"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.