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| Christa Grant's
Trip Report August / September 05 |
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Day
6 - Part 2 Ballet Dancing Never Looked so Good!!
I forgot to mention this morning, that both boys insisted
on bringing their Mickey Mouse straws with them in the van
on the way to the Magic Kingdom. They left them in the van
for almost 5hrs.
Warning - do not leave plastic straws in closed vans, in the
Florida sun for 5hrs.
The straws were completely melted. Their favourite toy of the trip was gone.
But to their credit, they didn’t let it ruin the rest of the day. What
little troopers!
We drove to Wilderness Lodge an hour before our Whispering Canyon dining reservation
so that we could explore the hotel. ToT sis and Cocoa bil have a special fondness
for this hotel. They love the ruggedness of the wilderness combined with the
luxurious feeling of a deluxe hotel. If they return to Disney, they’d
like to stay there. Dapper Dad and Fanlover would stay at the Yacht Club and
Goofy Guy and I would stay at the Polynesian.
We are accepting donations now.
We went out towards the pool and arrived in perfect time for the geyser to
erupt. I had never seen that before in all our trips to the Lodge. Cocoa bil
and ToT sis had recently visited the real thing and said that Disney did a
great job of replicating it. Two thumbs up to Disney.
I tried to show the boys some Hidden Mickey’s in this hotel as well,
but they ended up showing some to me.
I’m retiring from the Hidden Mickey promotion business.
Before we knew it, it was time to check in for dinner. I was worried we’d
never get the boys inside the restaurant. They were having so much fun playing
with the toys in the waiting area. Their melted Mickey Mouse straws were distant
memories now.
We were seated within a few short minutes. I think we were the first table
to be seated. The restaurant was deserted! I was worried that we wouldn’t
get as much of the “Whispering Canyon experience” being so early
in the evening, but the restaurant was full very quickly. As usual, I was worried
for nothing. When will I learn?
Our waiter was terrific. He displayed the perfect balance between having fun
with our table and allowing us to enjoy our dinner. The smoothies and milkshakes
were fantastic not to mention the skillet. The food was terrific and amazingly
enough, the entertainment was equally enjoyable.
Goofy Guy knew that SOMETHING happened when you asked for ketchup. I hoped
that he’d bite the bullet and ask for ketchup and duck for cover. But
being a little shy, I figured he would just forget about having ketchup for
this one meal. I should have known better.
He’s a lean, mean, ketchup-lovin’ machine.
So what does he do? He steals some ketchup from a nearby table!! There has
to be something about this in the Whispering Canyon rulebooks! I wanted to
bring our waiter’s attention to the theft, but at the same time, I wanted
to remain a married woman.
Splashboy was the first to get in on the fun. All kids were invited to go horseback
riding. Well, more like riding a stick with a head on it, but the kids barely
noticed the difference. Splashboy ran right up and started whooping and hollering
just like the rest of those darlin’ little cowboys and cowgirls.
Boomer must be more of a city boy. He wanted to stay with us. Can’t blame
him really. Those shakes were pretty darn good.
Splashboy received yet another certificate for participating in the horseback
riding. ToT sis’ scrapbook is becoming a novel.
What happened next was basically the highlight of the evening. All the men
were invited to stand up and form a circle around the restaurant. Cocoa bil
and Dapper Dad immediately jumped up since they had both become quite fond
of the limelight from their Hoop Dee Doo and Dapper Dan experiences.
I’m sure I caught them signing autographs on fellow diners’ napkins.
That’s celebrities for ya.
Goofy Guy was in the restroom. I know, perfect timing. When
he returned to our table, he noticed that the others had joined the other men
in the restaurant so he decided to participate too. I don’t think he
was quite as willing a participant.
I didn’t quite understand what the guys were expected to do. Maybe run
laps to work off their dinner? I was unprepared for what happened next. They
were asked to sing “My Little Buttercup” while performing ballet-type
moves.
I couldn’t have planned it better myself.
I sure hope we take some great pictures of this dancing! I must tell Goofy
Guy to take some good pics…. Wait a minute! Our photographers were now
the performers! That meant that I had to take the pictures!! Oh the pressure.
Why couldn’t my chocolate milkshake have been spiked?
I grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures like a mad woman. Only a
handful of them actually turned out however. Thank you for the invention of
the digital camera. Otherwise, I would have wasted 3 rolls of film.
And we’d be going to couples therapy next week.
I’d never seen our men move with such catlike reflexes. The fluidity
of their spins and plies – it moved me to tears.
…of laughter that is….
It was time to leave. The time just flew by. The women in our group were not
asked to do any dancing ourselves. I think we were all secretly relieved,
but we told the guys that they were lucky. We would
have put them all to shame. What
a fantastic dinner. That’s the thing we love
about Disney. One night you can have a romantic dinner overlooking
fireworks, and the next day you’re ballet dancing with
your father-in-law. How will we ever return to reality now??
We arrived at MGM quickly and Goofy Guy and I decided to run ahead of everyone
and try to save seats at Fantasmic for our crew. This was no small feat considering
there were only two of us, yet we had to save 8 seats. Miraculously we arrived
about 45 minutes before show time and we were able to get 8 good seats near
the centre of the theatre.
I’m pleased to report that we only made one small child cry while fighting
off strangers.
Kidding!
We bought the little girl a balloon.
Our gang arrived and Dapper Dad and Fanlover whipped out their canoe chairs.
For those who don’t know what I mean, check out this link. http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/s...mberId=12500226 I
should be paid for promoting their product!! Did
they ever create a stir! It’s so hard to sit on those uncomfortable benches
for so long without back support. Dapper Dad and Fanlover were comfortable
and happy. I bet they started a trend.
We knew that it would be a long, boring wait for the boys to sit quietly, so
we opened up our bag of tricks. Prior to the trip, Goofy Guy and I raided our
local dollar store and loaded up on glow-in-the-dark necklaces, puzzles and
other games. The boys were so excited! It may appear like we have resumed the
Aunt & Uncle of the year awards, but I must admit we were slightly selfish
in our thinking. We wanted the boys to be happy during the long wait so as
to maintain harmony for all. It was nice not to have the boys tempted by the
more expensive toys they sell at the Fantasmic theatre. It’s nice to
be able to be selfish while making other people happy at the same time.
I should write a book.
The boys only tore themselves away from their toys long enough to do the wave
with the rest of the audience - once. Even the wave couldn’t compare
to all the different ways you can wear glow-in-the-dark necklaces. The wave
continued a few times, but the boys were oblivious. We had a winner!
Fantasmic began and it was, well, fantastic. The boys loved the dragon and
the ferryboat with all the characters. We were all waving so wildly that I’m
quite sure all the characters waved right back to us.
When Tinkerbell appeared in the water screen, Boomer leaned over with such
wonder in his eyes and asked me if that was the REAL Tinkerbell. I answered “yes” just
before the tears started to stream down my face.
Forget buying stock in Kleenex – I’ve got to be CEO.
It seems that just when I think our trip can’t get any better, it does!
The adults seemed to enjoy the show just as much as the kids. We didn’t
even mind following the herd back to the parking lot. We had used diamond lot
parking again, so it wasn’t a long walk. We arrived back at the hotel
and decided to go for a quick swim before bed. The evening temperatures were
about perfect. Some of us grabbed a hot chocolate (I’ll give you one
guess as to who wanted hot chocolate…) and we made our way back to our
rooms.
Tomorrow was EMH for Animal Kingdom and Epcot in the afternoon. The question
of the day was; would Fanlover be joining us? It was our last full day together
and I was determined to make the most of it. Hopefully we would achieve just
that with a trip to Mars and Soarin’ Over California. We were up for
the challenge.
Day 7 - Part 1...
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