The Thelins' Disney Adventure

ZIPPITY DO DAH!
We knew the trip was destined for greatness when we spotted a "Pluto cloud"! In case you didn't know, the clouds in Orlando are shaped like Disney characters. We discovered this phenomenon during our last visit for Heidi's Make-a-Wish, at which time we saw and photographed (for any non-believers) a "Mickey cloud", a "Goofy cloud", and a "Dumbo cloud." As a mom, I was ecstatic that a Disney cloud was sighted right off, since for certain family members, the success of the trip was contingent on spotting one!! If, perchance, you can't see Pluto in the cloud, trust us, it's him.

RUMBLY IN THE TUMBLY

Our excitement was not diminished by the fact that Chris and Jeffrey were both dying from some sort of food poisoning (presumably from eating school food the day before). They tried to be good sports while we explored our beautiful Port Orleans resort, but were basically pathetic. We finally ditched them in the motel room and left to have fun with the girls, while they kept themselves entertained watching Spanish soap operas on TV (apparently a superior choice over Hannah Montana reruns.)

EACH LITTLE BAND HERE, KNOWS HOW TO JAM HERE

The boys felt back to normal the next day, and were able to join their band from high school. We were really excited to hear them perform at Epcot. They were great and attracted a nice audience at the outdoor amphitheater! The concert was broadcast throughout the park. Here, Chris notices us during their warm-up time. We couldn't see Jeffrey, but the trumpet section sounded awesome during the Lion King's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" song! We caught him coming off the stage afterward. We were so very proud. The boys hung out with their band buddies most of the time, but were able to meet up with us for a few rides! This was SO nice of them because Heidi was having severe "brother withdrawal" and we had a lot of fun with them.

AND THE RAIN RAIN RAIN CAME DOWN DOWN DOWN!

We all enjoyed monkeying around in Animal Kingdom. We saw some awesome shows, rode some wild rides, and watched very cool parades. We also got to meet lots of characters here! The most memorable thing that happened to us though was that every single one of the Disney clouds decided to rain on us. Wow. Wet. We tried to huddle under a small umbrella table outside of a restaurant with like 20 other people during the deluge. Somehow we got separated, and Gordon went running about in the pouring rain for 10 minutes trying to find us, only to discover that he had been standing next to me to begin with! All the while the magical, 24/7 Disney tune producing sound system played, ironically, "I'm just a little black raincloud..." Holly yelled out from under her highly durable $7 Disney "Where Your Dreams Come True" plastic rain poncho "Oh Pooh, be quiet! This is NOT a good time!"

Soon after-- and bear in mind that this was not just a garden shower type of rain, but more akin to a monsoon sort of event--a cheerful Disney employee (who, FYI, are all affectionately referred to as "Cast Members"--is that because they are required to act like there really is "an element of fun in every job that must be done?") Anyhow, a Cast Member came over and informed all of us, with a little nervous giggle, that she was sorry but she had to take our umbrella down due to high wind warnings and we would have to go find shelter somewhere else! Perhaps the gift shop or the "Finding Nemo--the Musical" show, she suggested with a Chesire Cat smile. Not even one person in the crowd swore at her! Amazing. After all, it is the happiest place on earth!


YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED...THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

Years ago, I heard of a new ride at Disney Hollywood Studios. It was called the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I knew just from hearing the name that this was not a ride for me. I am good with roller coasters--that nice old-fashioned kind of thrill ride. Call me crazy, but the thought of plummeting 13 stories in a dark elevator simply is not appealing, especially after you have been sucked into the Twilight Zone just prior.

I did, however, do it.

I'll tell you why.

It was because the Tower of Terror was Holly and Amy's favorite ride in all of Disney World. Can you believe it? Chris was even afraid of it! When the girls talked him into going, he held on to the metal mesh wall beside him so tightly that it imprinted into his flesh! Holly and Amy went on it four times. By the 4th time, Heidi and I felt so much pressure to try it that we finally caved in and went with the whole family to face our doom. Wow. It was intense. Heidi and I bonded pretty closely through the experience, and I mean that quite literally. We decided to spend the $20 for a truly great picture of all of us in the front row with classic expressions of terror during one of the free fall moments (of which there were, oh, so many). Of course I can't show it to you now because I don't know how to scan pictures in without them turning out upside down or whatever. And even if I did it, I wouldn't be able to get it onto the blog. But rest assured, it is pretty good.

Now after facing terror, what about heading back over to Magic Kingdom for a nice, happy ride on Dumbo? Holly cries, "Oh please, no, Mommy. That ride scares me! I don't like the way the elephants tip when they are way up high in the air!" You figure it out.

I MIGHT EVEN BE A ROCK STAR

After surviving the Tower of Terror, I was ready to take on anything. Jeffrey talked me into going on the AeroSmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. Zero to sixty in like 2 seconds. Very awesome. It is so weird to scream and have no sound come out! I had no concept whether we were right side up or upside down, but it was over pretty quick so that is OK. This hand thing we are doing in front of the world's largest guitar is some AeroSmithish thing that I don't really understand, but my 15 year old son thought I was some kind of really hip mom for liking this ride so it's all good.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

We spent a lot of time psyching everyone up for THE ride of all rides at Disney. Everyone knows that Space Mountain is the greatest ride of all time. Heidi, especially, was not sure how this could be true, particularly after her trust in us was shaken by the whole Tower of Terror episode. We finally got everyone on board and were ready to blast off. The seven of us took up nearly two rocketship trains on the track. The hydraulic restraints came down, the countdown began, and then... a red light came on. A phone call came down from "Command Center" to the little guy at the booth with all those fake buttons. They are fake, right? This is kind of cool, we thought, building up the suspense a little. I guess the workers are really living up to that "Cast Member" status at Space Mountain. They were so convincing, shaking their heads and running about like something was actually wrong with the ride that we were rather uncomfortably locked into. When the PA system announced "System shutdown, Track A" and all the lights came on inside Space Mountain, then the whole acting thing got a little annoying. I mean, really, that was overkill. Plus, those restraints were seeming a little tight after sitting there for about 10 minutes now with everyone still in line looking at us and pointing. Slowly, it began to seem like kind of real--almost like we were stuck on the ride, and when they did think they fixed it, we would be the first ones to try it and see if it were really fixed! Fun! Yes! I love Disney World! It happens to be Disneys "Year of a Million Wishes." I wished I was not stuck on Space Mountain with my small children, whose anxiety levels were increasing exponentially with each moment. Luckily, Chris and Jeffrey chose to seize the day. After all, they had a captive audience of onlookers. They began flailing their arms and being abnormal and soon we were all "doing the wave" and singing songs. It was sort of a heartwarming, faith promoting, movie kind of moment when finally after about 25 minutes, the house lights went out, the green light came on, and we zoomed off for space with hundreds of people clapping and cheering for us. Even the guys in the command center waved to us when we went past. We have new respect for them--they actually DO something in there! The ride was great, but was even greater when Gordon produced this VIP Guest Pass when the ride was over. Apparently, he had talked to one of the "Cast Members" while we were sitting there and just mentioned casually, as only Gordon can do, that it would be great if someone did something nice for us all who were sitting there stuck in the ride. And someone did! We were the only ones who got a VIP pass! We were able to go on any ride in the park with VIP preference, meaning, no lines and our choice of seat! I told you I love Disney World!

(BTW, it turned out that the ride was actually not broken. Some unfortunate, disabled soul was just stuck in the seat at the end of the ride, which caused a delay in the unloading zone, which caused a backup, which overloaded the system, causing it to shutdown. No worries. Ha.)


WHO's THE LEADER OF THE CLUB?

While you are in Disney World spending the money you should be saving for your children's educations, you have to take in all of the fabulous details that make your stay, shall we say, magical. The children's Mickey waffle breakfast, for example, was served everyday on a Mickey plate. The girls noticed one day that the quilts on our bed had tiny little Mickey mouse ears on the fabric. The soap was shaped like mouse ears. The carts that the maids drove had towers of towels wrapped in plastic sheeting with Mickey's profile emblazoned all over. Our pool was shaped like Mickey Mouse. The manhole covers, the wooden shelf brackets in our room, stone patterns on the sidewalk--M-I-C-See ya real soon! K-E-Y-Why? I don't know, but it gets kind of freaky. You start feeling like you are on the Truman Show or something. One of the Cast Members let us in on the "Big Secret" that there is a "Secret Mickey" hidden in like every ten square feet of the park. I believe our children found them all. Our very favorite usage of the Mickey icon was at the petting zoo, where the poor sheep had been shorn so that they had Mickey ears on their rears. This of course pleased Holly to no end (sorry), but I mean, really, how much is too much Mickey????? Poor little lamb...



WE NEVER WILL FORGET OUR HEROES OF THE WET!

Once the boys joined us after the band headed home to Culpeper, we transferred to a different resort that was a little more fun, and a little less expensive. The All-Star Movie resort was amazing. Each section of the resort was from a different movie. THe picture here is of the Fantasia section. We stayed in the 101 Dalmation section. Disney spares no expense creating an atmosphere. The only thing that wasn't amazing was the fact that when we arrived there soaking wet from another downpour, there was no luggage. This is quite devastating when you are anticipating nice dry clothes to change into. We had put all of our luggage with cute little Mickey Mouse tags on a big cart early in the morning and Gordon had given the lady a nice tip to ensure that our bags arrived at the new motel before we did. But alas, just like Pongo and Perdy's puppies, they were no where to be found. Gordon spent an hour and a half on the phone trying to track them down. Meanwhile we wrapped the kids in dry towels and blankets and I took the wet clothes and shoes to the laundromat in the Mighty Ducks section to dry them. Of course, I was not the only mom on a rainy day at Disney with this idea, so the process took a bit of time, was a tiny bit cutthroat (some women get very possessive of commercial washing machines), and required a few more quarters than I had. Don't you love how when you need change, the change machines are always broken? I tried everything--smoothing down the edges of my dollar bill, folding and refolding it, putting it nonchalantly back in my pocket and pulling it out again so that the machine would think it was a different dollar bill and give me my quarters, but nothing worked. Brilliantly, I spotted a vending machine and thought of getting myself an ice-cold Sprite (just what I wanted as I stood there shivering in the rain) so I could get another quarter back. Guess what? The drinks cost 85 cents. At this point, one starts formulating conspiracy theories. Jafar, Cruella de Vil, Sid, someone had to be responsible. But then--a ray of sunshine--I remembered an old trick from my days at BYU laundromats: try all of the empty machines and see if one has extra time on it! Voila! I loaded in my shoes, inserted NO quarters, and pressed the button. Sure enough, they began thumping and bumping their way to dryness! YES! Oh, just whistle while you work!

Despite my triumphant return to the room, the luggage issue however, was still unresolved. Finally, Gordon ascertained that our bags were actually at the front desk, up near the Toy Story section, but because of the rain, the cart (and accompanying Cast Member driver) had not been able to deliver them to our room. I don't recall all of Gordon's exact words, but his response went something like this:

"Are you trying to tell me that I have spent almost two hours on the phone in soaking wet clothes while my 5 children are here hungry and cold and my wife is trying to do laundry so we have something dry to put on, and all the while our luggage is sitting up at the front desk because somebody doesn't want to drive them to our room in a covered cart in the rain? Sir, I was led to believe that Disney World was a place where all your dreams come true. You know what? MY DREAMS ARE NOT COMING TRUE! I am coming up there myself, in my bare feet, because I have no dry shoes, and get my own bags if that is OK with you." ( a side note: The fact that Gordon had to go in his bare feet was a really big deal. This is a man, you may recall, whe required fresh socks and baby powder to be brought to the hospital during Heid's birth, as his feet had become somewhat uncomfortable during my 17 hours of labor.) Of course, Chris and Jeffrey ran along in bare feet too, partly to help carry bags, but mostly because this seemed like a scene they wouldn't want to miss and may need to capture on film for a future YouTube movie. When they all returned, they had the luggage, and a story. Apparently, a manager after being informed of our plight, had arranged for two taxis to come pick us up at the motel and take us to dinner that evening. It was a very nice gesture, and it restored our faith in Disney. As for Gordon, being married to him has always been an adventure.


...AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

The sun did come out for the last few days of the trip and we had a blast. I think everybody actually had a chance to do everything they wanted to do at Disney--thanks to Heidi for her careful planning and daily schedules (even though we were always running behind by 3 0r 4 hours!) Each person went home with favorite souvenirs...

• Chris bought the most awesome Indiana Jones hat.
• Jeffrey got a Jamaican hat with these great dredlock things, and a little Chinese coat that he loves--both movie making material.
• Amy, who wore a safari hat the ENTIRE time we were there, found the coolest Tshirt of all time. It has Pooh (on safari) looking at a realistic looking bengal tiger through a large magnifying glass. He says, as only Pooh would, "Tigger, is that you?" Amy saw it in a store, and got completely hysterical over it. She had to take each of us by the hand over to look at it and explain it to us. She was so afraid we wouldn't "get it" so she had these classic explanations of WHY it was so funny, only she would get laughing so hard she couldn't talk anymore. It really was the cutest thing ever.
• Heidi was excited to purchase this fabulous African tye-dyed wrap that you can fold all different ways to make skirts or shawls or dresses.
• Holly's favorite thing was a $17 plastic bottle of water that "has a fan contached to it so it sprays smist." The smist was particularly refreshing on those rainy days. We love how Holly thinks--she is always prepared for any emergency, since her comfort is very important to her. At any given time, she had in her little pack, things like a tiny tube of sunscreen, glasses cleaner, bandaids, kleenex, pens, paper, Germ-X, and a variety of tiny stuffed animals--she is going to make a great mom someday. We also thought it was cute that she had packed a miniature Book of Mormon (have you seen those? the kids love them) and a little picture of the temple in her suitcase.
• Gordon wins the prize for a romantic surprise purchase. He bought me a pair of sparkly Mickey Mouse earrings and a matching necklace and gave them to me after the fireworks at Cinderella's Castle one night. He scored big points for the whole romance thing....we also had dinner one night at Tony's (as in Lady and the Tramp). We didn't do the spaghetti thing though.

When we returned home, we dreamed Disney dreams for over a week. Standing in lines, lots of Disney showtunes, plummeting through dark buildings...were all woven through our subconscious thoughts. We all want to go back though. I told Gordon we should plan on celebrating his 50th birthday there....and bring the grandkids! (It is a frightening thought, but entirely possible. Ouch.)