Aw, isn’t it sweet when you hear Kevin and John talk about their pin collecting days? Doesn’t it sound like they had ever so much fun? They’re leaving out one teeny detail; they would coerce any and every one to get pins for them. Listen closely to a podcast and imagine the two of them teaming up to create “the perfect whine.” You thought they’d end up on life support if you didn’t get them the pin they wanted.
“Regina, you’re going to Epcot for the Millennium with 173,000,000 other people? Get us the pin.” “You’re going to your first MNSSHP? Get us the pin. Be sure you go directly to the Camera Center. We want the pins, not the framed set. They’ll let you get two. Once you get them, race to the back of the park to see if they’re selling them there too.” They were always so helpful.
My favorite was when they wanted THE ULTIMATE PIN. This was no ordinary piece of metal; this one was the size of a hubcap. (They sent me a picture of it, just in case I confused it with other non-existent platter sized pins.) Where does one get such a treasure? Why on the Disney Magic’s first Panama Canal crossing.
On this particular voyage, DCL planned on having plenty of food for 14 days, there were always activities going on and each night we enjoyed a new show. What they forgot to do was make enough pins. This minor detail was discovered when they started to sell the limited edition pins for each port of call. Let’s just say there were some diehard pin collectors on that cruise and it got a bit tense. Fortunately, John and Kevin weren’t interested in the port pins, so I kept my eye on the prize, the big Kahuna, and waited for it to go on sale.
Ultimately, in their infinite wisdom, DCL decided to distribute vouchers for the remaining series of pins along with one for the hubcap at Beat Street first thing on a chosen morning. Okay, we’ll get up early, get the vouchers and get the mutant pin.
No sooner did we take a picture of our towel animal and have our nightly chocolate than the phone rang. “Regina, people are lining up NOW!! You have to get down here if you want that pin.”
We quickly change out of our jammies, head to Beat Street and find the line had reached the atrium. We’re Disney people and do what Disney people do when they see a line, we get on it. Before too long, I could see my hubby’s starting to fade and I send him back to the stateroom to get some sleep and join me later. (Misery loves company and I wasn’t letting him completely off the hook.)
By the time they started giving out the vouchers that morning; the line had stretched to and wove through Parrot Cay. It was like some sort of surreal refugee camp. Was this what my grandparents experienced when they came to America via Ellis Island? I wonder how they made out at Bingo and which drink of the day was their favorite?
So that’s how I became part of the now legendary Disney Magic sleepover. John and Kevin, wanted, nay, they NEEDED that pin and I was not going to let a simple thing like sleep stop me from getting it for them.
And they complain about a 7am breakfast………………………
Leave a Reply