Thursday, July 1, 2010

WDW Family Trip, December 2008, Day 5, Part 3: Finally…Vacation

Part II HERE


We're leaving the room on our way to the MK bus queue at 3:20 and are at the turnstiles at around 3:50…another nice short wait for the busses, especially considering we stopped by the gift shop to look for earplugs for Eric in case we are there for Christmas Wishes. We notice that they are already allowing us to use our MVMCP tickets to get in. A couple of minutes later, we're in, and we are already noticing a difference in the feel of the place (the Christmas spirit is here!). We decide to head over to Frontierland to try BTMRR and choose the train as the method of transportation. One of the CMs at DTD suggested that we shoot for the back so the boys could do the "All Aboard!" call on the train. We head back and find nobody else wanting to do it, so they get picked.


 

I figure that Aaron would be the one that's excited to do this, but apparently he's too cool for it. I figure that Eric would be too timid to do it, but he says, "YEP!"


 

Ooookkkaaay.


 

"Okay, Eric, you need to say, "Alll ABBOOOOAAARRRRDDDDD!!! When he tells you to say it!"


 

"Okay Daddy."


 




 

The CM hands the microphone to Eric, and here's what the entire train heard:


 

"ubaduuubbaaaabbboooaarrrrrrDDDDDDDDDD!!!!"


 


 

The entire train (as well as half of Main Street) looked back to see what the hell that was.


 

I just shook my head and looked down, stifling a laugh. Only our kids…


 

Eric was so proud of himself!!!


 


 

We hop off of the Frontierland exit and see that the wait time posted for BTMRR is 40 minutes. We can do it, but we'll barely make it back to Expo Hall for the AAA Story Time. Okay, let's hop in line.


 

We are on the attraction in less than 5 minutes.


 

Neither boy has been on this, so we'll see how it goes. Eric again draws the short straw and has to ride with me. It works to his favor finally as we are in the front (of course, I like the back seat best). Now, you get some air time with this one. The thing is that I'm not as thin as I was back in high school and my undergrad life. Eric is around 200 lbs less than me. I cranked that lap bar down as far as it would go, but it felt like Eric had 2 feet between his lap and the bar.


 

He LOVED the air-time! Aaron was also giggling the entire time. Yeah, I'd say that the boys love coasters as much as Sheri and I do. We contemplate getting back in line, but we have to make our way to the front for the AAA story-time. We've got time to take our time, so we choose to walk over taking the train. As we head through Adventureland, I sense that everything's back on track. I'm doing tons better. The boys are all smiles. We're here for a while, and the crowds don't look too bad at all. We walk by Casey's…I look down Main Street and finally realize something.


 

I forgot the @#%$%&#%^)!#@$~!#@%%$&%^& AAA Vouchers at the $&*&%$@!#$%^ hotel room!!! %#$%@%$&#%$!#@!!!!!!!!


 

Well, now what? I guess we'll ask when we get there. I'll get on my knees and beg for mercy from the CM. We head down Main Street, all the while with me mentally cussing myself out for being such a flippin' moron. We get there, and there's someone who's trying to make a walk-up reservation in front of us. I overhear that he can get in because, including them, there's only going to be 15 in there.


 

I walk up sheepishly, bat my eyes, pull down the neckline of my shirt a little, and lean over to the CM.


 

No problem! We made the reservations, so we're okay.


 

Whew…glad I wore a low-cut shirt today!


 

The boys head down and are really well-behaved. There were only 4 kids total I think.


 




 




 

I love their feet in those two pics above. Maybe they were trying out for Riverdance.


 

Alice was our story time leader…her accent and voice inflection was spot-on!




 




 

We head out after we say our goodbye's to Alice and then make our way over to Adventureland to do Pirates (finally). We first stop at the Treehouse, because we promised Aaron that we'd go up it. I think Aaron was expecting there to be a tiger in a trench and ostrich races, because, while interested, he seemed underwhelmed. Having finally seen the movie, this attraction actually makes a little more sense now (kind of like Peter Pan…I rode it before seeing the movie, and it was just weird. Now that I've seen the movie, I LOVE the attraction).


 

We hop off of the Treehouse and walk over to Pirates. 5 minute wait…I think we can handle that. We walk in and nearly walk on. As we're loading, I catch something out of the corner of my eye and thought I heard a muffled "Chris!"


 

I look up, and there stands Mel and EB with the kids, waiting in line on the right-hand queue line. They'll be in the boat right behind us. As we float by, we tell them we'll meet them in the gift shop. How's THAT for timing?!


 

We enjoy one of our favorite rides and wait for Mel's crew to hop out. We talk with them in the gift shop for a few minutes and set up a game plan for tonight. They are going to the castle-lighting ceremony, while we are going to eat. Good thing we talked because they thought Columbia Harbor House was going to be closed to prep for the party. We say our goodbyes and head to another old reliable…Pecos Bill's. We walk in and order the food. Sheri takes the boys to grab a seat, while I wait for the food.


 

It was the perfect opportunity to perform another feat of engineering genius (or stupidity). I double-stacked the trays and slowly walked into the dining area. Everyone walking by was parting like the Red Sea as I made my way past them. When I sat down, a couple of tables gave me a round of applause (my audience is growing with every attempt). I'm becoming old hat at this, however…it's no longer anything special. I decided to retire after this one.


 

We have a good family meal there (it's amazing how much better a vacation is when Fred's not around) and then make our way out. We're starting to hear the announcements that everyone that does not have a wristband for the party needs to leave immediately or face mandatory duty of separating the dirty diapers from the garbage after the park closes. We're next to HM, so we opt for this again. The only problem is that the mansion looks a little spookier to Eric at night and doesn't want to do it. Sheri offers to take Eric to Fantasyland while I take Aaron on HM again.


 

After that, we head out and find Sheri and Eric right where we left them. Apparently they decided to just wait for us. We head over to Fantasyland and notice that the Party is now in full swing. Knowing Mel, I have a hunch that her crew would be at a dance party either here or at Cosmic Rays. We notice that there's not a line at all for iasw, so we hop on. We very nearly have a boat to ourselves, but another family ruins our vacation and is queued in the boat with us. We wave to the lonely CM up above and are on our way. I check messages and notice that I missed a text from Mel from a couple of hours ago (oops). I tell her where we are and where we are headed (Carrousel). We ride and sing and look for the hidden Mickey and comment on the boy doing "questionable things" in Mexico and just enjoy the ride. Afterwards, I jokingly suggest we stay on and ride again.


 

That didn't go over too well.


Part IV

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