Some families wear matching t-shirts. They plan what Disney calls a Grand Gathering, a WDW vacation with extended family and friends. They order a WDW planning DVD for everyone, and then their t-shirts from “Zazzle” , matching ones for everyone that say things like “Becky’s first WDW trip”, or “The Anderson’s Family Reunion”.

Carol, Cindy and I aren’t the matching t-shirts kind of sisters but we’d been raised on Disney, watching “The Wonderful World of Color” every Sunday night and seeing every Disney movie (Mary Poppins at the Larkfield drive in!), so when we had our own families I planned a little “Magical Gathering” for us.  I requested 2 adjoining rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside  and we crammed 9 of us into them. It was cozy. Carol, Richard, their son Jacob, Lauren and I ( Brian didn’t feel magical enough for this gathering) were in one room and Cindy, Bob, and their sons Christopher and Stephen in the other.

Everything was great until the maid stole Stephen’s toothbrush. I argued that this would be an odd thing for her to have done but Stephen was convinced and so I took his word for it. We bought him a new one and never made a formal complaint to WDW, but let’s just say that everyone’s toothbrushes got hidden really well the next day.

And then there was the lunch at Disney’s Hollywood Studios’   “50’s Prime Time Cafe”.  50’s Prime Time is a very cleverly decorated restaurant that puts you right in the middle of a 50’s sitcom. The lobby looks like my living room when I was about 5, and the dining room is straight out of “Leave it to Beaver”, with Formica tables and TVs with rabbit ears on the tables showing clips from old shows. The menu is full of old-fashioned comfort foods like meat loaf, mac and cheese, and “TV dinners”.

The servers pretend they are somehow related to you, for instance, you might be led to your table by “Grandma”, or “Uncle Pete”. We had a “cousin” named Brad who evidently thought he was the boss of us. We were waiting for the table and heard him yell, “Hey Rostas kids! (my maiden name) Get in here! Dinner’s ready!” He was very cross and not in the mood for our shenanigans.

He immediately gave us chores (setting the table) and then asked us: “Did you wash your hands?”

“Yeeeessss,” we all assured him.

He seemed skeptical. “Was the soap powder or liquid?” When we couldn’t tell him, he made us all go back and wash our hands again.

He asked me what I’d like for lunch and I told him a salad. He shook his head and said, “That’s not enough for lunch, Cheri. What else do you want?” When I said that a salad was all I wanted, he reiterated, “A salad is not enough for lunch. I’ll come back to you.”

Then, as promised, when everyone else’s order had been taken, he returned to me. “Now, Cheri. What would you like?”

I admit he was scaring me a little at this point, but I tried again, “But all I really want is a salad”. He just kind of glowered at me until I said, “and some fries. I guess I’ll have some fries.”

Brad sighed. “Cheri, are we going through a vegetarian phase or something?”

I nodded “yes”.

“Alright...”, he reluctantly gave in. “A salad and french fries for Cheri.

We were all getting a charge out of Brad until Lauren got a little carried away and tattle told on Stephen. “He’s kicking me!” she whined.

“Stephen Hart you come here this instant!” Brad said sharply, and we all sat up a little straighter. Stephen got up and edged over to Brad, who directed to a corner and made him sit there for a few minutes. I can’t lie. I have never laughed harder in my life, and I have never seen my brothers-in-law laugh so hard. Unfortunately, Stephen did not think it was so funny. I think it kind of ruined lunch for him.

I’ve always wanted to ask him about it but didn’t want to open old wounds. I guess the next best thing is to write it about it for everyone to read in a blog...