Two Chips and a Dip (The Appetizer Trip) Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007 - With Final Thoughts - COMPLETE - Updated 2/21 About This Page:

[Sue M.]

What a rough start to your holiday I hope you do thaw out to CBR. We were there in Aug & had a great time. Didn't use the hot tub though, it was hot enough in august!!
I know what you mean about money flying out the window. We just had a few unexpexted things, hubbies $700 car repair, $200 vet, my dd's $180 grad photos & $300 snowboard race fees. With Christmas coming & WDW in Jan. ouch.
Can't wait for the next installment!
Sue

[Caldercup]

December 1 - Day 2 / part 1

Who here can sleep that first night on Disney property without the judicious use of OTC sleep aids? Anyone… anyone? Well, I’m not one of them so I usually have my lovely little blue pills to help me get some rest, but, this time, I decided not to take them since they tend to last about 8 hours for me and it was 1AM when I went to bed.

Notice that I don’t say “went to SLEEP.”

Nope… there was no sleep for me that night. I tossed and turned. I shifted and punched my pillow. I imagined myself walking down Main Street. I listened to SpectroMagic playing in my head. I used every sleep-inducing tactic in my arsenal and failed miserably, probably only managing to doze occasionally through the night.

By 7:30AM, I couldn’t take it anymore so I got up and took a shower and got dressed. I made Calder scootch up into my now empty bed so I could move his air mattress under it. (One nice thing about the CBR beds is that they aren’t on solid platforms, so the air mattress tucked right under there, freeing valuable floor space!) He didn’t even wake up so there was no hope that he’d be willing to go to a park with me. <<sigh>>

I grabbed my cell phone and my notebook and stepped out into the lovely courtyard directly in front of our room. There were curved benches and a few patio tables that were perfect for lounging in. When I smelled cigar smoke, I also realized that they were a designated smoking area. Oh, well… There was enough of a breeze to keep the smoke going in the other direction so I didn’t have to give up to find a different location that wouldn’t set off my allergies. I jotted down notes and drank the juice I’d bought the previous evening.

At 8:45, I noticed Calder waving to me from our room’s window and he did a few charades to make me understand that he would get dressed and come out to me. By 9, he was ready to go. I handed him his OJ and a bagel and we headed out to wait for an Epcot bus, which only took about 5 minutes. (Our bus was empty, but we saw a PACKED bus headed to the Magic Kingdom. (Oy, the parade taping was going on that day and it looked like it would be a madhouse!)

As we drove, I saw the Earful Tower (the water tower at Disney Studios) and got a first glimpse of Spaceship Earth without the wand. Calder was bummed to see that, but – while I missed the wand – it was also interesting to see the park icon in its original, pristine state.

By 9:15, we were off the bus and walking up to the park gates. I was anxious about encountering the cluster you-know-what security line, especially as I noticed that they had now installed metal fencing to angle bus guests towards the area where trams and monorail guests all arrived -- guess the you-know-what was permanent! Luckily, there was only a short line and it took us less than two minutes to get through it. I happily pulled out our annual passes and sighed as it popped out the other side of the turnstile. Yay… we were in a Disney park once again!



I had pre-purchased the PhotoPass CD so my first order of business was to nab a picture in front of the globe. The photographer was really fun and liked our enthusiasm – he had us pose several different ways, but I loved the total joy of this shot!



As we passed the Leave A Legacy granite forest, it hit me that I’d forgotten to write down our numbers! Oh, well. I’d have to look it up later. I was too excited to actually get deep into a park to mess with it now.

Calder’s first stop on any visit to Epcot has to be Innoventions. What cracked me up on this morning was the fact that he felt the need to justify this somehow. He looked up at me in all earnestness and said, “Mom, I heard a rumor that there have been some significant changes to Innoventions…” I did my best not to snicker. I mean, seriously! Where is this kid gonna hear “rumors” about Disney? At school? Nope, he’s the only child in our area who goes to Disney so regularly. On-line? Nope, he has limited access to a computer. From me? Ding, ding, ding. Since I hadn’t heard anything “rumor-like” other than the signage change above the doors, it was a tad funny that he was trying to manipulate me into going where I already knew we were going. I ruffled his crazy hair and walked over to the Innoventions to our right (I have no idea if this was East or West because I just don’t think in those terms. )

Oh, and speaking of Calder’s crazy hair…. For the past month, I had been trying to convince him to let me take him to a stylist to give his hair some sort of shape. I know that he’s been growing it out for a year or so to comply with the current middle school trends, but his hair was taking on ridiculous proportions. The curling back and the floppy top I could live with. It was the strange earmuff-like puffs over his ears and the weird sideburns that he continually plays with that were making him look like Frankenstein trying to grow out a Prince Valiant ‘do. Made me crazy. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the haircut battle until almost our last day when he realized that I’d let him put any crazy combo of color on his hair if he let the marvelous people at the Harmony Barber Shop have at his head. I hereby give you full reign to laugh and giggle whenever my pics show his hair at its worst!!

Anyway, once in Innoventions, we had a blast playing with all the cool stuff. We spent a good deal of time virtually touring King Tut’s tomb (which Calder had been studying in school) and checking out all sorts of new exhibits. We were approached by a CM who, when she saw our PassPorter pins, identified herself as a RAD-Per named “tie tack lady.” She invited us to her MegaMouseMeet event and I told her I’d do my best to find her on Saturday. We moved on to the auto industry manufacturing robots who play instruments made out of car parts. Calder and I both love how they wave at you whenever they change instruments – we stupidly wave back at them ... every... single... stinkin’... time!!

We stopped over at the Playstation games and I tried to get the hang of the Ratatouille game with little luck (while I'm a totally compulsive gamer, this kiddie game was just not my style.) Plus… I had to use the rest room. Calder was willing to wait for me there and I headed out to find some relief. He met me as I returned and asked that we visit the other Innoventions. I desperately needed some caffeine at this point, so he went in to see the exhibits while I got a coffee and sat at the outdoor seats of the Electric Umbrella to enjoy the view. Most of what captured my attention was of the avian variety – there were SO many birds around. As annoying as they can be – and as much as it disturbs me to see guests feeding them -- I was fascinated by this one variety of black bird that puffed itself up to enormous proportions before letting out a squawk (and sometimes a little poop bomb.) Totally hilarious.

Calder came out surprisingly quickly and wanted to go to the Living Seas. (I’m just not prepared to call this The Seas with Nemo and Friends – too hokey!) The “hi” birds were charming, as usual, and we kept saying “hi… hi…. HI” to each other as we entered the building from the gift shop side. I noticed right away that the crazy line for Turtle Talk with Crush was no longer in evidence now that the attraction had been moved to a new location, totally resolving the former queue problems. Calder was immediately drawn to the manatees and we spent quite a long time just watching them eat and do laps around their tank. I got to really listen to the great Mr. Ray song about manatees, but failed miserably in committing the lyrics to memory. (A cursory Google hasn’t turned up anything, but I’m gonna spend more time soon trying to find them. They were GREAT!) Just as we decided to check out other exhibits, the manatees decided to leave their main tank and headed out the small door into the off-show area. What totally cracked me up was that one of the manatees swam up to the exit with a powerful flick of its fluke and performed a flawless barrel roll on the way out. It was sort of a “see you later, suckas” move that had me in stitches for a few minutes.

After checking out the cool exhibits in the old Crush theatre area, I decided to step outside to improve my cell reception so that I could call Bob and yell at him to get his butt in gear and to a park! Calder wanted to stay in the building, so I made sure to find a bench where he could see me from the doorway. There was a man sitting there chatting on his cell phone so it was easy to make my own call without feeling as if I was disturbing the peace.

The next little encounter became a catch phrase for the rest of both portions of my trip:

After my call to Bob (which found him actually waiting for a bus ), I looked up to see a mom and dad walk out of the building in obvious distress. They were quickly followed by pre-teen boy in tears, who was then followed by a 7 or 8 year old girl… also in tears. The parents started yelling at the kids, the kids were wailing and crying and it became quickly apparent that the boy had done something to the girl that might have involved yanking on her arm to the point that she burst into tears. What wasn’t so easy to suss out was that the girl had done something in return that had the dad yelling “So… you LIED to me. That’s worse than him pulling your arm!” I have no idea what the truth was here, but the two parents were going ballistic. There were all kinds of ridiculously idle threats of “maybe we should we just leave Disney and go home” and “maybe we should leave you two in the room while we go to the parks this week.” Finally, the mother threw up her arms and screamed in her kids’ faces.

“I’ve had it with you people.” She then turned to her husband and screamed into his face while scissoring her arms across her body, “I’ve had it with ALL of you!!”

With that, she stormed off as fast as her little espadrilled feet would take her. Her husband had the same body language as the hockey puck in Toy Story when Woody says to it “Waddayou lookin’ at?!” and stared mutely after her before grabbing the kids by the shirts and marching them off after her.

I sat there in shock with my mouth open as I felt nervous laughter start to bubble up within me at the absurdity of the moment. The guy next to me on the bench just lowered his cell phone a hair, turned to me and said:

“Looks like somebody needs the pool bar.” He peeked at his watch and added, “and it’s only 11 o’clock in the morning.” With that zinger, he put the phone back to his ear and resumed his conversation.


After I related this hi-larious incident to my DH later that day, he and I mused on the various stages of a family vacation. This is what we came up with.

Stage #1 – “Best family vacation, EVER!!”
Stage #2 – “But… I don’t want to do that now…”
Stage #3 – “He’s touching me again!”
Stage #4 – “I’ve had it with you people. I’ve had it with ALL of you!”

Up next: Bob’s advice on buying a hat in Mexico!

[jpod523]

Stage #1 – “Best family vacation, EVER!!”
Stage #2 – “But… I don’t want to do that now…”
Stage #3 – “He’s touching me again!”
Stage #4 – “I’ve had it with you people. I’ve had it with ALL of you!”

that's how every single day in my house is!! crazy.

the updates!!! it's sad to see families behave like that in disney, but i'm just glad it isn't mine!! (can't be mine. my family has never been to the world all at the same time!) can't wait for more!

[Caldercup]

I wanted to add that I forgot to tuck my camera in my park bag that morning, so there aren't any pictures until Bob showed up...

Sorry!
Eileen

[Suzie&Jay]

Holy crap...what is it with people? It makes me thankful for the slight hint of patience I have It at least gets me out of the crowd before the insults fly!

[WDWfan]

Eileen - Your 4 stages of the family vacation cracked me up! I'm not sure we've ever gotten to stage 4 - but we've been close!

[Colexis Mom]

Love the 4 stations Eileen That was quite the morning More please

[Caldercup]

December 1 - Day 2 / part 2

By the time I had stopped giggling over the “I’ve had it with ALL of you!” family, Calder was done in the Seas and we headed over towards MouseGear for our rendezvous point, with a brief stop in Club Cool for Calder to get a sip of his favs and for me to trick a teen girl into trying Beverly. (Her friends were so impressed with me that they all wanted a high five!! ) I was on a mission to find some karate-themed stuff to give Calder this upcoming weekend when he will be testing for his black belt in tae kwon do. I had no luck finding the t-shirt I’d seen long ago of Mickey doing a flying side-kick, but I saw a 12” figurine that tempted me until I remembered who’d be the one dusting it every week. What did make it into my basket was another set of the “Disney family” stickers because I’d been too superstitious to put them onto my ancient Ford in case it got stolen again or finally gave up the ghost and died. This way, I had a spare and they could finally find a home on my back window! Calder got his standard 12” tube of Goofy’s sour sugar and finally got the first of his $50 Disney gift cards that he’d been saving a year for. When Bob found us as I was checking out, he told me he was starved. I gave him the option of eating in Mexico or waiting until we made our way around to his fav counter service joint in Epcot – the Tangierine Café. There was no question – he’d hold out for Morocco!!

Our first stop was Mexico as we all wanted to see if the new ride was more up our alley than the old one. I’m very happy to say it was. In fact, I got the worst case of the giggles over one scene where Donald loses his bathing suit while parasailing. As his striped suit went floating off into the sky, I saw him run stark naked across the screen, with his wings covering his naughty bits. For a duck who never wears anything but a jacket, I found this both ironic and hysterical I also found it interesting that his bow tie is black in this ride, which harkens back to ‘classic’ Donald rather than modern Donald with the red bow tie. (I’m sure no one but me noticed this junk, but I thought I’d mention it.)

Afterwards, we headed out to the marketplace so Calder could do what Bob and I refer to as “merchandising” whereby he memorizes all prices on property. Bob, ever eager to be silly, picked up one of the large sombreros and plopped it on his head moments before Calder followed suit.


The DH asked me to point out that he and he alone has the training necessary to perform this pose -- in every stinkin' picture he takes at Disney!

Bob removed the hat from his head with a look that told me something smelled less than fresh. When questioned, Bob said that he just realized that probably a hundred people had put that hat on their sweaty heads already that day. I'm passing along a bit of advice to you all – when buying a sombrero in this pavilion, always take one from the bottom of the stack!

We managed to pry Calder away from the merchandise with his gift card balance still at $50 and made our way to Norway. There was only a 5 minute wait for Maelstrom and we hadn’t been on this in years and years. Calder asked for a brief refresher and I told him that it was a boat ride and asked if he remembered that there were trolls in the folk stories from Norway. He did and was a little apprehensive about riding it, but decided he’d take a chance. I really remembered very little about this ride and gaped and gawked at everything, especially the trolls! Bob got a big laugh out of me when we passed (backwards) through the puffin area. He pointed out two little fellows and said, “that one is ‘Huffin’ and that one is ‘Puffin.” Totally inane, but it caused me to let out one of my “gunshot” laughs that completely silenced the guests in our boat. Totally embarrassed, I snuggled up to Bob and pressed my face against his arm just long enough to formulate a come back worthy of the length of time our boat had been traveling in the turned around position. “Hmmm… this sure is a backwards country.”

We decided to stay for the movie and I told Bob about how many of you all feel guilty for traveling straight outta this room. Well, all I can say is you miss some wonderful eye candy as the Norwegians have some terrific genes in their pool. Wowza – no wonder they can keep so warm in such a cold climate!!

The store was fun too and we played with all the toys and tchotchkes we found. I had to take a pic to commemorate Huffin and Puffin.



I also strong-armed my guys into putting on the helmets (from the bottom of the pile!!) and had a good giggle at Bob’s reaction to my insistence that he wear the braids.



When we stepped out of the store, I pointed out to Calder how the ride actually peeks outside for a second as the boat finally turns right way forward. That’s where I saw her – the BEST adult “costume” I’d ever seen on property. To match her two girls, who were in full Snow White finery for the Storybook breakfast, this creative mom had worked within Disney’s rules to create a perfect complement to their yellow, red and blue gowns.



Isn’t that just spectacular?! I actually stopped her to tell her I thought she was brilliant and she had the biggest grin on her face. Perhaps she is Snow-obsessed like my beloved sister!

As she walked off, I realized that I was just a few steps away from the bakery and, therefore, the famous school bread. Bob was hungry enough that he was very willing to splurge so, while he and Calder stepped into the rest room, I stepped into the bakery to admire the goodies, both sugary and genetic. (Sheesh… these people are gorgeous!!) The boys weren’t back from the rest room by the time I was at a table with this fluffy ball of my two favorite food groups – starch and goo! I took a picture. Not for the trip report, but so I could show it to Bob if he didn’t come out in time to have a piece.



Unfortunately, he *did* come out in time to split it with me and we both decided that we liked it very much, although the bread was surprisingly roll-like and not donut-like. Calder wanted none of it because he doesn’t like filled donuts or coconut. Yippee, more for us!

We decided not to spend time in the China pavilion although Calder examined the “Chinese culture” at the carts near the water and seemed on the verge of buying himself a large red folding fan that would wind up on my to-be-dusted list. Luckily, he put it back and rejoined us as we headed on towards the rest of the World Showcase.

We saw the trains in Germany…



…and walked past the Showcase Players setting up in Italy. Calder wasn’t interested, even though he remembered the King Arthur story that had so charmed his grandfather the previous year. Bob was hungry enough not to argue that we stay and wanted to make a bee-line for Morocco.

Knowing that Calder won’t eat anything on offer at Morocco and being gently reminded by him that my vacation rules applied (he only has to eat one nutritional meal a day on Disney property), he asked if he could have a funnel cake in America for "lunch." We stood in a short line and he got a nice, dripping, dusted plate of fatty dough, drizzled with chocolate sauce. I got a bruise on my face from a small, hard nut that fell from a tree and plonked me on the cheekbone. Kinda reminded me of A Charlie Brown Halloween special – “I got a rock.” ( Sharon!!)

By the time we stepped into the Tangierine Café, Bob was ravenous. We decided to split a shawarma platter and I told him to get a side of tabouleh or couscous. The shawarma was everything we adore, but the side was ridiculously small for its $1.95 price tag.

Bob showed me this picture later and I got a huge laugh out of it. Remember, Morocco is a muslim country and this clueless gent (wearing Pluto ears) hadn’t put two and two together to realize how his Rush Limbaugh "Your Tropical Retreat from the Stress of Jihad" shirt and had probably offended everyone working behind the counter!



Our next stop was France and we spent more time in this pavilion than we have in all our trips combined – and we didn’t even see the movie!! Calder loved the berets and wanted me to show him how to wear them. I’d not seen them with the stitched band before, so I was a little confused how they were to be worn. (I’m used to the band being tucked inside, but one of the CMs stepped over to demonstrate for us.)

Here we are showing off our best je ne sais quoi French attitude.



I was totally enamored of just about everything in the Provence store – blue and mustard yellow are a fav and would work beautifully in my kitchen. I admired the aprons, the pot holders, the bowls, the utensils, the chocolates (remember this for later!), the lavender and the corkscrews. I managed to get out of there without buying anything, but I was sorely tempted! As we walked around, I heard a woman tell her mother “that’s the House of Van” as she pointed to the Maison du Vin sign over the doorway to Les Vins De France.

We sat for a while on the fountain while I went over my touring cards to remember what our plans were for the evening. Bob and Calder started having a “picture fight” where they try to take terrible pictures of each other. I finally had to take the camera from them and ask them to pose.


I love the goofy cross-eyed look Calder is giving me, but am unsettled by just how ginormous he looks next to his tall daddy. When will this kid stop growing?!! I’m not ready for a teenager!

Calder then promised to take a good picture of us and did quite well, I must say.



Bob returned the favor and Calder started hamming it up…


… and I couldn’t help but pull my patented move of hopping into the shot with a crazy look in my eye. (Bob calls it guerilla portraiture!!)



As we were just about to leave France, I saw that there was a small Minnie in darling French garb. I couldn’t resist – she simply had to join my growing collection of Minnies that live on the shelf above my laptop.


Bob couldn’t resist the guerilla insertion into Calder’s pic of me with Mlle. Minnie!

There was a PhotoPass guy just over the bridge near the International Gateway and he seemed to have a great shot framed up. We stopped and handed over our card. The resulting pic might be our Christmas card this year!



[Up next: we finally see our monument to us!]

[MickeyMAC]

Great update. I love your four stages of a vacation. Calder is definitely growing up, he looks different than the last time we saw you.

[Jillybean]

I love this! What a great time you guys are having winding your way around the world! What, no margarita in Mexico???

And after looking at those pictures of your guys in their assorted head gear, are you sure this tr shouldn't be Two dips and a chip?

I do love that photo of you and Calder in your berets! And Calder is looking so grown up now - - when did he get to be 16?

Jill

[DawnDenise]

Loving it as usual! I love the 4 stages of a vacation. Let's hope I never hit that 4th stage. the Minnie! I haven't seen her before. The "House of Van"...classic!!!

[debsta922]

Great updates Eileen. I love all the pictures.

[mestitch]

LOL I'm so distracted by all the things I think of while reading your TR! First off,

I got to really listen to the great Mr. Ray song about manatees, but failed miserably in committing the lyrics to memory. (A cursory Google hasn’t turned up anything, but I’m gonna spend more time soon trying to find them. They were GREAT!)

Oy vey, do you remember my AKL TR from 2005? Where I overindulged in the wine at Le Cellier only to have some serious head pain the next morning... we went to Epcot and listened to Mr Ray sing over and over and loudly and loudly so Andy could watch the Manatees.... I will never......forget......the.....throbbing......pain .......

And when you referenced Donald's nasty bits I thought of my beloved old man crush I have on Anthony Bourdain since he has book entitled just that "The Nasty Bits"

And the berets....alls I got to say is "I vote berets"

[KrisLuvsDisney]

Excellent update! What a wonderful day you guys have had so far!

[travismom]

Great update!! Looks like ya'll are having a wonderful time. Calder is getting so big!! Before you know it, he'll be taller than Bob.

More please....