“What?! No! That’s Crazy!” Feb 16 - 21, 2014 (Complete)

[AlyssinWonderland]

I like your trip report!

Your Mom was quite the day saver with the stamp trick! Good thinking!

Hope the rest of your trip was lovely! Thanks for sharing!

 

[geckodani]

Eek, that's not a good thing to have happen on day 2 at all. Shoes are so important for trips. At least your mom was brilliant enough to come up with the postage stamp Though, why did she have one on her? Moms have everything on them at all times, it's amazing.

And I do wish I looked that cute

It was so not a good moment when I realized what was going on! Why she had a stamp? I have no idea. She's a mom and a teacher, so we'll chalk it up to a combination of powers.

And LOL - I personally think she's adorable. She used to smile with her lips closed; she had Bell's Palsy a few years ago, and still feels like her smile is crooked. She smiled her head off on our last trip, and my Step-Tom and I were so enamored with her smiling face that she smiles with teeth again now. I think she's beautiful.

Hmmm, yeah, I'd say that's better weather Dani.

Goodness, is there anything Mom's can't do??? How incredibly resourceful with the postage stamp.

Yeah, just a bit of a weather difference, eh? It was a nice change! We didn't get rained on, not even a little bit! As opposed to 2012, where I think there was only one day that we didn't get soaked and/or freeze our tushies off!

And I'm convinced that mothers in general have superpowers, and that there is nothing that mine in particular can't do.

I like your trip report!

Your Mom was quite the day saver with the stamp trick! Good thinking!

Hope the rest of your trip was lovely! Thanks for sharing!

Aw, thank you! And she certainly is resourceful! Hope you enjoy the rest of it - there are still a few awesome moments coming, as well as a few less awesome ones, LOL.

 

[geckodani]

Day 2, Part 3: "Very... American."

After taking a friendship boat across to the other side of WS, we stopped to do some shopping. Random pics from the store in Japan I took for DH:





We shopped a few of the other countries, and then checked in and parked it on a bench/ledge and people watched while we waited for our buzzers to go off.

I love Teppan Edo, and our chef this time around was AMAZING. They all do a good job, but you could tell that he had been doing this for a while! Mom and I both got the beef and shrimp (capitalize on that Dining Plan!) I got an iced green tea as well, and it was really refreshing.

Dinner pic!



We were seated on one end of the grill/table, and the middle section was taken up by a group of teenagers and their chaperon. If I recall correctly, they were there for a competition of some sort.

What stands out the most about this dinner, aside from its general nomminess, is what happened when our chef was doling out the sauces. If you've never been, there are 3 sauces, a ginger one, one I can't remember, and a white sauce, which is basically ranch dressing.

Another pic almost the same as the one above!



Now, one of the teenagers was OBSESSED with the white sauce. Kept asking for refills. Our chef, who had been chatting with my mom (she visited Japan in college, so she knows her stuff) just kind of gave the teenager a very level look, and then pulled out a BOWL and filled it up with the white sauce.

I was trying really hard not to laugh, and the chef leaned over to us and said very quietly, " Very... American..." referencing the teenager and her bowl of ranch dressing. It may not have been PC, but I thought it was hilarious!

Random grill pic of the onion volcano:



I know we both got the chocolate ginger cake for dessert, but ended up asking for it to go.

After bidding our Chef goodnight, we went in search of a spot for Illuminations. We ended up near the entrance to WS, just to the left of one of the shops along the lagoon. We picked it mainly because it had a raised planter/ledge that we could sit on (needed to keep mom from having to sit directly on the ground). We ended up sharing the ledge with an adorable group of ladies. There were 6 of them, all retirees traveling together. I handed out my customary glow bracelets, and some of the most grateful recipients were the ladies sharing our ledge! Never too old for glow!!!

I tried to get a pic of my mom and I, but this was the best I could do. I promise, we are in there somewhere!



We ate our ginger cake while we waited (YUM!) and then it was time for fireworks! Illuminations was great, as always. And especially since we had missed it last year - it was 45 degrees and windy on our Epcot night and just wasn't worth it!

Our friends had all gotten up on the ledge to watch the show, and I ended up helping most of them back down again. They were a fun bunch!

At this point we thought we'd be back to Epcot later in the week (spoiler alert, we never made it), so we hadn't pushed to do too much else in WS. The only thing I missed that I wish I had done is Maelstrom, and that's no big deal.

So to recap, in one day we:

Rode Peter Pan, Dumbo, Pooh, Teacups, Ariel, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Soarin, Living with the Land, Nemo, Turtle Talk, Eo, Figment and watched Illuminations.

Phew, I'm tired just reading that!

Up next: Day 3, Part 1: Fabulous Hair!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Awesome update. We've never been to that restaurant, but it looks really neat! You and your mom are so cute!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha that's cute with the Japanese CM and the bowl of Ranch Dressing. That's so un-Japanese CM, but oh so funny.

I don't like onions, but I do like watching onion volcanoes.

Sounds like a great and full day.

 

[amberg93]

We had a great chef too at Teppan Edo last time and also a girl (in our group) who ended up super loving the white sauce Although I have to admit that your chef sounds hilarious with her whispers. Silly Americans. Oh wait. I'm American. And Canadian. I don't know what to do. Is it still okay if I say silly Americans?

So kind to share the glow bracelets. Seems like it's a great way to make friends.

Overall it just seems like my kind of day. No better way to end things than with IllumiNations

 

[teekathepony]

I love LWTL too, we did Behind the Seeds two years ago and we loved it! A great little inexpensive tour.
A very sweet story about Soarin, I can understand why it would be very special for you.
Mom to the rescue... with a stamp! Love it!
Teppan Edo sounds great! I'm so picky and therefore too scared to try it, but it does sound very fun.
IllumiNations with your glow bracelets sounds fun
Wow, what a fantastic day you ladies had!

 

[Belle_princess]

I'm in! What a great TR so far! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[geckodani]

Awesome update. We've never been to that restaurant, but it looks really neat! You and your mom are so cute!

Thank you. It is a really fun restaurant, and an interesting experience. I don't know that I'd pay out of pocket for it, but on the dining plan - bring it on!!! And thanks for the compliment! I didn't realize how much we look alike until we started traveling together. I only hope I age as gracefully!!!

Haha that's cute with the Japanese CM and the bowl of Ranch Dressing. That's so un-Japanese CM, but oh so funny.

I don't like onions, but I do like watching onion volcanoes.

Sounds like a great and full day.

It was HILARIOUS! And for the record, the girl that received the sauce was glad to have it, and he made his comment very quietly to my mom an I, so no one was offended, although we did have the giggles for the rest of the meal!

It was a great, and very busy day!

We had a great chef too at Teppan Edo last time and also a girl (in our group) who ended up super loving the white sauce Although I have to admit that your chef sounds hilarious with her whispers. Silly Americans. Oh wait. I'm American. And Canadian. I don't know what to do. Is it still okay if I say silly Americans?

So kind to share the glow bracelets. Seems like it's a great way to make friends.

Overall it just seems like my kind of day. No better way to end things than with IllumiNations

I guess I don't get it with the white sauce. To each their own I suppose! And you can be America, and Canadian. My sister is the same way, and I'm fairly certain my nephews will have no clue that not everyone is an American/Canadian hybrid. I do enjoy the 4 year old's tendency to ask where Captain America is every time they visit the states though!

The bracelets are such a little thing (tube of 15 for a dollar at the dollar store) and it's just so much FUN!

I generally prefer Wishes to Illuminations, but getting out of Epcot is a heck of a lot easier than getting out of MK!!!

I love LWTL too, we did Behind the Seeds two years ago and we loved it! A great little inexpensive tour.
A very sweet story about Soarin, I can understand why it would be very special for you.
Mom to the rescue... with a stamp! Love it!
Teppan Edo sounds great! I'm so picky and therefore too scared to try it, but it does sound very fun.
IllumiNations with your glow bracelets sounds fun
Wow, what a fantastic day you ladies had!

I think I'll definitely do the tour in Oct! Soarin... so nostalgic, and I love it.
The stamp is still there, for the record. And going strong! And you should try Teppan Edo! It's great! So are things that glow! Knowing now how the trip would end up, I'm so glad we did so much our first day!

I'm in! What a great TR so far! I can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for joining in! I hope you enjoy the rest of it! The selfies get more ridiculous as we go on.

 

[geckodani]

Day 3, Part One: Fabulous Hair!

We once again woke up stupidly early, although I think we made it to about 7:15 today. Our destination was Animal Kingdom, and if I recall it didn't open until 9:00. Now, in addition to loving Tower of Terror, Mom also loves Expedition Everest.

I know, she's odd. I have nothing against it, but the last time I rode EE I got super dizzy/nauseous/almost blacked out/not quite to happy-go-pukey (term coined by IheartDDuck) but definitely should have eaten before riding it! I have odd blood pressure (low for my weight, and when I'm thin it's CRAZY low!) and have actually blacked out on Millenium Force at Cedar Point.

So, I was taking no chances this year. We were going to have a FULL breakfast, before attempting EE!

So we got ready and wandered to the food court at POFQ. Under the watchful eyes of multiple creepy floating heads:



... we each ordered the ham and cheese omelets. As we were eating our uninspired but still good breakfast, one of the CMs by the name of Santos came up and informed my mother and I that we, "Have the most fabulous hair of anyone I've seen all day. For real. And I see a lot of people." We got into quite a long discussion with him, and Santos has had an interesting year! Near death experience, baby on the way, quite amazing actually. We had a lot of fun chatting with him, and compliments are always welcome!

Now. Animal Kingdom.

I don't generally like Animal Kingdom. Before you start throwing things, let me explain! I love the concept of it. I love the shows. Finding Nemo the Musical is hands down my favorite show on property. The animals are great.

But... when they were busy making the place look amazingly rustic, they made the pathways really uneven. They look amazing. The are terribly hard to walk on if you have any sort of foot/knee/ankle problems. Like, almost torturous.

And why, when they were building the place from SCRATCH, did they choose to lay it out so badly?!?!? Magic Kingdom is laid out like a dream. Animal Kingdom... WTH were they thinking?

Okay, rant over, we finished brekkie and hopped a bus to AK. If memory serves, the bus took a while to come, and that ride always feels like it takes forever!

Before too long, we had arrived at AK, and immediately upon entering ran into D'Vine! She is so cool.



I only have the one pic, but we definitely had fun watching her for a while!

And then - on to EE! We had arrived only a few minutes after the park opened, so the standby line was pretty short. I had a FP+, but had been thinking about moving them to attractions at MK (our evening destination) so we decided to ride standby instead. The queue is awesome anyway:



DH had told me a trick he'd heard of that fighter pilots use; squeeze your butt muscles and it forces blood to your brain and keeps you from passing out. So, I decided to try it on EE - and it worked! No passing out, no spots, no happy-go-pukey! Just Mom laughing like a maniac! Success!

I was not up for another run though, so we went to ride Dinosaur instead! Dinosaur! I think the queue was about 30 minutes, but we didn't mind. It was getting really hot out, and the Dinosaur queue is air conditioned!



Redneck ride photo!



Clearly, I startle easily. And am not a fan of carnivorous dinosaurs. And yet I love Jurassic Park. But Raptors scare the crap out of me. Dichotomy is me.

Ahem. Note that Mom looks completely unconcerned.

This shirt in the dump shop had me cracking up!



At this point it was about time for some chow, so we headed over to Restaurantasaurus. And had what may be the most hellacious dining experience I have ever had at Disney.

It. Was. CHAOS. Utter and complete chaos. People everywhere. The CMs were doing their best, they really were. There were just so many people all trying to occupy the same space and holy cow crowded hot nowhere to sit insanity.

It was not fun. I have no pics. I don't even remember what we ordered. We wanted out of there ASAP!!!

After our unsatisfactory took forever lunch, we had some time to kill before the next Nemo show. So we went shopping! Or at least to try on hats. That's totally valid.













This shirt made me laugh:



Okay, enough with the hats. Time for Nemo!!! I have no pics. I love this show too much to take pics. It is AMAZING. If you haven't seen it - you MUST. I might go to AK just for this show in October. I love it that much. I have been driving DH (who hasn't seen it) nuts since we got back. I walk around singing the songs. It is amazing. If nothing else, find it on Youtube!!!

Okay, off soapbox. But seriously, go see it!

After Nemo we were starting to slow down a bit. Bad knee. Bad feet. Fibromyalgia. Really hot. Meh.

I had kinda wanted to do the Safari... but neither of us wanted to walk that far. We were willing to walk to It's a Bug's Life though - so that's what we did!







I know enough to sit forward and not get stung. I had forgotten about the spiders that drop from the ceiling though! NOT a fan, LOL!!!

Now. We had a dinner reservation at MK at 6:00. I believe it was around 2 or 3:00 at this point. We were pretty much done with AK. Too hot, bad pavement. Meh.

I made an error here. What we should have done was go back to the room. I kinda wanted to go take a break. I think Mom wanted to go take a break, but in typical Mom I will not disappoint my daughter I'll keep on trucking style, she said let's go on to MK!

How big of a mistake? Well, come back and see!

Up Next: Who is Prince Adam?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Now that was awesome. I CANNOT BELIEVE you squeezed your butt cheeks on the ride! OMG!! Are you sure that's what really helped and it wasn't just that it was ok this time? I dunno. I think I'll need some scientific proof on this one. I have a similar issue as I'm a diabetic and if the sugar goes too low, I get dizzy and sick on rides that I'm usually fine on! Love the hat fashion show! Very styling!

That was so nice of Santos to comment on your hair. See? I'm not the only one that likes it.

 

[geckodani]

Now that was awesome. I CANNOT BELIEVE you squeezed your butt cheeks on the ride! OMG!! Are you sure that's what really helped and it wasn't just that it was ok this time? I dunno. I think I'll need some scientific proof on this one. I have a similar issue as I'm a diabetic and if the sugar goes too low, I get dizzy and sick on rides that I'm usually fine on! Love the hat fashion show! Very styling!

That was so nice of Santos to comment on your hair. See? I'm not the only one that likes it.

I really did! I felt like an idiot. Here we go backwards look a yeti - ENGAGE BUTT MUSCLES!

It worked though! I've ridden it twice before, and saw spots each time. This time I was totally fine. Not even a little bit wonky!

I found a few articles that vaguely mention pilots being trained to utilize "certain muscle groups" etc. I did ask one of my Air Traffic Controller buddies, and he confirmed the squeeze your butt tactic. I'll try again in October and report back!

The hair compliment was unexpected and very cool.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I do recommend eating before the Expedition. After 8 rides I was starting to really feel it, lol.

What a nice way to start the day by being complimented like that. I love CM's.

Nah, I agree with you Dani. AK could have been laid out better. Heck, I still sometimes get lost in there!!!

 

[amberg93]

Well Santos is right, you do both have fabulous hair so

The layout in AK is a bit crazy, but I kinda like it? I don't know, in October though navigating that terrain with a wheelchair? Ugh. Forget about it.

I've never had problems on EE so that's interesting. I'll keep it in mind if I start feeling bad on it.

Dinosaur! I love Dinosaur. And that shirt is the best. I'm seriously cracking up seeing it.

A mistake? *waits to know how big* I hope not big.

 

[geckodani]

I do recommend eating before the Expedition. After 8 rides I was starting to really feel it, lol.

What a nice way to start the day by being complimented like that. I love CM's.

Nah, I agree with you Dani. AK could have been laid out better. Heck, I still sometimes get lost in there!!!

Yeah, normally one ride is enough to put me out of commission, so if I've found a way to be able to ride, that would be great!

It really was a lovely way to start the day. And I really wish they'd done a better job with the layout.

Well Santos is right, you do both have fabulous hair so

The layout in AK is a bit crazy, but I kinda like it? I don't know, in October though navigating that terrain with a wheelchair? Ugh. Forget about it.

I've never had problems on EE so that's interesting. I'll keep it in mind if I start feeling bad on it.

Dinosaur! I love Dinosaur. And that shirt is the best. I'm seriously cracking up seeing it.

A mistake? *waits to know how big* I hope not big.

Yeah, I can see that place being a nightmare with a wheelchair! Eep!

Ah yes, I had to build some suspense somewhere!

 

[teekathepony]

A compliment like that is a fantastic way to start a day!
Glad you got your breakfast into you, squeezed your butt muscles and didn't pass out.
Also I'm picturing your mom laughing like a maniac on EE and I think she's my favourite person right now.
I love Dinosaur! And dinosaurs in general! And Jurassic Park! Your ride photo is hilarious, your mom looks like she could be viewing the cretaceous plants and you look like you're about to be eaten by the rex.

This shirt in the dump shop had me cracking up!

Me too, DH totally got it for me for Christmas.

Yikes @ Restaurantosaurus! Sounds horrible!!

Yikes again, hate to hear about non-resting mistakes!

 

[geckodani]

A compliment like that is a fantastic way to start a day!

Also I'm picturing your mom laughing like a maniac on EE and I think she's my favourite person right now.

I love Dinosaur! And dinosaurs in general! And Jurassic Park! Your ride photo is hilarious, your mom looks like she could be viewing the cretaceous plants and you look like you're about to be eaten by the rex.

Me too, DH totally got it for me for Christmas.

Yikes @ Restaurantosaurus! Sounds horrible!!

Yikes again, hate to hear about non-resting mistakes!

She cracks me up. I should really try to record her sometime on ToT or EE. It's hilarious!!!

I... dinosaurs, yeah. Not so much. Thus the screaming. We laughed SO HARD when we saw that ride photo!

I saw that you got that shirt for Christmas! I love it!

Lunch definitely sucked. And we really should have taken a break!!!

 

[geckodani]

Day 3, Part 2: Who is Prince Adam?

So. We had just left Animal Kingdom. And decided not to go back to the room to take a break. Even though we kind of felt like this.

But I had a Be Our Guest reservation - for DINNER! I had been looking forward to this meal for months! So we trudged to the bus, and then trudged into the Magic Kingom.

And ran into a WALL of humanity in Adventureland. It was not a sea of humanity. A sea of humanity implies some sort of movement. There. Was. No. Movement. It was like Main Street after wishes. It was insane.

I had switched our FP+s around and we had one for Jungle Cruise, but it was still a ways off. So we decided to get some ice cream. There was a long line, but no big. Mom found a spot in the shade, and I got in what has to be the most disorganized queue situation I had ever seen. It was insanity. And just as I got to the front... they shut down my side of the line, and the CM told me that in fact they had never been serving out of that side, and I should go to the back of the line. Even though I had just been watching her serve from that side for 20 minutes.

(Yes, Wendy, I stole this gif from you. It made me laugh.)

Um. No. No way lady. I'd been in that line for 20 minutes, it was insanely hot. Not happening.

Luckily, in one of those moments that restores my faith in humanity, the teenage boys in the line next to me took one look at my face and ushered me in front of them. I was beyond grateful. Thank you to those boys, wherever you are.

Okay, so finally, I have my mom's ice cream (vanilla) and my coffee float. People, this coffee float was epic. EPIC. Soft serve in a latte - um, yes please! So good. It started a trend for the rest of the week.

Now, Mom was not where I had left her. She had been sitting on a portion of the wall around Aladdin's Magic Carpets. And apparently had been slowly edged out of her spot.

So... we moved. I wasn't feeling confrontational enough on this particular night to do something about it. Now the next night... but I'm getting ahead of myself. We found another sliver of space, and finished our treats, and people watched until it was time for our FP+.

As we walked over to Jungle Cruise, I saw a line that was insanely long. Surely, that was the standby line, right?

Nope. FP+ line. Here's a pic from Easywdw that looks remarkably like what we encountered:



It was craziness. I had about had it with this day at this point. I lost my cool a bit, and asked the nearest CM if this was really the FP+ line. He confirmed it, and I said something along the lines of "Please tell me you are effing kidding me." He just paused, looked me dead in the eye and said, "I wish I were ma'am, I wish I were." I apologized for being cranky, and mom and I decided that it was too hot to wait in that outdoor queue, and decided to check out the wait for Pirates instead.

Aaaaaand. Pirates was down. To quote another Dani, Womp womp. Le sigh.

But then they started the Pirates League show, and we became absolutely fascinated by it. Mom found a spot to sit sort of in the shade, I provided a movable sun block (being 8 inches taller than her comes in handy, hee hee) and we watched Captain Jack do his thing. He was incredible. The show itself was a lot of fun, and the kids watching really seemed to enjoy it!



Pirates had reopened during the show, so we caught a quick ride and then started to work our way towards BOG by way of Frontierland.

We still had about an hour until our ADR, so we took a cruise on the steam boat the name of which escapes me because at Disneyland it's the Mark Twain and that's all it will ever be to me.

We ended up sharing a bench with a lovely family, and I got a pic of a Disney rainbow.



Why are rainbows at Disney so magical?

I called DH while we were on the boat, Mom chatted with another family, and then we redeemed a FP+ for HM before it was finally time to check in for BOG! (I'm happy to report that the Hitchhiking Ghosts were back to their normal shenanigans!)

Obligatory silliness.





And then we were seated! And none of my pics turned out! Except for these:





Yes, I had the grey stuff. And honestly, it was the best part of dinner. Mom and I weren't impressed by the food, I'm sad to say. The ambiance though, can NOT be beat!

Due to some personal history with Beauty and the Beast, Mom and I have a special place for the Beast in our hearts. And when they announced him and he walked through the ballroom... I'm not going to lie, I teared up a bit.

And of course, we had to go and meet him! And this is where the funny moment of the night happened. Mom went up, and was absolutely engulfed in a hug (he really is HUGE!). And when I went up and got my giant hug, I told him that I had a Prince Adam at home as well. He straightened right up, kissed the back of my hand and gave me another huge hug.

Meanwhile, the CMs were playing dumb. Well, first they said "Awwwww!" followed immediately by "Prince Adam? Who is that?"

Now, this is always something that's bothered me a little. At the end of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast has been transformed... that's sort of the point. And yet... the Beast roams the park. And Ariel is in her fin. And Rapunzel has long hair. And Anna has the white streak.

Aaaaanyway. Only photopass pic I purchased!



The plan for this night was to stay for Wishes. But we were done. Just done. Exhausted. I felt a wee bit stuffy (oh how I wish it had stayed just a wee bit!!!) Mom's stomach was off. So we called it an early night... after one more ride on HM, that is!

Tomorrow: Day 4, Part 1: Why yes, that is ice cream in my coffee.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I absolutely LOVE Mom's face with the gargoyle thing! Precious! We had gone to BOG for lunch and we were disappointed with the food as well. I think I was just expecting more. Oh, what a handsome BEAST he is!! And very charming! Yep, we experienced crazy lines during our March trip. Ugh! That's why we are going back in September.....with crowd calendar days being 1 to 4!!! Ah, Heaven!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

oh gosh - that just sounds crazy with all the people and the not moving and the heat and the what not!

That is crazy that you weren't going to get your ice cream. I would have been all "um, so I just imagined all the people getting ice cream here for the last 20 mins?!?!?!?" - glad you did get it in the end though and the coffee float sounds amazing!

Sorry the food wasn't better at BOG. I am still trying to get a dinner ADR there for our next trip but thinking I might just stick with lunch as, for a QS, I thought the lunch food there was quite good!