On our last visit to Walt Disney World, we were in the Magic Kingdom and on a roll!
We’d started the day on Splash Mountain, dried off by cruising around
Tomorrowland on the PeopleMover, we’d seen the Country Bears, Haunted
Mansion, Hall of Presidents – We were unstoppable! Then, I thought,
HEY! We could try out the updated Dumbo over in Fantasyland. Raymond
was okay with that and we jumped in the standby line which had a posted
wait of 30 minutes. I’m having a great day, getting so much
accomplished, living the dream, baby – what’s one 30 minute wait going
to hurt, right?
We were outside, enjoying the beautiful fall weather,
taking in the sights and sounds of the Storybook Circus area. The
first part of the standby line is covered and moved right along. Next,
we went inside to wait. At this point I noticed the family
behind me (Mom & Dad, little boy and girl) because the little boy,
who was probably 8 or so, kept getting really close to the back of me
and occasionally bumped into me. Into my posterior specifically. I’d
move to the other side of the aisle, but he kept ending up directly
behind me, continuing to bump into me. It’s no secret that I don’t
think all children are precious and adorable; I’m also somewhat of a
germaphobe and kind of weird about being touched by strangers.
Raymond, once aware of my situation, put himself between the
personal-space-invader and me, so I could go back to taking in my
surroundings.
This was the point where we reached a sort of check-in desk for the Dumbo waiting play area. The fact that not a single Cast Member looked happy or even pleasant should have been a clue to what we were
about to experience, but it was my first visit there and I’d read
practically nothing but the most general information about the new
Dumbo. The dad behind me exclaimed that Disney Imagineers are pure
genius to have thought of something so wonderful! We were handed an
electronic “ticket” that would vibrate/flash or something when it was
time to get on the ride. We stepped through the opening to that waiting
area…and into hell.
Children were running, screaming, jumping, chasing, climbing, and creating serious mayhem.
I was still okay, though, because I notice to the far left in a dark
corner of the room was a bench where a handful of other grownups had
gathered to wait. I grabbed Raymond’s hand and bee-lined for the
relative peace of the seating area. We sat. I looked around at all those
kids. There was a pretend barrel of rockets in front of us and a
couple of girls found that they could push some buttons to make lights
flash and pretend fireworks sounds happen. I casually mentioned
to Raymond (I did have to talk pretty loud so he could hear me) that
maybe if you had children burning off steam in the play area, it was
much more tolerable and less hell-like. The instant the words left my
mouth, the lady sitting next to me, with all seriousness said, “No! No,
it’s not.”
We sat for what seemed like an hour, but was in
reality probably 2 more minutes during which those two little girls at
the rocket-barrel pushed the same buttons to make lights and sounds
about 5,627 times. I turned to Raymond and said, “I’m really sorry
about this.” – He’s sweet, so he told me not to worry about it. He knew
what I was going to say next….”I’m pretty sure I can’t make it and I have to leave now.” Of course, he said, “Let’s go.”
I took my ticket back to the Cast Member at the check in counter
and held it out as I told her, “I tried, I really tried, but I can’t
take it. How can I get out of here?” She, with just the slightest,
barely discernable look of sympathy, silently pointed to an exit back
through the play area on the far wall and, again, grabbing Raymond’s
hand we walked as quickly as we could, pushed through the door,
and found ourselves in an amazingly empty, and blessedly quiet
alleyway. I apologized all the way to the Little Mermaid ride where the
line was short and I could recover my composure in the relative
isolation of a clam-mobile.
Have you made it onto the new Dumbo ride? If so, I admire your fortitude!!!
