Apparently as a young child I use to sing the Winnie The Pooh song something like this:
Winnie's Got Pooh!
What?
I was little.
It was an honest mistake...and one I was doomed to repeat years and years later, usually belting out the wrong words to songs at the most inopportune times (luckily never on stage with a famous person, but there you go.) We like to sing in my family, it doesn't matter what the words are...we just sing away. We're musical that way.
Anywho...on my visit to The Magic Kingdom this past weekend, I was presented with the opportunity to meet some of my friends from the 100 Acre Woods. And when I mean "presented with" I mean, I let my eyes fill up with tears at one point and said, "I want to go see Pooh!" and off we went, to critter country. They've replaced Bear Country Jamboree with The Winnie The Pooh ride you know...and there is a wonderfully decorated spot where you can sometimes catch various characters...so, while I'm sad not to see the singing bears from my childhood, at least there's some sort of small consolation.
When we arrived there was a line.
Yes. They have lines to meet the characters now too...which probably cuts down on people freaking out when other rude guests run in front of them and ruin their pictures (speaking from experience here...somewhere out there, there is a picture of me hugging Mickey Mouse while he was posing with someones family that didn't happen to be mine. What? We're passionate people. We're also excitable...and sometimes I have the tendency to forget other people exist.) When we got to the picture spot my sister rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot.
She apparently doesn't feel the same way I do about the 100 Acre Woods Friends.
Then we were informed Tigger was going to leave for just a minute, but would be bringing back Pooh!
Oh Pooh.
YOU are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Wood Friend.
I was so excited that I ducked under the rope and went into the gift shop to look around after making Steven and my sister promise to save my spot.
Apparently I don't feel the same way about the 100 Acre Woods Friends that I do.
And a short time later, we had our turn and got to meet Pooh in person.
I was very excited and told Pooh this. I said, "Pooh? I am very excited. You are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Woods Friend. Out of all of them. You're number one." Which I'm sure made the guy in the furry bear suit just thrilled (I know Pooh is a literary character and he's not real. Mostly. The fact that there are several adult sized and very realistic costumes out there hasn't escaped me, they just add to my enjoyment of Disney...After all, I'm not insane. Just excitable.)
(And passionate.)
(And I like to sing)
My sister opted out of being in the picture and was behind the camera, and I was so very excited by the whole thing that as soon as she took our picture, I stepped away from Pooh to grab my camera. I was also trying to be polite to the other 45 people waiting in line to meet Pooh...so it was no surprise that I totally missed Pooh turning to me and asking for a hug. Well...miming for a hug, the characters are not allowed to talk. It was only when DaNece and Steven were yelling, "Sadira?!? Sadira!! Winnie The Pooh wants to hug you!!" that I turned around and saw his little furry arms reaching for me.
I already had my camera in my hand...and I turned around, my face fallen, and I started to apologize profusely to this little yellow bear. This is the moment he put his head in his hands and started to mime cry.
I made Winnie The Pooh cry.
At Disneyland.
In front of everybody.
This has to rank right up there with the time when I was 9 months old and wrapped my little baby hand in Santa's beard at the department store when I was there for pictures, and when my mother lifted me up off of Santa's lap...off came Santa's beard. In my hand. In front of other small children...who I'm sure were astounded and horrified (as the story goes, I don't remember) But, probably not as mortified as my mother...of course, I didn't feel anything...I was 9 months old for crying out loud.
This totally makes up for it.
Me standing at Critter Country consoling one of my most favorite literary characters ever.
He sucked it up after I grovelled for a bit...and we gave each other a big hug.
This is when I heard the voice of Pooh, or the man inside the costume of Pooh give a big and rather raspy chuckle in my ear.
Um. Oh. I think maybe I just got hit on (to put it nicer than groped) by Pooh Bear.
Apparently I am his favorite character as well.
How flattering.
And a bit creepy.
Wherein Steven has the right idea by having his picture taken with a character...without the character even knowing it...there is certainly much less groping involved.
Other crazy things at Disneyland include the amount of double strollers. Now I know this is a family park, and certainly an amusement park geared more towards children...but the double stroller in the hands of the stop and go and the more aggressive parents? Not a great thing...especially when the double stroller has seats side by side instead of one right behind the other. In all fairness, we were warned by Steven before arriving at the park, but it was hard getting use to people running my feet over, stopping in front of me, or using their children as a battering ram to get through the crowds. May I make a suggestion Disney? In the more congested areas of the park, can you rope off paths for stroller and non-stroller guests?
Balloons. Balloons are lovely, they are also festive and fun. They also abound at Disneyland. I remember as a child always wanting a balloon when arriving at the park, but nicely being told by my parents that there was no way that was going to happen at the beginning of the day, because either they didn't want to carry them, or they didn't know where we would put them while we were on rides, and they just knew that the balloon in the hands of a child would eventually end up hitting someone...this also happens when the balloon is tied to a stroller, and a parent is jogging through the park. We saw this first hand as there was a sweet couple in front of DaNece and I hand in hand, all gooey eyed and walking towards Frontier Land, when the young gentleman was accosted quickly and cleanly by a balloon that was floating behind a stroller. He screamed as he put his hands up in front of his face after being hit in the head and tried to unwrap the balloon from his neck before he was drug behind the unsuspecting parents, beating the balloon away rather forcefully. TIP: Parents at Disney...I know you love your children, it is already obvious as you have had to take a second job to pay for a trip to Disney...but please, for the love of all that is holy, consider buying your balloons at the end of the day. Or consider buying a different souvenir all together, balloons loose their helium quickly and the ratio of money to enjoyment may be better spent by getting one of those huge colorful suckers instead.
Just Sayin.
No matter all these things and more, Disney is still The Happiest Place on Earth.
Winnie's Got Pooh!
What?
I was little.
It was an honest mistake...and one I was doomed to repeat years and years later, usually belting out the wrong words to songs at the most inopportune times (luckily never on stage with a famous person, but there you go.) We like to sing in my family, it doesn't matter what the words are...we just sing away. We're musical that way.
Anywho...on my visit to The Magic Kingdom this past weekend, I was presented with the opportunity to meet some of my friends from the 100 Acre Woods. And when I mean "presented with" I mean, I let my eyes fill up with tears at one point and said, "I want to go see Pooh!" and off we went, to critter country. They've replaced Bear Country Jamboree with The Winnie The Pooh ride you know...and there is a wonderfully decorated spot where you can sometimes catch various characters...so, while I'm sad not to see the singing bears from my childhood, at least there's some sort of small consolation.
When we arrived there was a line.
Yes. They have lines to meet the characters now too...which probably cuts down on people freaking out when other rude guests run in front of them and ruin their pictures (speaking from experience here...somewhere out there, there is a picture of me hugging Mickey Mouse while he was posing with someones family that didn't happen to be mine. What? We're passionate people. We're also excitable...and sometimes I have the tendency to forget other people exist.) When we got to the picture spot my sister rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot.
She apparently doesn't feel the same way I do about the 100 Acre Woods Friends.
Then we were informed Tigger was going to leave for just a minute, but would be bringing back Pooh!
Oh Pooh.
YOU are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Wood Friend.
I was so excited that I ducked under the rope and went into the gift shop to look around after making Steven and my sister promise to save my spot.
Apparently I don't feel the same way about the 100 Acre Woods Friends that I do.
And a short time later, we had our turn and got to meet Pooh in person.
I was very excited and told Pooh this. I said, "Pooh? I am very excited. You are my FAVORITE 100 Acre Woods Friend. Out of all of them. You're number one." Which I'm sure made the guy in the furry bear suit just thrilled (I know Pooh is a literary character and he's not real. Mostly. The fact that there are several adult sized and very realistic costumes out there hasn't escaped me, they just add to my enjoyment of Disney...After all, I'm not insane. Just excitable.)
(And passionate.)
(And I like to sing)
My sister opted out of being in the picture and was behind the camera, and I was so very excited by the whole thing that as soon as she took our picture, I stepped away from Pooh to grab my camera. I was also trying to be polite to the other 45 people waiting in line to meet Pooh...so it was no surprise that I totally missed Pooh turning to me and asking for a hug. Well...miming for a hug, the characters are not allowed to talk. It was only when DaNece and Steven were yelling, "Sadira?!? Sadira!! Winnie The Pooh wants to hug you!!" that I turned around and saw his little furry arms reaching for me.
I already had my camera in my hand...and I turned around, my face fallen, and I started to apologize profusely to this little yellow bear. This is the moment he put his head in his hands and started to mime cry.
I made Winnie The Pooh cry.
At Disneyland.
In front of everybody.
This has to rank right up there with the time when I was 9 months old and wrapped my little baby hand in Santa's beard at the department store when I was there for pictures, and when my mother lifted me up off of Santa's lap...off came Santa's beard. In my hand. In front of other small children...who I'm sure were astounded and horrified (as the story goes, I don't remember) But, probably not as mortified as my mother...of course, I didn't feel anything...I was 9 months old for crying out loud.
This totally makes up for it.
Me standing at Critter Country consoling one of my most favorite literary characters ever.
He sucked it up after I grovelled for a bit...and we gave each other a big hug.
This is when I heard the voice of Pooh, or the man inside the costume of Pooh give a big and rather raspy chuckle in my ear.
Um. Oh. I think maybe I just got hit on (to put it nicer than groped) by Pooh Bear.
Apparently I am his favorite character as well.
How flattering.
And a bit creepy.
Wherein Steven has the right idea by having his picture taken with a character...without the character even knowing it...there is certainly much less groping involved.Other crazy things at Disneyland include the amount of double strollers. Now I know this is a family park, and certainly an amusement park geared more towards children...but the double stroller in the hands of the stop and go and the more aggressive parents? Not a great thing...especially when the double stroller has seats side by side instead of one right behind the other. In all fairness, we were warned by Steven before arriving at the park, but it was hard getting use to people running my feet over, stopping in front of me, or using their children as a battering ram to get through the crowds. May I make a suggestion Disney? In the more congested areas of the park, can you rope off paths for stroller and non-stroller guests?
Balloons. Balloons are lovely, they are also festive and fun. They also abound at Disneyland. I remember as a child always wanting a balloon when arriving at the park, but nicely being told by my parents that there was no way that was going to happen at the beginning of the day, because either they didn't want to carry them, or they didn't know where we would put them while we were on rides, and they just knew that the balloon in the hands of a child would eventually end up hitting someone...this also happens when the balloon is tied to a stroller, and a parent is jogging through the park. We saw this first hand as there was a sweet couple in front of DaNece and I hand in hand, all gooey eyed and walking towards Frontier Land, when the young gentleman was accosted quickly and cleanly by a balloon that was floating behind a stroller. He screamed as he put his hands up in front of his face after being hit in the head and tried to unwrap the balloon from his neck before he was drug behind the unsuspecting parents, beating the balloon away rather forcefully. TIP: Parents at Disney...I know you love your children, it is already obvious as you have had to take a second job to pay for a trip to Disney...but please, for the love of all that is holy, consider buying your balloons at the end of the day. Or consider buying a different souvenir all together, balloons loose their helium quickly and the ratio of money to enjoyment may be better spent by getting one of those huge colorful suckers instead.
Just Sayin.
No matter all these things and more, Disney is still The Happiest Place on Earth.
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