Here's part 2 from the day
We checked out the times for Splash Mountain and BTMRR. Big Thunder looked like a walk-on, so we grabbed FPs for Splash and hopped in the BTMRR queue. It was AFAYCW (as fast as you can walk), and, within minutes, I was yelling “GOAT GOAT GOAT”. Seeing the boys smile all throughout the ride was a welcome relief. After that, we started to backtrack and make our way back to Fantasyland for Lou Mongello’s scheduled meet of the month outside Pinocchio’s Village Haus. We arrived about 5 minutes after it was slated to start, and we found nobody there.
Hmmmm….
The boys are starting to wonder what’s going on (we had this as another surprise as they consider Lou an uncle with all the times they listen to him), so we divert and hit the bathroom. We stall in the stalls for a few minutes and then head back out to still find nobody there. I take a chance and peer into one of the windows and find out that they did indeed move the meet indoors – this was a very smart move as the temperature outside was approaching surface-of-the-sun hot (it blew past Animal-Kingdom hot an hour ago). We all go inside and get into our longest queue of the day thus far: meeting Lou. The boys are wondering just what the heck we are doing (they couldn’t see the front of the line yet).
I love Eric's whiplash to see him once he figured out who we were going to talk to.
As I looked around to see if I recognized anyone, I spotted someone who I thought might be from the online world – I was fairly confident that it was Stacy, a grad student who is well-known by many of us Disney Freaks on Twitter and Facebook . I didn’t know her well enough, though, to stop and ask; partially because the day was totally sucking and because either A) it wouldn’t be her and I'd make a fool of myself; B) it would be her and I’d have to spend the rest of the day explaining to my wife why I was talking to a beautiful woman 15 years younger than me; or C) it wouldn’t be her, I’d make a fool of myself, and I’d still have to deal with the issues in option B. If that was you, Stacy, sorry for not introducing myself and the rest of the Mushfam to you.
We meet Lou and talk for just a minute. As he was the last time I met him, he’s just as nice a guy as he sounds on the shows. He was great with the boys. We all got pins, and he offered to give us a free copy of his Adventureland audio guide (we’ve since bought most of the rest...if you haven’t bought them yet, they’re awesome pieces of audio that Disney Freaks would absolutely love)!
This little respite definitely helped…Thanks for planning and putting on the MOTM, Lou.
From Fantasyland, we headed out towards Liberty Square and on to Frontierland for our FP returns at Splash Mountain. The heat was becoming unbearable, and the people in the standby line were really shooting daggers at us in the FP return line (more so than normally). It was a really short wait before our log awaited us. I’ve only ridden this one a couple of times, so it’s still a fairly new attraction for me. It did not disappoint! All the Animatronics seemed to be working, there didn’t seem to be any backup at all, and we got just wet enough to get cooled off without worrying about crotch rot. It ended up being one of the best attractions of the day for us. We ended up buying the on-ride pic (no, I didn’t flash the camera down the hill). While we were ordering the pic, we talked with the CM at the register – she was on the Disney College program.
After Splash, we started to make our way over towards Adventureland to see what the wait time was for Pirates. Before we get there, though, I hear something I was hoping to hear that I had not heard before. Wow…that sounded a lot like something Captain Jack Sparrow would say in his typical convoluted way. Speaking of Jack, we came upon the Pirate Tutorial (groan…terrible segue). I’ve always wanted to see this but never seemed to time it right. It’s probably around ¼ of the way through it, but we decide to stop and watch it for a while. As it nears the end, Jack comes around and starts pulling up several children to become honorary pirates, and he selects both Aaron and Eric to take part:
Definitely a cute show!
The point of spontaneous combustion is rapidly approaching, so Sheri and I give nonverbal cues to each other that we need to start making our way to the only remedy for impending spontaneous combustion: DOLE WHIP!!! On our way to Aloha Isle, we stop by the tikis to let the boys have a bit of wet fun:
The boys stay with Sheri and find a place to sit while I hop in line to order. The line at Aloha Isle is tolerable, except for the fact that the person in front of me completely confused the people working there to the point where I think they ended up getting not paying for one of the ones they received (and I almost wonder if they planned it that way). I get up there and order two Dole Whip soft serves and to orange vanilla twist soft serves (Orange whip? Orange whip?...name the movie!) They work on the order and take away 4 well-used snack credits from the dining plan. Nothing like this awesome pineapple delight to take my mind off of what has happened toda….waaaaaaaaiiiiiittttttt a minute. This Dole whip is a pineapple vanilla twist!
So is Sheri’s.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…in their defense, they just got completely frazzled by the people in front of me, and there were 2 in my order that were supposed to be twists – (Orange whip?). Having worked in foodservice, I can understand that it was an easy mistake. The twist was good – just not what my heart was set on. I’ll chalk it up to the way the day is going. It’s starting to remind me of one of Gary Larson’s funniest Far Side comics, where a guy is looking out a window with a large bird perched upon it. The caption reads, “The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression.”
I look at Sheri, who is staring down at her vanilla dole whip twist with a forlorn look – a look that is similar to how she looks at me most of the time. She looks up from her snack, and we both mouth to each other at the same time, “Ready to go?” After a couple of spills by Eric, we clean them up as best as we can and start to make our way towards the hub. Before we hit Main Street, though, I make an executive decision to stop by the first aid station to see if they might have any ideas for my still-throbbing thumb. They didn’t, though I think they were both fascinated and grossed out at what my thumb looked like.
Mercifully we head out the exit for the ride back to Kidani. At the bus stop, we met a woman with a daughter a little younger than the boys. We struck up a conversation with her while we waited for the bus and found out she was from Belleville, IL (near St. Louis). We talked the entire ride back to the resort (I think we were the only folks on the bus). Aaron gets a girlfriend on the bus because he kept her daughter entertained the entire ride. We get to Kidani and with the Mom/girl best wishes. We savor the air conditioning, look at the gift shop, and simultaneously decide that we are more than deserving of a drink. We run in and grab a beer and a bottled margarita. We also let the boys get a couple of vinylmation figures and something to drink (not beer or margarita). We gather our strength and trek back to the room, where Mr. Giraffe is waiting for us.
We catch mousekeeping and do a linen exchange – they noticed we used up all the towels/washcloths, so they give us some extras without even asking (THANK YOU!!!!). They boys don’t fight us for long when we tell them that they need some rest. 3.5 hours later, they arouse from their slumber and basically pull us out of the room towards the buses. We oblige and make our way back out for the return to MK. As we get to the bus queue, the Bellville Mom/daughter (now with another daughter closer to the boys’ ages) is also waiting for the bus. We talk with them while waiting. When the bus arrives, we get on and let the boys mingle with the girls for the trip. The bus then gets quieter as Miss June 2010 steps on the bus. As we get going, Sheri is able to distract me from the beauty long enough for me to hand over my phone so she can call her father to talk about what transpired today.
That was fun. Not.
We arrive at MK for the evening and head through the turnstiles. Since we didn’t get a floral pic this morning, we hop in the short line and grab a shot.
It’s then time for the next ritual that we usually do the first evening of MK…dinner at Pecos Bill’s! We make our way over towards Frontierland and hop in the shortest line we see. It’s one of the self-order kiosks, so we decide to give it a try. No prob at all…we get the order in and are paid in no time. About 3 minutes later, our order is up, but I notice that they were missing my fries and Sheri’s apples. They look over the ticket (they were on there) and tell us the fries will be up in a minute. Sheri takes the rest of the food and the boys and grabs a table. I stick around for the fries and apples.
7 minutes later, I catch someone’s attention (not the one who was helping me earlier) and explain what’s going on. Having worked in the food industry (I was a server at a higher class steakhouse in college), I understand how easy it is to have something like this happen, so I’m patient and don’t get mad at them. I get the stuff and find Sheri and the boys…yeah, my burger’s cold, but I’m expecting it. 0 for 3 on the food today, which is simply an anomaly. That has never happened before… I’m chalking it up to the karma of the day. This puts me in a funk that is going to take a lot to get me out of. I need something to really get me back on track. That can only mean one thing.
Pirates!
Before that, though, we grab another pic:
Ummmmmmm....
Okay...on to POTC. It’s about a 10 minute wait...
...and we’re on…and we’re off for our voyage!!
…and there’s no Davy Jones mist effect.
@#$#&I^%@!#$!$*^&(^%!@#$#@%*&)&*^$#****************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH COME ON!!!!!
And, of course, the woman in the bench behind me is using flash photography.
Non-stop!
*****start message*****
Dear Karma,
Please find someone else for a while. Please. I hate you.
Hate,
Mush
*****end message*****
Post-Pirates Pic:
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