Marching Along We're Adventurers

We swore we were going to get an early start and get over to MGM when it opened. We set the clocks and a wake up call so that we would get up. We even didn’t stay up that late the night before (OK not that late for us at Disney). The alarms went off and Stitch called to wake us up but none of us counted on the lousy night of sleep I had had that night with about a coughing bout every hour on the hour. Peter kept waking up because I was coughing. Caroline had a bad dream at 4 AM which took a little comforting for her to go to sleep. So we shut off all the alarms and proceeded to go back to sleep. We woke up about an hour later feeling much better than we had an hour before so we got up and got ready to try Disney-MGM and its crowds.

We got there just as Lot 1 filled to capacity so we lucked into Lot 2 and being walking distance to the gate. We got in and there were people but I didn’t feel crushed like I had at both Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We checked the big board for wait times on things and headed to my favorite thing at Disney-MGM and possibly the whole of Disney World (Pirates and the Haunted Mansion flip in and out of the top spot also), Muppets 3-D.

I always see something new when I look around the building. This time I noticed a “hand-painted” sign offering to sell me props cheap just ask for Rizzo. Caroline liked the show but would only wear her special glasses for a short time. She really liked the puppets that were in the room. Afterwards we lucked into getting our picture with Kermit and Piggy. I have been reading some Muppet Baby books to Caroline so when she saw them she said Kermit! Piggy! She hugged Kermit and gave Piggy a kiss. She was a happy camper. She also loved the fountain in front of the venue.

We then went to the Disney Version of Who wants to be a Millionaire in which you play for prizes not money. It was fun but there has to be a trick to fastest finger. Caroline was fussing the second time so Peter took her out and she shortly fell asleep on his shoulder. I got us fast-pass tickets to Little Mermaid which she slept through. We then looked around at a few other things and got fast-passes to Playhouse Disney that is mostly a puppet show which I wanted to see. Caroline was still asleep when we went in but woke up before the show having gotten an almost 2 hour nap. She liked Bear and Rollie Pollie Ollie but was indifferent to Stanley. Then Pooh Bear and Friends came on and her face lit up. She jumped up and down and giggled as they danced their dance.

We went to lunch at the Sci-Fi Theater Diner. You sit in “car” seats and watch old movie previews for some of the worst films ever to be made with a couple that were pretty good. Caroline sat next to me in the car seat with Peter and Ariel right behind us. She liked the set up but for some unknown reason took a dislike to her shirt. She took her shirt off and handed it to me. So she ate her lunch topless. Once lunch was done she wanted her shirt back on. Ariel and Peter did Star Tours and we left the park as we watched it get very crowded. Yes, they did close Magic Kingdom once the park reached capacity.

We had dinner at the Hotel and went to catch the beginning of the show at the Adventurers Club and to say good-bye to some friends who work there. Caroline, having had two naps that day, was in rare form as a bundle of unstoppable energy. We were lucky that the people who run the club know us so well and there are places that we could limit her movement to just the room she was in. At one point Peter had gone out with Caroline to get her some milk. I was waiting for them to get back for the Balderdash Cup. It was time to go into the Library and no Peter. The Colonel was playing around with the crowd convincing them to go into the Library and then I heard him say, “Kathleen, Just so you know they are in the Library.” “Thank you Colonel” I replied. “No problem, just doing my duty.” He said with a salute of his riding crop. Which of course had a number of people looking at me with that “And you are?” look on their faces. I went into the Library to be informed that Caroline had a poopy diaper so no Balderdash Cup for me that night which was fine. I went, changed Caroline, and then chased her around the club for a while. She settled down in a sofa where I could sit next to her. Eventually she fell asleep on Daddy’s shoulder again.

We got back to the room a little later than we had wanted but everyone had fun so that is the point to vacation. We made a pact to sleep until we woke up this morning so no alarms were set. Today is going to be a relaxing day. We have no schedule and no agenda other than our New Years Eve show at Cirque.

I am grateful to everything that happened to me in 2004.