Saturday, July 31, 2010

Attack of the Left Eye

Highlights from our July 2010 Disney World trip, attended by me, The Lovely Steph Leann and the In-Laws, Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron:

--Spending the night in Pensacola, including getting flashed on the road side.
--Day One of the trip, including the French Quarter, dinner at Epcot, the Electrical Light Parade, the Haunted Mansion Wailer and the Saturday morning's Soarin' snafu...

So, we ended up riding Soarin', and had our Fastpasses to ride it later.  We made our way to the other side of the park, grabbed Fastpasses for Test Track and rode Mission: Space... I would have preferred "The Orange Team", which is the "more intense" ride, as its a centrifuge.  However, due to the stomachatical dispositions of some of our party, we went "The Green Team", which is the same ride, except it is actually in a simulator. 

Anyway, we did Mission: Space, which I love any ride that has "sick" bags in it, and as we walked out, we decided it was a good time to go right next door to Ellen's Energy Adventure. 

 Ellen’s Energy Adventure is this slow moving dark ride which begins in a large auditorium where you stand and see the pre-show, which is Ellen’s dream where she’s on Jeopardy, losing to her college roommate, Jamie Lee Curtis, since all the categories are about energy, and Bill Nye the Science Guy comes in to take her through history to show her where energy came from.

To preface this story… well, its really more of a coincidental side note… so, last summer my right eye had a spaz. It was an allergic reaction to the new contacts I was wearing, and so on and so forth… now, for whatever reason, my left eye had its own bone to pick with me, and decided to do it in the most improbable place. That would be Ellen’s Energy Adventure.

We stood in the pre-show, laughed with Ellen and Alex Trebeck and Bill Nye, and then proceeded to board the large trams that take us through the next 37 minutes of the ride. Its also worthy of note that the ride is a great place for a nap. Its fairly quiet, at least compared to many other rides, its dark, and you are sitting down in a semi-comfortable tram for THIRTY SEVEN minutes. If you can’t throw back a power nap out of that, then I can’t help you. Cause let me tell ya, The Lovely Steph Leann excels at power naps, and she gets it honest from Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron.

The first part of the ride takes you to the explanation of The Big Bang, then you slowly ride into the dinosaur area. It was here that my left eye said, “Hey, Righty, watch this.” All of a sudden, my eyes started to water, and my left eye started hurting. Even felt a slight head pain behind my eye… you know that feeling when you have an unusual sharp pain in your head and you get this mental image of suddenly dying due to undetected, exploding brain aneurysm?

 (crickets)

Uh… yeah, me neither. That’s stupid. Haha… lol… hahaha… uh… moving on…

So, The Lovely Steph Leann beside me is gone. Mama Ruthless on the other side of her is nodding off. Big Daddy Ron is slipping away fast. And my nap is already ruined by an eye pain. In the dim light, I get my Kermit bag and place it in my lap, I fumble around for my contact case, my eye drops and my glasses. I cannot find my saline, so I grab my bottle of “Blink and Clean”, which isn’t ideal for soaking contacts, but hey, any port in a storm, right?

I can’t see the “L” on my contact case lid to determine which side is which, but its one of those that is slightly angled. So I hold it where I can see the shape, swear to myself I’ll remember the angle is pointed out, and first take out my left contact, then my right. I pour in the Blink & Clean, and squeeze it too hard, and it hits the open case and splashes out all over me. In the dark.

Finally, my contacts are out… this is good. I hate wearing my glasses on vacation, but it’ll have to do for a few hours. What usually happens is my eyes water a bit, I rub them a little bit, the red goes away in a few hours and it’s all good. I actually wasn’t expecting what happened.

The ride continues, my eyes are watering like a faucet, and I finagle a tissue out of The Lovely Steph Leann’s purse to wipe my eyes. In the dark. The ride ends, we all get off, and if you’ve ever had that feeling of coming out of a dark theater into a bright parking lot, that’s what it felt like. I was blinded when I walked out, like my pupils had been dilated. I was able to open my eyes just enough to make sure I didn’t stumble over anything or anyone, and after a few minutes, my eyes were clearing up. A little. They were still spewing tears, though.

We made our way through the park over to Soarin’, and I was still squinting to see anything. We got inside The Land, where the ride is located, and the lower light helped a bit, but even on Soarin’, it was still hard to see perfectly.

And this is how it was through the rest of the day—inside, my eyes would clear up… sort of… outside, I would struggle to see anything for a few minutes until my eyes adjusted, which they never would completely. It was horrible. Now, this is Walt Disney World, so horrible there is many times better than “pretty good” back home, but still…

Lunch was at Le Cellier in Canada, my favorite restaurant in all of the parks, and the lack of light in there was glorious. I dined on a plate of Mushroom Filet Mignon, served over sour cream mashed potatoes, white truffle and herb butter sauce, a side of mac and cheese (served in a small skillet steaming hot), and maple cream brulee.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY
We had already made the decision to spend some afternoon time in the room, during the hottest part of the day, and we ended our time at Epcot around mid-afternoon.  We went back to French Quarter, rested a bit, then caught a little ferry to Downtown Disney. 

Hopped off the ferry about 20 minutes later, spent about 25 minutes in line to just order our food at Earl of Sandwich, and the guy at the register wasn't happy about anything in his life, particularly the fact that the line of people was running the length of the counter and back three times and almost out the door.  

Registerer:  What can I get you?
Me:  The sandwiches come with sides, correct?
Registerer:  Yep.  What can I get you?
Me:  Okay, I want a Montagu with no lettice and...
Registerer:  Ok, what else?
Me:  Yeah, also a lemonade and...
Registerer:  Get drinks on the other end (looks over my shoulder while handing me a ticket) Next!

Had dinner, toured some of the stores, bought a bunch of pins at the Pin Trading Store, hung out in LEGO for a few, and then we split up with the In-Laws as The Lovely Steph Leann and I walked toward the other side of Downtown Disney.  We visited a store called D-Street, which sold lots of Vinylmation pins, figures and such.  Had a lengthy conversation with a couple of guys (and I do mean "couple) about Vinylmations, but they were super cool and friendly. 

Later that evening, found a bus at the stop, took it back to French Quarter, and that was the night. 

The next day?  The Toy Story Disaster.

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