(This concludes the mini-series on my adventures as a chaperone for our local high school marching band's trip to Disney World)
ADD is a real diagnosis
One of the boys in my group had some issues. The same kid who brought the giant chocolate bunny/Hannah Montana DVD was on Adderol. For a very good reason. In the span of six days, the poor boy lost his park pass and one of his meal vouchers. Every morning, I had to remind him to go to the nurse's room to get his meds. It usually took him three or four reminders until I got confirmation that he indeed had made it to her room. Many times, I had to phone his brother to find him, because he either didn't have his phone with him, it was turned off, or his phone was just MIA. Gah!
Flying has suddenly become a much safer alternative to me
The same bus driver who drove us to Hollywood Studios on Friday at 9 a.m. was the same bus driver who picked us up at 6:00 p.m. and drove us for the next nine hours towards home. Wouldn't waking up by 8 a.m. disqualify someone from driving until 3 a.m.? We had not had a great experience with this woman on the second leg of our trip to Florida, so there was little chance I was going to be catching any zzzz's on the way home. I had visions of awaking in a ditch, with luggage on top of my bleeding body. Luckily, one of the Dad's took it upon himself to sit on the floor up front and make small talk with our lady driver from about midnight until her shift ended. I dozed on and off, picking up tidbits of their fascinating conversation. Let me tell you, that Dad was my hero. I don't know how he did it. Once we got our new driver somewhere in South Carolina, I was able to rest more peacefully and didn't awaken until I saw the sign for Charlotte, N. C. around 5:30 a.m. or so. And yes, I waved to you, Russ!
There might be a valid reason that West Virginians are sterotyped as obese
Two words: Ryan's Buffet. We were treated to this delightful dining experience later that morning in Beckley, W.Va. I won't be rushing back. After an excruciating long line behind 300 kids and one cashier (not kidding), I paid my $4.99 for the breakfast buffet and entered the dining room. My first clue that something was off was when I saw kids in my group eating ice cream cones. Ok, it was around 10 a.m. and maybe this is normal fare for some, but I found it rather odd. I walked up to the buffet line and all I could see were mounds of bacon, sausage, gravies, dry biscuits and what appeared to be powdered scrambled eggs. I was desperate for some fruit, but the only thing in that category was applesauce and some tired looking canned pineapple. I was a bit grossed out by the nacho cheese sauce for the scrambled eggs, hush puppies (for breakfast) and the 'homemade' pop tarts. There was a dessert station loaded up with cakes, pies and sugar cookies. At this point, I would have been thrilled to see a plain, white bagel, but no such luck. Even at $4.99, I didn't get my money's worth.
What happens at Disney doesn't necessarily stay at Disney
In case you've forgotten, the purpose of this trip was for my son's high school marching band to be the forerunner to the Magic Kingdom's Spectromagic Parade. It was the highlight of the trip for my son. I guess it's an honor for a band to be chosen and my son and his fellow band members were probably in awe of the crowd of 50,000 gathered to watch them perform (well, probably not them, but the parade as a whole). We corralled the 300 students near some french fry stand and Disney personnel arrived and escorted them 'backstage.' Backstage Disney is quite a secretive operation. Only three chaperones, plus the band directors, were permitted to accompany the kids to help them with their uniforms, instruments, etc. Cameras are strictly forbidden. My son said they were ushered behind some fence, walked a ways and he had no idea where they were in the park, but they were still outside and the buses pulled up and they got on and changed into their marching attire. But it was the Disney parade characters that stole the show for my son. He was a bit shocked to see that Minnie Mouse was an old man who smoked like a chimney. Cinderella's Fairy Godmother was another old geezer and the Seven Dwarves cursed like sailors. This was pure entertainment for a 15 year old boy and he couldn't wait to come home and tell all his friends.
After sitting on a curb for two hours so that I could get a good view, the band finally marched by. Honestly, it looked like they were running to me, it all happened so fast. But it was certainly something I'll never forget and chances are, I may do it again if I get the chance in two years.
ADD is a real diagnosis
One of the boys in my group had some issues. The same kid who brought the giant chocolate bunny/Hannah Montana DVD was on Adderol. For a very good reason. In the span of six days, the poor boy lost his park pass and one of his meal vouchers. Every morning, I had to remind him to go to the nurse's room to get his meds. It usually took him three or four reminders until I got confirmation that he indeed had made it to her room. Many times, I had to phone his brother to find him, because he either didn't have his phone with him, it was turned off, or his phone was just MIA. Gah!
Flying has suddenly become a much safer alternative to me
The same bus driver who drove us to Hollywood Studios on Friday at 9 a.m. was the same bus driver who picked us up at 6:00 p.m. and drove us for the next nine hours towards home. Wouldn't waking up by 8 a.m. disqualify someone from driving until 3 a.m.? We had not had a great experience with this woman on the second leg of our trip to Florida, so there was little chance I was going to be catching any zzzz's on the way home. I had visions of awaking in a ditch, with luggage on top of my bleeding body. Luckily, one of the Dad's took it upon himself to sit on the floor up front and make small talk with our lady driver from about midnight until her shift ended. I dozed on and off, picking up tidbits of their fascinating conversation. Let me tell you, that Dad was my hero. I don't know how he did it. Once we got our new driver somewhere in South Carolina, I was able to rest more peacefully and didn't awaken until I saw the sign for Charlotte, N. C. around 5:30 a.m. or so. And yes, I waved to you, Russ!
There might be a valid reason that West Virginians are sterotyped as obese
Two words: Ryan's Buffet. We were treated to this delightful dining experience later that morning in Beckley, W.Va. I won't be rushing back. After an excruciating long line behind 300 kids and one cashier (not kidding), I paid my $4.99 for the breakfast buffet and entered the dining room. My first clue that something was off was when I saw kids in my group eating ice cream cones. Ok, it was around 10 a.m. and maybe this is normal fare for some, but I found it rather odd. I walked up to the buffet line and all I could see were mounds of bacon, sausage, gravies, dry biscuits and what appeared to be powdered scrambled eggs. I was desperate for some fruit, but the only thing in that category was applesauce and some tired looking canned pineapple. I was a bit grossed out by the nacho cheese sauce for the scrambled eggs, hush puppies (for breakfast) and the 'homemade' pop tarts. There was a dessert station loaded up with cakes, pies and sugar cookies. At this point, I would have been thrilled to see a plain, white bagel, but no such luck. Even at $4.99, I didn't get my money's worth.
What happens at Disney doesn't necessarily stay at Disney
In case you've forgotten, the purpose of this trip was for my son's high school marching band to be the forerunner to the Magic Kingdom's Spectromagic Parade. It was the highlight of the trip for my son. I guess it's an honor for a band to be chosen and my son and his fellow band members were probably in awe of the crowd of 50,000 gathered to watch them perform (well, probably not them, but the parade as a whole). We corralled the 300 students near some french fry stand and Disney personnel arrived and escorted them 'backstage.' Backstage Disney is quite a secretive operation. Only three chaperones, plus the band directors, were permitted to accompany the kids to help them with their uniforms, instruments, etc. Cameras are strictly forbidden. My son said they were ushered behind some fence, walked a ways and he had no idea where they were in the park, but they were still outside and the buses pulled up and they got on and changed into their marching attire. But it was the Disney parade characters that stole the show for my son. He was a bit shocked to see that Minnie Mouse was an old man who smoked like a chimney. Cinderella's Fairy Godmother was another old geezer and the Seven Dwarves cursed like sailors. This was pure entertainment for a 15 year old boy and he couldn't wait to come home and tell all his friends.
After sitting on a curb for two hours so that I could get a good view, the band finally marched by. Honestly, it looked like they were running to me, it all happened so fast. But it was certainly something I'll never forget and chances are, I may do it again if I get the chance in two years.
Those 'peeks behind the curtain' can be a bit disconcerting (and all the moreso, I'm guessing, for an outfit like Disney, where the fantasy is their raison d'etre). . .
ReplyDeleteOne time, I took 3M and one of his buddies to a game of the minor league baseball team in our town. We were relaxing in the stands before the game, when a young employee of the team (you could tell he was an employee, 'cuz he was wearing a polo shirt with the team logo on it) approached us and asked if one of the boys would like to participate in one of the between-innings sketches with the team's mascot, and 3M was only too happy to agree. So, a couple innings before his 'big moment', the young guy came back and took him down under the stands, and started putting on the mascot costume, which 3M (who was maybe eight or nine at the time) thought was just weird. Not quite like a grumpy old guy in a Cinderella costume, maybe, but at that age, it hadn't quite occurred to him that, somewhere inside the costume was a 'regular person'. They did the sketch (3M is just a natural honey-baked ham), and then mascot-guy took him back under the stands and thanked him for doing a great job. Which kinda weirded him out, all over again, to be shaking hands with a guy in a mascot-suit, with the head off. . .
That really was great for the Dad to keep the driver awake.
ReplyDeleteAll those buffets are usually packed with fatty foods and encourage crazy eating. And they are so damned cheap! I kind of wish the government would subsidized healthier food and slap a sin tax on the stuff that is killing us.
5:30am. Gah. I wasn't even up yet. Children willing, not even for another several hours (more likely, less than 90 minutes later I was up).
ReplyDeletethat dad is a hero indeed. and the knowledge of the true identities of certain disney characters is just too funny!
ReplyDeleteglad you made it back alive.
Craig - Mascots are the most interesting thing at sporting events for me!
ReplyDeleteAgent - I agree....they've been talking about a tax on pop (soda)for a while, but it still hasn't happened. It's sad that a tiny container of blueberries costs more than a supersized bag of chips.
Russ - Sorry I missed you!
Lime - That Dad deserved a medal!