Who Knew Choking Each Other Would Earn Us Fastpasses? We were just kidding!

Hello there and welcome to my trip report.

I guess I'll start out with the introductions of the cast and crew.

My name is Lisa (a/k/aTinkerbell as my boss likes to call me) and I am a 44 year old paralegal, wife to John and mother to Hunter and Lacey (who didn't join us on this trip 'cause she's attending missionary college). My husband, John, also 44, owns and operates a cabinet shop which is good because I can always talk his boss into letting him off work to go to Disney.

John acts all nonchalant about going to Disney but when somebody asks him a question, he immediately starts chattering away.

Since I am still uploading pictures and can't seem to find a picture of John and I from this year's trip, I guess I'll just use a picture from last year's trip.

Hunter is our son and he turned 13 just 3 days before we arrived in Disney. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate becoming a teenager than by partying hard with Mickey and the gang. Hunter is a multi-talented little dude. He can play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard and viola. Magical illusions and cup stacking are his newest tricks and he's pretty darn good at both. When he's not playing an instrument or trying to trick you, he's playing football or singing in the honor choir. See....I told you he was multi-talented.

Also along for the ride this year was my Mama, Edna. She's 76 years old and dotes on John and Hunter like they were her little babies. Mama has been to Disney with us once at Thanksgiving, 2000. That was back in the day when we stayed offsite 'cause we didn't know any better.

We were anxious to see how Mama would do with all the walking, heat, humidity, conveyor belts, etc.

Again, I don't have all of my pictures uploaded so I'll just use a picture of Hunter and Mama riding the clamshells into The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Not the best of pictures but a picture nevertheless:

We are a pretty silly fun loving family that always seems to attract.......hum.......let's just say,we always seem to have an "incident" happen during each of our trips. Over the years:

1) We got stuck on Test Track in the cold section and I almost tinkled myself;

2) My tooth (temporary crown) fell out while eating lunch at the Electric Umbrella and I had to super glue it in;

3) John got his toe broken after being run over in a drive-by scooter incident;

4) Hunter boogied with every character we ran into;

5) My wonderful, beautiful, loving family pedaled off on the surrey bike without me when my shoe hit the pedal and flew over my shoulder;

6) Lacey and Hunter jumped for joy in front of the Epcot ball;

7) We laughed so much during the trips that I caught myself saying "stop making me laugh or......" every 30 minutes.

And so forth and so on. We love spending time together and there's no better place than Walt Disney World to act silly and have a good time. Our goofiness paid off during the trip and that same goofiness inspired the title of this report.

This was our 15th trip to Disney in 13 years and our 5th stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. We spent 9 1/2 glorious days at Walt Disney World and I could have stayed longer had my boss not insisted that I return to "the real world".

I have people ask me all the time why we go to Disney World year after year after year. I've tried to explain it to them but, unless you are a Disney fan like myself, you just can't understand. Remember those old Lay's potato chips commercials? You know, the ones that said something like "Lay's potato chips...so good you can't eat just one!" I liken Disney to a Lay's potato chip....."Walt Disney World is so fun you can't go just once!"

Now that the introductions have been made, I guess I'll get busy working on the next installment.

Oh....I hope that everybody feels free to post replies/comments 'cause I really like chatting.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Soon, we were seeing this beautiful, although slightly blurry, sight:

I guess I've never really paid attention to how tight a squeeze it is for the buses to go through here:

but it seemed pretty darn tight to me. John said it wasn't that bad but to me it was.

About that time, I looked down and saw some pretty Mickey confetti on the floor:

Mickey confetti makes me smile.

This is right around the spot where our morning bus driver saw the people walking down the middle of the median instead of using the walkways. Seriously? I wouldn't want to walk in Disney traffic!

Oooh baby baby, buh buh buh baby (anybody else remember that Salt n Peppa song?), soon we were pulling into the Magic Kingdom bus stops:

We made our way through security and the turnstiles in no time at all. John took a picture of the three generations at the most magical place on Earth:

*** Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

We made our way down Main Street. Mickey confetti makes me smile and so do Disney balloons!

Before heading to the podium to check in, I snapped a picture of my dream home away from home:

I left the family and went to check in as did about 159 million other people. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating how many people were there but it sure did seem like a lot.

There was one lady on the porch of the Crystal Palace who was fussing up a storm....cursing, throwing her hands in the air, yelling....yep she was doing it all. She was mad because somebody told her the wrong way to the Crystal Palace and she was 10 minutes late checking in for their ADR. Geez lady, 10 minutes isn't anything to go ballistic over! She then started to fuss because there wasn't any place for all of them to sit down. Again, geez lady, it's the Magic Kingdom don't you expect to stand? There was a guy with her who I assumed was her husband who was trying to calm her down which seemed to make her even madder. She was telling him not to touch her and to back off. There were a couple of teenage kids with them and poor things just kinda slinked off like they didn't want anybody to see them with her. Whoa! If my mother acted that way, I'd be hiding in a corner, s__________g my thumb and wishing for my happy safe place.

Anyway, she did provide some "entertainment" while I and the other 159 million other people waited our turn. When I got to the window, I gave them my information and they told me that they were running a bit behind (about 30 minutes) and gave me a buzzer. I threw my hands in the air, started cursing, told everybody to BACK OFF and give me their blankety blank seat on the bench! Just kidding! I took the buzzer and walked over to where the rest of my group were waiting. Of course, I had to tell them all about ranting and raving woman.

We were able to keep ourselves entertained while waiting. I don't know what Hunter was doing but it was making Mama laugh:

I asked them to both "smile pretty" for this picture:

The next one is of John and I in our "smile pretty" picture:

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just kidding, here's a better one:

You may be able to tell from our pictures and our semi-red faces that, even though it was later in the day. Mama had to make a potty stop and I took a few pictures of our surroundings:

I don't know what the heck I was doing when I took the picture above. Obviously, I was leaning slightly....maybe withering in the heat.

You can see Mama (blurry but still Mama) in the background of this picture:

Still waiting:

Obviously, the wait was fairly long because I was still snapping pictures:

 

[Raven66]

Yea you're back!! I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

I'm really sorry about all the losses you all suffered. I feel awful about them all but the 12 yr old just hurt my heart. I think it's because my daughter is 14, very close in age. I hope your son (and the other students) are ok. That's really tough. I remember when I was in school we lost some friends in accidents and that was bad enough.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for the info, I've intended to visit it on both my visits but completely forgot about its existence until I read your TR! I had one of those 'darn!' moments, forgot it again! Enjoy your next trip, hope it stays dry for you.

It took us several trips to WDW before we went over to the island. We just didn't seem to have enough time.

Thats so great that your Mom is going back with you!!! My sister and I are going with our Mom in 15 days! We are so excited! :animwink:

I forgot to see when you posted this.....you may be gone already!

hello there, I am new to this community forum. I like your thread. Thanks for sharing.

Welcome! I hope to get my report finished real soon.

Yea you're back!! I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

I'm really sorry about all the losses you all suffered. I feel awful about them all but the 12 yr old just hurt my heart. I think it's because my daughter is 14, very close in age. I hope your son (and the other students) are ok. That's really tough. I remember when I was in school we lost some friends in accidents and that was bad enough.

My heart was hurting too for the 12 year old. Hunter is 13 and it hit home with me too. I can't imagine what the boy was going through. His grandparents attend our church and they were devastated.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I forgot to see when you posted this.....you may be gone already!

^Not gone yet, leaving on Saturday morning!! Glad you're back, I've missed daily readings of your TR to help the work day go by faster! :lol:

 

[WDWgal]

I'm so sorry for the losses you have suffered. Great update though. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[dave&di]

Thanks for the update, great to have you back. Sorry you have had such a tough time, things like this make you count your blessings.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm back again after another absence. Lacey's wedding plans continue. John had his medical tests run. Hunter went on a trip to Branson, Missouri to perform with his orchestra as an opening act for the Acrobats of China. Hunter had a concert this week. Mama found out she has an ulcer. Just lots of stuff!

You'll be happy to hear that I have the entirety of my trip report written up and ready to post. I take that back, I don't have the "Reflections of our trip" post written yet but that's coming.

Get ready for a whole lotta posting and a whole lotta pictures!

 

[mickeystoontown]

John pretending the buzzer is a phone:

I took a few more pictures and then noticed that it looked like there were some empty seats on the porch of the Crystal Palace.

I walked over to check it out and lo and behold, there were quite a few empty seats. I motioned my crew over before the seats were taken by other people.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I honestly can't say how long it was after we sat down on the porch/patio/veranda of the Crystal Palace before our buzzer went off but I don't remember it being overwhelmingly long. We were shown to our table where we found Mickey confetti waiting for us!

We sat for, maybe, five minutes before our server arrived. We were right next to the window looking out at the castle but our view was blocked by all of the people sitting on the benches. That would have been fine because a few minutes ago, I was of those view blocking people but, the people waiting on the benches outside were looking directly at us. I'm serious, they were looking into the restaurant and right at us. It was a bit weird/unnerving. At one point, a guy came and stood near our window and he was wearing the strangest pair of pants....they were made of a clingy, skin tight fabric and they were black and white checked. Let's just say that they left nothing to the imagination. I couldn't help but take a picture of the pants but I can't find it right now. If I ever do, I'll post it.

Our server came and asked if we had ever been to Crystal Palace before, took our drink order and told us that the characters wouldn't be around to our table for a little while so it would be a good time to go ahead and visit the buffet. But, not before I took a picture of Mama and John. Ummm, Mama, you aren't looking at the camera:

We really enjoy eating at the Crystal Palace because it gives us an opportunity to try different food items that we normally wouldn't try if we were at a non-buffet restaurant. A few pictures of our plates:

Hunter, a/k/a, I'm not an adventurous eater's plate:

 

[mickeystoontown]

As we were eating, Tigger came around to our table for a visit:

There was a group of Brazilian teenage girls sitting a few tables away from us and they were a bunch of loud, obnoxious little............fartheads! And I am being nice! As soon as Tigger left our table, he started making his rounds and some of the girls jumped up and, literally, pulled Tigger away from the next table. The castmember who was with Tigger was trying to get them to wait but they kept pulling him and acting as if they didn't understand English. They weren't fooling the castmember though and she started speaking Spanish and they sheepishly walked away.

When Tigger finally made it to their table, they went nutso again. They were screaming (in English I might add) and putting their arms and even their legs around Tigger. It was ridiculous! I'm all for meeting the characters, acting silly while at Disney (remember, we are the family who choked each other), etc. but this was over-the-top. I noticed that another castmember walked out from the back and stood "guard" nearby. Once, when they got really loud and started tossing rolls at each other, he came over and said something to one of the adults in the group. Yes, there were adults who never said anything to the teenagers. That particular castmember never left the vicinity of the group the entire time we were there and the group quieted down....a little.

Next to visit our table was Eeyore:

Who was followed by the pink man himself, Piglet:

Oooooh, I found black and white checked pants:

 

[mickeystoontown]

Pooh came along to sign autographs:

And pose for pictures:

I don't know how I missed taking pictures of our desserts. I sure thought I had taken at least one or two. Our server brought out a birthday card signed by the characters and a cupcake for Hunter:

We tried not to linger too long over our meal because we could see that there were still quite a few people waiting outside to be seated. I took one last picture before leaving the restaurant:

***Up next: Wishes!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I left off telling ya'll about being ogled by people waiting for their ADRs, how rude the non-English speaking Brazilian teenagers were, showing you a picture of the fancy black and white vacation pants and the el yummo food at the Crystal Palace.

I wanted to try and find a spot to watch Wishes and was sure that the prime spots were already taken because it was scheduled to start soon. When we walked out, we could see that the porch of Crystal Palace was nearly empty and none of the people sitting there had buzzers in their hands. We all assumed that meant they were waiting on Wishes to start and not on an ADR. We decided to sit there with them and watch Wishes from the Crystal Palace. While we were waiting, I turned around and smooshed my face into the windows and watched the people eating. Not really!

I was getting antsy waiting because I wanted to take some pictures and I also knew that it was our last night at Walt Disney World. I asked John and Mama if they would mind if Hunter and I went down to the sidewalk and found a spot where I could set up my mini-tripod. (When I say mini, I mean mini. It's about 3 or 4 inches tall and just screws into the bottom of the camera. It's not very sturdy either.) They said to go ahead so Hunter and I found a place near a garbage can. We stood to the side and I put my camera on top of the gargage can.

Here are the pictures I took while waiting:

One day I am going to invest in a good camera...not the $100 ones I always buy. I'm still going to post the pictures even if they aren't as good as the ones I've seen 'cause they make me smile no matter how bad they are.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As we were waiting, a man with a little girl who looked to be about 3, came up. He bumped into me and almost knocked me down. There was no "excuse me" or "oh I'm sorry". He just looked at me and then started talking to the little girl. Dumb bunny! I know good and darn well that he knew he bumped into me. I forgot about the rude-bump-into-me man as soon as I heard the music and saw this:

I wasn't even looking at my camera because I was too busy watching the fireworks and talking to Hunter. I was just pushing the camera button over and over again and hoping that I got some good pictures. Hunter also had my other camera and was taking pictures too. I will post those pictures when I find them on Photobucket.

Oopsy, I must have been excited and bumped the camera sideways on this next one:

More:

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

 

[mickeystoontown]

Tired of seeing Wishes pictures yet? If you are TOO BAD!:ROFLOL:

Check out this picture of the castle when the last fireworks are shot off:

Oh Wishes....how I love thee!

***Up next: I wanna do something else....anything else....I don't wanna leave!

 

[mickeystoontown]

As I said before, it was out last night at Walt Disney World and we had eaten a good meal with Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore. We had laughed at the black and white pants man and scowled at the rude teenagers. We had watched Wishes from in front of Crystal Palace and now it seemed as if the night was winding down.

NOOOOOOOO! I don't want the night to wind down! I don't want my time at the Magic Kingdom to end! I don't want it! I don't want it! I don't want it! (I wish there was a foot stomping, fit pitching smiley so I could insert it here.) I wasn't going down so easy and suggested that we find something else to do. Everybody was game so we headed to Adventureland to take a cruise with the pirates again. It was pretty much a walk-on.

Hunter took this picture of John and I sitting behind him and his Mamaw:

The Magic Carpets line was pretty long so we decided to skip it and cut through to Liberty Square so we could take another ride through The Haunted Mansion. I tried taking a few pictures while waiting in the queue but they didn't turn out very well. But, they are pictures and I'm going to post them.

Fortunately, our wait wasn't too long and we were soon let into the stretching room. Of course, we had to look up when the lights went out so we could see the guy hanging from the noose above us. I was so happy when the doors of the stretching room opened and I didn't see a ton of people. I've mentioned before how much I can't stand how you feel like a bunch of cows being herded to branding or even slaughter. Thankfully, because there weren't lots of people there, us cows were given a respite.

Before loading our doombuggy, I wanted to see if I could get a picture or two.

So far, Mama had done an excellent job of getting on and off the moving conveyor belts but we were prepared just in case. We all took our places, stepped onto the belt and walked fairly quickly to the doombuggy and Mama hopped right on. Way to go girlfriend!

 

[mickeystoontown]

After the Haunted Mansion, we took a little walk to Fantasyland to see what, if anything, had a short line so we could ride it. Snow White had just a 5 minute wait so that's what we chose. Pictures, of course:

***Up next: I still don't want to leave! What else can we do?

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Honestly, Im quite sad to see this TR coming to an end I just got back from WDW on Sunday so these trip reports help me get through my Disney Blues.. hehe. You are going again this month right? That means another trip report when you come back!! YAY!! I am going to start writing my TR as soon as I can organize all my photos.. We had 3 cameras and somewhere around 600 pics to sort through so it may take me a bit. But my TR will be full of pics and details like yours!