My ankle hurt, but at least I had forgotten all about my ice-cream headache so I guess she did me a favor.
Love ya, mean it.
We were stopped by a photographer who offered to take our picture in front of the Tree of Life. They take your picture, hand you a slip and in two hours you pick it up. Must have known I was in the park.
AH yeah, Mickey? This is Donald over at AK, just spotted Delswife and have sent out the troops. I know, I know shoot the kids.
He took our picture and said "I can take one with yours, if you'd like."
Was he kidding? Was I actually going to score a free picture?
"Yes, I 'd like!" I smiled at him and handed him my camera to which he looked at and groaned.
"You didn't think I was going to hand you a disposable camera, did you?" I winked at him.
Guess he didn't get the memo. I didn't need to buy the picture now.
I thought a good idea would be to go watch Tarzan Rocks and get off my ankle for a minute to survey the damage. I steered the crew in that direction and we were told we had to hurry because the show was 'just about to start' according to the CM directing people traffic.
'Just about to start' means something totally different here in Maine.
We gathered into the bleachers with the show due to start in 4 minutes. I checked the damage to my ankle which wasn't bad after all. I couldn't tell if I was bleeding because my everything was still soaked. I decided I was being a huge baby and ignored my ankle the rest of the day.
I also decided I was really going to pay more attention to the stroller drivers to check and see if that was proper stroller-pushing etiquette.
The girls were whining because their shoes got wet. I could only imagine their discomfort. I was sitting there thinking Gee, men's underwear are a whole lotta fun when there wet. They feel pretty droopy, the band is all clammy and they weigh 5 lbs. more than the did before.
How do men stand these things? They absorb water at an alarmingly fast rate, theyre bunchy in the front, they don't stay put and pop out when ever they feel like giving the world a quick "Hey, how are ya?"
Wait! Is that why guys grab themselves, to fix the underwear?
The bleachers are under an enormous hot tent and on each end they have big wind-blowing fans. "I think the big-wind blowing fans are there to circulate the body odor." Dh said and he was right because they definitely weren't cooling anything or anybody.
We were instructed to squeeze together on the bleachers so there would be room for everyone. Oh! Isn't THAT just a lovely idea? Commando Nikki & Beatlebum started teasing Em about being a tree-hugger and having a 'boyfriend'. Emily's got a boyfriend.. Em didn't like being teased and started a sunburn slapping party, which turned into a pinching fight.
Maybe you want these kids a little closer? Do you KNOW what comes AFTER the pinching fight??
We were pleased at another opportunity to have skin-to-skin contact because you can never have enough of that in the heat. The CM came out 10 very long minutes later to say 'the show was going to be delayed but for everyone's safety please remain seated, if you need assistance a CM will assist you out'.
NOTE TO DISNEY: If I am NOT on a ride, DO NOT come out and say something like that.
You can say: Tarzan is still on the toilet and he is the main part of the show and we can't go on without him OR one of the monkey people just passed out from the heat and body odor that the big wind blowing fans have pushed back here.
Never say: 'For everyone's safety please remain seated'.
This made me nervous because I didn't have Scruffy OR Xanax. Why did I need to remain seated and how was I going to affect other peoples safety? Was there about to be a group of angry stroller pushing drivers coming through there?
On a ride I can understand instructions like that. A ride could SUDDENLY start moving. What was going to be SUDDENLY happening here? I really didn't want to affect other peoples safety, and I do understand simple directions, but...
I really wanted to get out of there. So did Dh. It was hot, getting hotter, and there was a lot of clammy skin exposed around us. They were really jamming us in there tight. Em was done with the pinching fight and had moved onto the 'noogie' fight.
Another 15 stifling minutes later and Tarzan and his bunch were singing, swinging and dancing for our entertainment.
NOW I understood the instructions. They were necessary after all. There were people skating up & down the isle, swinging from branches and trees, lots of flashing lights and loud music. The entire place had SUDDENLY become very active.
But I still wanted out. So did alot of other people too. They started going up to the top of the bleachers and escaping that way. We recieved the "okie-dokie" thumbs up from the CM standing at the top and made our escape too. I really felt awful about leaving in the middle of the show, I know the performers saw us leave. It was just to MUCH 'togetherness' for us.
I don't think fresh air had ever felt better. We were so happy we broke out in song and dance ourselves.
SUDDENLY.
We had had enough of the Animal Kingdom. There were two more rides we wanted to hit before we left. Primevil Whirl was the first and we walked right on that. Somehow, we got separated and Dh, Em and Commando Nikki went in one car. Dh & Commando Nikki were having a pinching fight while they waited their turn. I didn't see who started it, but when they got off the ride, I pinched them both right behind the arm, below the shoulder where it really hurts.
I win.
There were a lot of random acts of violence that day.
Beatlebum and I were in a car with a man that spoke no English. He kept talking to her and she kept telling him she couldn't understand him. She started speaking gibberish to him, and he kept right on talking to her. The man who spoke no English scared Beatlebum so I sat in the middle. I wonder what he thought when it was time to get our of the car and there was a big soggy spot from my heavy man-panties had been.
We got Fastpasses for dinosaur, but never had to use them. We walked on 3-4 times in a row. There was a couple who dragged a screaming, scared child onto the ride and sat in the rows behind us. Do some people want to go on a ride so badly that they are willing to listen to a kid screech bloody murder? Em was trying to make this kid feel better, but he was well into FULL blown scream mode. The CM tried to intervene, but the father almost took his head off.
He had calmed down in the ride, up until the dinosaur tried to eat us. I bet that kid is still having nightmares. Once the ride was over Em said to little kid "My daddy's not mean." I hope the parents felt bad when they heard that.
I went to the smoking area while the rest of the crew went into the gift shop. While I was sitting there, a lady pushing a man in a wheelchair stopped and sat on the opposite bench.
I figured if anyone knew about pushing things around the parks, they would be the ones to ask. His chair was alot bigger than a stroller.
But, thanks to Mr. 'can't understand simple instructions' & the crazy stroller lady, I was a little afraid of people in this park so I started off slowly.
I made some small talk and they turned out to be very friendly. They had no advice for me because they were having the same problems as I was. She said it seems the pathways in AK are smaller and harder to manage. I hadn't noticed THAT but I wasn't pushing anybody either.
My crew came slapping and pinching out of the gift shop. Dh trying to fight off all three girls. I said good-bye to my new friends and told them about Ralph M. #333 because they needed a ride.
So, we gave away our ride.
We were having several transportation problems, I'm renting a car next time.
Hear that Dreams Unlimited? I need two rooms at the all stars, connected and a rental car. I'm thinking after Thanksgiving and before Christmas 2004. Just my crew and Brother. Leaving the rest of them behind. I promise to write a glowing review of you. I have quite a growing fan club. THANK YOU!
Love ya, mean it!
HUGE DIS MEET!
So anyway, we went to the bus stop because we were headed for MGM and Brother might be able to meet us there.
I HOPED.