Disney Drama

So we went to Disney today. It was a spur of the moment decision because Mondays are best for us and the weather today was gorgeous. We went with my sister and Bam-Bam. A week ago, I took three of my kids, Kiwi's daughter and Bam-Bam. Yep. Me and 5 kids alone at Epcot. Bam-Bam was never bad, but he made me CRAZY nonetheless. He just does whatever comes to mind-from climbing in and on the planters to running off to look at pins to chasing butterflies-you name it, he impulsively does it.
Fast forward to today...
We started out with Bam-Bam using the poles on the monorail as stripper/fire man poles, alternatively dancing around them or doing a flying jump (on a MOVING monorail) to the pole and sliding down it. That endears you to the others riding with you, for SURE!
We got to MK, and rode the train to Frontier Land. We got fast passes for Laur, Bam-Bam, Mimi, and TJ to Splash Mountain, and then we went and rode Thunder Mountain (Sari spent the WHOLE ride telling me how much she did NOT like this ride). At Thunder Mountain, we ran into the B family from our homeschool group. They were headed to the Haunted Mansion next, so we joined them. We were walking from Thunder Mountain to Haunted Mansion right around parade time, so it was pretty crowded. And we were 12 people moving en mass. When we got to Haunted Mansion, Scott and one of the B boys walked over to the restaurant cast member to trade pins. Everyone else went to the left to get in line.

It was then we noticed Bam-Bam was missing. A five year old. In the MK. At parade time. Controlled chaos broke out. TJ went with Laur to look for Bam-Bam. I left Scott in line to go with the B's, and stationed Mimi at the exit to wait on him. Sari and I went to look for Bam-Bam too. We alerted every cast member along the parade route, while Laur called Lost Children (where she co-incidentally worked for a bit when she worked at MK). Since she and I both had years of experience as Cast Members, we weren't freaked out, but it is a real and serious thing to have a 5 year old missing at Disney-especially when the search area is as large as the stretch from TM to HM. And sadly, none of us last knew when we saw Bam-Bam. after about 30-45 minutes of looking for him, he was reunited with his mom. It turns our he had been with us the whole time until the boys went to trade pins and we turned to get in line-he kept walking and ended up at Peter Pan. Of course none of us went checking PAST where we were headed.

After being reunited, we went to Tom Sawyer Island and turned the kids loose with two cell phones rigged as alarms, as implicit instructions to my boys that they were responsible for Bam-Bam and to NOT board the raft without us...we then sat guard at the raft dock just to be sure. It gave us the emotional recovery time and them a chance to run off their adrenaline. That went fine, so it was off to Splash Mountain to for them to use their past passes, and then to Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, Sari was professing her dislike for the ride, so I decided to distract her with a game of "I see a..." So I say, "I see a bird, do you see a bird?". TJ joined in with, "I see a crab, do you see a crab?". Totally into the game now, Sari says, "I see dead people, do you see dead people?".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....

Comments

Randi Sue said…
We are going on Thursday. Hope our day is not as eventful as yours.
Steph C. said…
Hilarious last line. Not so funny before that! SCARY! Was he upset when you found him? HOW does Sari know about that movie!!!! Did you all cry? I would be hysterical. Who found him? How did they find him? He didn't get in trouble did he? What IS protocol? I heard you should stand up on something to get "over" the crowd. I pray to GOD I never lose Kate at Disney. Gosh, I'd have a heart attack!
Julie said…
I see that you used Bam Bam's real name at one point in the post. Glad he was found!
oneblessedmamma said…
Thanks Julie, I fixed that. Steph-I've never even seen that movie, NOR has Sari, which made it all the funnier. Disney protocol, when you have the PARENT but not the child is to walk the area and alert ALL the cast members around that you are looking for a child, and give the description. Supervisors have radios, so they can keep in touch with each other in case the child is found. Each park also has a "Lost Children" area, and they have the parent call there and give a description too. If you ahve the CHILD, you walk them in the area for 15 minutes looking for the parents, and then take then to Lost Children. Cast Members aren't allowed technically to pick up a child to get them above the crowd because of the sick-o society we live in and the fact that a claim of impropriety could be made. Bam-Bam had been found by a Cast Member, but she thought his name was "Sam", and she had given that info to Lost Children, so it took a few minutes for everyone to realize that Sam and Bam-Bam were one in the same.

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