Day 4: Hurricane warning!

Today was another cold one. We had a high of 66 and a low of 42. Yeah, that's cold weather to be out in all day, then add in the wind. Today we were headed to Epcot. We had another full day planned even though we got to bed around 2am. We left the room at about 9:30 am. The bus ride was the usual... we stood. The frustrating part of today, no wait, the FIRST OF MANY, frustrating parts of today was we waited for our bus, only to have some people refuse to move all the way to the back of the bus. We so could have fit on the bus but noooooo. So we had to wait in the cold for another bus to arrive. It took seven minutes. I was counting. Seven minutes? That was nothing. Yeah, but it was seven minutes I shouldn't of had to stand in the freezing cold due to some people that were pretty selfish if I must say so. We finally made it to Epcot. We took some nice pictures and the headed to Morocco for an early lunch since we had an early buffet dinner at 4:05 pm. Edit: We were SUPPOSED to eat at 4:05pm- more on that later.  Wow! Um...Yeah!  LUNCH WAS GREAT!!!  This was a day where not even feeding times could bring a smile to grumpy's face.  No song that Snow White sing would whipe the overclast clougs away...there was no "give a little whistle."  But really, lunch was great.  

What Dyanna is trying to graciously say is Hurricane Lisa was hitting the World Showcase and it was quickly becoming a category five! After our great lunch it began to go down hill rapidly. We went and visited the other Santas that we missed and then it was finally time for dinner... or so I though. Now, let me start this little (HUGE) rant with an explanation. I am a very forgiving person. It takes a lot to make me mad or allow people/events to reck my day. It takes even more for me to follow through with a complaint... in writing- especially in Disney World. This was epic and really you won't ever fully grasp the magnitude of "the day the music died." Yes, Dyanna went without singing this whole entire day. (there was no air time open from the rant mobile) It all started with our 4:05 dinner at Germany. Tonight we were going to a special Christmas show at Epcot called the Candlelight Processional. The only way to guarantee seeing it is to buy the outrageously over-priced "dinner package". You basically pick one of their restaurants and then at the end of the meal, they give you passes to get to the reserved seating area. They book your dinner depending on which of the three shows you're going to see. We had the 6:45 pm show. We needed to be at the line by 5:30 pm the latest (even with guaranteed seating) to have a decent seat. SO we go to check in at Germany right at 4:05 pm. We wait on line for 15 minutes just to tell the hostess that we are there. This can't be good. We finally get up to the girl and tell her our name. She proceeds to tell us that they're so overbooked that they have run out of the pagers so we'll have to stay in the general area AND it will be at least a 30 minute wait. Uuuhhhh. I should have walked away then. Biggest regret of the trip so far. So Dy and I find a corner to sit on the cold concrete for more hemorrhoid time. We finally get situated and get comfortable, as comfortable as you can on cold concrete, and someone comes along and asks us to move so they can park their scooter. Oook. So we move over to another corner. We're there for about 5 minutes before we realize that we now cannot hear the hostess call the names. So we get up and stand for the rest of the time waiting for our table to be ready. We wait just over 30 minutes and they call our name. At the German restaurant you're sat with strangers. Great! So we sit down and wait about 5 minutes for our waiter to show up. He takes our drink orders, we introduce ourselves to our table (so me right??) and we finally head to the buffet area to get our food. THIRTY MINUTES LATER!!!! Yes, we stood on line in the restaurant just to get our food for another 30 minutes. It took us just over an hour to get from the hostess podium to eating our dinner AT A BUFFET! So now I'm fuming. We get back to the table, I get back there first, and my lovely, wonderful, "friend" Dyanna, that I just love oh so much (its never good when I require that kind of introduction) decided that it would be a good idea to tell our waiter it was my Birthday!!!!!!!!!! Not her best decision. She meant well though. So I get back to the table first & there's a birthday card. So I read the card and thanked the waiter. The waiter then tells me that he told the German band that plays for the restaurant that it was my Birthday. Oh, my gosh. So Dy gets back to the table and at that moment it probably would have been safer for her to not return to the table. So I inform her of the latest news & she's dying because she knows how I make stage fright look like a fun day in the park. So the band takes a break. THANK YOU GOD Because truly if I knew that they would do that I never in a million years would have told anyone! Now we can hear our table mates. Somehow (I'm still slightly confused about how it happened) Dyanna and our closest table mates are trying to fix me up with their son who is a Youth Pastor in school to become a Senior Pastor.  No harm in taking applications. At this point I think I started to develop a twitch. So we finally finish eating & I'm delighted with the news that my "future husband" is a Phillies fan. The first & only rush of relief comes over me 'cause everyone at the table knows that a Met fan & Phillies fan could never make it. So I now was having fun pushing that it was "all Dyanna now".  What is it with me and guys this week?  So now I'm trying my hardest to get out of there before the band comes back out to humiliate me. I mean they play poka & have a dance floor- this can't be good. The waiter is taking forever PURPOSEFULLY. He finally comes over with the check and then tells me that they are about to come out & he told them where I was sitting.  I offered to switch seats out of fear of what they were going to do to her.   By the time she understood what I was saying it was too late. I am now contemplating hiding under the table or just making a run for it.  I kept telling her, "Go to the bathroom.  Go to the bathroom."  She was stuck! The band comes out & all they end up doing is calling my name, pointing & saying "Happy Birthday" in German, followed by singing "Happy Birthday" in German. One hurtal down... now I realize that it's 5:50 pm. The doors open at 6:30 pm and we needed to be there by 5:30pm. So Dyanna & I run to America where the theater was. We go to get on line. We start walking to the end of the line. We keep walking... and walking... and walking. Next thing you know we finally make it to the end of the line. WE WERE IN JAPAN!!! About to enter Morocco. At this point it looks as though we're not even going to get a seat & we paid extra to get them. Now I'm like a lunatic. No comment.  Then we're stuck in line right next to the smoking area of the park. So now I'm nearly hyperventilating from anger trying to take deep breaths only to inhale cigarette smoke. Not a pretty situation.   We're standing there & we're watching people start cutting the line. So the man behind me starts on a rant about how this would never happen if we were allowed to carry guns. It didn't take me much prompting to join in on his conversation. I told him I'd be his back up. And I said we might want to teach you how to shoot first. Can we say scary thought....Lisa with a gun with smoke coming out of her ears ready to write "a letter." They finally start the line moving and we end up getting the 7th row from the back BUT we did get an aisle seat. The man next to us leans over and tells me, "You know I hear that seat is the best seat in the house." I tell him, "You just made my day." So Dy goes on to tell him how I wasn't having a good day. He laughed and said, "You can't have a bad day, you're in Disney World." Which I replied, "You'd think, but I'm very uptight." He busted out laughing, said he was uptight too & then never talked to me again. I think I scared him or something.  Who wouldn't be. The candle light processional is a beautiful celebration.  As Lisa said, its the most spiritual production in Disney.  There were multiple choirs coming together to sing about Jesus - the real reason we celebrate.  The orchestra came together - violins, cellos, trumpets, drums, cymbals... all coming together to point to the reason for the season.  Then Corbon Bernson - Reading the Christmas story - straight out of the Bible.  All light by candle light.  What a breathtaking sight to behold! Except Dy did feel that they didn't say "Jesus" enough. See I'm not the only one who was whining that day. We're at Disney World, a completely secular theme park, they're reading from the Bible & that's not good enough... 'cause they ONLY said "Jesus" about 3 times. The rest of the time it was "the babe", "the Christ Child", etc.    Taking it all in.  What awe inspiring moments to bring us back to what is really important!  Jesus - who He is and that we are His.  In Corbon's words "God bless us...all." "Ok Tiny Tim." From there we parked it on the bridge to watch illuminations - Epcot's fireworks and light show.   Well, after a little break for FOOD!  Funnel cake and popcorn...we needed some help getting warmed up during the wait.  We each literally walked half way around the world for our savory treats while the other saved our spots.  The show starts.  The three story high globe lights up with all different pictures of the world and the beautiful people God has placed on it.  There was pyrotechnics (in which we were so thankful for because they were warming us up) and water fountain fun.  Then on to extra magic hours - in which we rode space mountain (Spaceship Earth) again without a wait and went back to the hotel about 15 min after extra magic hours begin. Tonight was our coldest night. Imagine sitting by the water, on concrete for about 2 hours in 45 degree temps. It was cold. There wasn't a breeze so it wasn't terrible but then it was as if they turned on the AC or something. It was intense! It was a great though... HA! Once I got in bed, was warm & thought happy thoughts. In all seriousness we still had a great time. We always do.  I had my moments, we always do, but I will say I even handled the moments with laughter... for the most part. 

Pics on the site... link on right.