Graduation/Disney Trip: Thursday – “I think I killed a colonist…”
On Thursday, the Bradshaw family bid our faithful dog, Marlee, adieu, piled up in the Scion, and headed for Florida for my graduation on Friday. Because it was in Florida, we left Thursday morning. The drive down was fairly uneventful. We stopped just over the Florida line to get lunch at Chick-Fil-A, otherwise known as Chick-Fa-La (but that’s another story…). So, we’re sitting there, and it’s chilly in the restaurant, where we’ve gone in to eat because we’re sick of sitting in the car, and we decide that milkshakes are in order for the continuing drive. We give Dad our orders and he goes to put them in. When he comes back and sits down and announces that our shakes will be brought out to us, Allie replies with “Our shakes?” with which she does a little shimmy shake. That brought on all of us doing the “shake” whenever the world “shake” was mentioned. Ask us and we may do it on command…
We got to the hotel and drug all of our stuff up to the room in one swoop. That evening, we were going to lunch/dinner (linner, dunch) at Olive Garden and then Allie and I were going to Disney Quest, this really awesome place at Downtown Disney that’s got all kinds of different video games and interactive games. Dad called and asked the concierge what time Disney Quest closed. He told Allie that it closed at 11pm. Allie said, that, okay, we would go to dinner and then go to Disney Quest because we had plenty of time because the place closed at 11pm. Dad turned and replied, “No it doesn’t, it closes at 11.” Allie looked at Dad; Allie looked at me; I looked at Dad. She and I started rolling with laughter. Dad looked like nothing was wrong. Needless to say, his repetitive-ness and redundancy made for easy fodder. Dinner was nice and Mom and Dad took Allie and I over to Disney Quest to play for awhile while they did other things. I will chronicle Allie and I’s adventures before detailing what happened to the parents.
Allie and I started out by paddling our own Jungle Cruise, seriously. You sit down in this raft that’s attached to an airbag that lifts you up and rocks you around in front of a screen. You have to paddle to move. Seriously. Lots of work, there. Then we were pirates that fired cannons at 3-D pirate ships. We played some lame Aladdin-carpet game that we still can’t figure out. Then, one of the most awesome parts of the night, we built and rode our own rollercoaster – The Jolly Banshee – 4 stars, 6 total inversions. It was awesome! We went to an art session where we learned to and successfully drew Mickey Mouse (Mom has the fruits of our labors). We played a game where we were comic book super heroes (in virtual reality helmets with “lightsabers”… yep, we looked like idiots). The final game we played was this mission simulator, where you climbed into the seat, like a Mars lander thing, and one person drives and one person shoots the aliens. The goal is to rescue colonists. The last thing the chick who was running the ride says to us is, “Don’t shoot the colonists.” I’m driving and Allie is shooting and we’re going along. Suddenly, Allie goes, sheepishly, “Oops… I think I shot a colonist…” Yup. I can’t make something like this up…
Mom and Dad, on the other hand, went to walk at Disney’s Boardwalk, which has some shops, but mostly is just really lovely land surrounding some of the parks and the man-made lake, there. They hung out there, then it started to pour. They got massively wet. It stopped raining and Dad decided that he wanted to go putt-putting at Disney’s course, Fantasia Gardens. Mom and Dad started the hardest course, the Fairways course, and it started to pour again on about hole 3. They ended up getting back in the car and hanging out, soaking wet, but got two rain checks out of the deal.
Needless to say, Allie and I did a little shopping, caught up with Mom and Dad, and we went back to the hotel to sleep.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
"The Year of the Characters" post 2
Graduation/Disney Trip: Friday – “Fu Sail Graduation” or “It a Beaver!”
On Friday, we had to get up massively early, because I had to be AT Universal Studios at Hard Rock at 8.00am. First, in order to get to Hard Rock, you have to enter what’s called Universal’s City Walk, a big area that connects both parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) that is full of restaurants (like Hard Rock, Margaritaville, NASCAR Café, etc) and shops (like Fossil). Hard Rock sits between the two parks, on one side of a lake. We were some of the first people in the area, because it doesn’t open until about an hour before the park does (the time that I had to be present at Hard Rock). We tromped around the lake and on the giant billboard/sign that changes pictures on the Hard Rock Café was a huge sign that read “Fu Sail University Graduation”… they had some of their LED lights out… Mom and Dad helped me get myself together for graduation and they went to sit, leaving me with my thirty or so classmates to stand and chat for an hour. Graduation went well. I didn’t fall. I won an award for my gaming class, for the design of one of the games I had to come up with (an educational game based on a combination of the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis – a computer game that I love – and a short film that I love called “The Chubb Chubbs” – if you haven’t seen it, YouTube it). From graduation, we walked around Universal’s City Walk, letting me get a t-shirt from Hard Rock (a Jovi shirt!) and Allie get one from Margaritaville. On our way past the NASCAR Café, there was a guy dressed up as a character by the entrance. This character was Digger, a gopher who shows up in the races on one of the cameras as a little cartoon. We’re walking by and Allie goes, “Look! A beaver!” Dad goes, “That’s not a beaver. That’s a gopher.” Dad got his picture taken, albeit reluctantly, with the beaver… er, gopher.
From there, we went over to Fuddruckers for lunch (which was awesome) and then to Downtown Disney. We walked all over that place, which is sortof huge, and bought stuff, which was fun. We then went back to the hotel and crashed for a few hours before going to dinner at the Rainforest Café. Dad ordered a $30 steak, which was okay, because Allie and I were paying, and we had SOOOO much food. After an amazing dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney and took some pictures before Mom and Dad decided that, since they hadn’t finished playing mini-golf the night before, we were going to play Friday night. We’d been up since 6am. It was 10.30pm. Allie fell out of the car getting out at the golf course. We played the other course at Fantasia Gardens, the Gardens course, which is modeled after the two Fantasia movies. Holes were decorated with characters, musical instruments. One hole, for example, was a cave where you had to shoot between pillars, and when you hit the end of hole and tripped a motion sensor, the big dark monster guy from “A Night on Bald Mountain” appeared on the wall, which made Allie jump. One hole, when you shot through it, made an elephant spout water. One hole, when you walked under it, had brooms that poured out water (like those in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice), and the last hole, once you sank the ball in, shot water up and made lights come on, like the Sorcerer was stopping the water, but mostly sounded like a toilet flushing. Because it had rained earlier, I, also, slipped and did a nice little split on the golf course. Dad won, with Allie in second, and Mom and I pulling up the rear. Needless to say, we were exhausted and everything was hilarious.
On Friday, we had to get up massively early, because I had to be AT Universal Studios at Hard Rock at 8.00am. First, in order to get to Hard Rock, you have to enter what’s called Universal’s City Walk, a big area that connects both parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) that is full of restaurants (like Hard Rock, Margaritaville, NASCAR Café, etc) and shops (like Fossil). Hard Rock sits between the two parks, on one side of a lake. We were some of the first people in the area, because it doesn’t open until about an hour before the park does (the time that I had to be present at Hard Rock). We tromped around the lake and on the giant billboard/sign that changes pictures on the Hard Rock Café was a huge sign that read “Fu Sail University Graduation”… they had some of their LED lights out… Mom and Dad helped me get myself together for graduation and they went to sit, leaving me with my thirty or so classmates to stand and chat for an hour. Graduation went well. I didn’t fall. I won an award for my gaming class, for the design of one of the games I had to come up with (an educational game based on a combination of the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis – a computer game that I love – and a short film that I love called “The Chubb Chubbs” – if you haven’t seen it, YouTube it). From graduation, we walked around Universal’s City Walk, letting me get a t-shirt from Hard Rock (a Jovi shirt!) and Allie get one from Margaritaville. On our way past the NASCAR Café, there was a guy dressed up as a character by the entrance. This character was Digger, a gopher who shows up in the races on one of the cameras as a little cartoon. We’re walking by and Allie goes, “Look! A beaver!” Dad goes, “That’s not a beaver. That’s a gopher.” Dad got his picture taken, albeit reluctantly, with the beaver… er, gopher.
From there, we went over to Fuddruckers for lunch (which was awesome) and then to Downtown Disney. We walked all over that place, which is sortof huge, and bought stuff, which was fun. We then went back to the hotel and crashed for a few hours before going to dinner at the Rainforest Café. Dad ordered a $30 steak, which was okay, because Allie and I were paying, and we had SOOOO much food. After an amazing dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney and took some pictures before Mom and Dad decided that, since they hadn’t finished playing mini-golf the night before, we were going to play Friday night. We’d been up since 6am. It was 10.30pm. Allie fell out of the car getting out at the golf course. We played the other course at Fantasia Gardens, the Gardens course, which is modeled after the two Fantasia movies. Holes were decorated with characters, musical instruments. One hole, for example, was a cave where you had to shoot between pillars, and when you hit the end of hole and tripped a motion sensor, the big dark monster guy from “A Night on Bald Mountain” appeared on the wall, which made Allie jump. One hole, when you shot through it, made an elephant spout water. One hole, when you walked under it, had brooms that poured out water (like those in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice), and the last hole, once you sank the ball in, shot water up and made lights come on, like the Sorcerer was stopping the water, but mostly sounded like a toilet flushing. Because it had rained earlier, I, also, slipped and did a nice little split on the golf course. Dad won, with Allie in second, and Mom and I pulling up the rear. Needless to say, we were exhausted and everything was hilarious.
"The Year of the Characters" post 3
Graduation/ Disney Trip: Saturday – “The Great Search for Air Conditioning” or “My Dad was THAT GUY”
Saturday, we got up fairly early to head over to the Magic Kingdom. Once we got in, Mom and Dad headed to the restroom and Allie and I found a booth where a chick was giving away celebration buttons – we picked up two for Mom and Dad (Anniversary buttons) and one for me (a general celebration button with Graduation written on it). We all wore yellow, also, as a sidenote. We rode the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. Allie got to see Wendy and take a picture with her. She asked Allie if we’d been to the best adventure yet. Allie said no, but she could guess what it was, to which Wendy went about unfolding Allie’s map and pointing out number 21 – Peter Pan’s Magical Flight. From there, we rode the Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World. It started raining. We found a ledge to hide under. Once it let up, we headed for air conditioning – because the rain had made the already hot temperatures (between 92 and 94 degrees) even humider. So we found a show inside (Mickey’s Philharmagic). We went from there to get lunch, even though we’d said we weren’t going to eat because we were going to Chef Mickey’s for dinner, and ate inside, because it was cool. Then we went to meet the fairies from Tinkerbell’s movie. So, we’re in the cueing room before you go in and meet the fairies, and there are these motion sensors that show images of fairies when they’re activated. Dad spotted them and reached up to see if he could stop them. All of a sudden, the attendant, who was letting people in, barks at him, “Don’t do that.” Dad held up his hands like he didn’t do anything. To which she turned around to let more people in, and he set off the sensor anyway. We met Tinkerbell, who was impressed with Dad because he gave Mom a lot of Pixie Dust to keep her around for so long (we didn’t ask what that meant), Fawn (the animal fairy who said to say hi to Marlee) and Silvermist. They all seemed attracted to my earrings, which were very shiny, apparently. We rode the carousel and Dad tried to pull the Sword from the Stone. It was so hot, so we went to get FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear’s shooter-thingy and went to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor to pass the time. We’re sitting there and, during the show (which is inside in the AC), there is audience interaction. The characters, which are animated, can actually see the audience and pick on people in it. Dad was one of those people. Every time they needed a punch line for a joke, they just pointed out Dad as, “THAT GUY”. For example, one of the monsters was joking about being stinky and it being a compliment, particularly “THAT GUY” (my Dad); that they owed the success of the laughter they were collecting to “THAT GUY”, etc. Dad played along well, and got a sticker in the process, announcing him to be “THAT GUY”. We then went to the AC of the Stitch Alien Encounter Ride, then back to Buzz Lightyear to use the FastPasses. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad’s car didn’t work at all, which was sad. We then we to see the Carousel of Progress, because it was inside in the AC. We then got soft frozen lemonade and walked through the shops on Main Street. We sent Dad back to the car with our purchases, and it started to rain again. So, because we are brilliant, Mom, Allie, and I went into the bakery, where we proceeded to munch on the largest Cinnamon Roll, Apple Turnover, and a piece of Banana Nut bread, all of which were as big as the plates they were on, I’m talking HUGE here. While we were still waiting on Dad, the rain stopped and we watched a street parade. Once Dad joined us, we went back over to the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, which was inside in the AC, and to find Allie a stuffed dog she’d wanted.
We took a monorail over to the Contemporary Resort, where Chef Mickey’s is located. We spotted a five-legged goat on a mural on one of the walls while walking (yeah, we didn’t get it either). We had a wonderful buffet. We met Minnie, Donald, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy (in that order) and took pictures with everybody. Mom and Dad and I also got little cupcakes for our celebrations, which was really nice. From there, we went back to Magic Kingdom, where we picked up a beautiful picture that Mom and Dad had hand-drawn for me for my graduation gift. We then scouted out some primo curb on Main Street to watch the fireworks and parade. We were like an hour and a half early, but we were tired, so it wasn’t so bad… and we were massively full. We watched what we called the Mass Sleeping Baby Exodus. We watched the fireworks, then sat down and waited for the parade at 11pm. It was the Spectromagic light parade and it was AWESOME! So many of the performers waved at us and looked straight at us because we were right on the curb. We slowly trudged back to the car and basically fell asleep immediately once we got back to the hotel.
Saturday, we got up fairly early to head over to the Magic Kingdom. Once we got in, Mom and Dad headed to the restroom and Allie and I found a booth where a chick was giving away celebration buttons – we picked up two for Mom and Dad (Anniversary buttons) and one for me (a general celebration button with Graduation written on it). We all wore yellow, also, as a sidenote. We rode the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. Allie got to see Wendy and take a picture with her. She asked Allie if we’d been to the best adventure yet. Allie said no, but she could guess what it was, to which Wendy went about unfolding Allie’s map and pointing out number 21 – Peter Pan’s Magical Flight. From there, we rode the Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World. It started raining. We found a ledge to hide under. Once it let up, we headed for air conditioning – because the rain had made the already hot temperatures (between 92 and 94 degrees) even humider. So we found a show inside (Mickey’s Philharmagic). We went from there to get lunch, even though we’d said we weren’t going to eat because we were going to Chef Mickey’s for dinner, and ate inside, because it was cool. Then we went to meet the fairies from Tinkerbell’s movie. So, we’re in the cueing room before you go in and meet the fairies, and there are these motion sensors that show images of fairies when they’re activated. Dad spotted them and reached up to see if he could stop them. All of a sudden, the attendant, who was letting people in, barks at him, “Don’t do that.” Dad held up his hands like he didn’t do anything. To which she turned around to let more people in, and he set off the sensor anyway. We met Tinkerbell, who was impressed with Dad because he gave Mom a lot of Pixie Dust to keep her around for so long (we didn’t ask what that meant), Fawn (the animal fairy who said to say hi to Marlee) and Silvermist. They all seemed attracted to my earrings, which were very shiny, apparently. We rode the carousel and Dad tried to pull the Sword from the Stone. It was so hot, so we went to get FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear’s shooter-thingy and went to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor to pass the time. We’re sitting there and, during the show (which is inside in the AC), there is audience interaction. The characters, which are animated, can actually see the audience and pick on people in it. Dad was one of those people. Every time they needed a punch line for a joke, they just pointed out Dad as, “THAT GUY”. For example, one of the monsters was joking about being stinky and it being a compliment, particularly “THAT GUY” (my Dad); that they owed the success of the laughter they were collecting to “THAT GUY”, etc. Dad played along well, and got a sticker in the process, announcing him to be “THAT GUY”. We then went to the AC of the Stitch Alien Encounter Ride, then back to Buzz Lightyear to use the FastPasses. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad’s car didn’t work at all, which was sad. We then we to see the Carousel of Progress, because it was inside in the AC. We then got soft frozen lemonade and walked through the shops on Main Street. We sent Dad back to the car with our purchases, and it started to rain again. So, because we are brilliant, Mom, Allie, and I went into the bakery, where we proceeded to munch on the largest Cinnamon Roll, Apple Turnover, and a piece of Banana Nut bread, all of which were as big as the plates they were on, I’m talking HUGE here. While we were still waiting on Dad, the rain stopped and we watched a street parade. Once Dad joined us, we went back over to the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, which was inside in the AC, and to find Allie a stuffed dog she’d wanted.
We took a monorail over to the Contemporary Resort, where Chef Mickey’s is located. We spotted a five-legged goat on a mural on one of the walls while walking (yeah, we didn’t get it either). We had a wonderful buffet. We met Minnie, Donald, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy (in that order) and took pictures with everybody. Mom and Dad and I also got little cupcakes for our celebrations, which was really nice. From there, we went back to Magic Kingdom, where we picked up a beautiful picture that Mom and Dad had hand-drawn for me for my graduation gift. We then scouted out some primo curb on Main Street to watch the fireworks and parade. We were like an hour and a half early, but we were tired, so it wasn’t so bad… and we were massively full. We watched what we called the Mass Sleeping Baby Exodus. We watched the fireworks, then sat down and waited for the parade at 11pm. It was the Spectromagic light parade and it was AWESOME! So many of the performers waved at us and looked straight at us because we were right on the curb. We slowly trudged back to the car and basically fell asleep immediately once we got back to the hotel.
"The Year of the Characters" post 4
Graduation/ Disney Trip: Sunday – “Well, what we could do…” or “Stalking the Beast”
Sunday, we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn again, because we had breakfast scheduled with the Princesses in EPCOT. We got to EPCOT before you had to pay for parking and trudged up to the gate, at which we were instructed to go through and head around to the back side of the park, where we would go to the second country on the left, Norway. Along with one other family, we headed that direction and located Akershus Royal Palace, where our breakfast would be. We ended up being the first group in, and were greeted by Belle herself, who talked to us for a minute before taking a picture with us. We ate at a buffet and had barely finished our plates when Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty, popped out of a room next to us to circulate around the room. Each princess took a moment to talk to us and take a picture before moving on. Cinderella was next, who is my FAVORITE, and I got a picture taken with her by myself, which was nice, and then Ariel, who was also very nice. We rode the big ball, which was updated from the last time we were there. Allie also wanted a drawn picture of Wendy, which we looked for there. After that, we trekked back across the park to the exit and drove to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).
Once there, we went in and rode the Toy Story shooter ride, which was amazing, but had a really long line. We were sleepy and, inside, there was a box with a cow drawn on it, to make it look like a kid’s toy. Hence began the cow jokes. Lots of cow jokes. Bad cow jokes, such as “Did you know that cow was Russian? It was from MosCOW,” “Udderly amazing,” “Moolan Rouge,” etc. (2 days later, Dad’s still coming up with bad cow jokes.) Imagine that for between 30 and 40 minutes. Yup. We were tired. It was the exhaustion talking. So, Allie beat me in the game, which, ya know, sucked, but it was fun. From there, we went to meet Prince Caspian, which was slightly awkward, but nice. Then we went to meet the cast of “Up,” the animated movie, because I wanted to meet Doug, the talking dog, who is my favorite. Allie and I also got our picture taken with the Incredibles and Mom and Dad got their picture taken with Mickey. We managed to miss a rain storm and headed to see the Beauty and the Beast show, our favorite. We got ice cream and went to see the Indiana Jones show. We checked out some shops there for the illusive Wendy picture. Allie wasn’t feeling so good, so we left the park and got lunch at IHOP and got medicine for everyone. By then, Allie had figured she wasn’t going to find the picture, so she wanted a box with Beauty and the Beast on it that she’d seen at Magic Kingdom. We were going back to EPCOT, so we decided to look for it there.
When we arrived back at EPCOT, we hiked across the park, to the back side, where the countries are, because I wanted to meet the Beast. We passed Britain, where we saw Mary Poppins and Alice along the way, whom we got pictures with. When we arrived in France, where Belle and the Beast were, they were getting ready to take a break. We found out what time they were coming back, the Beast specifically (because we’d already got a picture with another Belle), and walked on to Morocco, where we found Jasmine and Aladdin (of the cute dimples… well, they were!). We went back to France, where we proceeded to form our own line, with a couple other people, who were waiting for the Beast. Belle came out about 10 minutes before the Beast, so we were waiting in one line, letting other people and kids in front of us until the Beast showed up. It was so funny, because those of us who began the Beast line were us, of course, one other chick about my age, and a dad who was there holding a place for his two daughters. We’re pretty sure we made Belle feel bad because we kept telling people, “Oh, you can go ahead of us… We’re waiting for the Beast.” Anyway, we went on around to Italy, where I bought earrings, and on around to Germany, where we stumbled upon Snow White, who was very nice and a lot cuter up close than in the picture. From there, we took a monorail back to the Magic Kingdom ticket center, and from there, to the Magic Kingdom itself, because, apparently, we have learned that not every park has exactly the same merchandise.
There, we found Allie’s box and I was going to get her a Beauty and the Beast snowglobe, that, no great surprise, could not be found at the Magic Kingdom. We decided to walk over to Peter Pan, which we hadn’t ridden the day before because of the wait. The wait was still ridiculous (35 minutes for a continuously moving ride… don’t ask us, we don’t understand either). So, we’re standing, tired, hot, icky, trying to figure out what we’re going to do and Mom makes a statement she’d made when we were trying to figure out the plan several times the earlier in the day, “Well, what we could do…” and it was just too much. We all burst into laughter. We ended up going to get ice cream and left the park, taking a monorail back to the ticket center and back to EPCOT. We drove back to Downtown Disney, which is where I had also seen the snowglobe. The parents dropped Allie and I off to run into the Disney Store and get it. No great surprise with this next comment – they only had one which they couldn’t sell because it was broken. The chick there sent us across the area to the Art of Disney Store to see if they had one there, which they didn’t, but we found something Allie would like as much and just got it instead. Then Allie and I got lost trying to find the parking lot and Mom and Dad had to keep circling the parking lot until we found them. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were exhausted.
We didn’t do anything except come home on Monday. The only remotely funny thing that happened was that we had the back of the car so filled up that you couldn’t see out the back window. It was a mess. Allie also managed to ask Dad “Are we there yet?” all the way from Walterboro, about a 45 minute trip, poking him every ten seconds.
Overall, though, we had a fantastically fun and entertaining trip. Certainly one of the most interesting we’ve taken in a while. Hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did!
Later!
Whitney (and the family)
Sunday, we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn again, because we had breakfast scheduled with the Princesses in EPCOT. We got to EPCOT before you had to pay for parking and trudged up to the gate, at which we were instructed to go through and head around to the back side of the park, where we would go to the second country on the left, Norway. Along with one other family, we headed that direction and located Akershus Royal Palace, where our breakfast would be. We ended up being the first group in, and were greeted by Belle herself, who talked to us for a minute before taking a picture with us. We ate at a buffet and had barely finished our plates when Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty, popped out of a room next to us to circulate around the room. Each princess took a moment to talk to us and take a picture before moving on. Cinderella was next, who is my FAVORITE, and I got a picture taken with her by myself, which was nice, and then Ariel, who was also very nice. We rode the big ball, which was updated from the last time we were there. Allie also wanted a drawn picture of Wendy, which we looked for there. After that, we trekked back across the park to the exit and drove to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).
Once there, we went in and rode the Toy Story shooter ride, which was amazing, but had a really long line. We were sleepy and, inside, there was a box with a cow drawn on it, to make it look like a kid’s toy. Hence began the cow jokes. Lots of cow jokes. Bad cow jokes, such as “Did you know that cow was Russian? It was from MosCOW,” “Udderly amazing,” “Moolan Rouge,” etc. (2 days later, Dad’s still coming up with bad cow jokes.) Imagine that for between 30 and 40 minutes. Yup. We were tired. It was the exhaustion talking. So, Allie beat me in the game, which, ya know, sucked, but it was fun. From there, we went to meet Prince Caspian, which was slightly awkward, but nice. Then we went to meet the cast of “Up,” the animated movie, because I wanted to meet Doug, the talking dog, who is my favorite. Allie and I also got our picture taken with the Incredibles and Mom and Dad got their picture taken with Mickey. We managed to miss a rain storm and headed to see the Beauty and the Beast show, our favorite. We got ice cream and went to see the Indiana Jones show. We checked out some shops there for the illusive Wendy picture. Allie wasn’t feeling so good, so we left the park and got lunch at IHOP and got medicine for everyone. By then, Allie had figured she wasn’t going to find the picture, so she wanted a box with Beauty and the Beast on it that she’d seen at Magic Kingdom. We were going back to EPCOT, so we decided to look for it there.
When we arrived back at EPCOT, we hiked across the park, to the back side, where the countries are, because I wanted to meet the Beast. We passed Britain, where we saw Mary Poppins and Alice along the way, whom we got pictures with. When we arrived in France, where Belle and the Beast were, they were getting ready to take a break. We found out what time they were coming back, the Beast specifically (because we’d already got a picture with another Belle), and walked on to Morocco, where we found Jasmine and Aladdin (of the cute dimples… well, they were!). We went back to France, where we proceeded to form our own line, with a couple other people, who were waiting for the Beast. Belle came out about 10 minutes before the Beast, so we were waiting in one line, letting other people and kids in front of us until the Beast showed up. It was so funny, because those of us who began the Beast line were us, of course, one other chick about my age, and a dad who was there holding a place for his two daughters. We’re pretty sure we made Belle feel bad because we kept telling people, “Oh, you can go ahead of us… We’re waiting for the Beast.” Anyway, we went on around to Italy, where I bought earrings, and on around to Germany, where we stumbled upon Snow White, who was very nice and a lot cuter up close than in the picture. From there, we took a monorail back to the Magic Kingdom ticket center, and from there, to the Magic Kingdom itself, because, apparently, we have learned that not every park has exactly the same merchandise.
There, we found Allie’s box and I was going to get her a Beauty and the Beast snowglobe, that, no great surprise, could not be found at the Magic Kingdom. We decided to walk over to Peter Pan, which we hadn’t ridden the day before because of the wait. The wait was still ridiculous (35 minutes for a continuously moving ride… don’t ask us, we don’t understand either). So, we’re standing, tired, hot, icky, trying to figure out what we’re going to do and Mom makes a statement she’d made when we were trying to figure out the plan several times the earlier in the day, “Well, what we could do…” and it was just too much. We all burst into laughter. We ended up going to get ice cream and left the park, taking a monorail back to the ticket center and back to EPCOT. We drove back to Downtown Disney, which is where I had also seen the snowglobe. The parents dropped Allie and I off to run into the Disney Store and get it. No great surprise with this next comment – they only had one which they couldn’t sell because it was broken. The chick there sent us across the area to the Art of Disney Store to see if they had one there, which they didn’t, but we found something Allie would like as much and just got it instead. Then Allie and I got lost trying to find the parking lot and Mom and Dad had to keep circling the parking lot until we found them. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were exhausted.
We didn’t do anything except come home on Monday. The only remotely funny thing that happened was that we had the back of the car so filled up that you couldn’t see out the back window. It was a mess. Allie also managed to ask Dad “Are we there yet?” all the way from Walterboro, about a 45 minute trip, poking him every ten seconds.
Overall, though, we had a fantastically fun and entertaining trip. Certainly one of the most interesting we’ve taken in a while. Hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did!
Later!
Whitney (and the family)
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