Life is my litterbox ... Grab the SCOOP!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Post-GradNite 2007: Mom is toast

Hmmm ... Murphy's Law.

The Senior Class advisor had an unavoidable emergency and couldn't make the trip.

The Dean of Women couldn't attend the bus boarding, so Mom had to frisk the female students prior to allowing them on buses.

The permission slips were scrambled and the boarding lists weren't alphabetized making check in slower.

The Principal (Napoleon complex much??) ... who's NEVER experienced GradNite before ... wouldn't let veterans do what they do without his input. BTW: Mom's done GradNite about ten times in her career. And thankfully, the male APs did the frisking of the male students quickly 'cuz the Principal didn't help.

The bus company had an "eight hours off" rule that came into play when the buses got a later start.

Bus driver kept flirting with Mom (Grandma kept rolling her eyes 'til they looked like they'd roll out of her head).

Seniors sang camp songs ("Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer," anyone?) for 110 miles; most didn't want to watch "A Night At The Museum" (GREAT movie, BTW). The singing wasn't bad; the lead soloist for the marachi program, the female half of the choir, and the singer of the National Anthem for graduation were pretty good at harmonizing. It got a little silly when they started singing "Like a Virgin" ... in both English and Spanish ... simultaneously.

Light drizzle between Oceanside and Anaheim.

Fifty-one kids on bus; fifty wristbands.

Paperwork had incorrect parking lot listed although Mom SWORE to efurryone that they ALWAYS parked in "Timon and Pumbaa" for GradNite: Mom was right, naturally.

GradNite was too loud to hear cellphone ring when set at "#7," aka. Ringtone for the Near Deaf (like Mom).

Bus drivers and one of the buses DIDN'T report back to the bus on time. Children arrived by 5:45 AM; bus drivers FINALLY showed up at 6:20 AM.

Aside from the "technical difficulties," GradNite was GREAT! Disneyland streamlined the frisking process by providing plastic bags for the kids to put their personal effects into allowing quicker visual scan and WAY QUICKER entrance to the Park. Guest Services surrendered the missing wristband to the fifty-first student with no hassle. Rather than holding the kids until 11:59 PM which is the rule, they were let in early.

Ride lines were nearly non-existant which allowed Mom and Grandma to visit eight attractions rather than the usual four or so:
A. The Matterhorn
B. Alice in Wonderland
C. It's A Small World (!): It was OPEN during GradNite and has been refurbished nicely.
D. Winnie the Pooh
E. The Haunted Mansion
F. Pirates of the Caribbean
G. Jungle Cruise
H. Enchanted Tiki Room

They would have been able to do a couple more things, but Grandma refused to ride on the "barf cups," Mickey's Toon Town was closed completely, the Dumbos got grounded early on, and Buzz Lightyear broke down toward the end of the night.

The lines at the three "mountains": Splash, Big Thunder (yes, also OPEN!), and Space were tremendously long as was Indiana Jones, so Mom and Grandma vetoed them in a hurry. They milled around for awhile and watched the fireworks at Sleeping Beauty's Castle TWICE.

Most of the shopping places were horrendously crowded or closed, but Grandma managed to purchase a furry nice baseball cap for Grandad that has characters and their "creation dates" all around it. It's a good-looking cap, but not as nice as my "mom-made" Maus-keteer hat.

Mom and Grandma had juice, chocolate milk, and Diet Cokes (Coke Zero was a sponsor) at the chaperone venue plus snacks (cheese, fruit, brownies, crackers, asparagus tips) and a buffet-style breakfast all for FREE!

Total cost for the night: Grandma spent $19.50 plus tax; Mom spent NOTHING (Downtown Disney was closed and no other stores had the cat/woofie stickers ... Mom's gonna get 'em online instead).

Best of all, NONE of our students got in trouble with Park security (or booked into Anaheim jail) and efurryone made it back to school in one piece by 8:30 AM.

Uncle James and his fiancée had a furry good time and even managed to take a nap (!) in the Disney theatre until the snoring started makin' them giggle ...

Mom feels like a geezer. Her knees hurt 'cuz of the bus ride, walking all over the Disney campus, and fitting legs with a 34" inseam into cars, boats, bobsleds. She didn't get to sleep on the bus on the way back, so she's had two naps today. I purred to her a bunch and did some of my most theraputic cuddling, but she still looks like leftovers from the dog's dinner. It's a good thing that this is a four-day weekend.

4 comments:

mister jeter harris, hizself said...

wow ... gradnite at disneyland ... wutta grate time! mi mom sez yer mom iz verree brave! she wuz laffin dat nokid hadta go to da annaheim jail!
mi mom hatez feeld tripz. da bronx zoo iz comin up in june. maybe she'll bring me anudder pikshur uv a gorilla! i hope none uv her kidz havta go to da bronx jail! (dat would be funnee becuz dey ar all 10 yeerz old!)
luv--yer frend--jh

Skeezix the Cat said...

I shode this to my Food Lady hoo sed, "OHMYGAWDWHUTANITEMARE" becuz the last (the vary last) time she wint to Dizneyland she was with my Ant Joanne and my cuzzin Kathrin, and it was abowt 100 degreez and way overcrowded with skreeming kids and ALL of the lines were way long so she just got to go to the Dumbo Ride (45 minit wate) and It's a Small Werld (100 minit wate) wich broke down partway thru, so they had to sit on the bote with that grate song singing for and howr and a half wich the Food Lady sed was 2 howrs too long. She also got to go on the Country Bare Jamboree wich she liked becuz alth she had to wate in line for an howr, she did git to sit down during the show. And Kathrin sang the It's a Small Werld song all the way in the car ride bak to Bakersfeeld, too.

The Food Lady and Mr TF still are not happy that they don't have the GE Carousell of Progress and the Monsanto Jerney into Inner Space any more. Thoze were thare faverits.

Anonymous said...

whoa - long bus ride! we're purrty close to Disneyland, so the people go there whenever, but it's always crowded. they always do that "Fast Pass" thing. the Lady says her Grad Night (1980) was at Disneyland too, and plus she remembers (fondly) the GE and the Inner Space things Skeezix mentioned. purrsonally, we'd rather stay home and nap.

sammawow said...

Oh wow - our Food Lady did Grad Night there too and she also remembers the GE and Inner Space things. She thinks your mom was very brave to chaperone!

Purrrrs, China Cat & Willow