Disney World 2022 day 8, August 9- Surprise Pooh-mpah

Grandma met only Kim’s family at our bench well before Park opening for this morning. Their arrival for the Extra Magic Hour Half Hour went without a hitch. (Ignoring expected security hitches, naturally.)

The first stop for them was over in Tomorrowland for a spin or two on a nearly lineless Buzz Lightyear.

Veronica was the star shooter with 700,000 points!
YAAAAAY!
 

The nearby People Mover came next, allowing a peak at the Tron coaster.

The Luer’s followed up with a trip around the Most Fumey Ride in the east, the Tomorrowland Speedway. See? My insults in the surveys (and also apparently how people rank things on those surveys) don’t really carry any weight after all.

 As they moved towards Fantasyland, they learned that five people WILL NOT fit in a single teacup. This came after presenting their case to the Cast Member that they could do it, learning the door wouldn’t lock, and finally giving up and Aurora going alone with (while spinning the bejeezus out of) Dave.
Good to know. 

Our family’s goal was to get some extra sleep time, and make it to the Park for around Ten in the morning. Yes, our relaxing and restful day plan included a twelve-hour Park marathon. We may have bursts of sanity occasionally, but “sanity” connected to Disney World will always be a highly relative term where my family is concerned.

 
Rosa realized she needed more energy in the morning than a pack of gluten free crackers can provide. However, I was still running effectively starting off with Power Bars, followed by a steady infusion of Diet Coke throughout the day. Rosa grabbed a bagel and some Gluten Free waffles for Anabelle’s and her breakfast. Sadly, taking the gluten out of the waffle also removed the Mickey shape.
Alas.
 
We did make the Park around the time we planned. As we walked up Main Street, a trolley filled with the Pooh Gang came by.

YAAAAAY!
Both ways!
YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

It had Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Anabelle’s favorite who she never saw before, Rabbit!!
There was much waving.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!
 
There’s always more “YAY” in a Magic Kingdom day, isn’t there?

Anastasia and Drizella were going to be meeting guests shortly in Liberty Square, where Tiana and Naveen used to meet guests.
 
Why did I say that? Disney people know EXACTLY where face character meet and greets are in Liberty Square, and non-Disney people…
In all likelihood stopped reading ages ago.
 
While we were waiting, the Mickey and His Gang Cavalcade was passing through in the Square. I valiantly held up the “restful day” idea by leaning on a wall and marking our place at the start of the line, while Rosa and Anabelle ran to wave at passing characters.
 

Rosa had her new Rescue Rangers shirt on. Dale saw it from the back of their float, sending him into cardiac arrest. He kept trying to get Chip’s attention, eventually resorting to kicking his brother.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
I always thought they were brothers. My family thought I was crazy for saying that. Bill Justice who drew them first thought of them as “simply little brothers” but I had no way of knowing that, and Disney has always depicted them as friends. Therefore… this whole exercise has been a waste of time. That should not be a major revelation in my writing by this point.
 
Pluto waved to Anabelle as he passed and Mickey noticed her little Fanny Pack Donald.
 
They rejoined me shortly before the Stepsisters arrived. The two ladies with royal aspirations were, as always, awesome and hilarious. Of course, they made a Grand Entrance. We were used to seeing them in 1900 Park Faire, where they toured the room separately. Usually at that restaurant, one was aloof, one was goofy, and they bickered near constantly. Here, since they were met together, there were always on the same page and functioned as a fantastic comedy team. 

The sisters escorted Anabelle over to the gazebo meeting area, because we were first in line. How cool is that?

First, they practiced grand and fancy dance moves, followed up by several varied but equally highfalutin poses. They told us Cinderella informed them the Parade was at Five PM and be sure to come see them. (For those not paying attention, the parade was at Noon and Three PM.) They also spouted off cracks about reading Cinderella’s diary, and were making fun of (in character) things she wrote. Finally the two warned Anabelle that their stepsister keeps mice around…and the ones around here were HUGE. Anabelle fully understood after her Mickimald experience.
Beware the giant mice!!! (They yelled this as we left. Awesome!)
 
Finished and still laughing uncontrollably, we went up the hill towards Fantasyland and the small world. It had an hour wait.
Gadzooks!
 
Laughing a little less, we continued through Fantasyland for a viewing of Filmore’s Magic!
It was already a family favorite, but the addition of the Coco scene elevated it for all of us, requiring visits both combined and separately.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 
Additionally, the update provided further evidence of Disney’s genius at moving people around. The wait for the show in the huge theater has always been based on the length of the movie. Previously, the theater rarely made it past crowds that halfway filled the place. By extending the run time of the movie with the insertion of “Un Poco Loco,” it allowed more time for the waiting crowd to grow, and the theater was usually packed when it screened.
 
By this point, it was getting close to the time for the Noon Parade and we retraced our steps back into Liberty Square with a couple of stops before reaching Frontierland and selecting our viewing location.
 
I asked if Anabelle wanted a picture with her head through the stockade in Liberty Square. She said, “No.” 
I responded, “Well I do,” and hopped up on the platform.
She thought a moment and followed me up there saying, “Well then I will too.”
 
I put my head through the hole with my hat and sunglasses on…
And then took far too long, with far too many failed attempts to figure out how to take them off.
Perhaps far more extended or more frequent restful bursts of sanity were needed in my case. 

Nearby, Anabelle met a little girl having a birthday who loved Daisy, and they bonded over that commonality. YAY! Teeny Instant Disney Friends!
 
We also stopped to snoop around Memento Mori a bit. There we learned Chip and Dale trivia to help tell them apart once the Cast Member saw Rosa’s shirt. (Sadly, we learned nothing about the whole Brothers or Friends debate.)
 
The word “Dale” can mean a space between the teeth
Chip, comes from his black nose looking like a Chocolate Chip.
Cool!
 

While we were doing all of this, Kim’s family and Grandma were in contact with us. They went on the Laugh Floor. Aurora got picked to get up and dance.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
 

They also went to see Merida, who is always awesome. Anabelle debated running to join them but decided to stay parade side for reasons that will be articulated later. 

The rest of the gang stopped for a requisite Filmore’s Magic before we all met up. They also stopped to get pictures at the stockade complete with Kim’s own “When we were kids in Disney World” stories that her children mocked. 

Again, we often hit the same things when split up, what varies is when individuals completely ran out of energy and needed a moment or two.
 
Our group walked up to see Splash Mountain when we first reached Frontierland. A flume came down and the overflow gave Anabelle a wet head. She tried to talk Rosa into coming on her next trip down the falls. Rosa’s response: “They’re getting rid of this?
Good riddance.”
 
We found our spot near the same place we saw the parade the last time, near the pass through with the bathrooms for obvious reasons. The line of people keeping the walkway open were a mix from different rides: Pirates, Fantasyland, Haunted Mansion and Frontierland. It is the only time anyone can see that much of a blending of lands in a Park. I wonder what Walt would have thought of that. He insisted the lands be hidden from each other, and the Cast Members use the underground Utilidoors to keep Guests from seeing misaligned individuals.
 
Naturally, this time we were across the street from the Country Bears, because that’s the side Eugene is on. Yes, Anabelle’s and Rosa’s cheers did get a focused smolder this time.
 
I really worry about my family.
 

Donald saw Anabelle’s Little Donald and Donald ears, getting truly excited.
Both Chip and Dale saw Rosa’s shirt this time, enthusiastically pointing and dancing. 
Tinkerbelle pointed or pouted at us, (spelling issues plague me constantly) but Ariel’s mind was elsewhere, being far too completely focused on her dinglehopper to wave to anyone.

Near the end, the Stilt Guy Prince Philip is fighting with charged straight at us.
I may have screamed. Once more, it was hot and I was tired, it’s hard to remember.
 
Finally, the Raven Dude moving the tail walked over and stared right at Rosa again.

Sadly there was no time for the hoped for return to the Tiki Room.
Alas.
 
Anabelle saw a pin board over at the Trading Post, but it turned out to belong to a random guy who was in the way of their sanctioned Pin Board. His interaction with the Cast Member let us quickly know that:
A) He was there quite often,
And (More importantly)
B) He was not a jerk.
 
Anabelle talked to him over at the side of the Post’s board, and traded one of her “good” pins, a Disney Store small world one, for the Elephant from Fantasia she was looking for to build the set of dancers. Her blatant prejudice against the Crocodiles will not be addressed at this time.
 
They reminisced a bit about the bittersweet time when the Disney Stores all closed and the pins were massively on sale.
 

We cut through Adventureland to cross into Main Street and meet everybody for the first time in ages our family returned to eat at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant.
 
Everyone from the different groups arrived at around the same time, at the same place, with the goal of reaching the same restaurant. Yet, somehow, we ended up completely fragmented. It may be that everyone chose different, random rest rooms all along the route. As kids appeared, Grandma hurled Lady and the Tramp stickers at them from the stack of a dozen or so a Cast Member gave her for one of the normal random reasons:
1) Grandma’s shirt with those characters on them.
2) General Awesome Happy Disneyness.
 
I went to the check in and explained our penultimate split reservation. The Cast Member gave me the usual speech about how it would take longer than usual and there was no guarantee we would all be together. It turned out she was Gluten Free as well, and she gave me some recommendations for her favorites among all of the fantastic options Disney has for those with allergies.
 
As we had become prepared for, we were lied to about the delays and combination. Immediately, my phone began buzzing with text messages and App notifications that both reservations were ready. Most of the gang was there with a couple of final stragglers running from rest rooms across the street. (And, as usual, a couple already at the one inside the place we were going.) We were led to a table for all nine of us, with a window seat to let us watch the occasional rain we had just ducked out of.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 

We have a great many fantastic family memories from Tony’s, but sadly, it is still Florida Italian food. Rosa was thrilled that they had a rice pasta Alfredo she could order, and the Italian Wedding soup could be made Gluten Free. Grandma reported that the Shrimp Scampi was good. Dave and I both had a baked Ziti with chicken they called something else. It was tasty, I guess. Almost every place I ate chicken in the World on this trip, it was kind of dry. (The exception was the sandwich in the plain old hotel cafeteria. Go figure.) It was a weird issue to be that consistent about. This is especially true since it was at multiple restaurants, with multiple cooking styles. Yet, the other meats cooked at them in the same styles were fine. It is a mystery. (Likely, a mystery no one cares about, to be blunt, but a mystery nonetheless.)
Anabelle decided to have only the soup for lunch, and she and Rosa both had gelato for dessert. That combination didn’t sit well with either of them later on.
 
Unsurprisingly, Veronica would eat Anabelle when she was not actually eating her spaghetti and meatballs, which sort of explains the sauce stains (Florida Italian food does not rate being called gravy) on Anabelle.
I’m sure this sentence makes sense to someone. That someone is not me.
 
Aurora had a similar dish to her sister…minus the Anabelle part.
 
During our meal, Winnie the Pooh and his friends from the trolley were out on top of the train station balcony overlooking Main Street. The kids all ran out to wave at them. Auntie Kim became a kid for all practical purposes at this time. YAAAAY!
When I saw their excitement, it hit me what was really going on.

Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
Costume Characters in Disney are people pretending to be famous, meeting Guests who also pretend they are famous. It’s pretty weird if you think about it too hard. Luckily, Disney magic prevents that.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 

Aurora bounced with Tigger, Anabelle exchanged heart hands and blown kisses with Rabbit, and Veronica had a similar heart hand exchange with Eeyore. Veronica also had a moment with Pooh, showing him the smaller version of him (the same line as Anabelle’s Little Donald) she’d gotten. Kim had one too. Morgan may not have gone out, since he was asleep across a couple of chairs when he finished eating. That kid seriously knows how to conserve energy in Disney.
 
When they returned, one of them asked what time Aladdin and Jasmine were going to be out for their meeting time. I don’t know what the answer should have been, but it was not the supplied by Aurora: “2:81.”
 
The men’s room here, which I needed to visit to allow passing the Lady and the Tramp fountain statue, was the inverse of the German Restaurant. There was no dead space, and the one stall cut into the area required for using the sink or paper towel dispenser. Disney architecture sometimes misses the target on magicalness.
 

Grandma had to see the fountain statue too, for family memory reasons, and got a picture near it in her Lady and the Tramp shirt. (All hail the Shirt Grid!) On the way back to the rest of us, the waitress hugged her. I asked about it later and Grandma said it was because she thanked the server a lot for taking care of our large group, and the waitress thought we were wonderful people. Having taken part in the amazing Customer Service training Disney provides, the Waitress asked before hugging.
 
The hug also likely came from the fact that Grandma, who normally has phenomenal math skills, when trying to add to the already applied tip for large parties in Disney, rounds up multiple times as she figures things out “to be sure.”
 
We checked the wait time for Pirates, and it was broken…or had an incredibly long wait with everyone trying to run on after it was broken. It maintained one of these two states all day. Everybody checked a lot.
Alas.
This is why extra Magic Kingdom days are a necessity for our family.
 
Those who had made early hours this day had been to that Tomorrowland attraction already. They went shopping for a bit, when Anabelle and I visited the Laugh Floor. The Loading room set the right tone.
“Everyone raise your left arm. Now raise your right arm. If you can’t smell the person next to you, move closer together.”
In the show itself, Marty used Anabelle’s joke!
What do you get if you boil your funny bone?
A laughing stock!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
 
The two-headed monster didn’t retell the Monster’s Inc. story during our show. Instead, they did the country gags, and the mind reading trick that Rosa hilariously screwed up the only time she went here. (Maybe that’s why she never went back? Hmmmmmm.)
 
Rosa was ominously saying she had to go shop somewhere not on Main Street.
 
We came out into a light rain, but nothing horrendous or poncho requiring. A tiny girl in a Stitch raincoat and a Princess dress was dancing around in the drizzle and puddles. 

That’s Disney!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 
All day my entire family, either individually or in groups, was telling me that I needed to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride I missed in the morning. I said it wasn’t really a big deal, but they all kept pressuring me. Although I work tirelessly to choose exactly the right shirts for each day in every Park, Grid them in detail, and double document them with Anabelle’s color coded spreadsheets, that doesn’t mean I ever have any idea what shirt I am wearing. The people calling me “Buzz” as we traversed the Park should have been a clue as well.
Yes, I had forgotten I was wearing my Buzz Lightyear Costume shirt.
 
Rosa, Anabelle and I met up in the big circus tent store that had recently reopened. That was after double checking that the Silly Side show character meetings had not returned.
Alas.
Right before we went, there were Disney news items about which characters were returning. They were about fifty percent accurate. Or I read them wrong. Or both.
In any case…alas.
 
Anabelle was excited to see more Turkey Legs in the wild over in Fantasyland.
 

When the rain stopped, Dave and Morgan jumped on Splash Mountain as it restarted running and beat the “I missed my Lightning Lane in the storm, boo-hoo,” crowd. Veronica did the same on Big Thunder Mountain.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 
Coincidences are a thing my family thrives on, while passing Belle’s cottage on the way to the congealing of the whole group, we saw the constantly dancing Cast Member who was the handler for Aladdin and Jasmine on our last visit. He was still dancing!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 
We were approaching from all different directions, varying line lengths, and hopping off line to get emergency sodas and other reasons. Some of the emergencies were related to Tony’s soup and gelato. (There were aftershocks for quite a while from those.) Somehow, everyone arrived and was together on line in Adventureland when the Royal Couple of Agrabah came out.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 
While on line, I was talking to Aurora about characters. At meals and such she always seemed uncomfortable, but thrived interacting with them in Parades, Cavalcades and things like that. She agreed that she was much more a fan of characters at a distance, and had discovered the joys of interacting with them in that environment.
YAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 

Jasmine was fine, I’m guessing, as no one mentioned her afterwards. However, Aladdin drove home the uncomfortable point for Aurora. Almost every word out of his mouth was a quote from the “A Whole New World” song. This made the entire conversation extremely stilted and awkward.
 
As we left, Anabelle stated, “Meeting them was my idea…and I have regrets.”
 
Luckily, the Tiki Room was next door!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

One of the songs played outside while the line builds is “Pearly Shells” from the Disney Sing Along Songs - Beach Party VHS tape the girls watched upwards of fifty-seven thousand times a week as tiny tots.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
I took a nap during the show.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
(These Old Man Bones needed a little more rest to make that twelve hour Park day target a reality.)
 

Morgan, Kim, Dave and Grandma went over to Frontierland and rode on Big Thunder Mountain. After enjoying my favorite coaster, Tom Sawyer Island was next. I think this is when Kim took an Adventureland detour for her trip up the Swiss Family Tree House as well. She could see the Tron Coaster from up there. Cool! (And YAAAY! As well.)
See there is someone that loves every attraction.

Someday, I will get back to Tom Sawyer Island.
Not this day though, as I had a horde of Cavalcade loving women to escort.
 
We might have had time to hit a ride before going out to Main Street, but as it had been ever since the plague closure ended, wait times were completely unpredictable. This random Thursday afternoon, the hour we’d seen on small world earlier turned out to be the standard for the entire day and not the early afternoon fluke it usually is.
 
Luckily, we know what we’re doing, and used things like Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Cavalcades to kill time until the weaker guests weeded themselves out by getting tired and leaving. This let us fall back on “Leisurely Stroll” mode.
 
On our way out of Adventureland, Veronica insisted on stopping to be spit on by a camel. That should reflect how hot it was.
 
Since I was less excited than the ladies I was with, in much the same way the ball is less excited than the football fans in the stadium, I was chosen to guard the backpacks.
Since I have no dancing ability to speak of, having my feet completely buried under the backpacks until I looked like the potted Baby Groot was not a hindrance.
 
Without a thunderstorm threat, there were more characters in the Adventure Friends Cavalcade this time around, such as the first sighting of Jessie in any Park. There were a great many waves for and from my over enthusiastic family members.
 

Timon gave Rosa a high five. Mirabel pointed at Anabelle and Aurora’s glasses, (again) and a great time was had by all. While everyone was removing their Park luggage from my feet, Rosa showed me her phone to display she had once again magically manifested Chip and Dale with her powers. 

Pardon me while I pause and think back to her ominously mentioning she had to go somewhere when we went to the Laugh Floor.  Hmmmmmm…
 
There was a gap between Cavalcades, where the four ladies and me took the back route to (Not called “New” anymore but I still don’t care) New Fantasyland, for the short wait on Ariel’s ride. The wait looked like it might be a little longer than listed, because of several instances when groups of guests ahead of us would stare blindly into the abyss and not move.
 
We did make it to the ride, with the Tom Sawyer gang relatively close (excluding abyss staring time) behind us. This was due to them being thrown off the island, upon learning the Fort had shut down earlier for the day. Morgan has superhuman abilities to avoid getting his picture taken and there were no images of him from the Island trip.

Grandma did manage to get him to stand still for a moment beforehand on the way to Big Thunder, however. 
 

Anabelle, Aurora and Veronica all squeezed into one shell, making it the silliest, most giggle filled trip Under the Sea in a long while.
 
We all met up again and retraced our steps back to Main Street near the Plaza, but on the other side of the street, for the next Cavalcade.

The Mickey one that came between the two Adventure Friends runs was shorter, and less awesome, but still a great deal of fun. There was much dancing and waving. Daisy swooned at Anabelle’s Donald ears, and Chip gave Rosa a thumbs up and blew her a kiss for her shirt. Aurora had found her character interaction element and was having a blast.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!
 
Between Cavalcades at some point (Maybe when we were at this spot earlier I can’t know everything…but there is a picture proving it really did happen.) we took advantage of our location to get some PhotoPass pictures in front of the castle of the three girls together. In a rare, non-Happy Disney sighting, PhotoPass Man was very sad about his lot in life. 

The Adventure Friends Cavalcade was coming again. Having only seen it three times (counting their sprint to see one of them twice) Rosa, Anabelle Aurora and Veronica clearly needed to see it again. The rest of us were happy to watch it again as well.
 
Aurora was not happy with Veronica spending the entire between Cavalcade periods pestering her sister with constant ideas about crazy barbershop hat suggestions for her to wear.
 
Y’know who was happy though? The tall, thin Cast Member with a ponytail we noticed groovin’ around Main Street before the Mickey Cavalcade. Before the Adventure Friends one, we realized it was his method of walking along and clearing the path. He was totally into it, and having such a blast, the kids all started copying his moves and dubbed it:
“Doing the Garrett.”
 
The Adventure Friends came again, led by Miguel and Toy Story western characters. This time I positioned my backpack planted feet closer to the curb, allowing interactions of my own.
 
Woody spotted my Buzz Lightyear shirt, and immediately ran over to give me a fist bump and push some buttons on my chest.
Although the original target for this shirt no longer had a meet and greet, the magical power of the Shirt Grid was still there.
YAAAAAY!
 

As always, there was a great deal of screaming and waving between my family and the float riders. Mirabel completed her perfect record of pointing to Anabelle and Aurora’s glasses and then her own.
 
Because we were all together, and all hungry, and all wanted to go to Cosmic Ray’s this day, that meant it was time to get dinner.
And because it’s us, (this affects eating as well) that meant it was time to split up again.
 
Aurora wanted to grab the Baklava from Pinocchio’s Village Haus and bring it with her to dinner. Anabelle and Veronica went with her for moral support…
And to wave at small world people.
And for Veronica to chug a ranch dressing from the condiments bar while Aurora waited.
 
Aurora did wait, through the entire zig-zag queue.
Then the Cast Member told her they were out of Baklava, and sympathized that she waited so long for nothing.
Alas.
 
The rest of us went straight to Cosmic Ray’s to put orders in. Rosa and Dave scored tables near the wonder that is Sonny Eclipse while we ordered. An accurate demonstration of how tired we get in Disney World can be seen in the following exchange.
Cast Member- “Can I please have a name for your order?”
Kim- “No…I’m good.”
 
Everyone got their fast foodish items. Since Grandma was upset the last day she hadn’t had a Disney Cheeseburger the whole time, we believe Tony’s was enough for her, and she didn’t eat. That would make this one of the nights she had a piece of leftover pizza back at the room that we were all very happy Morgan made her order. There is a slight possibility she had something else. Or maybe she did have a cheeseburger and we all forgot, since we had about six functioning brain cells between the nine of us by this point.
 
Rosa, Anabelle and I continued our love affair with the Disney Impossible Burgers, all getting the To the Moon variety.
 
The girls arrived, and related the Baklava failure story, but we were all assembled, all had food and all sat in front of Sonny Eclipse.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 

Anabelle was actively facing away from Sonny (by choice, alas) but when he sang “Bright Little Star” she yelled, “They’re playing my song!” while sprinting back to our table from a trash can. This action caused a nearby man to spit some food out when he laughed.
Mission accomplished.
 
Grandma thought they had introduced a bunch of slower tempo songs in the mix, since they weren’t as catchy as she remembered. I pointed out the song selections hadn’t changed within my memory and we were on a slow part of the loop.
If Grandma didn’t eat dinner as we suspect, perhaps she should have.
 
Veronica chugged a mayonnaise packet and Aurora threatened her life.
In other words, business as usual.
 
Morgan and Veronica kept saying that the slightly over an hour wait for the Mine Train was worth it. Grandma decided to go with them. This was because she didn’t want them to go alone.
(I refuse to go into what Kim and I pointed out about what ages we did things alone in Disney because it is a futile road which I do not wish to traverse again.)
This was also because, at seventy-six, Grandma still likes some of the roller coasters because she is awesome. If the two of us had been near Big Thunder at the same time when the line dipped, she probably would have taken another spin with me and without anyone else.
 
While they were planning to go, Anabelle pointed out that we had finished dinner and she had been on only one ride, yet seen five parades today. She finished this up with the observation, “I’m a parade whore.”
That’s my girl!
 
(She also pointed out while I was writing this, technically if you count the Trolley of Pooh Friends, it was six parades. YAAY!)
 
With plans made, we went our various ways. Exiting the over air conditioned restaurant into the hot and sticky night air, we all went “aaaaaaaahh.”  Florida atmosphere acts as a vaporizer, and it was nice to be able to breathe for the rapidly increasing number of congested ones in our group.
 
Dave continuing to win our family’s “most likely to have a burst of sanity award,” went home to bed. The Mine Train trio was already deep within the windings of the line when we walked by them. 

Kim, Rosa Anabelle, Aurora and I took a spin on the small world…’cause it’s there, and ‘cause it’s us. (Indeed!)
They fixed the clock to make the time right!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

It is entirely possible I never mentioned that the clock time was off, which is why we kept thinking we missed the chimes and display. It’s too late to try to hunt that moment down. Therefore, if I did miss it, context clues, and this bit of excessive rambling, will have to serve to explain things.
 
Then, ‘cause it’s next door, and again, ‘cause it’s us, (extra special for this ride) we went on the Haunted Mansion. The Cast Member on line told Kim in a completely deadpan voice to clean her bag because she had “Pooh” on it.
(Yup, a Disney approved, strait faced poop joke. We love to see it.)
 
Hey, while the line didn’t weave through them, all the stuff to interact with on the graveyard line was working again. We hopped the chains to play with them.
YAAAAY! 

We got better at timing the ride photos to be much sillier than our early experiences. I’m sure we entertained the PhotoPass people.

 

We split further at this point, because I don’t have enough to write about during these insanely dense trips as it is.
 

Kim went to meet the Mine Train group at the exit. The four of them did a small world run, ‘cause they’re still us.
 
Grandma, who was starting to run down a bit by this point in the trip, took Morgan home, while Kim and Veronica had Mommy and Me time on Buzz Lightyear.

They also rode Winnie the Pooh because Kim had her Pooh fanny pack (which likely will make the Haunted Mansion comment make more sense now) and Veronica had gotten her “Little Pooh.” 

The doll’s real name was “Mini Winnie” said in the weird southernish accent they all affect whenever the kids are together in Disney, or talking about Disney, or thinking about Disney. It’s infectious.

I stuck with Little Pooh, because...
Hee hee hee.

They got some nice “PhotoPoohs” pictures with them on the way out of Main Street, and saw Mickey and Minnie waving goodbye again from the station. 

 
Meanwhile…
 
Anabelle and Aurora had a cousin’s night together. During the fireworks…
Oh yeah. They went off.
They do that.
We ignored them.
We do that.
Ahem.
 
During the fireworks, Anabelle and Aurora did not go on an attraction that usually has a giant line to take advantage of the distraction.
No, they went to Filmore’s Magic and got a private screening.

This event, along with a double Rabbit sighting and Parade Whoring, put today atop Anabelle’s  “Greatest Ever Disney Days” list, in spite of the late start and possible food poisoning.

(She quoted Walt- “For every laugh, a tear must fall.”)

Doesn’t everyone maintain one of those lists?

And if not, what is wrong with you?

As they ran, full speed, toward this always lineless theater, the confused attendant stated in surprise, “You do know this Mickey’s Philharmagic, right?”

“WE KNOW!” They shouted, tearing by him.
“Ooookay...” He incredulously replied to their vanishing backs, “Enjoy the show.”
 
There was a grand total of eleven people in the theater. Twelve with the baby.
 
There was one family who wasn’t animated, except for the very excited little girl, and a couple of “extras” who cared less.

Then there was Anabelle and Aurora and a couple of frat guys. Both groups made constant jokes about the emptiness of the theater beforehand:

“Hey slide all the way down! Make room for everyone.”
Anabelle- “I better take my ears off so people behind me can see.”
Frat guy - *off to the side, in no way behind her…no one was* “Yeah, good idea, you better.”
 
The two fun groups sang along to the whole movie, and Anabelle found the Pizza Planet Truck in Coco and pointed it out so Aurora could see it too!
 
Yes, I know my family always sings along at Filmore’s Magic, but this time Anabelle and Aurora belted along at the top of their lungs, and cheered each section of the film as if they were attending a rock concert.
 
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
 
Since at least part of our family needs to run to a far corner of the Park at the end of the night to beat closing time, the two of them finished up with Splash Mountain, completing the hat trick of sitting together on this ride at the end of all three nights in the Magic Kingdom. (This was the only time they were alone, the other two Veronica made them sit together, because she didn’t want to hear them complaining about their “Old Man Bones.”) The Frat Boy Instant Disney Friends followed the same route for a while, but veered into Adventureland. Anabelle’s gut instinct is they were going to sing along in the Tiki Room.
 
While waiting on line for the flume, Anabelle made yet another Teeny Instant Disney friend who loved her Donald ears.

They finished the ride after the Park had closed. Frontierland was playing “Happy Trails.”
They sang along, badly.
 
Okay, Sherman, set the Wayback machine for the fireworks.
 

Rosa and I did take advantage of the distraction by going on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I stopped to pose, fists on hips and jaw jutting proudly out, in front of the Buzz animatronic in my costume shirt.

Through a tiny space between the line room and boarding area, the Cast Member saw me and went nuts. When we came into her area, she was still laughing and said, “That was awesome.”
Do not doubt the Shirt Grid.
 
We learned why Rosa has scoring issues at that ride, she aims and then presses the trigger one shot at a time, rather than using constant rapid firing, or just holding the trigger down. We also learned why I sometimes have trouble with scoring. When Rosa sees I have more points than she does, she grabs my blaster and says, “Cut it out!”
 

After that, we took a nice romantic People Mover ride for two. I never feel like I go on that one enough. It’s a great “just be in Disney - but you get to sit down” attraction.
 
We curved up into Fantasyland next and took a ride on Winnie the Pooh. It was so excruciatingly hot and humid, that the mere proximity of my shoulder to the “honey walls” caused it to move around and reveal the pictures.
 
At the front of the line, the Cast Member told us, “Row one and two.”
We stared at him, looked around the empty loading area, and then stared back at him before replying, “Um…we’re married, can we sit together?” 

He let us. That was nice too. 

Dark rides at the end of a long Disney day are extremely satisfying.
 
The night was winding up, and we chose a screening of Filmore’s Magic ourselves. After hearing about Anabelle’s private screening, I texted her that we would have one with only five people!
Ha Ha!
 
Not so much Ha Ha, after all. We had just gotten in after the theater doors closed, leading me to send Anabelle a barrage of texts as the numbers grew. It finally stopped at forty-one. (The much more McGinley number of forty-two if you count the baby.)
 

Therefore, it wasn’t a private screening, but we did get glow sticks from some other random and fun Guest who was making Instant Disney Friends with the whole room.
 
Yes, we sang along too, it’s Filmore’s Magic, what else would we do?

Our Filmore’s was the final run of the night for that attraction. The other four remaining in the Park gathered together on the bus line shortly before we got there. As Rosa and I left the exit, we saw the Electric Water Pageant and watched as it finished the first part and switched over to the flags.
 

We all met up together on the bus line. Kim and I were sharing seeing the Pageant stories and she said, “Dad did it again,” before we started to wax nostalgic.
Then our loving and caring children began to chime in:
Anabelle – “Oh here it comes,” *starts doing ballet and talking in a sing song cadence* “When I was a child and we stayed in the Contemporary we saw the Water Parade every night and we could see the Magic Kingdom from our window.”
Aurora- “If they start on the ‘my childhood in the Contemporary Hotel’ stories I’m going to jump off a cliff.”
Anabelle- “Not if I jump first.”
 
I believe Kim and my mature, controlled responses were:
“PLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
 
One of those GIANT cattle car accordion busses, like the one we nearly baked to death in the other night, pulled up. It filled immediately and we got to go on the normal bus that followed it saying, “Thank God!”
 
To preserve some required discomfort at the end of the night, a kid swung from the hand straps and kicked Kim for the whole ride. Some parents take the idea of “I’m on vacation from everything” way too far.
 
Anabelle and Rosa went on ahead. I stopped in the main building to hit the water fountain before I died.
On the way back to the room, I saw a Tiny Snake on the sidewalk and also a very fast Bunny.
I showed Rosa and Anabelle pictures of a Tiny Snake…

And also a blank section of sidewalk where the Bunny used to be.

 
They were supposed to clean our room every other day. This was scheduled to be one of those “every others” where it was done, but they did not clean. We were not dirty enough for this to be a problem, but we did need tissues, toilet paper, and towels. As the cheese remained, the other rooms were having similar “every other” problems.
 
When I went on the mug run, I complained…again. I was told someone would bring all three.  I filled the mugs with our usuals. (After I drank that acai blueberry ick again.)
 
Back at the room, they only brought the towels. Luckily, Rosa, experienced with the Peru requirement of packing one’s own, had stashed enough of the toilet paper to cover the other two needs.
 
My knee, calf and quad were killing me. Yes, Disney had destroyed a second set of sneakers, but I was stuck with them for the next two days.
I put an extra set of insert pads in my remaining footwear and hoped for the best.
 
We turned on my computer for one of the two times during the stay. (The other was to back up the insanely overenthusiastic number of Chewbacca pictures in case that was the reason for my phone’s daily brick imitation.)
 
We booked our precautionary plague tests for after we got home and paid a tuition bill to let Anabelle go back to her non-Disney existence while we wait for the next trip.
 
As we went to bed, Rosa hit the “open the emergency sinus infection meds” point Anabelle and I had passed a couple nights before.
 
17804 steps 7.3 miles

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