Grandbabies 8.5 - Nya at Magic Kingdom, more
Don Jennings
Day 5 starts in an altogether different manner, with Nya still being under
the covers when I get out of the shower, saying she wants to sleep in. But
then Grandma pulls the covers back to show that Nya is all dressed and
trying to trick me. Nothing says a good day's coming quite like laughter at
a sputtering Grandpa first thing.
It's cold (60) and damp and overcast as we get out to the Magic Kingdom bus
stop this morning, at the back of a bus and a half worth of people. But it
isn't long before we're heading up Main Street toward Dumbo. I tell Nya to
hop out of the stroller, and to prove that she's a new girl today she
literally hops out and says "I'm still happy, Grandpa!", with a big grin on
her face. We were rooting for you, kid.
Dumbo flies very high this morning, because Nya's at the controls. I hope
the forecast for showers today is wrong, because she's bouncing all over the
place and if we have to put our hoods up, we'll have to go to holding hands
in order to keep track of her.
My shirt today is nothing special, red with a wide black check pattern on
it, but when I come out of the bathroom Nya tells me "That's a handsome
shirt, Grandpa." Aww. She loves Peter Pan, and then would very much like
to check out those squirting fountains in the ground over by Ariel's Grotto.
Getting soaked first thing on a cold morning is not in the plans, so I tell
her she can't, and her reaction almost brings us to the point of our first
time-out. My shirt probably isn't nearly as handsome now. We settle on a
shared blueberry muffin, which seems to do the trick.
When we get off Snow White, there's no line at all so we ask her if she
wants to ride it again. "NO!!!!" She had sought confirmation from Laurie
several times during the ride, "Everything is pretend, right?", but why push
your luck.
We get down around the corner to the speedway cars and she tells us "I told
you yesterday I don't want to drive those cars." Well, you don't have to
drive them by yourself, would you like us to show you how they work? "Sure",
so we walk down to the exit overpass to check them out. She decides that it
looks like a good idea, so the girls go for a ride. She enjoys it, and even
though she has a little trouble steering in the corners, every time Grandma
reaches up to help she gets a "No, I can do it myself!" Then there's a
little bit of a sad voice at the end, saying "Is this the finish line
already?"
It's started to spit a little rain, so we take a short break to get our
ponchos on. Nya's going to sit down on a stone bench, and runs the sleeve
of her poncho across it to get the water off before she sits. I guess it
would be bad to actually sit on a wet bench in your poncho. But she's
talking to herself, giggling, and having a ball. We were going to do Buzz
Lightyear but the line says 30 minutes and looks longer, so we head down to
the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. She gets a big kick out of that, as do we.
We thought the Buzz line would have shrunk a little, but it has actually
grown, so we tour Tomorrowland on the TTA. We never thought much about it,
but when you're four, the TTA is kind of a wild ride. There are some neat
jerks and twists on it.
Yesterday and today, when you got a fast pass for Pooh it was also spitting
out a fast pass for Mickey's Philharmagic, so we're going to make our way
back through Fantasyland and catch the Tea Cups, Pooh, the Opry, and Small
World. We suggest that sequence to Nya and her immediate reply is "I want
to do Splash Mountain". We could, we've already got the ponchos on, but we'll
get there a little later.
Right before lunch yesterday we walked by somewhere that Nya smelled popcorn
and wanted some and we wouldn't let her, so we should probably offer some
this morning. Offer accepted. Laurie and I decide that when we go up to
the Tea Cups I'll lag behind and sneak the stroller to the other end of
Fantasyland, because if she doesn't see it, she doesn't miss it. By the
time I get to the stroller, Nya has Laurie checking out a gift stand by the
Speedway. From what I can see, most of what the stand sells is matchbox
cars, which I don't think she plays with, but if you're a hunter it
apparently doesn't matter what you hunt. Laurie tells her they need to get
going, the line is getting bigger, but she says "I just have one more thing
to look at" and finishes off the entire cart before proceeding. Doesn't ask
to buy anything, just looks at the whole stand.
When we finally make it up to the Tea Cups, the line is only 15 minutes but
it wraps outside the covered area and Nya starts crying. "I'm sorry, it's a
long line." We assure her we're still okay and on the ride itself, we hear
the most popular five words spoken every day on the Tea Cups, "I can spin it
myself." A bonus is that with Nya doing the spinning, we don't get Grandma
too wobbly.
We take some time to run around at Pooh's Playful Spot. She's still drawn
to that water squirting up out of the ground, and we go so far as to let her
pull her sleeves up and stick her hands in the water, but still rule out
getting soaked. Until she happens to run by one just as it goes off one
time, and it was an accident, we swear, we all saw it.
Nya really loves Mickey's Philharmagic. Most of the kids have favored the
part where the gemstones are floating in front of you, but she really likes
the part where Donald is in love with Ariel and has the bubbles that look
like little hearts and then he kisses that electric fish on accident.
We're looking over the lunch menu at the Columbia Harbour House, and Nya has
decided that what she would like for lunch is carrot sticks. We'll see if
maybe we can supplement that with a grape or something. While I'm getting
the food, the girls find a lovely table upstairs overlooking the street
below.
After lunch, the girls shop their way down Main Street while I get fast
passes for Splash. I think I would have had time to get fast passes for
Soarin' because Nya has to check out EV-ER-Y-THING on Main Street, which
makes Main Street pretty darn long, even if you're not buying anything. It
must have been exhausting, because our nap is a full two hours.
We're back in the Magic Kingdom at 6:30, and we know it's been a long day
for the poor woman who trips over a stroller in front of the Crystal Palace
and says "Excuse me" to it. We're using our Splash fast passes now, and
Nya is almost running through the queue. She knows how these lines work now
and knows we're not going to get separated, and wishes we'd move just a
little bit faster. She tells us she won't be nervous this time because she
knows what it is. That's the way it is with all the rides, and at any age.
It turns out in this case to be almost true. But we are smarter this time,
with our ponchos on ahead of time.
It's a quarter after seven and we're waiting for the Country Bear Jamboree
to start when we get to our first "I want my mommy" of the day. There aren't
any tears that go with it today, just acknowledging that she misses her. We've
talked to Mommy on the phone, and can tell that the feeling is mutual. Nya
climbs up into my lap to get a better view and enjoys all of the show,
especially Liver Lips for some reason.
For someone who is so into dolls, we thought she'd be really excited by It's
A Small World, but it was merely "interesting". We're taking the long way
back out of Fantasyland because they have the Castle roped off. We ask if
she wants to see the parade, and she doesn't care if we do or not, "I just
don't want to miss the fireworks." Noted. The girls end up watching the
parade from the end of Tomorrowland Avenue, then we have dinner at Casey's
before wandering into the street so Nya can see the fireworks from my
shoulders at the end of Main Street. Wishes used to be Laurie's favorite
fireworks, but now it just reminds her that one of her wishes can't come
true, the big one about being able to give Nya's daddy a big hug again.
They have two Pop Century buses waiting for us when we leave, and Nya is
excited that she found the very last seat, in her favorite spot in the back
row. Laurie's back with her and I'm up front and when we get back to the
resort, by the time I have the stroller out the girls are long gone - it
seems Nya immediately ran into the store, imagine that! The last thing she's
looking at before we talk her out of the building is a High School Musical
play set. It's going to be nine years before she's in high school, but hey,
there's no sense in not being ready.
It's 10:00 now, and Nya's putting her dirty clothes in the hamper. She has
her own hamper (a mesh laundry bag), which makes things much easier when we
get ready to take her home. We're trying to get right to bed and to sleep,
because we have breakfast with the princesses in Epcot tomorrow. Laurie's
on line trying to figure out what stores might have an Ariel doll with a
tail. All the stores have the one with feet, but Nya has assured us that
she saw someone with a finned Ariel. She wouldn't make something that
important up.
Lisa Cubbon
on Day 7.
Thanks Don and Laurie. Lisa
Rudeney
>
> Day 5 starts in an altogether different manner, with Nya still being
> under the covers when I get out of the shower, saying she wants to sleep
> in. But then Grandma pulls the covers back to show that Nya is all
> dressed and trying to trick me. Nothing says a good day's coming quite
> like laughter at a sputtering Grandpa first thing.
LOL!
> My shirt today is nothing special, red with a wide black check pattern
> on it, but when I come out of the bathroom Nya tells me "That's a
> handsome shirt, Grandpa." Aww.
Awww!
> She loves Peter Pan, and then would
> very much like to check out those squirting fountains in the ground over
> by Ariel's Grotto. Getting soaked first thing on a cold morning is not
> in the plans, so I tell her she can't, and her reaction almost brings us
> to the point of our first time-out. My shirt probably isn't nearly as
> handsome now. We settle on a shared blueberry muffin, which seems to do
> the trick.
Hmm, blueberry muffin, or play in the fountains...play in the fountains,
or blueberry muffin...Muffin wins! :-)
> When we finally make it up to the Tea Cups, the line is only 15 minutes
> but it wraps outside the covered area and Nya starts crying. "I'm
> sorry, it's a long line." We assure her we're still okay and on the
> ride itself, we hear the most popular five words spoken every day on the
> Tea Cups, "I can spin it myself." A bonus is that with Nya doing the
> spinning, we don't get Grandma too wobbly.
Well, for Katie, that worked for about ten seconds, and them I had to do
all the spinning and it was never, ever fast enough!
> We're looking over the lunch menu at the Columbia Harbour House, and Nya
> has decided that what she would like for lunch is carrot sticks. We'll
> see if maybe we can supplement that with a grape or something.
Well, at least it's better than a steady diet of chicken nuggets and fries.
> While
> I'm getting the food, the girls find a lovely table upstairs overlooking
> the street below.
Uh-oh! Seat saver alert! ;-)
> Wishes used
> to be Laurie's favorite fireworks, but now it just reminds her that one
> of her wishes can't come true, the big one about being able to give
> Nya's daddy a big hug again.
:-(
> It's 10:00 now, and Nya's putting her dirty clothes in the hamper. She
> has her own hamper (a mesh laundry bag), which makes things much easier
> when we get ready to take her home. We're trying to get right to bed
> and to sleep, because we have breakfast with the princesses in Epcot
> tomorrow. Laurie's on line trying to figure out what stores might have
> an Ariel doll with a tail. All the stores have the one with feet, but
> Nya has assured us that she saw someone with a finned Ariel. She
> wouldn't make something that important up.
You know, I am also quite certain that I have seen an Ariel doll in
mermaid form, too.
--
- RODNEY
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