Did you think I'd abandoned the story? Unfortunately, I have very few photos for the rest of this day... I need to beg, steal and borrow files from swanie...
Once on our way back to the hotel I figured out the biggest casualty of my half-marathon:
You may or may recall that I said that putting my eyeglasses in my jogging bra turned out to be a mistake. Here's the thing: Walt Disney World is bad juju for my eyeglasses. Remember how I LOST my glasses there in October? Yes, well this time I managed to drill a nasty patch of a scratch right in the center of my left lens thanks to my cell phone which was also in my jogging bra. With just the glasses there, it was a GREAT spot. Not so much with the cell phone.
Great.
Heavy Heavy Sigh.
So. Anyway. We went back to our room. Swanie was not very hungry and wanted to wash her clothes in the FREE laundry downstairs. The rest of us wanted food. We all took turns in the shower. ohmygoodnessgracious. I did not want to get out of that heavenly warm shower. But I did. C felt guilty driving over to Jambo House for lunch, instead of walking. But not enough to not do it. I felt NO guilt. My legs hurt. C, J and I waddled down to the car and over to Jambo House's Mara counter service for lunch. Walking in from the parking lot I realized why my stomach felt eh. Even though I dragged my Luna recovery shake mix in a small (MICKEY MOUSE!) Tupperware container from home, and even though I bought nonfat milk in the Kidani Village store, I totally forgot to make my recovery shake. Huh. I wished I had. But I had some salad and zebra domes instead.
After lunch with the lovely J and C, we went back to the room and found swanie back from her laundry run. We had plans for an early dinner with the message board people at the Grand Floridian Resort so we decided to head over there for the rest of the afternoon. C used two of my bib safety pins to pin the ribbon of my medal to my shirt. The dirty little truth is medal ribbons are very scratchy and uncomfortable on our necks. Frankly, this is not a good enough reason to NOT wear the medal every where one goes in the aftermath of the event. There really is no good reason not to in my world. Yes, I DID do this and yes, I WILL wear my medal to advertise this fact. The safety pin trick was wonderful and the medal even laid nice and flat.
We decided to leave the car at the hotel and take Disney transportation. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and the Resort Loop Monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort. We planned to hang out at the pool there for the afternoon. On the way to the pool, we passed the afternoon tea held near the lobby.
I love afternoon tea. Oh, how I love it. I love everything about it. I love teapots and tea cups. I love sipping a cup of tea. I love the little strainers over tea cups to strain out the loose leaf tea. I love finger sandwiches and little desserts. I love cups of soup with the words "Cream of" in their names. I love scones and Devonshire cream and preserves. I love crumpets. I love girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes. I love glasse of champagne at high tea (hic!)
I.Love.Afternoon.Tea.
On my honeymoon, my wonderful husband packed a tie and took me to the famous afternoon tea in the lobby of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia.
I had heard of this Grand Floridian Tea but with three young boys and a very busy schedule in October, I never planned to visit it. And on this trip I likewise had no plans to stop.
That did not stop me from schmoozing with the very friendly Cast Member at the check in desk. It also did not stop me from taking pictures of the floor outside the tea lounge. How perfect is this?
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By now, of course, my roommates were long gone but I could tell where to go. The Cast Members at the Grand Floridian seemed well prepared to greet their Princess Half guests. Each and every Cast Member I passed along the way, upon seeing the beautiful sparkly medal around my un-scathed neck, congratulated me on finishing the half-marathon. I loved it!
Eventually I moved my body across the garden paths to the pool, finding my roommates. As good as a mai tai sounded, and boy do I enjoy a mai tai, I just could not bring myself to order one. My body needed water. Lots of water. And so I sheepishly asked for a glass of water with a lemon at the bar, which the bartender gracious gave me. Meanwhile, the pool waitress girl was looking all over to find seats for the table we chose near the pool. We started out as four but within a short time, BK, T, and two more members of the message board joined us. Eventually I ordered "the drink". A few months ago, a dear friend of mine told me about this drink. I first ordered it at a very nice restaurant in advance of a very fine multi-course meal and the server laughed and said "Oh! Are you getting your stomach ready to digest your big meal?" He knew about "The Drink."
And so I ordered a ginger ale with bitters and a wedge of lime, knowing that dinner would be at a buffet. I'm Klasssssy.
We had a lovely time by the pool. And of course we laughed some more but oh, there was so much more to come!
When it was time for dinner, we walked back into the lobby and met with the rest of the group for dinner at 1900 Park Faire. 1900 Park Faire is not very a very large venue for among Walt Disney World buffet locations. Based on this, some of my Walt Disney World savvy friends have been surprised to know the size of our group that night: We had a dinner reservation for 38 people.
Ours was the earliest seating of the evening. Upon gathering in the wait area, we all posed together for a photo. The photographer, aided by at least two others, posed us all carefully in an attempt to see as many of our faces as possible in the final photo. Once finished, we entered the restaurant and our group settled into four tables. Not just any four tables but the four tables in the most central area of the restaurant, very convenient to the buffet! We had two different servers. I cannot speak for the other but ours was very attentive to our needs. I never saw my Diet Coke glass empty. My dirty dishes were always picked up before I returned with more food.
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The slightly blurry but clearly charmed by my Princessly presence in his court, Prince and me.
With all those people there, you had to know that there would be Mickey gnomes, right? Well, there were. As Cinderella and Prince Charming came by for visits and photo opportunities, they posed with Mickey as well. Cinderella and the Prince made us all feel welcome at their dinner party. And then... Cinderella's Step-Mother and Step-Sisters came to visit. They all seemed to eye the gnomes with discontent and suspicion. For awhile anyway...
As the evening progressed, a waltz came on and everyone in the restaurant directed our attention to the center of our four tables to watch Cinderella and the Prince dance for us all. While C held up Mickey to take a picture of him with Cinderella and the Prince in the background, the Prince picked up Mickey and soon, all three waltzed together much to the amusement of our tables. Eventually the Prince returned Mickey to our table. Shortly, Driselda arrived...
Most may know Driselda as "The Pink Stepsister." I will never look upon her the same again. Not one to be upstaged by Cinderella and the Prince, Driselda marched across the room to our table and grabbed Mickey saying "Give him to me!" With that, Driselda, and Mickey, began to Tango back and forth across our room. Oh yes, they did.
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I was peeing my pants laughing. And to top it all off, for their grand finale, Driselda announced that Mickey would now dip her. And... he did. Oh yes, he did!
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When we finally all had enough to eat, we got up to leave. Prince Charming came in and extended an invitation to stay! He told us "You're welcome to stay in these four tables all night if you wish. You make the time go by a lot faster." Awwww. We charmed the prince! He told us that we were a lot of fun to have. I believe him. I mean, really, Princes aren't allowed to lie.
From the Grand Floridian we slowly meandered back to the Magic Kingdom. Groups of thirty plus people don't exactly travel efficiently.
We first herded over to Space Mountain. Space was closed for refurbishment in October and so we missed it on our family trip. Although I am not a fan of coasters, and both the Matterhorn and Space are among my least favorites, I really wanted to see how it was because I had heard so much about it over the years. The Magic Kingdom has no Matterhorn and Orlando's Space Mountain was built before Anaheim's. I have always heard that Orlando's Space is a combination of the two rides - like the Matterhorn but dark and indoors like Space.
As we boarded the ride I saw instantly how strange the Space cars were. The sides seemed low. The restraint is a t-bar. We sat single file front to back.
But next we entered the coaster room and what did I notice?
The silence.
Space Mountain in Anaheim has had a soundtrack for several years. Space in Orlando... does not.
All we could hear was the cars on the tracks and some screams from guests, including ourselves, naturally. But it was very very strange and almost eerie. Space with music is much, much, much better.
When I reported back to Doc that I rode Space he asked if he missed anything in October. I replied "Nope." It was like Matterhorn but indoors, in the dark and quiet. I still do not like Matterhorn or Space Mountain but I do appreciate having two separate and unique attractions in Anaheim. In this case? Advantage: Anaheim.
Remember G and his gnoooooome? At this point in our evening G and his Princess parted with our group. There were tears and hugs.
And then we went on Buzz Lightyear.
I'm sorry, Walt Disney World, but once again: Advantage: Anaheim.
First off, I could not pick up my Astro-Blaster. Second, I could not actually hit any targets. I could not seem to get the astroblaster to shoot in rapid succession and I do not know why.
While most of the group headed to Haunted Mansion a smaller portion stood near the Indy Speedway (aka WDW Autopia) to watch fireworks. I turned fuddy duddy. While I would have liked to spend more time with friends, I was getting tired and worried that I would approach crankyness if I stayed. I was fading - Remember, I had been awake since 3:00 in the middle of the night! (Again, at 3:00 it is NOT morning!)
Leaving a park right after the evening fireworks/parade/show/whathaveyou is never a good idea but at least I was alone and not trying to keep up with a group. Some of my park strategies from Anaheim did work in Orlando and I dodged traffic up Main Street. A few CMs noticed my medal and congratulated me, which you know I eat up with a spoon.
As one of the first people to board the bus to Kidani Village I found a seat. My aching legs left me with no guilt about sitting down while others stood. None. But I really do not understand why the sick kid had to sit down right next to me and cough and sniffle all the way back to the hotel. So very very unpleasant. Especially because his entire family sat elsewhere on the bus together and basically dumped him next too me because he was annoying them. Really? What makes you think I want to be sitting near him any more than you do??
Back at the room I turned on the TV and flipped the channels. Oh! That's right! This night was the Oscars. Bummer, I barely missed seeing the John Hughes tribute. I watched while I packed my things as much as I could for the next day and dressed for bed. My roommates returned. I was getting cold so I climbed into bed. I wanted to talk to them. I wanted to ask questions. I wanted to say good-bye to swanie because she would be leaving at 4 am. I wanted to download swanies SD card onto my laptop. I wanted to be social from my nice warm bed...
But I cannot tell you exactly what happened. I remember swanie's alarm going off in the morning. And when I woke up, J said "I didn't know you slept with your glasses on, PerkyMommy?"
Well, yeah, usually, I don't.
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