[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by quakercub

The smell of the popcorn drew us to the snack cart that was next to our bench, so we got a bucket of that and a Mickey ice cream sandwich and waited for them to be done.

That popcorn smell gets me everytime! I CANNOT resist popcorn!

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by quakercub

After a few minutes, mother showed up and said that daughter was in line for Peter Pan's Flight! Did not occur to either of them to ask if we wanted to go on it apparently (which we would have, btw; it's a favorite)!

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!! I would have been upset too David-squared, that would have made me sad! Peter Pan is the best attraction in Fantasyland!

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by quakercub

DaddyBear and I decided to get on IASMW mostly for the air conditioning. We asked mother to join us and she said, no that she was looking for her daughter in line. She was somewhat irritable at this point, but in that sun I suspected that many people were, so I didn't think anything of it. We got on IASMW and enjoyed it, especially the nice, gentle breeze.

I'm thinkin' maybe she SHOULD have went on IASW, maybe the dolls would have mesmerized her not to be so cranky!! Who could be cranky after hearing "There is just one moon and one golden sun And a smile means friendship to everyone."

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by chastmastr

Well, since Cubby hasn't posted, and I'm semi-insomniac at 3:30 AM, here is more...

The night of the beach we went to Macaroni Grill, which was pretty good, as always. No specific conflicts then off the top of my head...

And now, zero hour. No, no, not that Zero Hour, I mean the Monday MK trip.

We woke up... sometime, I no longer recall when. But we were delayed by a couple of things, neither of which have to do with the obnoxious houseguest.

Our lawn people showed up shortly before we were going to go, and their riding mower needed a jumpstart (what would they have done had we not been there? Well, I'd assume they'd use their truck but maybe they didn't have cables?) and then, en route to MK, when we were almost there --

-- we got an increasingly flat tire.

I got the car raised off the ground with the jack in the trunk, but none of us could get the ... lug nuts? I think that's what they're called * -- off the tire. Happily a passer-by at the gas station (when I realized what was happening I headed to the nearest exit rather than get stuck on I-4) got it done the rest of the way.

So, we made it at last to MK, which was open till midnight unexpectedly (allearsnet had said 11), yay hurrah, all was finally going more or less well, still bits of tension re the mother's attitude but nothing really awful (Cubby was realizing his old friend was not too gracious and we were worrying about whether they'd enjoy Disney or not, I think, but the daughter seemed to be, at least). We got on the monorail from the TTC and went to MK.

They didn't seem too ooh-and-ahh about the monorail, as Seattle has one (oh well), but we got to MK all right. Alas, no scooters for me in stock as it was so late, but I had the handy-cane and Cubby had his own scooter. We almost headed right down Main Street toward the castle -- except both visitors wanted to go right into the gift shops. They shopped a little as we inched castle-ward. Again, no oohs and aahs, but again, this was not the Big Conflict, just a little bit of a let-down. Cubby and I were hungry at that point and we all wound up at Casey's Corner where he and I and the daughter ate. The mother did not. This is plot material for later. Remember it. It was a hot but beautiful day.

Honestly, the best thing to come out of this particular trip was how, after our less-happy visit on our own earlier in the month, when we'd worried we were jaded (but mainly it was our health issues, and we are working on those -- just got health-food-store cereal tonight, in fact...), we saw all manner of wonderful, beautiful things at Disney, and were maddeningly baffled that we couldn't get them (especially the mother; the 15-year-old daughter is, well, at the age and of a personality type (she's more Goth than pink, if you see what I mean, which is fine) where she doesn't want to show the kind of vulnerability that oohing and ahhing at Disneyesque stuff requires. She still liked a lot of it, though) to just -- see it! If you see what I mean. I'd think the first glimpse of the castle in a Disney park ever would rate some kind of "wow"... but Cubby and I are always enthused by the egrets and ibises and the cute little ducks and so on, not just all the man-made stuff -- and again I couldn't understand how that wouldn't make them go "wow" either... so our own sense of wonder is, happily, intact, if only reawakened by sharp relief against perceived cynicism.

David
* fulfilling non-mechanically inclined stereotypes since 1997

Sorry about the flat tire & having to jumpstart the lawn service mover before you left. That definately puts a wrench in getting to the MK as fast as possible. I think the first sign of foreboding atmosphere for me would have been their complete lack of enthusiasm over the monorail and GASP... the castle. Daniel isn't an overly enthusiastic person either but he STILL (after 27 years of visiting WDW) can find wonderment in both of those things. They seemed kinda blasé about the whole thing from the get-go. You guys are TROPPERS 'cause I would have been inclined to suggest a 'pair off,' let them go be cranky & do what they want. I can't wait to hear the rest!!

[Daisee]

OOOHHH.. please come back and tell us more.. don't keep us hanging..

[quakercub]

So, I believe we last were heading for Cosmic Ray's and the fireworks were beginning. Up around the castle was crowded for the show of course and we were explaining to mother and daughter that getting through the crowd with the lights off would be next to impossible and that it would be better to wait until after the fireworks. DaddyBear talked about how great "Wishes" was, and Mother said in an angry tone, "Do you want to see the fireworks, David? Well, DaddyBear said that yes, it was something we all should see. Mother began yelling about she needed to eat and that there were other places to go (other places had stopped serving by then, in fact). I just said "Work it out amongst yourselves" and wheeled off in disgust. This was the cue for mother to take daughter by the arm and walk off in a huff. We watched the fireworks by ourselves and then tried to find them. Mother and daughter came up with mother fuming. DaddyBear asked if anything was wrong. She replied, "Yes, I haven't eaten in 12 (expletive deleted) hours!!!! She said this at the top of her lungs then proceeded to cry and scream some more. DaddyBear said, "That's no excuse for acting like a.." He stopped himself before saying the epithet he was thinking, Thank God. I was at the end of my own rope by then and yelled, "That's it, I'm done!!!"

By now, I have to confess that none of us except daughter were acting in anything resembling a mature manner. She tried to make peace between the warring parties as best she could. Mother headed toward Tomorrow Land and we followed more slowly. Daughter began to run ahead to find her mother. More later.

[dznylvr]

This is just a crazy story. That poor daughter- at least you guys can get away from the evil mother. She has to live with her!
I can't wait to read the next installment!

[mickeysgirlz]

Wow it's getting really bad now! You poor things . . . I went with a super cranky pants to WDW one time . . . and it made it horrible! I dreaded the next day . . . but had to endure . . . and the end he was like "What do you see in that place, blah, blah, blah!" After that I swore to only go with people who feel the magic like I do!

So sorry you had to go through this . . . but I can't wait to hear the end. I would have been ready to tell her to walk home!

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by quakercub

So, I believe we last were heading for Cosmic Ray's and the fireworks were beginning. Up around the castle was crowded for the show of course and we were explaining to mother and daughter that getting through the crowd with the lights off would be next to impossible and that it would be better to wait until after the fireworks. DaddyBear talked about how great "Wishes" was, and Mother said in an angry tone, "Do you want to see the fireworks, David? Well, DaddyBear said that yes, it was something we all should see. Mother began yelling about she needed to eat and that there were other places to go (other places had stopped serving by then, in fact). I just said "Work it out amongst yourselves" and wheeled off in disgust. This was the cue for mother to take daughter by the arm and walk off in a huff. We watched the fireworks by ourselves and then tried to find them. Mother and daughter came up with mother fuming. DaddyBear asked if anything was wrong. She replied, "Yes, I haven't eaten in 12 (expletive deleted) hours!!!! She said this at the top of her lungs then proceeded to cry and scream some more. DaddyBear said, "That's no excuse for acting like a.." He stopped himself before saying the epithet he was thinking, Thank God. I was at the end of my own rope by then and yelled, "That's it, I'm done!!!"

By now, I have to confess that none of us except daughter were acting in anything resembling a mature manner. She tried to make peace between the warring parties as best she could. Mother headed toward Tomorrow Land and we followed more slowly. Daughter began to run ahead to find her mother. More later.

Heat, hunger, cranky visitors... sounds like an unfortunate cocktail for a blow out. I still feel bad you had to endure all this, especially since your last visit to WDW wasn't the most stellar either. I hope this story gets better in the end!

[quakercub]

Well, we headed toward Cosmic Ray's. When we got to Tomorrow Land we ran into mother again. She asked us if we'd seen her daughter. I told her that the daughter had left us to go look for her. At that moment, daughter showed up and mother and daughter fell into each others arms crying. Mother apologized for losing her temper. She then said that she was eating and if we wanted to join her we were welcome. We went to Cosmic Ray's and got a seat near Sonny Eclipse. Mother and daughter were ordering their food. DaddyBear did not want to eat anything, but I had to in order to feed my insulin shot. So, I got some chicken nuggets and fries. Mother and daughter came back to the table with their order and we began eating. I put my hand on mother's shoulder, trying to heal some, but she wouldn't allow that. So I ate. They ate. DaddyBear didn't. We sat in absolute silence, none of us looking at each other. A very difficult meal.

Finally, DaddyBear went off to use the facilities. Mother sat and cried for a bit, then went outside to have a cigarette. Daughter and I sat at the table waiting for DaddyBear to return. Mother came back in, raging about something. I don't know exactly what she said because the noise drowned her out. She then after giving me a genuinely insane look, went out again.

DaddyBear got back and we (DaddyBear, daughter and I) were sitting at the table discussing what to do next. Daughter suggested that we head for the car and separate for a bit to cool down. This seemed like a good idea. At that moment, mother came back in and began railing against us for getting her daughter involved in this situation. I told her that we were not responsible for that and that daughter had put herself in the role of peacemaker. Anyway, mother stormed out and daughter followed her, repeating her idea about giving everybody some space. We started back toward the car and got back onto Main Street. DaddyBear needed to stop and sit on a bench (poor baby, he was using a Handicane the entire day because they didn't have a scooter available to rent). We sat in silence for a bit (mother and daughter were sitting on a bench some distance away) and I started to think about all we'd done to prepare for the visit and how much we'd been looking forward to it. Finally, it got to me and I started to cry. DaddyBear comforted me for a moment, then, before I could stop him, stomped over to their bench and said, "YOU MADE MY BOY CRY!!!!!!!" Mother screamed that she'd cried for two hours to which DaddyBear replied that he did not care about her at that point only about me. Well, everything got crazy again. Daughter suggested that she and mother go up near the exit of the park and that we hang for a bit and when we had calmed down to give her a call on her cell phone. After some time went by, DaddyBear called daughter and suggested that we agree to forgive each other, clean slate and remember that we all had issues and were getting our buttons pushed. They agreed and, when we met up with them further up Main Street, mother put her arm around me and smiled. I decided to smile back and soon we were talking normally again. We took the monorail back to the car and headed to the hotel where we separated and slept. This was our MK day.

[mickeysgirlz]

wowee, you poor things! I'm so proud you took the upper hand and said lets start with a clean slate . . . you poor things. You'll laugh about it someday, but to live it must have been horrible.

Hope "tomorrow" is a better day!

[gabes_mommy]

What a challenging visit. I'm so sorry things did not turn out how you both planned.

[dixie]

OH Cubby I am so sorry it made you so sad, and I am so pleased that David went and remonstrated with the mother. Behaviour like hers is not acceptable and she needed to be told ...you cannot treat people like that and think that its ok -its not.
Its horrid when you have tried so hard to make someones stay enjoyable and they are determined to be so difficult- and I know that you must have just about had enough if the situation made you so upset.
But I am keen to hear how this situation draws to a close and whether the relationship/friendship survived.

[chastmastr]

*pokes cub to finish TR*

[chastmastr]

*pestering cub in RL to finish TR*