Let me preface this extra special SSW experience with some background details. During Super Soap Weekend, the fans are up at 6:00 a.m. and to bed at midnight or later which leaves very little time to “make yourself beautiful,” especially, me! While there, I usually let my hair go curly so that I can jump out of the shower, mousse my hair, let it dry on the bus ride and then fluff it a bit—saves at least half an hour. This particular year, 2005, I packed my personal hygiene, hair products and first aid stuff all in one bag, a Victoria’s Secret cloth bag. Evidently, during my flight (or somewhere along the line), my mousse exploded all over everything in the bag—white foam everywhere. Does anyone realize how much mousse is in that tall, skinny can? Well, let me tell you—tons and tons! The cloth bag was soaked and will never be the same and white foam bubbles were stuck to everything.
So, here’s the problem…no mousse to help me save time and look half-way decent!!! Just to explain a bit, I do not have “good” hair, so if I don’t use mousse on my curly hair, my frizzy hair truly looks like a yellow Brillo pad after the yellow suds start to foam. I then trot down to the store at the hotel and they only have some sort of gel from Alberto VO5 (for an outrageous price, I might add), I’m not a very happy camper—this has spoiled my fun! The lady behind the counter had a marvelous head of curly hair so I boldly walked up to her and asked what she uses and she explained that she uses a product her hairdresser recommends—Biosilk—which I can get at several local stores, but I’d need a car!!! I only have the Disney buses at my disposal—that’s out! I do plan to try it soon, though. So, I buy this gel in a red container and go back to try to repair my half-dried hair…it didn’t work--each curl was stiff as a curly board and only on the top layer, I could never seem to get this gel to blend underneath. Not the best time to try new hair products…trust me.
For most of the weekend, I managed to avoid being seen, sorry Pam and Susan!!! Unfortunately, on one bus trip, a newsletter reader struck up a conversation and discovered who I was and I nearly died!
It’s now Sunday evening and my daughter and I had finished doing all the important things for the weekend and seeing as many stars as possible, getting our photos with printed signatures—I just couldn’t fathom standing in those long lines so no personally signed photos. So she drags me to ride the Tower of Terror with her which I must admit, I’m terrified to ride. I have ridden it several times over the years, but I really have to prepare myself mentally and emotionally—I’m a wimp, truly. We went through the standby line and were taken very quickly so I had no time to back out. We went right to the first elevator and guess who was there waiting…Kelli Giddish (Di)!!! She and her Disney guide were standing there and we were assigned the other two seats in her row.
Now, you have to remember that my hair is full of this gel (that I obviously didn’t master the use of and don’t plan to!) and the curls are as plastered and brittle looking as they can be, so I decided not to tell Kelli who I was! We chatted and, believe it or not, the Tower of Terror is her favorite ride!!! Michael E. Knight (Tad) loves it, too! Oh, why am I such a wimp??? She tried to calm me and insisted I’d love it. The others in our elevator seemed to be calm about doing this, so I tried to be a little brave, but I really, pretty much, failed at my faux bravery. We chatted a bit about AMC and then I found myself sitting in the seat that I knew was about to plummet to the ground!!! My daughter went in first, then me, then the Disney guide and then Kelli. I started to panic and found nothing to hold onto so I grabbed my daughter’s hand and the wonderful Disney guide suggested I also hang on to her! Thank you, Disney guide! She rides it all the time…no big deal—for her, maybe!!!
We rise, we fall, we rise, we fall, I see a flash of light behind my closed eyes, we rise, and we fall…will it ever end? I know they opened the doors so we could look out over MGM Studios, but my eyes just wouldn’t open and my hands were otherwise busy holding on for dear life so I couldn’t pry them open. I’d put bruises on the upper arm of the Disney guide and my daughter’s hand was starting to turn purple. We fell for the last time and my daughter had to convince me that it was over and I didn’t have to fall again!
My wobbling knees somehow carried me off the elevator and over to the photo op where everyone seemed to want to see me screaming in the snapshot of all of us dropping to the ground floor.
Read on--for the best part!