehead&gt;.) It surprised me and thrilled me. That’s how great this show was.

And, it was made even more enjoyable by being able to sit next to another Passporter, knowing that she was crying at the sheer magic of it too. When the boat with all the characters came around the corner, I was a mess, but loving every minute of it.


[Three peas in a pod]

We all walked out together and Karen showed us that you don't have to follow the massive crowd out the exit area, you can walk right back down Sunset Boulevard and get to see a little more of the park as you exit. Bob nabbed a picture of us just outside of the MGM gates.


[Tired, but happy!]

Karen and Zack wanted to go to Downtown Disney so came with us on our bus to PORiverside (so they could take the boat to DtD.) As we waited for the bus, we were treated to a special fireworks display that must have been done at the Indiana Jones area – maybe for the press? It was right over our heads and was an awesome way to end the night at MGM. Bob tested out the "fireworks" setting on his camera and it gave some cool results.



[Streamers of light]

Karen and Zack chatted with us all on the bus and it was a great reassurance to Bob and Frank and Donna that my “internet friends” aren’t weirdos… Any mention of "the boards" or "my internet friends" produced lots of eye rolling when I brought them up in conversations *before* we left on the trip. Well, they thought Karen was a doll and that Zack was terrific! Bob was pleased that I was considered *normal* in some parts of the world!

When we got off the bus, I walked with Karen and Zack to the boat dock and we said our goodbyes. I then headed off to the front desk to pick up a package. Bob joined me a moment later and he carried our snack box back to the room for me – which was a good thing as I was now exhausted.

Bob hooked up the camcorder to the room TV and we watched the last few minutes of Fantasmic as Bob CAREFULLY (remember the “lost” pictures from the last trip?!) downloaded the images from both our cameras.

We were pretty wiped out, but I set the alarm for 7:30 again and requested a "Mickey" wake-up for a few minutes prior to that. Frank was jonesing to go to Epcot and Calder was murmuring about Mission:Space as he fell into an exhausted sleep on the trundle bed. The forecast for the next day was scattered thunderstorms and I was worried that our Magical Fireworks Voyage (Wishes) was going to be canceled. I was going to keep my fingers crossed all night!

I wrote some quick notes and then it was lights out.


The weather was humid and 85 degrees with partly cloudy skies
Today we walked 8.99 miles
The best thing today was seeing the castle in all its golden glory!
The worst thing today was the mix-up getting everyone to the pool AT THE SAME TIME
The funniest thing today was Donna getting the highest score possible on Buzz
Today we tried Fantasmic!
And the result was this is gonna be a must-see for us from here on out!
The most magical moment today was meeting Karen and Zack and feeling like I'd known them forever!

Next up: A day at Epcot, Chef Nagatoshi, some Canadian hotties, and sailing the high seas...
[/b]

[Luv2plan]

Another great update, thanks!! Can't wait to see the Canadian Hotties, and did walking 8.99 miles make you want to hop up &amp; run around til the pedometer read 9??

[amanda31599]

This is an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT trip report! You are so thorough...I love it. Great pictures too. I can't wait to read more!

[Wild4Diz]

I'm laughing and crying right along with you as you tell your story! I'm very impressed and it's making me so excited to go!

[GATechGal]

what a great report!! Can't wait for more.

[Caldercup]

[ QUOTE ]
... did walking 8.99 miles make you want to hop up &amp; run around til the pedometer read 9??

[/ QUOTE ]

My husband is a bit of a stickler and refused!!

However, he didn't have the pedometer on when we walked to the pool, so I know for a fact that we must have gone over to 9 miles just going back and forth to Ol' Man Island!!

Eileen

[Jennifer2003]

Another great update!!! What a fun Passporter meet!

Jennifer