WDW Family Trip, December 2008, Day 2, Part IV: “4815”

Part III can be found HERE.


The fresh air helps me a little on the ride across Seven Seas Lagoon. We get to MK right around 5 pm, just as the flag retreat is going on. I stop and pay my respects as the flag is lowered, folded, and secured (it's the veteran in me...and I was so glad to see around 90% of the other patrons doing the same thing), and we start down Main Street. A couple of minutes later, I realize that we're being followed by the band that was playing the flag retreat. I'm waiting to get a trombone in the back, but they peel off down a side road before we become road kill. Initially, we were going to eat at Columbia Harbor House, but we decided to do Casey's instead. We get in line only to realize I was standing in the exit instead of the ordering line (which was empty, in my defense). We get in the right line and order. Sheri goes to find a place to sit and can't find anything. I grab the food and motion indoors as a table had opened up. We all eat, and the boys are doing great. They must have been a little hungry because they ate every bite they had. We leave, and Sheri takes Eric to the bathroom. The Dream Along with Mickey show was going on, and I knew they had articulated heads there. I drag Aaron over to where he could get a good view and show him that the characters do indeed talk. His reply: "Well, yeah…they have to talk during shows. Duh, Daddy!"


 
Looks around for a wall to bang his head against


 
We become a foursome again and start to make our way over to Tomorrowland, stopping for a photopass pic in front of the castle. The show was still going, and the characters will still talking (Duh!!!). The wait for Buzz was around 25 minutes. I grab Fastpasses for it as the return time was only 35 minutes away. We then hop in line, as the boys have been anticipating riding this for about a year. We defeat Zurg, and the boys are happy. I then look over at Space Mountain, and it's closed. Hmmm…. Okay, let's head back to Toontown to try to see if we can find Eric and maybe ride the Barnstormer at night. On the way over, we meet up with Fred, DSV0. Actually, Fred has been nearby for several hours, but we just never really saw him. You see, Fred is a Damn Stomach Virus, and he was living inside me waiting for the opportune moment to make his appearance known to all. It was in the queue line for Barnstormer that he lets me know he's here. I'm peering through the trees at the castle and see that the icicle lights are on. I start to comment to the rest about the castle when BANG.


 
Hi Fred.


 
Did you have to attack my intestines just now at this very moment?


 
We were hoping that luck would be on our side so Aaron could ride in front. I'll be darned…we got directed to the front, purely by luck! Aaron and I take the front, and he's back to talking to me again as my sins at this attraction from earlier in the day have been forgiven.

We hop off the ride and take the back road over to Tomorrowland. The boys run ahead, and Sheri looks at me like "it's your turn to catch them." I look at her with this "it won't be pretty if I run" look. She then realizes that Fred is trying to do his own running.

We make it to Space Mountain, and it's still down. I suggest the TTA…it was gentle, it might give us a glimpse of SM with the lights on, and, most importantly, it probably won't make me have to clench my mouth and butt too much. We ride it, and SM was testing…both sides had rockets going around empty. By the time we get off of the TTA, it's back open. Sheri decides to let me take Aaron on SM (Fred gave me a slight reprieve), while she would take Eric on Buzz again and maybe the teacups. We'd meet at the entrance to Buzz.

We part ways, and Aaron finally figures out what's going on. He's excited!!!! We enter the queue, which was empty as I think most had given up hope that it would open and went to watch Spectro, which was going on. We go, and I point out to Aaron all the stars and stuff. He asks what those pics are of.

"Galaxies…that one's Andromeda."

"What's a galaxy?"

"A collection of starts that tend to move together."

"what's……"

The guy behind me laughs at the constant barrage of questions I'm getting. He says, "It's great that he's inquisitive!"

I reply, "yeah, I just wish the queue line was a bit longer so we'd have time! I never thought I'd ever say that! They just opened Space Mountain back up."

"Really? I never knew it was down."

"Yeah, we just rode the TTA a few minutes ago to see if the lights were on."

"OH MY GOD!!!!!!"


 
That was a new voice…it was the girl next to the guy I was talking to. I wondered if she was surprised that we rode the TTA a few minutes ago or if she was just amazed at what a chiseled piece of man I was.

"YOU WERE MY ECON TEACHER!!!!"

It was my turn to say "OH MY GOD!!!!"


 
I was just dumbfounded. There's no way she could be making this up.


 
Right on cue, her boyfriend says, "you the one that was on Millionaire?"


 
That got the attention of the people around us.


 
The first thing I had to ask was, "I didn't fail you, did I?"


 
Nope…in fact, she nearly decided to major in economics after the class. She sat middle-back in the lecture hall the previous Spring. Once we got in some light, I got a look at her and remembered her a little (she had one of those faces that would stick out in a sea of faces). They found out one of the nights Millionaire was going to be on Game Show Network and had a party at her boyfriend's apartment to watch it. They were staying at Caribbean Beach and had just gotten engaged at Studios the night before in the Osborne lights.

We spent the rest of the queue wait gabbing about everything and getting Aaron psyched up for the ride. He was getting a little more nervous once he saw that I wasn't going to be riding next to him. I asked him at the chicken exit if he really wanted to do it, and he said "yep!"

We get on the numbers to get in our rocket and find that we'll be on different rockets than the ISU folks. My student had on an Illini shirt on, and someone in the rocket in front of us yelled out "I-L-L." Instinctively, both me and her yelled back with an "I-N-I!" They were from Champaign.


 
It's a small world after all.

We get going, and the CM finds out it's Aaron's first time on it. He gives Aaron a high-5 as he gets in and lowers the lap bar. The fiancé guy slaps me on the shoulder as we pass, saying "have fun!"

And the ride stops.

Way to go, bro…you broke the ride when you patted me!

It was on the other side…after a 4 minute wait, we're off. I couldn't tell how Aaron liked it until we got off. He actually used the term "wicked awesome" to describe it (he was channeling my New England friends)!!!

We bid the newly-engaged couple adieu and go to find Sheri and Eric. They were just getting out of line from the Lunching pad. Eric wanted an icee, and Sheri obliged. Our plan of attack is to head to the Main Street train station to watch Wishes…mostly for Eric as he doesn't like fireworks.

The plan was fool-proof, with one exception. There was a big-a$$ Christmas Tree in the middle of Town Square blocking the view from the train station. This, of course, was only realized after crawling towards the exit with about 21,364 others trying to leave the park. Fred reappears and is rather upset that I've been ignoring him for the past 45 minutes. Sheri looks at me for what to do, and I don't know…the last thing I wanted to do was make a decision. Let's go up to the train station and see what there is.

No view.

Okay, the fireworks should be fired above the shops on Main Street, so let's head to a corner and camp out. I didn't want to be anywhere near civilization now because my head is about to explode. I don't know if I've ever had a migraine, but wow, it was hurting. Aaron's getting tired, but Eric's in a playful mood. He, of course wants to play with Aaron, who wants nothing of it. One thing leads to another, and Eric somehow sprays Aaron's back with the red icee mixture.

I just about lose it as I am worried that he also got it on people nearby. I separate the boys, sending Eric to Sheri keeping Aaron by me. Aaron wants to be by Sheri. Sheri and I are no longer play-arguing…it's the real thing, which we rarely EVER do in public.

The first "starlight…staaaarrbright" goes, and the first shell fires off. Eric wants to be held and knocks over the rest of the icee. I nearly have an aneurysm…the woman next to Sheri looks at me like I molest collies for a living. This was the first time in Walt Disney World we were ever all mad at the same time. Sufficed to say, it wasn't the best Wishes we have ever seen. I'm sick and fighting a headache, Aaron's tired, Eric's scared, and Sheri's trying to handle everything.

Wishes ends, and we decide the best thing to do is to call it a day. I look at the phone and notice that Mare texted, saying they probably weren't going to make it to EMH. I hated thinking it, but I was glad to hear it…it just would not have been fun.

We get to the Movies bus stop and wait a few minutes. All of us seem to be doing a little better, knowing that we're heading back. I see a Cubs jacket in the queue line nearby and strike up a conversation with the guy about how this should have been our year. By chance, we end up standing next to them on the bus (they were sitting right by where we were holding on). The discussion turned to politics and Rod Blagojevich. I mentioned where we were from and talked about Pontiac Prison a bit. It truly is a small world after all as his brother lives in Chenoa, which is only 10 miles away from Pontiac. His brother used to work at the prison.

We get to Movies and head to Concierge to pick up the tickets for tomorrow's Hoop-Dee-Doo show. The wife from Illinois was also in the concierge line. Sheri takes the boys to the little movie setup.

As I stood there, Fred hit me with almost everything he had. Twice I nearly bolted from the line to the nearby bathroom for fear of barfing. The concierge line was not moving as everyone was trying to get dining reservations. If I would have had the energy, I would have mocked them behind their backs. I talk with the Illinois wife a bit, but I just can't carry on a conversation. I wish I would have talked to her more as I could have helped her out - she was just in line to ask about which bus to catch to get to a restaurant. After about 25 minutes, I finally get called up. 3 minutes later, I have the tickets, and we head out to the room. First we have to tell HOR-C good-night, though.

People say that a bad day at Disney beats a good day at work. I was currently at odds with that claim. The morning was great; however, the evening was pure misery, and I feel terrible that I was ruining it for the other three. I pray that it passes quickly so our family will be back to the fun. Sheri graciously takes care of getting the boys in bed and asleep. All 4 of us crash fairly quickly.




Day 3 starts HERE