Tuesday, January 03, 2012

When the Queue Fights Back

Some of you know that until June 2011, I had a very real fear of Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion. In fact, it was so bad that even as an adult, I would sit through the ride with my eyes partly covered! The one time I dared to ride it alone, I ended up so freaked out that the only way I made it through was by staring at my lit phone screen! Something about things jumping out at me (in the graveyard scene) or the chance of getting stuck in the Mansion just really got to me. Never mind that my dad thought my 4-year-old terror of it was hilarious back in 1987!  

June 2011 I rode with Kyle, and I my fears diminished as he pointed out neat details on the ride. By December 2011, I was begging him to hurry up, so we could go get in our Doombuggy!  Funny how fears can go away when you're with the right person. (Truthfully it also helped that I read a TON of facts on a Haunted Mansion fansite.)

Rewind to my first adult trip to Walt Disney World. It was January 2009, and my fear of the Haunted Mansion was in hyper-drive. I really wanted to go on the ride despite those fears though.

The grandparents-in-law agreed to watch the kiddos while the other adults went to the Haunted Mansion. This included me, my sister, my brother-in-law, his brother, and his brother's wife. I had already told everyone involved that I was NOT riding alone, and my sister would have to ride with me. Oh, another key point is that earlier in the day, the queue had been extended to start around the entrance to the Liberty Square Riverboat.

Finally plucking up the courage to face my fears, I, in typical Joanna style, decided to laugh it up with everyone while hurrying to the attraction. Laughter always makes me feel better, so I was making everyone laugh, while practically running to the ride and looking behind me to talk to everyone.  I just heard my sister yell, "JOANNA!" and barely registered an odd look on her face when something hit me so hard in the stomach that I doubled over!  Did someone seriously just punch me?!

Nope. Apparently even though the queue was no longer extended, and the ropes were down, the removable, waist height poles they used to extend the queue were still in the sidewalk.  I had slammed right into one and folded over it cartoon style! 

Imagine running into the pole above while jogging!  It knocked the wind out of me, and people around us were looking at me like I was crazy!  It didn't help that I was scared to death of the ride we were about to go on, but now I was out of air and laughing hysterically!  Fear was coming out as fits of laughter!  You know that kind of laughter where you start crying, and you're almost sobbing because you're laughing so hard?  Yeah, that was me!  Until we got in the Doombuggies I was wiping tears of laughter and giggling randomly. People gave me a bit of a wide berth.

Later that night I lifted up my shirt and noticed I had a silver dollar sized bruise right beside my belly button!  Of course I told my sister and that set off another round of laughter!  While I was mortified that I'd done something so silly, so publicly, it's actually a fun memory for me.  Every time I pass those poles, I giggle a bit remembering my most embarrassing Disney moment.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Be Our Guest Podcast, Kyle, & Me!!!

I know, I know! You're all waiting for the trip report to end all trip reports, but it's been the holiday season, and you know how busy that it!  I'm hoping this next week I can get some posts going for y'all, but to hold you over, I have a VERY rare treat!

While in Walt Disney World, Mike from the Be Our Guest Podcast tweeted to Kyle & me asking if we'd like to be interviewed for the show. We talked about it for a minute and thought it could be fun. Mike made good on his promise of an interview, and after a quick Skype download, we were on our way to recording an interview!

I was really surprised when Mike said he wanted to talk for about 30-45 minutes, and I was crazy nervous at first. However, when I just listened to the episode, I was amazed at how great it turned out. It was like a late Christmas present for me as I got to listen to Kyle & I reminisce about our trip. What a GREAT way to immortalize our trip!

This trip we focused on bringing YOU along with us by tweeting often and sending out lots of photos. I even live streamed some video along the way. Around the 22:30 mark in the podcast, we discuss social media at Walt Disney World.

Without further ado, here is the Be Our Guest Podcast: Episode 399: Friends Have a December to Remember at WDW! (I'm including 2 versions, Flash and Flash-less. Hehe!)










Your browser does not support the audio element.



Podcast Powered By Podbean