Ralph M. from the Checker Cab co. van #333, got us to the Animal Kingdom safe and sound. He was the last nice person we had contact with until we left the AK. I'm not sure if its the heat, or the fact that the AK is based on being in the jungle, but people there were uncivilized. We were surrounded by a lot of un-Disney like behavior.
The CM's working this park are some of the bravest people in the world. Here we were thinking it was the military.
We were heading to the gate, debating on renting a stroller for Em, so we wouldn't awaken the 'rash' when a potted tree came over and stuck up a conversation with us.
His name was 'Wes Palm'.
When 'Wes Palm' rolled over behind Em and started talking, Em froze cold in her tracks.
Eyes wide open she slowly turned around, unsure as to what to say to a talking tree.
"HHEEELLLLOOOOO! My goodness that's a pretty dress you are wearing." Em was wearing a
dress with big yellow daisies on it.
She stood there and stared at 'Wes Palm' in shock.
"It looks a lot like my family reunion, my aunt petunia was there this year."
Em started smiling. She kept looking over at me to see if I had anything to do with this potted tree that suddenly wanted a new friend.
"Are you skipping school?" Wes inquired. "Yes!" Em proudly proclaimed.
"I thought so, you have that 'school-skippers smile', it's usually bigger than everyone else’s." Wes told her.
Wes came towards me because I had the video camera out, to give me a nice big close-up. "That's very nice of you Mrs. Spielberg, bringing the family to Disney."
That’s very nice of you Wes Palm, making that kid smile and not think about missing DS for a minute.
Wes turned to leave and Em was right behind him. He stopped and asked "Are you stalking me? Or did you just want to give me a nice big hug?"
Oh, Em did. She leaned over and gave him a big hug.
"OOOohhhh! I KNEW she was a tree-hugger!" Wes bellowed.
That chatted for a couple more minutes, Wes thanking her for stopping by. Em started walking to the gate, but 'Wes' was right behind her. "It's my turn to stalk you, Emily's my girlfriend, Emily's my girlfriend, Emily's my girlfriend.." Wes sang.
Another little boy came over to investigate the talking potted tree and 'Wes' told him he would be right back, because he was stalking his girlfriend.
"And don't you go hugging any other trees, because I'll hear it through the grapevine. I don't think she's ever been stalked before, I'll be honest with you." Wes said.
'Wes' spun back around to me. "I'd like to ask you, mom, when you put those collectable metal things on your hat, and you put your hat on your head, is that what they mean by a 'pin-head'? I've heard the expression before, I had never actually seen it."
We were laughing so hard our sides hurt. Ahhh, the magic of Disney.
We got through the turnstiles with Beatlebum and Commando Nikki touching each others sunburns to see who would get to use the special room charge slash park ticket.
Commando Nikki won.
We went over to the tree of life to see 'It's Tough to be a Bug'. Dh is very familiar with my crazy fear of bugs and he assured me that, yes, there would be bugs, but they would be little ones.
When the doors open for you to go into the theater, there are some very simple instructions saying to move all the way down the isle and fill all the seats.
Some people simply cannot follow these simple instructions. I guess they are too CLEAR. One man refused to move, leaving Em & I with no place to sit.
"Sir, could you move down please, so we can sit down?" I asked.
This man was too close to Commando Nikki when he called me the bad name he called me. He refused to move, I hadn't heard what he called me. I didn't care. The show started, Dh gave his seat to Em but we were left standing there. "Sir, really, I'd like to sit with my family, couldn't you move down to those empty seats?" He still refused to move. I wiggled my CM getting finger at the closest CM I saw, who was already on his way over, the man called me another bad name, much too close to Commando Nikki, and finally moved his stupid 'not able to understand simple instructions' butt down to the empty seats.
I am in Disney World with my family, I am not at work, I don't have a single care in the world. I personally don't care what Mr. 'not able to understand simple instructions' thinks about me. I will never see him again. He has an opinion. Good for him.
Love ya, mean it.
With the show well underway, and our special bug goggles on we are prepared to be initiated as honorary bugs. Then Hopper came outta nowhere to protest this. I scream "GRASSHOPPER!!" as loud as I could.
Nobody but my immediate family gets the joke. I need to travel in packs with DIS'ers. They understand me.
The show concluded and we began to leave the theater, but Commando Nikki was bugged.
Get it? Bugged? I am cleaver!
She couldn't get over Mr. 'not able to understand simple instructions' bad name calling toward her mother. She was steaming mad and it was ruining her day, and I couldn't have that. I don't know where this sudden act of bravery came over me but I caught up with Mr. 'not able to understand simple instructions' and tapped him on the shoulder "Sir?".
He ignored me.
I tapped him again. "Sir?"
He ignored me again.
I jammed my fingers really hard into his shoulder. "SIR!"
He stopped and looked at me and said very sarcastically "What?"
Yeah, what?
"Did you have something you wanted to say to me, instead of my daughter?" I asked.
Mr. 'not able to understand simple instructions' is also a bit of a coward. He stammered for a minute, looked at his feet and quietly said "No, m’am."
"Okay good, have yourself a Disney day then... Oh and by the way, Love ya, mean it." I smiled and looked at Commando Nikki who was also smiling. She felt better, I felt better....
Mr. 'not able to understand simple instructions' got slugged in the back of his head by, I'm thinking, MRS. 'not able to understand simple instructions' for not standing up to a five foot tall woman who just jabbed him in the shoulder really hard. She was really mad at him.
I'm telling you, there's something wrong with the AK. LOTS of un-Disney like behavior. Maybe it's the heat.
It had to be the heat.
We decided the raft ride would be a dandy idea, get wet, cool off. On the way over, I was tickled when Brother called.
Really tickled, I had the phone on vibrate.
"Brother! What are you doing?" I was so happy to hear from him.
"Standing outside a gift shop in the Marketplace holding a bag. You?"
"Visiting the KING of grasshoppers." I told him.
"Glad I missed it this time. Just thought I'd give you a quick call, see what you were planning. Pigtails left and Scruffy lives with us now. Great times." He said.
I told him when we left here we were heading to MGM to see Fantamic. He told me he would try to catch up with me later, but he had to go right now. She was apparently finished in one gift shop, had plenty more bags for him to hold and was ready to go to the next.
I was left wondering what kind of shoes he was wearing.......