Disney 2005: Day 2

In which there are MORE princesses and scary animal robots.

We began the day with the Winnie the Pooh character breakfast at the Crystal Palace. What a great idea.  We were called in to sit just as the Cinderellabration show was beginning in front of the Castle.  This was the theme for the day, as every time we were near the show, it was cancelled due to rain showers, and every time we were away from it, or she was napping, we would hear it announced.  Breakfast started off well, good food, fun waiter, etc.  Piglet came up from behind Anabelle and startled her, but she seemed OK with him.   Then came the Lurking Horror that is Eeyore.  We shooed him away as our child tried to gnaw herself free from her high chair.  She didn't really recover after that, and had similar reactions to Tigger and Pooh.  We quickly ran out before the monstrous donkey got by our table for a second pass.

The day was dotted with multiple calming trips to the small world, and Rosa and I hitting things like the Haunted Mansion and Philharmagic while she napped.  Anabelle got a certificate in the Philharmagic store by pointing the sales girl’s magic wand at the instruments around the room.  The sales girl seemed pretty blown away that someone still less than two years old knew what instruments were, never mind being able to find them. (That’s my girl.)

Anabelle loves the Tiki room song, and calls any remotely tropical looking bird a "tiki bikini" for reasons only she knows.  Therefore we happily brought her to the Enchanted Tiki room, where she was mostly panicked by darkness and robotic animals.  The appearance of the song "Hot Hot Hot", which she loves, saved it from being a total "Wanna go back!" experience.

We found Aladdin and Jasmine in Adventureland.  Anabelle was very excited to go see Jasmine, but was very nervous to go in close for a picture, and wouldn't go alone.  Apparently, I've already ingrained that boys are icky in her… which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  It’s a shame though, he was a very good Aladdin…very animated (wocka wocka).

While we were on line, one of many people who seemed to be over excited about my superhero tattoos came up behind me and started touching them saying "These are great, I see Batman and Superman, but what's this one?" She (as did a larger than usual number of others) knew Green Lantern, but couldn't see it.  Her husband was behind her with a very comical (if unhappy) expression on his face.  Rosa was more surprised I think, and too busy laughing at his expression to make one of her own.  Takes all kinds I guess.

Still being a thickheaded Disney World Fanatic, I thought it would be a good idea to take her to see the Country Bear Jamboree, as she loves catchy, fun music.   We brought her in and sat down in the large dark crowded room ("Wanna go back").  Then giant disembodied animal heads began talking on the wall ("Wanna Go Baaack!") finally a mass of large robotic bears appeared and started singing ("WANNA GOOOO BAAAACKK!!!!")  At which point we had to leave, while Rosa stayed and took a couple of pictures.

We had mentioned going to "the jungle boat" a couple times, and Anabelle seemed very excited about this.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize until too late that she meant the jungle part of the small world, yielding a very cranky ride through the Jungle Boat Cruise, being horrified by robotic animals fairly frequently.  It’s a shame, because our captain was one of the better ones I've had (a very high number of bad jokes per minute).  She was so desperate to get out, that I decided to take a short cut over the middle seats instead of around them.  This impacted my head with something on the roof of the craft with astounding force.  As the captain made fun of me, I worked my way around the correct path.  In the confusion of the moment, I didn’t notice it had broken the skin, making me end up doing my "Massive Head Wound Harry" impression at Cinderella's Royal Lunch table.

The Princess lunch was filled with moments that made up for a great deal of the terror and trauma filled times.  Actually, there were a great many of those moments throughout the vacation…but since they are usually less funny,  I don’t dwell on them as much.  In the lobby, Anabelle ran right up to the Fairy Godmother, and hopped in the chair with her.  Then they had a long chat about what Anabelle had done so far, and whom she was going to see.  Upstairs in the castle was even better, and I don’t just mean the excellent food (Anabelle was thrilled to be eating "Cinderella's chicken”).  She was absolutely overwhelmed by the parade of princesses.  With Snow White, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Aurora, and Belle all in one room, she didn't know which way to gush first.  She gave each one her full attention when they came over, including a hug and a kiss.  However, I don't think any of them thought they were her favorite. Because she was so excited, she ended up mostly talking to each one about whom she was going to see next.  Snow White was the most fun.  She told me she was happy that I had an "S for Snow White" tattooed on my arm, and that it was a very nice thing to do.  Then she recoiled from Rosa's shirt (with the Wicked Queen on it) and said, "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that".

Exhausted from excitement, Anabelle napped afterwards while we took turns riding Pirates.  She was very excited to see the characters in that area as well.  She said, "There's Peter Pan and Wendy!!!"  Then turned and said "There's Captain Hook and … STINKY!"  Why she named Mr. Smee "Stinky" is something else only she knows.  But that’s what she called him for the whole trip.  Visiting Peter and Wendy was pretty similar to the Aladdin and Jasmine visit.  We didn't even try a visit with Hook and Stinky.  We were learning (slowly).  Then it was back to the hotel (after another small world, I think) for dinner and collapsing into semi unconsciousness. "Semi" because even though I move a lot, there's only one position I sleep in that I do not snore.  However if I don't sleep that way, I get a headache…mostly from repeated blows indicating I should move into that position.  As Anabelle often woke up stretched along the headboard, apparently, the moving thing is genetic.

Back to Prologue and index