Jedi trippie - part 15

[Dawn]

Oh no, not again!
Before I continue, remember the interior light and the car door that wouldn’t open from yesterday? Well on the way to Publix Adrian read the manual he found in the glove compartment and when we parked there he deactivated the child lock on that door and told me where the switch was to turn off the light, which the Dollar man must have switched on to show me around the controls.

We park on the West Side right next to Planet Hollywood and walk round to The Rainforest Café so that everyone can get their bearings. Deciding that splitting up would be the best option, we agree to meet in 2 hours by the big kaleidoscope for a progress report. Adrian goes off to find a drink, I take Steven to a shady bench for a milk break, and the rest of them…make it as far as the first pressed penny machine. So we all end up in the Disney at Home shop together where Ellie gets a tooth fairy pillow in anticipation of the coming out of that loose front tooth. After that we do some photos with the snow figures behind the Christmas shop and spend some time at the fountain area there where Ellie manages to run through them several times and stay entirely dry. Harry sleeps through the whole thing.




After this we went into the book/stationery shop place where all the children got autograph books and a few other bits and pieces were acquired before we entered the Christmas shop. It was manic. Totally manic. It was like the lingerie department at 5pm on Christmas Eve. And where was the cinnamon smell? No smell and a shop full of people makes for some bad squishy. Miraculously Adrian found a quiet corner at the back of the shop with some comfy seats where we let Steven crawl around for a few minutes before I braved the crowds to purchase a 2003 tree ornament. Then we were out of there and into Once Upon A Toy where I found my little Disney Bear.

What to do next? Ellie wants to run through water wherever she can find it. Harry is still asleep. It’s about lunchtime; people want something but not a full lunch. Hmmm, bit limited in choices since the Gourmet Pantry closed down. McDonalds is right out, and we’re saving the Rainforest Café for later. So we get coffee and some Mickey Mouse brownies from the candy store and find a couple of tables round the back where we eat these relatively untroubled by bird life. Harry is now awake but Steven is asleep but stirring every time someone drags one of those metal chairs across the concrete.





While we eat our giant brownies, Big Steve succumbs to the first “I want” and takes Ellie into the candy store to fill a plastic tube full of coloured powder, which apparently is edible. We left them in Once Upon A Toy and Nanny Lesley, Adrian, Steven and myself walked round the other shops before meeting up with them again outside the big one. We lined up at the entrance to the World of Disney, hands hovering over our money packed pockets. The strains of Ennio Morricone music filled the air. We stood there like the Magnificent Seven, well eight really, ready to take the town, and we entered. Half an hour later we came out again gasping for breath. It was too big, too crowded, and too bewildering to do it justice. We did manage to buy things though – clothes for Steven including a wicked cute safari hat, and some other bits and pieces. Still needed a gift for Ellie’s birthday tomorrow though and fast running out of time.



We regrouped on the seating in front of the stage and over a cold drink we asked Lisa for a clue as to what to buy. Anything with Piglet on would do apparently. We leave Ellie and Harry with Nanny Lesley and dash back in and find a nightshirt with Pooh and Piglet on. We show it to Big Steve and Lisa and they approve it; apparently Ellie was looking at it earlier. We take this, and a couple of Princess colouring books to the checkout, pay, and get the heck out of there. Back outside we find Harry calling everyone a slug and I pull something, a muscle I believe, trying to apply the brakes on the stupid buggy.



We go back to the cars to load up all the bags and to bring them round closer to The Rainforest Café where we were having dinner that night. While we are round there we take a swift walk along the West Side shops. As Lisa enters the first store Harry yells out, “oh no, not again!” Then his eyes nearly popped out when we entered the Planet Hollywood horror store and he saw the big…thing, standing inside the door. It was a bit gairy.

Steve puts his name down for a table of 8 at the RFC and is immediately summoned, along with the rest of us, to the elephant so we can begin our safari. Steven loved it in here; all new things to look at, and listen to. Harry was a bit scared of the first thunderstorm but was ok after that. Lisa needed the restroom and Adrian told her she needed to follow the gorillas to get there. I think she found it though. I can’t remember what everyone ate here, except that Ellie had the half rack of ribs from the adult menu and ate the lot, Harry had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, and Steven had Motts country berry apple sauce, some French fries from various plates, and one of Harry’s dinosaur things. After eating all this he started bouncing like crazy in his high chair so he must have enjoyed it.



The food was really nice but it was all bought out at the same time by 3 people each yelling, “I have this, this, and this,” so you didn’t know who to turn to first. Eventually Big Steve told them to just put it all down and we’d sort it out. Also, every few seconds we had that, “xxxx party of whatever, please report to the elephant…” blasted out by a woman with a really irritating voice so we were glad to get out of there in the end. Oh and the desserts came in two lots too because our server took Big Steve’s dessert order and walked off and we had to wait for him to come back for the rest of the order. His tip wasn’t that large as a result. Overall I’d give this a B with the good food making up for everything else.

We headed back to the rooms for the night. As I went through a green light I looked in my rear view mirror in time to see Steve and Lisa make a turn down the road towards Old Key West. Hey, I’m the one who makes random turns, where are you going? We worry about them no more, all roads in Disney lead everywhere. Back in our room we box up Ellie’s gifts, down a swift beer and call it a night.

[SleepinCatz]

Sounds like a fun day....well except for the pulled muscle...owie

[Jodie]

Sounds a bit packed at DtD



Jodie

[cathydisneynut]

More please, I can supply Baileys and Pringles!

Forgot to say, Dawn, I opened 2 windows and held the photo of Steven in the England shirt in one, then opened the second window with the most recent photo. Wowee! The change is incredible!