November Trip Report Day 3: Glitter and Ghost Chillies

Miles walked: 11.55
Number of pins traded for: 36

Yes, kids, that’s right… I’m going to attempt to finish this trip report two months later! Not sure I’ll be able to decipher my own chicken scratch notes, but I suppose that’s where flat-out lying becomes useful.

Let’s see… where were we? Ah yes, Amanda and I barely made it through our first real day due to a severe lack of Sprite.*

*That’s my new PC term for “so bloody hungover, we wouldn’t qualify for a rehab center; we’d need a detox facility first.”

Sunday was worlds better. This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I opted to drink less than half a bottle of bourbon and get more than four hours of sleep. Our goal was to rope drop the Magic Kingdom, and wouldn’t you know it: we were once again successful! And who says two women sharing one sink and one bathroom is a recipe for disaster?

Amanda’s first goal of the day was to get the scoop on Scoop (see what I did there? I’m clever). We’d both heard about trading with him, but neither of us had done it. Luckily, who should we run into right when we enter the park, but Scoop himself, finishing up his welcome show duties. We asked when he’d be out trading that day and made it a point to come back and see him.

After Scoop-stalking, we decided to dedicate the day to tweeting “live from Busch Gardens.” Sadly, the only photos we could share to try and convince anyone of such a tall tale were the animatronic hippos and alligators of the Jungle Cruise. Not sure anyone bought that one. Then again, it’s far more likely for us to end up in Busch Gardens jail than to have a holly jolly good time at the Holyland Experience, so you never know.

Just a girl and her birthday button.

We rode Space Mountain, the aforementioned Jungle Cruise, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Pirates, and then we pin traded our way back down Main Street, out of the park, and speed-walked all the way to the Wave at the Contemporary for brunch. Note: if you exited the park, saw the resorts monorail already in the station, assumed that you’d never get to it before it departed and that it would be faster to walk to the Contemporary than waiting for the next monorail, you’d be wrong. We were lapped. Damn you, monorail yellow!

But moving on… this was my first time at the Wave for anything other than dinner, and Amanda guaranteed me the best. Seeing as when I asked the waiter for hot sauce, he offered me sriracha instead, I will state that it was, indeed, the best. More breakfasts need to include bread pudding, y’know?

Before we speed-walked back to MK, we first stopped off at the ladies’ rooms at the Contemporary… where I was promptly walked in on, inflagrante. After Friday’s night at the Contemporary and then this… I’m considering it a cursed resort. Fucking Contemporary. I sprinted toward the escalator to put as much distance between myself and anyone who saw things they shouldn’t have, and next thing you know, Amanda and I are back at the home of Friday’s drunken shenanigans, the gingerbread display — and this time they’re selling pins! So of course, we each needed to buy a pin to commemorate the insanity. Fucking Contemporary.

Fucking Contemporary Pin.

Once back in the park, two important things needed to happen: 1) we needed to get covered in giant chunks of confetti glitter from the Main Street Barber Shop, and 2) it was time to find Scoop. Sure enough, with the flourish of a fire engine, he appeared. I got to step up to the plate first and trade, only after Scoop wished me a happy birthday (and actually pronounced my name correctly from my button)! The pins he has to trade from are simply A-MAZING. We’re talking LEs, artist proofs, artist proof LEs, craziness. A month later, I got the chance to trade with the also popular King Pin at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and he doesn’t even come close to Scoop’s level of awesome. No offense, King Pin. A tip with Scoop: if you say “please” and “thank you,” you get to trade off of a special hip swatch. Sometimes. If you’re Amanda. But whatever.

Also, if you’re Amanda, you’ll think there’s just a little something… off… about Scoop. I mean, he is a grown man who’s dedicated his life to pin trading and emceeing the MK opening show, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he keeps dead cats in his freezer, right? Personally, I find a man who knows his pins to be dangerously alluring. Amanda just thinks he’s dangerous.

Approximately 20 minutes later, we were exiting the Haunted Mansion, and I’m checking my phone for texts, e-mails, and Twitter updates when lo and behold, I have a Twitter message asking me, “were you just pin trading with Scoop?” I HAD BEEN RECOGNIZED!!!!* MY DISNEY TWITTER DAY IN THE FAME SUN HAD ARRIVED!!!

*Well, mostly. Turns out, Joe recognized my name. Not so many Disney pin-loving Rhiannons on Twitter, I suppose. Had my name been Jane, Scoop’s birthday wish would not have resonated with Joe. But still… that’s sort of a Twitter recognition, yes?

After the waning glow of fleeting infamy, we decided it was time to pay it forward by stalking one of our favourite Twitterites, Mearn. We were told he was working the Journey of the Little Mermaid that afternoon, so in that direction we headed (stopped first, maybe, for some more glitter at the Bippity-Boppity-Boutique, because just like sriracha or Sprite on Saturday mornings, you can never have enough). Sadly, our journey was Mearn-less. May he rest easier knowing that he dodged that glittery photo-opping bullet.

Like a boss.

The rest of our afternoon at the Magic Kingdom continued in a pattern of ride… pin trading… ride… pin trading… We managed to cover Space Mountain for the second time that day (where I’ve decided that I prefer the slightly rockier Omega side more than the droppier Alpha side), Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (note: not Amanda’s forte), and Peter Pan’s Flight where we decided to become photography all-stars (dedicated photoblog to come… maybe 2016?).

This is an example of the fine photographic work you can expect from my upcoming photo blog post dedicated to Peter Pan’s Flight.

After Peter, we made our way out of the park, once again pin trading as we went. At one point, one cast member exclaimed that I looked like a “hot glittery mess” and asked where I got doused in such shine. Barber Shop, baby! Also, probably the only time when such a description can be bestowed upon anyone other than a stripper.

It was also at this point in our day that I had the opportunity to pay it forward in a non-stalking manner via pins. I pinned it forward. You see, a woman and her small child were in the Emporium, happily pin trading, when the kid decides to trade a pin that the mother had clearly paid good money for in exchange for a piece of crap scrapper. Normally, this is why I love standing behind youngsters in pin-trading lines — they always leave behind gold in exchange for what could very well be gum scraped off the street. Kids are dumb. However, this mother seemed pretty disappointed when nothing she said to the kid worked to dissuade him from this trade. So I stepped up afterward, traded for their good pin, then went outside, found the woman, and handed over the pin. See? I’m nice sometimes. I mean, only because I’m hoping to gain something from it, like good karma, but whatever.

Moving on…

Lapu Lapu, my favourite favourite.

Our initial evening plans had us embarking upon a progressive holiday dinner. This is a pleasant way of saying that we’d be binge eating and drinking at multiple resorts while enjoying each location’s special holiday decor. Sadly, our would-be companions backed out, and turns out, despite the fact that Mickey’s Not-So-Magical Christmas Party was in full swing, other than a few now befouled gingerbread displays, the resorts don’t actually consider the middle of November to be the Christmas season. Go figure.

I hope that’s not a load-bearing bear at Territory Lounge, else that ceiling be coming down quick.

Instead, we ended up doing some kind of half-assed pub/pin-crawl and dinner. Our last minute decisions first led us to the Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian for Lapu Lapus. Rather than continue around the monorail resort loop, we opted instead to get back to the car and head over to the Wilderness Lodge because… um… why not? Did we think there’d actually be a Christmas tree there? Who knows. For the record, there was not. But we did do some more pin trading, and we ducked into the Territory Lounge for a quick drink. I decided to try the Smoked Turkey, which is on Disney’s latest resort-wide cocktail menu and features Wild Turkey bourbon, something, something, and some liquid smoke that somehow leaves the entire drink tasting like the burning library scene in Spaceship Earth. It was uncanny. It inspired me to invent an entire line of cocktails that match the scents of various WDW attractions (perhaps they can be sold with matching candles as well). Don’t worry, one will most certainly be the water of Pirates of the Caribbean.

No.

From the Wilderness Lodge, we were at a loss. How had we fallen so far from the concept of a five course dinner spanning five different restaurants, even bringing my own infused ghost vodka and home-grown ghost chillis to share with our friends, to suddenly sitting in a parking lot alone, drinking ghost vodka out of the bottle by ourselves? The only thing sadder was when I realised I forgot my travel paring knife and had to garnish my nightcap bourbon with a lime chunk that I had gnawed out of said lime with my own teeth.

I got all the foods.

Luckily, we were inspired by spice and opted to make a last minute ADR for Jiko, one of the few raved-about restaurants that I’d yet to experience. I couldn’t quite settle on just one menu idea (not to mention that I was still reeling from the loss of our progressive dinner), so I opted to order the following for my meal: Mulenga’s beet salad, the roasted cauliflower flatbread, and a side of mac ‘n’ cheese. My meal took up the majority of real estate on the small table for two, and I loved it. The food was truly amazing. And at less than what I would’ve spent on one entree, I had quite the spread. It was actually so much food that I ended up with an assortment of leftovers, most of which I ate back at the hotel using coffee stirrers as chopsticks while Amanda was passed out from one too many shots of haunted vodka.

They even brought me a free birthday treat 🙂

Overall, it was a hot glittery mess of a day, and I loved it. I think the only thing that would’ve made it even remotely better would be if Scoop himself spoon fed me mac ‘n’ cheese while downing shots of Pirate water.