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Delswife Trip Reports!
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LY/MI

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and

and Muscular Dystrophy Association.
 

 

 

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Trip Reports at the Lodge

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2004, 2005 Robin Costello. All rights reserved.

Chapter 3, Day1
A stroll down memory lane, 12/8



The crew and I drove from Downtown Disney to the TTC to catch the monorail. When we got on the monorail, it was completely empty. Em wouldn’t give Chris a minute’s rest, she kept climbing all over him, so he chose to stand. Em got up and stood next to him.

Love ya, mean it, the kid missed you like crazy.

Before our trip, I found out that ‘It’s a small world’ would be closed for renovation. I was disappointed because traditionally, it is the first ride I have always gone on when we arrived in the Magic Kingdom.

This tradition started back in the 70’s by my father.

Sitting on the monorail that day as we rode ‘the highway in the sky’, my mind drifted back to the days when my dad would bring Brother and me. We always stayed in Fort Wilderness and usually with a lot of other people, my other brothers and their families, my uncle and cousins, and so on. We always used the boat as transportation because back then, the Magic Kingdom was the only park in Disney.

One time when we first arrived at Disney, as a special treat, my dad took Brother and me to the TTC and we got to ride the monorail. In that foggy memory, the only thing that I distinctly remember was my fathers having his arm around me, leaning my head on my dads chest and hearing him make a small gasp sound when we rounded the corner and saw the castle for the first time.

As a child I believed it was because the castle was so beautiful.

As an adult I know it was because he was so happy to be there with us.

I heard myself make the same gasp sound.

Love ya, miss ya Dad. Thanks for the memories. I still cherish them.

*sigh*

The monorail pulled into the Magic Kingdom and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. Bea and Del needed to go thru the bag check with the camera bags, so Chris, who still had Em hanging off one arm, and I stood on the other side and waited.

It was completely and totally uneventful. I did that joke already.

Don’t give up on me though.

I quietly passed out our AP’s to the crew once Bea and Del had finished their inspection.

No, I didn’t. Did you believe that?

I held them up in the air and announced “Here’s your AP Bea, here’s your AP Em.” So others around would also know they were in the presence of real life AP holders.

Hey, I don’t have a lot going on in my life, okay? I head-butted dogs, got robbed, broke down, and nearly froze to death for those tickets and I am pretty proud of them.

Remember?

(Editors note these back stories are currently on the Lodgeboards.com  see the Lodge TOS for registration and posting requirements.)

We went thru the turnstiles one at a time and I got another small thrill from having to put my fingers in the machine. (Please, the jokes are too easy with this sentence.) Chris, Em and Bea waited patiently on the other side while I went back for Del, who was squeezing the hell out of the ticket machine with his fingers.

If I didn't stop him, I was afraid he’d pop something in his skull from squeezing the machine so hard. I showed the ticket lady his ID and he was allowed access to the Magic Kingdom.

Yes, I had Del’s drivers’ license. He had a Richard Petty Driving Experience to do later in the week and I wasn’t taking any chances. Normally I find Dels’ license in his wallet at the bottom of the washing machine. I think that’s where he keeps it.

We walked onto Main Street and were greeted by the largest Christmas tree I had ever seen in my entire life.

Oh Good God. I really hoped that one was held up by more than a tripod.

http://www.delswife.com/tree.html

I stopped short when I saw the tree and Bea nearly walked up my back. “Mom!” She reprimanded me as she walked into my back.

The sounds, the smells of Main Street all hit me at the same time. I couldn’t stop tears from filling my eyes.

I also had very little sleep and it started to catch up with me.

The crew and I stopped and ‘Ooh-ed & Awe-ed’ over the tree for a few minutes then continued our journey down Main Street. We planned on taking a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean and calling to see if our room was ready.

We were stopped by a park photographer who took 2 of the worst pictures I had ever seen of myself in my life. I looked like someone who had worked in an ice storm 24 hours before and traveled the east coast immediately after.

This, and open-mouth staring are not my best looks.

I had the crew stop so I could take a picture of where we had been so far.



I took the picture and the kids immediately started marching their way back up Main Street leaving Del standing there by himself for a second.

“Hey! How do you know she took the picture already?” He asked them as they walked away.

Chris, who had plenty of sleep because he only had to travel from South Carolina, decided that it would be a good time to start messing with Del.

“We saw the shutter close.” He said very matter-of-factly.

Bea giggled.

“What are all these people doing sitting on the sidewalk?” He asked me.

“They heard AP holders were coming. That wanted to see them.” I told him.

Hey, where do you think Chris gets it from?

Del started walking, trying to keep a picture of his backside off the internet by doing this:



Had thought over what Chris had said about seeing the shutter on the camera close.

“Wait a minute; you didn't see the shutter close from that far away.” He turned and told me to take a picture so he could see.

Hey, you want to stop Em? She is on a dead march without us.



“Do it again.” He said.



Could you use a nap, honey? Of course they didn't see the shutter close; they saw me put the camera down.

We made it as far as the ‘Swiss Family Robinsons’ tree house and the crew wanted to stop and go thru it. I sat on a bench and tried to call to see if our rooms were ready. I dialed the wrong number, closed the phone to redial and it rang.

“Are you guys here yet? Did you cry when you saw Chris?” Laura (Suite Disney) asked from the other end.

Laura and I had met before, she knew I cried. I almost started crying again thinking about it. I might cry now.

I chatted with Laura for a few minutes before the crew arrived and got so loud that I couldn’t hear her anymore. We exchanged our ‘Love ya, mean its, see you at the party tonight’ and hung up. I re-dialed the wrong number before getting on Pirates.

When we got off Pirates, I dialed the correct number and found out much to my delight that our rooms were, in fact, ready for our arrival.

I just wanted to lie down for a few minutes. Just a little rest and I would be in much better shape. The crew was in full agreement.

Now, where is the van?


Love Ya / Mean It and BadShoe.com Pins

Tony, Delaney, Connor - Love Ya / Mean It

Robin & Del, Kimball & Bennet (aka Delswife & Scuba Steve, Zurgswife & Zurg) are proud to announce two unique limited edition trading pins to benefit research to help find cures for Juvenile Diabetes and Muscular Dystrophy.

We love going to Disney World and writing funny trip reports, after all it is how we became friends.  We care just as much or more about helping these two great causes. All the profits from pin sales will go to JDRF and MDA because, well, Robin thought it would be a fun idea.

So if you enjoy the trip reports please chip in and buy a pin or two. Pins are $10.00 each including shipping and handling (North America.) Send an email to pins@badshoe.com with how many pins you would like and we will get the pins rolling. The BadShoe.com pins have sold out. Existing orders are being filled but we can't take anymore BadShoe.com pin orders, sorry. There still Love Ya /  Mean it Pins (there were more to start.) 

If you feel inspired click either MDA or JDRF's logo or both and make additional contributions.