Part 5
Participants:
Chris, 29 years old
Michelle, 27 years old
Ben, 22 months old
Day 5, Tuesday December 4, 2001
We woke to the alarm clock at 7:30. The message light on the phone was blinking. At that hour, it took me a while to figure out how to actually retrieve the message, but when I did, it was an invitation to appear in a Christmas special with Wayne Brady that was going to be taped in the lobby later that day. It was interesting to realize that the extras in those specials really are regular guests, but it was not an experience that interested us, so we went on with our day as planned.
We completed our morning routine. Chris got a bagel from the Mara for breakfast, and Ben had Cheerios. I was not ready to eat that early. We headed out the door around 8:30.
A new friend
We decided to take the bus to the Animal Kingdom, figuring that being so close to the park, even if only one bus was running the wait couldn't be too bad. Our wait was about 15 minutes, which was longer than I expected, but it was a pleasant wait. Ben befriended a little boy named Jacob from New Jersey, and wowed him by showing him the Wally beanie that Anne had given him. It was really cute to watch Ben interact with Jacob. Since he is an only child, and doesn't go to daycare, his chances to be with other children are limited, so I try to take advantage of any opportunity which presents itself to teach him about sharing and generally being nice.
I got to visit with Jacob's mom, who was traveling alone with him. Jacob was almost exactly 1 year older than Ben, so this was an opportunity to see what I have to look forward to in a year. It had been a rough morning for Jacob, whose mom thought the Animal Kingdom opened at 8:00, arrived at the park much too early, and had a boy very distraught that he couldn't see animals when he had been promised. So they hopped on another bus to the Lodge and viewed the animals here before heading back to the park.
When the bus arrived, the ride was quick, and we were dropped off at around 8:55. There was no wait for security and a short wait to get through the turnstiles. We headed straight for the safari, with a plan to get Fast Passes, ride once via the standby line, then explore the Gorilla Falls trail (Pang-whatever) while we waited for our Fast Pass time, then do the safari again. When we reached the safari, however, the wait was already 30 minutes, so we grabbed Fast Passes and headed for the trail.
Because the trail wasn't crowded yet, we let Ben walk so he could get a bit of exercise. Ben greeted the colobus monkeys with his "ooh-ooh-ooh" monkey noise. He liked the big fish tank that was at his eye level very much. The hippos were lying perfectly still, so I don't think he even saw those. He didn't seem very interested in the gorillas, either, which I think are fascinating to watch.
A safari surprise
We went to use our safari Fast Passes. Even in the Fast Pass line we had a wait a bit longer than 10 minutes. Ben was incredibly squirmy, and did not want to be held by either of us. At one moment in protest, he broke my sunglasses. My pale blue eyes are very light sensitive, so it was an inconvenience to be without sunglasses. On the other hand, though, it gave me a reason to check out the next few shops we encountered.
The safari was one of the biggest surprises of the trip. Ben loves animals (what toddler doesn't?) and I expected him to love the safari. However, from the moment our truck took off, Ben did NOT like the ride. I guess I never realized before how rough the ride is, and Ben clearly felt very insecure about being jolted about a bit. I held him tightly to me, and eventually he relaxed enough to at least enjoy the elephant who was very near our side of the truck. We also saw cheetahs, lions (sleeping, as they always seem to be for us), crocodiles, warthogs, guinea fowl, giraffes, tommies, eland, wildebeest, bongos, pelicans, storks, white and black rhinos, and probably some other things I have forgotten.
We decided that we better use our second set of safari Fast Passes individually so that Ben would not have to ride again. We had a little while before our passes, so I looked in the shop in that area for sunglasses. I found one pair of frames that I loved, but, sadly, the lenses were only lightly tinted, and I really need a darker tint.
By now I was ready for breakfast, so I went to Tusker House and got an enormous Rice Krispies treat. I also got a coke for Chris, who was feeling a bit sleepy. The three of us shared the Rice Krispies treat. As we snacked, a group of African drummers marched by. That was really neat.
The second safaris
Our Fast Pass time had arrived. Ben was acting sleepy. I decided to ride first while Chris tried to soothe Ben into a nap. On my safari I saw basically the same animals as before, except I also saw the Rafiki's (I think they're called mandrills), ostriches, and a baby black rhino. The CM I had talked to at the Lodge the night before had told me about the baby black rhino, and what a huge success it was that one had been born at the Animal Kingdom. He did not think the baby was on display, however, so I made a mental note to let him know if I saw him again on this trip.
As I exited the safari, a gorilla was very close to a viewing area, so I paused for a few minutes and watched it. I can really see that we are not very different at all from them. In fact, in my less coherent moments, I think I'm very much like a gorilla.
When I returned to Chris and Ben, Ben was asleep in his stroller. We found a shady spot to wait for Chris to ride the safari. Ben must have really needed a nap, because he even slept through the African drummers marching by again.
After Chris's safari, it was around 12:30, so we headed out of the park, lingering to look at the Tree of Life on our way. The bus for the Animal Kingdom Lodge was waiting, so we were soon back in our room.
Ben was wide awake now and needing exercise, so he can Chris went to the playground. I spent some time on the phone, rearranging some priority seatings, and setting an appointment with the woman who had given us the DVC tour Sunday so I could sign the papers.
We had a quick lunch at the Mara. I enjoyed the sugar cane chicken. It is nice that they offer some unusual choices at the counter service here. It seems like the menu at Roaring Forks at the Wilderness Lodge, the counter service we were accustomed to, has a much narrower scope.
A change in "The Plan"
Around 2:00 we headed to Epcot, where we were meeting Laura and Renae for the ice cream social at the Garden Grill. As we entered Epcot, we realized that we hadn't been in this park since Saturday morning. We had seen Illuminations Sunday evening, but that was in a boat. Since we love Epcot, we realized we needed to adjust our touring plans to allow us some more time in this park.
We had originally planned to spend an afternoon each in MGM and the Animal Kingdom, in order to see both of their afternoon parades. However, since Ben did not seem enthused about the Share a Dream Come True parade, we realized that parade viewing should not be a priority for us. Our new plan gave us more time to enjoy Epcot, until now we had only breezed through World Showcase, and I definitely wanted time to spend time in each country, enjoying the surroundings.
At this moment, I sort of breathed a sigh of relief. With no parades or shows on our agenda for the rest of the week, for the first time in my life I felt like I had "free time" at WDW. Of course, this is exactly how a vacation should be, but my compulsive need to overplan had never let that happen before. I felt liberated! And I hope that I learned enough from this experience that I will never overplan a vacation again.
Mmmmm….ice cream
We arrived at the Land around 2:30. Since we were a bit early, we let Ben run around for a while. Chris chased him as I waited for Laura and Renae. After a few minutes, we went inside to check-in. By the time the guy at the podium asked me if my whole party was there, I was able to turn around and see Laura and Renae. We were given a magical light-up tells-you-when-your-table's-ready.
I had just enough time to admire Laura's new light-up Mickey Christmas pin and hear a bit about their previous evening of mini-golf before our tells-you-when-your-table's-ready lit up. When we got to the podium, Ben was quite reluctant to give up the tells-you-when-your-table's-ready, as it was flashing and exciting, but Laura's new pin came to the rescue, and distracted Ben so I could give the tells-you-when-your-table's-ready to the host.
We were seated and I think we were all ready for ice cream. I had eaten at the Garden Grill for breakfast one morning on our honeymoon, but hadn't been back since. I had enjoyed it, but we hadn't really been seeking out character meals on our last trip. It was kind of nice to be back in this unique, rotating restaurant.
Shortly after we were seated, Laura presented me with a die cast Splash Mountain figurine. I was really touched, as by then I was feeling a little goofy about what a chicken I had been on the ride. The figurine is perfect displayed with my picture of the ride, a great reminder of a great trip.
The first character to visit us was Mickey Mouse. By now, Ben seemed to remember his friend, and was not at all shy about giving him hugs and kisses. Ben was wearing his First Haircut Mickey ears at the time, which made for a wonderful photo op. Laura got a cute digital picture of Ben kissing Mickey's nose (a picture which eventually turned into the Christmas card she sent us!).
Soon, our huge ice cream sundaes arrived. They were a beautiful display. A base of a tollhouse cookie held an upright waffle cone, affixed with chocolate. The cone was overstuffed with vanilla bean ice cream, topped with a thin, dark chocolate wafer bearing the 100 Years of Magic logo. The plate was garnished with gummy worms, which made Ben very happy. Ben's sundae was an inverted version of the adult sundae, with chocolate chips forming a face in the ice cream. We were glad we got Ben his own sundae, even though he didn't eat very much of it. He would have felt pretty left out if he hadn't had one. And, he took care of disposing of the gummy bears from his mommy and daddy's plates.
After indulging, we all headed out of The Land. We took a moment to for a horticulture lesson, when we began to wonder what it was that looked like mangoes or limes growing in the trees in that area. A helpful plaque explained that those were floss trees, the fruit of which is used for stuffing pillows by some people, I can't remember who anymore.
Stop and smell the flowers
Renae wanted to purchase something in the Imagination gift shop, so we headed in that direction. Ben stopped to inspect each trash can along the way, and spent a few minutes smelling the flowers growing in the raised flower box in front of the pavilion. I took some pictures of this, as it was pretty cute. I was feeling great about our decision to skip the remaining parades, since it had literally given us time to stop and smell the flowers.
Laura and Chris and I began discussing Test Track. I had no desire to try this ride, but I knew that Chris was kind of drawn to it. Laura and Chris decided that they would do the single riders line together, so they headed in that direction.
Ben and I slowly headed across Future World and hung out near the Coca-Cola carwash. Ben was entirely entertained by the bottle shaped brushes that spun at occasional intervals, and the monorails passing occasionally overhead.
Soon, Laura and Chris, who had been rejoined by Renae, emerged from the Test Track. Chris seemed to have enjoyed his first ride on this attraction. I was glad that he had someone to wait in line with him, since I can't imagine ever wanting to do Test Track. I think that now that he has tried it, he will use the single riders line for a quick ride on each of our trips.
More interesting flamingo facts and more goodbyes
Laura and Renae were heading to the Candlelight Processional and Chris and Ben and I were heading to Mexico to ride El Rio del Tiempo. We all walked to World Showcase together. This was my first time on this trip to walk to World Showcase on this side of the park, and I was eager to see the flamingos that usually reside in this area. They seemed to be missing this trip, however, and I commented on this to Laura. She told me that when she had taken the backstage tour of Epcot, she had learned that the flamingos that are relocated to that area are the ones who need an attitude adjustment. This was an interesting tidbit to learn. Maybe all of the flamingos at WDW are behaving themselves now. Or maybe they're all being kept in-line by various stork thugs.
Soon we reached Mexico, and it was time for us to part company. I found myself once again getting teary at the thought of saying goodbye. Once again I had to say goodbye someone I had waited over three years to meet. A quick hug and a few words, and Laura and Renae headed off to enjoy the rest of their day.
At that moment I had another realization which compounded my sadness. I realized that I had no plans to see Jan or Charlotte again. The Minnie portion of this trip was over. Although I was a bit sad about all of this, I was also feeling fortunate just to have been able to meet so many friends in person, and hug them and hear them laugh. I also feel like enough of us try to make the early December trips, that I will not have to wait another three years before seeing them, even if it just means a quick solo weekend for me some year.
Now it was time to head into Mexico. Chris loves this pavilion. I had a feeling Ben would love El Rio del Tiempo, since he had grown so fond of it's a small world. Indeed he loved it, especially the fireworks. We browsed a bit on the way out. Whenever I exit this pavilion during the day, I am always a bit surprised to see the sun shining outside. I guess I am easily convinced that I'm shopping in a Mexican plaza under a starry sky.
The tree lighting ceremony was about and hour and a half away, so we decided to stay in Epcot long enough to see it. First, we wanted to look at the pictures we had posed for on the way into the park, so we headed through future world to the camera center. One of the pictures of Ben was kind of cute, but I was fairly certain that we had cuter ones of him on our own camera, so we passed.
Tastes like cherries
Next, I convinced Chris to try Ice Station Cool. This had been open the last time we were here, but we never went in, since I we weren't sure what it was. A couple of years ago, when I was reading radp more regularly, there had been a discussion about these beverages. The only specific I could remember from this discussion was that Beverly seemed to be nearly universally hated. Being the loving, but ornery, wife that I am, I saw this as an opportunity.
As we walked into the room, I told Chris that I vaguely remembered something about Beverly tasting like cherries, one of Chris's favorite flavors. He did not suspect me of any malicious intent. We chose our fountain machine and he picked up a cup and began to fill it with Beverly. Just when I was sure that I had him, a girl who looked about 10, came around the corner to us and said "Don't try the Italy!" I quickly turned my back to Chris and made a "Shhh" gesture to the girl as I said "It tastes like cherries, right?" She played along, and said "Yeah." Our ruse was convincing enough to get Chris to try a nice big gulp, and have to stop himself from spitting it back out. The little girl got a good chuckle out of this. I felt a twinge of guilt mixed in with my laughter, but Chris was a good sport about the whole thing. Luckily, there were several other beverages he was able to use to get the taste out of his mouth.
After a few minutes of sampling (even Ben enjoyed drinking from the little paper cups) we realized it was about time for the shuttle launch we had heard was happening today. We went outside and noticed a lot of other people looking eastward. We were discussing how fitting it was to be in Future World waiting to see a shuttle pass over our heads, when another park guest approached us and asked if we were waiting for the launch. When we told him we were, he told us that he had just gotten a call on his cell phone informing him that the launch had been postponed. We were a bit disappointed that we wouldn't see the launch, but also grateful that the guy had let us know, and a bit in awe of the age of communications in which we live.
O Christmas Tree
We headed a bit closer to World Showcase, and found a bench to await the tree lighting. We had had a busy day, and a little bit of down time was quite enjoyed. The tree lighting began. It was much more of a performance than I expected, and personally, I could have done without the singing, but I expect that most people love that. The Lights of Winter were beautiful, though. I had a poignant moment realizing that Laura and Renae were probably watching the same tree lighting while waiting for the Candlelight Processional just on the other side of the lagoon. I can be such a sap sometimes.
After the tree lighting, we wanted to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. We arrived at MGM at around 6:20, the park was closing at 7:00. We were able to get a close parking space, and heard what must have been the end of Fantasmic as we entered. We have never seen Fantasmic, but it sounds like a wonderful show. Hopefully, we'll get to see it someday when Ben is older and able to sit through shows (maybe even enjoy them).
I can not think of a better word than "spectacle" to describe the Osborne lights. I don't even think they are beautiful as much as spectacular, breathtaking. It was hard to wrap my mind around that many lights in such a concentrated area. The street was crowded, but we took our time strolling through, letting people pass us by. I felt very Christmas-y as we enjoyed the many displays. Ben loved all of the stars. We were given angel glasses, but these only seemed to work when we would get very close to a bulb, so we didn't wear them.
By the time we were leaving the area, it was well after 7:00, but there were still people just entering the display. I guess that the CMs at MGM allow people to enjoy the lights after the official park closing time.
A happy surprise
On our way out of the park, we realized that we had not eaten dinner. Our afternoon ice cream was finally starting to wear off, and we were ready to eat. Since we were near the Beach Club, we decided to eat at Beaches and Cream, which I had always wanted to try. We found our way to the Beach Club easily, and a valet told us how to get to Beaches and Cream.
As we were waiting in line to give our name at the podium, I heard someone call "Michelle." With a name as common as Michelle (8 Michelle's in my high school class of 200), I had grown accustomed to ignoring my name in a crowd. However, something compelled me to turn around, and when I did, who should be sitting at a nearby table, but Jan and Mike and Charlotte!
The remnants of ice cream on the table in front of them told me that they had been having fun. Soon Charlotte's family came along. It was nice to have a last chance to visit with them. Ben was drawn by the flashing lights of the arcade, so he and Chris went in. Ben rode in the Mickey Mouse car by the window. It was so cute, but I didn't have a camera to capture the moment. After a few minutes of visiting with Jan and Charlotte and their families, it was time for them to proceed with their evening. Hugs and goodbyes all around, and they were off.
A rough moment
I knew that our table would be ready soon, so I went into the arcade to get Chris and Ben. Here is where the effects of three parks in one day became apparent. When we removed Ben from the arcade, he had a total meltdown. We realized that dinner at Beaches and Cream was not meant to be this evening, so we let the hostess know that we were leaving, and made a speedy exit.
When we got back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Ben was fast asleep. Chris got us takeout from the Mara, and we had a relaxing meal in our room. Chris had an opportunity to explore the Lodge, much like I had last night in the midst of doing laundry. I took advantage of the opportunity to read the DVC book I had gotten on Sunday, not that we hadn't already decided to join, it was just fun reading. We went to bed around 11:00, so I could be ready to meet the DVC driver at 8:20 the next morning, to sign paperwork, and officially become a member, appropriately, on Walt's 100th birthday.