Disney

Our 2013 Trip to Disneyworld, Part II

Now that I’m sitting down to chronicle the remaining tales of our time at Disneyworld last week, I feel silly.

Because, really, who cares?

We went to Disney World and looking back it was fun.

But when you’re there, it’s hard not to take it seriously. Every moment, every decision, every Fast Pass procurement is fraught with emotion. You’re tired, you’re excited, you’re broke. There are Park Hoppers to hold, buses to catch, opening times to juggle, crowds to navigate, walking routes to plan, and Fast Passes to obtain. At some point, you have to eat. First world problems, FOR SURE. Still, the Disneyworld experience can make even the most normal person certifiably crazy!

And so I found myself going nuts last Friday when we decided to conquer Magic Kingdom.

First, some back story:

Thursday night we were in the hotel gift shop buying an autograph book for my daughter. My 6 year old was ready to meet some characters and get some autographs!

The clerk/cast member proceeded to chat us up.

“Have you been to the new Fantasyland?”

No.

“You have to ride the new Ariel ride.”

OK.

“But the day I went there was a 230 minute wait for it, so go right away.”

230 minutes? Crap.

Frightened by the prospect of a 4 hour wait to ride around in Ariel’s seashell, coupled with my 9 year old’s love of Thunder Mountain, I rushed the family onto an early bus the next morning. There we were waiting for the gates to open at 9 am. And when it did open, without a stroller to push, we dusted most families and raced to Fantasyland, calling out strategy as we went.

“You get the Fast Passes to Ariel, then meet us at Thunder Mountain.”

“No, let’s all ride Ariel first thing and then go to Thunder Mountain. How many Fast Passes can you get an hour?”

As we entered the new Fantasyland, several cast members stopped us. The new Ariel ride was closed due to the power outage.

What? What power outage? Magic Kingdom was open and all the lights looked on. Isn’t this Disneyworld for goodness’ sake? Doesn’t Disneyworld have generators?

Better yet, there were NO Fast Passes being given out for Ariel. Visions of a 230 minute wait caused me to pass out momentarily.

But I revived myself and we ~~ran~~ headed to Thunder Mountain.

Which was closed due to the power outage. And they didn’t have Fast Passes either.

We circled back to at Haunted Mansion. Closed due to the power outage.

Now, at this point you’re wondering why they let us in the park at all. Well, if you wanted to see mechanical bears sing at Country Bear Jamboree or buy overpriced mouse ears, then you could. But ride cool, fun rides? No.

We hear a rumor that Pirates of the Caribbean is working and head there. It’s open! We walk right on and 3 minutes later the ride shuts down due to power outage issues. So we are stuck on a boat in a rather dark ride wondering why the heck Disneyworld is called the Happiest Place on Earth.

Pirates comes back online within 5 minutes. I guess Johnny Depp bought that ride some generators.

But by now a couple hours have passed and we haven’t hit the rides we wanted and -gasp- more people are pouring into the park minute by minute to make the lines longer.

I finally make 3 cast members at the Country Bear Jamboree radio all over the park and confirm what’s working or not. Ariel, Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion are finally open. We eventually manage to ride them all, sans lengthy wait times.

But the ~~stress~~ fun isn’t over yet. While my husband and son head back to Thunder Mountain once again, I take my daughter on Winnie the Pooh. We get in our hunny pot, bounce along for half the ride and then it stops. For Pete’s sake, can somebody get the power fixed at Magic Kingdom?!

At first, she’s okay with it.

Then, we slowly realize that this ride is not coming back on anytime soon.

Finally, they announce that we are to stay in our hunny pots until a cast member comes and ~~rescues~~ gets us. Which they did. Two cast members push and pull on hunny pot doors, another takes our hand and helps us out, then we all walked through the ride by the glow of flashlights ~~rescuing~~ getting the remaining passengers out.

At least they gave us a Fast Pass later. If the ride was working of course.

By now it was 11:30 am. No, they don’t serve alcohol that early in the Magic Kingdom. I checked.

Have you heard the saying that if you want to make God laugh, then make plans? It works with Disneyworld, too. If you want Mickey Mouse to laugh his butt off, then make plans to arrive early and conquer all the good rides at Magic Kingdom! There will be a power outage every time.

Have you ever been stuck on an amusement park ride?

February 8, 2013 By Katy9 CommentsFiled Under: Disneyworld, vacation Tagged With: Disney, Disneyworld

Our 2013 Trip to Disneyworld, Part I

I’m baaaaaaccccccckkkk.

Yes, folks, we survived and thrived during our 2013 trip to Disney World. A good time was had by all and no ducklings were ripped to shreds in front of our eyes by a giant hawk.

(Seriously, there is NO WAY that the Pool of Death story from last year can ever be topped. Let’s just make that clear.)

But going to Disneyworld is like going to a wedding. It’s a big, dramatic event where everyone’s pumped up and inevitably something goes wrong.

Like picture taking.

Consider the pictures below.

In 2009, I took a picture of my two-year-old daughter with Winnie the Pooh.

Sounds sweet, right?

Wrong!

Or there’s 2011, the year daughter was in love with Rapunzel. I waited in line for 90 minutes for her chance to meet Rapunzel. And, because my son was only 7 at the time, there was no way I was letting him wonder aimlessly through the park while Dad and I took pictures of his sister with Rapunzel.

So he had to meet Rapunzel and Flynn, too.

He was thrilled. Obviously.

Then there was this year.

We tried Fantasia mini golf for the first time.

We wanted a picture to commemorate the occasion.

Who knew that it was just a little TOO sunny for a successful picture?

Not me.

But NOW I know I should have looked for some shade.

Oh, well, lesson learned!

I’ve got Part II of our 2013 Trip to Disneyworld coming up in a few days. See you real soon!

February 6, 2013 By Katy10 CommentsFiled Under: Bad Mom, Disneyworld Tagged With: Disney, Disney princesses, Disneyworld

What’s in a Name?

I was in the car with Sydney, 5, and we found ourselves discussing the Disney princesses. Mulan came up.

“Mulan is a funny name,” said Sydney, wrinkling her nose.

Eeek! My daughter’s a racist! I automatically thought in a split-second. She’s offensive to all Chinese people because she’s dissing Mulan’s name! I need to teach her that Mulan may be an unusual name in English, but that doesn’t make it funny, just different. I hope I’m not too late. This HAS to be a teachable moment…

“Mulan is a funny name, Mommy,” Sydney continued as my mind raced.

“It’s got Moo. Like a cow. Moo.” she said.

“And lawn. Like mow the lawn,” she finished.

“Moo like a cow and Lawn like mow the lawn. That’s funny!”

Ohhhhhhhhh.

Maybe she’s not racist after all!

April 2, 2012 By Katy6 CommentsFiled Under: funny things Sydney said, idiot, princesses, Sydney Tagged With: Disney, kids, prejudice, princesses

The hawk, baby ducklings, and Pool of Death (Disney Week)

I can’t make this stuff up, people.

During our stay at Disney, we enjoyed a lovely room on the 4th floor at the Boardwalk Resort. It had 2 balconies and a view of the quiet, or leisure, pool.

The view of the leisure pool from our room

One day, at about 5 pm, we were relaxing in our room and heard some commotion outside. From the balcony, we could see a Mama Duck and 6 little ducklings struggling to get out of the pool. Mama Duck would hop out of the pool, but the wee baby ducklings could not jump over the pool’s side. They kept flopping back into the pool.

Cue Disney cast members to the rescue! (Remember, at Disney they’re not employees–they’re “cast members”.) The cast members had been watching the duck drama from the community room next to the pool and started building towel bridges for the ducklings to waddle onto and escape from the pool.

Awwwww…

Enthralled by the duck drama unfolding before our eyes, my kids and I threw on some shoes and raced downstairs to cheer on the ducks. My husband stayed behind.

When we got to the pool, the ducks had escaped and nestled into some grass poolside. We watched the 6 fuzzy, cute little ducklings for a few minutes.

Awwwww………fuzzy-wuzzy ducklings!

Finally, the kids grew bored and we went inside the community room next to the pool to do crafts and play video games. At this point I see that the silly Mama Duck and her 6 fuzzy, wuzzy ducklings waddled back into the pool. Did they learn nothing? I thought.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a HUMONGOUS bird fly into the pool. I turn and watch in horror as a GIGANTIC HAWK leaves the pool with– yup –a fuzzy-wuzzy duckling in its talons!

ACK!

Here comes the GIGANTIC HAWK

I race to the pool screaming “The hawk took a baby duck! The hawk took the baby duck!”

The Disney cast member in charge of crafts says, “What?” before she breaks down crying.

My husband, on the 4th floor balcony, is screaming my name. “KATY!” he yells. “The hawk took the duck!”

Yes, I saw that.

“He took TWO!” yells my husband.

Oh. No.

“KATY!” he continues yelling, for all of the Disney Boardwalk resort to hear. “I was waving my arms at you and yelling your name to come out and scare the hawk!”

Ok, WHAT?

“Yea, I kept calling your name hoping you’d come outside and save the baby ducks!”

Ok, wait just a minute.

So now I’m a bad mom because I did not race outside at the Happiest Place on Earth and throw myself in front of the GIGANTIC HAWK in order to save the stupid, fuzzy-wuzzy ducklings who got back into the pool? What was I going to do? Wave my arms and throw a glue stick at him?

It gets better. Yea. It does.

Upon returning to our 4th floor room, my husband whips out his camera where he shares all the action shots he took of the hawk preying on fuzzy-wuzzy ducklings. Turns out the 4th floor gutter by our room is the GIGANTIC HAWK’s preferred dining location. (And, no, he’s not on the Disney Dining Plan.)

My husband’s action shot of the GIGANTIC HAWK eating baby ducklings

The children remained fairly stoic and under control throughout the experience. I can tell they are scarred for life, though. My son, 8, would randomly ask me the next day in a quiet voice, “Remember the pool of DEATH?”

And when I picked up my daughter, 5, from daycare on the first day back from Disneyworld, her teacher ran straight up to me. “What’s this about a duck? And a hawk? That can’t be real…”

Yes, friends. It was real! And the irony was that the circle of life happened in the most artificial place on earth!

I don’t need to take my kids to any National Parks, that’s for sure. Disneyworld provided the most crushing example of nature at work that I’ve ever witnessed!

Do you have a Disney experience that tops this one? I’d love to hear it!