Florida Trip Part Four

There I was............waiting in line with the grandkids so they can meet Snow White...........and she really, really looks like Snow White...............Princess Fartknocker is still at the age where she believes this is the real deal.

Signtopia Expansion Pack 2.1 didn't know what to make of Snow White..........he kept repeating the words "Donald Duck" the entire day.

Noodle and Expansion Pack 2.1 with Snow White.

If you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you might know that I have decided to do some things that I have never done before...................one of which, on this day, was to get my picture taken with Disney characters............I figured "why not?".......they didn't have this stuff when I was a kid. I explained to Snow White that this was to be one of my infamous "action photos" and that she needed to raise her arm...........oh well........this will have to suffice.

Here's my two daughters, Noodle and Roo posing with their new hats. It was many years ago that they were right there as little kids wearing Mickey Mouse ears.............gee.......time has flown by. Before they know it, they will be taking their own grandchildren to Disney World. I really like this picture......it churns up alot of memories for me.

I wonder if this is Mr. Ed's kid........hehehe.........nahhhh.......Mr. Ed wasn't so dark.

One thing about the Magic Kingdom is there is something to feast your eyes on no matter where you are looking.............and I really enjoy seeing stuff like this.

You wonder where the "cast members" hide out when they are not performing. I was standing near the entrance in front of the hat shop when I started hearing a trumpet and a few other instruments warming up..........then I turned around and looked at the fence where you can see the bicycles sign and it opened up and a marching band began doing their thing. This was their starting point.

I watched them proceed toward the center of the area..............imagine having this job.........and getting paid for it.

I had been waiting for Supernurse and Princess Fartknocker to arrive and join us. We had to wait for them because of a scheduled "tea" with a Disney Princess character at one of the Disney hotels. They finally arrived and Princess Fartknocker and Roo proceeded down Main Street towards the castle. Oh yeah...........Fartknocker was all dressed up in her own princess outfit.

As we walked down Main Street I snapped a few pictures. I had never seen the Magic Kingdom adorned with Christmas decorations before.

Me and Expansion Pack 2.1 took this picture in front of Cinderella's castle. I wished my two sons could have been here with me.......one was over at Universal Studios and the other had to work and couldn't get enough time off.

Throughout the park we went. The grandkids rode the rides and stuff like that. There were alot of opportunities to meet and greet Disney Characters. Princess Fartknocker's favorite Disney Princess is Ariel. While we waited in the long line, Fartknocker ran around and played.

Princess Fartknocker was so excited........this was her special day. I doubt that the rest of the gang knew how special this day was for ME................ten years ago nobody would have bet any money that I would be doing this ten years later.........have I mentioned how lucky and blessed that I am?

This was a special moment.........Princess Fartknocker finally got to meet Ariel, her favorite Disney Princess...........and she looks like the real deal to Fartknocker.

Ariel proceeded to make Princess Fartknocker raise her hand and "swear to never change the color of your hair"..........this was fantastic........Ariel spent a good amount of time speaking with my granddaughter.

Ariel signed her autograph book for her...........

.........and then posed for the photo................and I got to be there to see it all.

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of myself with this character...........I was too rapt up by the moment.

Here is Princess Fartknocker posing in front of Minnie Mouse's House.

We walked through the house and looked around..........and proceeded to find a building where Fartknocker could meet and greet three Disney Princesses.................and there was hardly a line for this!

"Okay, Fartknocker...........get it over with............the old guy is waiting his turn!"

See what I mean?................."action photo" time.........hehehe.

There I go again...........
For some reason, some of the princesses didn't seem to understand the concept of the "action photo". I told them to have a look of surprise.........and........well..........raise their hands, of course...........
..........oh well........
..........but the real reason we are here is the grandkids...........

.............and I shall never forget seeing this...............this is special stuff here.

Signtopia Expansion Pack 2.1 has a souvenir on his forehead..............lipstick from one of the kisses he got from the princesses....................gee.........they never even came near MY forehead.........I feel slighted.............nahhhhh...........if they had done such a thing to my forehead, Supernurse would have opened up a can of whoop-ass on them........hehehe.........not to mention......on me!

Expansion Pack 2.1 met Mickey and Minnie Mouse........the whole time he was with them he called them both "Donald Duck"..............I wonder if they were offended..........nahhhh, they both took alot of time with him and hugged him and posed for lots of pictures. They were very generous with time.

Since these characters only have one expression, I figured there would be no point in asking for an "action photo"....................so there I was..........doing another thing that I had never done before.

Damn, I am a fortunate man.

I don't know if the "cast members" ever get to fully understand how much people, such as myself, really appreciate what they do............and I can safely say, without a doubt, that the "cast members" on this day, that we spent time with, were absolutely fantastic. Thanks to them, kids dreams DO come true.................as well as my own dreams.

Stay tuned........more to come.

Florida Trip Part Three

There I was.............standing in front of Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. I have been here before.....a few times......when the kids were small. This time.....I am with the grandkids. Life is good.

This place is so impressive that if you cannot enjoy yourself here, then you must be a miserable snot of a person that never has a good time. As it just so happened, there was a large contingent of contestants for a beauty pageant in attendance and we would see them everywhere we went.


As I approached the castle, there was a group of them standing together......maybe they were going over some instructions from their chaperone............so I did what Ole Signtopia always seems to do..............it meant that this was a perfect opportunity for one of my infamous "action photos".......hehehe. So I walked up to them and told them to raise their hands..........and voila!

Looking up at the castle.......there is so much detail to this building. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be netting. Initially, I thought maybe it was there to keep birds off......but we later found out the real reason.

You can't take your eyes off of the castle.............except when some beauty contestants pose for an action photo.....hehehe.

My grandson, the Mayor Of Simpleton, thought he could get the sword out of its place.

It ain't gonna happen, buddy......hehehe.

Everytime I looked at the castle, it seemed to have changed.............throughout the day.

From how it looks in daylight......to how it looks in twilight..............

.........and how it looked during the fireworks...........

........and then ultimately how it looked after the Fairy Godmother lit it up so that it looked like ice crystals covering the castle. It was when this occurred that we knew the real reason for that netting. There must have been thousands of lights on that building. The photo does not do it any justice.....you would have to see this for yourself with your own eyes. I am glad I got to see this......amazing and magical.

A must see at the Magic Kingdom is the nightly Spectra Magic parade. This parade is stunning and Disney pulls out all of the stops for this one. Everybody lines up the streets......crammed like sardines.....waiting for it to begin. Oh, and by the way.........nice Christmas decorations everywhere, too.

The parade began and it was stunning. I don't know how many lights they use....but I can tell you that there are lights everywhere....on the floats......on the people........everything in the parade.

Here's Chip & Dale at the piano.

You should see the faces of people as they looked at each float approaching.

Of course, this is Ariel, the Mermaid Princess. She also happens to be one of Princess Fartknocker's favorite Disney characters. Yep........she was in the parade.

This is Ariel's parade float................amazing stuff.

.........And you gotta have Minnie Mouse in the parade.........who doesn't like this?

At the end of the day......and it was an entire day.........we got on the tram to take us back to our cars. If you have ever been here, you know what this is like.

I have some more to share with you about my day at the Magic Kingdom and I will write about that in the next few days.

Stay tuned!