The Little Mermaid Adventure
Last week I got an email from Disney on Broadway announcing that The Little Mermaid on Broadway will only be playing through August…and then they’re shutting their doors. Mr. Smarty Pants heard the announcement on the radio and said, “Hey, Mom! They’re shutting down The Little Mermaid!” He then proudly pronounced that it’s all his doing…he’s taking full responsibility for shutting it down.
Why? I’ll share a post from my previous blog and let you be the judge:
Monday, February 9, 2009
I love New York City. There’s always something going on. It truly is the city that never sleeps.
My mom was in town last week. We had a really great visit with her and wish she could’ve stayed longer.
While she was here, we took advantage of Kids’ Night on Broadway and took Miss Mini Boss & Mr. Smarty Pants to see The Little Mermaid. It was snowing, so I wanted to start our little trip early to give room for delays. I pulled the kids out of school 40 minutes early and drove to the train station. Found a parking spot (Wahoo!). I know…it’s probably nutso to get excited over a parking spot, but I already had parking tokens and didn’t want to pay double to park in a private lot. The spot was on my left and I was getting ready to pull into it when a driver behind me decided they didn’t want to wait for me. He wanted to pass me. Problem was that there was no room to pass me on the right, so he decided to pass me on the LEFT as I was pulling LEFT into an empty parking spot. No collision happened…thank God! But, it was a close call.
I was later telling King of the Castle about it and had to explain it to him several times. He didn’t believe that somebody would pass somebody else…on the left…as the first somebody was pulling into a parking spot...on the left. (How long has he lived in Jersey…and why he was surprised is beyond me.) He asked, “What did you do?”
“I honked my horn.” (Of course…what else would I do?)
“Did you beep-beep honk, or did you lay on the horn?”
“I lay on the horn. I don’t beep-beep anymore…I’m a Jersey girl now.” He laughed.
What? Am I supposed to be courteous and polite to the guy who almost hit me???
In spite of our near collision, we made it to the train station in time to catch the earlier train. We arrived in the city 40 minutes earlier than planned. I was pretty excited about this because now we could change our plans. I originally planned to eat dinner in the theater district so we would be close to the theater, but we now had time to head down to the kids’ favorite restaurant near Union Square. The problem was that I made a big mistake. I relied on my flawed memory to get us there. The N, Q, R, W, 4, 5 & 6 trains go to Union Square. We walked over to Herald Square and grabbed the train downtown. However, we grabbed the D train. I was thinking the B, D & F trains also stopped at Union Square. Of course, I didn’t figure out that we were on the wrong train until we were crossing the East River and could see the Brooklyn Bridge out the window. Ugh! I felt so stupid. We got off the train in Brooklyn and grabbed the 4 train back to Manhattan and Union Square.
We entered the magical world of Max Brenner Chocolate. Willy Wonka truly does exist. The hostess greeted us by saying, “Oh look! Kids!” I laughed out loud. She asked me if they were allergic to nuts. I told her they weren’t so she took us to the candy bar and passed out caramelized chocolate-covered pecans. Yum! Dinner was great…dessert was fantastic. The kids shared half of a Chocolate Pizza. Mom had the Chocolate Chai Tea and I had the Vanilla Profiterole Fondue Skewers. Need I say more?
After dinner we took the correct train to the theater district. It was a slow train, but it got us to our destination. I’m not sure why it was slow, but do you ever notice that people talk on the train to strangers only when there are problems on the train? While the train is going, everybody pretends they are the only passengers on board. When the train stops for no reason…people start talking. It’s kinda strange, if you ask me. Mr. Smarty Pants was talking to me about who knows what and the guy next to me starts laughing. He looks at Mr. Smarty Pants and says, “You’re one funny little guy, you know that?” Mr. Smarty Pants nodded his head. Of course he knows he’s funny. I just wish I now remembered what he was telling me. I have no idea what tickled this stranger’s funny bone. Most of our conversations on the train have to do with the advertising posters. We had an earlier conversation about bed bugs…but that was on the Brooklyn bound train.
Anyways…the show started at 7:00. It was fantastic…of course. Most Broadway shows are. The first half went by without incident. We even had a great view because nobody was sitting in the row in front of us. The second half was a little bit more adventurous. It started with some not-so-tiny seat hoppers deciding to take advantage of the empty row in front of us. Halfway through the 2nd act, they regretted their decision and quickly went back to their original seats. Why? Because Mr. Smarty Pants decided his chocolate pizza didn’t agree with his tummy.
That’s right…my 6-year-old son vomited in the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in Manhattan. He puked all over the floor and on the people sitting in the row in front of us in the middle of “If Only.” I grabbed him and walked as fast as I could to the lobby, ripped off his clothes and did laundry using the bathroom sink and hand dryer while he shivered and fussed about having to be in the women’s bathroom…as if puking in a public place wasn’t humiliating enough…
When the actors took their final bow, I made my way back to our seats to assess the damage. The people behind us were kind enough to give us an entire package of baby wipes, but there’s only so much you can do. I was grateful for their sympathy. They told me their youngest was a puker, so they understood.
I was bummed I didn't get to watch the end of the show...but, I'm told that Eric and Ariel got together and lived happily ever after. (I hope I didn't ruin the ending for anybody...Sorry if I did!)
I hope that we don’t single handedly discourage Broadway from doing Kids Night on Broadway from this point on. If the program shuts down…you can blame the kid who puked during The Little Mermaid…my kid.
We left the theater and made our way back to the train station. We got to Penn Station just in time for Mr. Smarty Pants to mention he had to throw up again. Mom took him over to a trash can and held him over it while he tried to empty his stomach again. It’s amazing how much space you can get in a crowded train terminal when you have a puking child. Our gate was called and we walked to the platform and somehow managed to get an entire train car to ourselves. I should take Mr. Smarty Pants with me to NYC more often. I’m sure I can train him to fake puke in order to get some personal space.
Why? I’ll share a post from my previous blog and let you be the judge:
Monday, February 9, 2009
I love New York City. There’s always something going on. It truly is the city that never sleeps.
My mom was in town last week. We had a really great visit with her and wish she could’ve stayed longer.
While she was here, we took advantage of Kids’ Night on Broadway and took Miss Mini Boss & Mr. Smarty Pants to see The Little Mermaid. It was snowing, so I wanted to start our little trip early to give room for delays. I pulled the kids out of school 40 minutes early and drove to the train station. Found a parking spot (Wahoo!). I know…it’s probably nutso to get excited over a parking spot, but I already had parking tokens and didn’t want to pay double to park in a private lot. The spot was on my left and I was getting ready to pull into it when a driver behind me decided they didn’t want to wait for me. He wanted to pass me. Problem was that there was no room to pass me on the right, so he decided to pass me on the LEFT as I was pulling LEFT into an empty parking spot. No collision happened…thank God! But, it was a close call.
I was later telling King of the Castle about it and had to explain it to him several times. He didn’t believe that somebody would pass somebody else…on the left…as the first somebody was pulling into a parking spot...on the left. (How long has he lived in Jersey…and why he was surprised is beyond me.) He asked, “What did you do?”
“I honked my horn.” (Of course…what else would I do?)
“Did you beep-beep honk, or did you lay on the horn?”
“I lay on the horn. I don’t beep-beep anymore…I’m a Jersey girl now.” He laughed.
What? Am I supposed to be courteous and polite to the guy who almost hit me???
In spite of our near collision, we made it to the train station in time to catch the earlier train. We arrived in the city 40 minutes earlier than planned. I was pretty excited about this because now we could change our plans. I originally planned to eat dinner in the theater district so we would be close to the theater, but we now had time to head down to the kids’ favorite restaurant near Union Square. The problem was that I made a big mistake. I relied on my flawed memory to get us there. The N, Q, R, W, 4, 5 & 6 trains go to Union Square. We walked over to Herald Square and grabbed the train downtown. However, we grabbed the D train. I was thinking the B, D & F trains also stopped at Union Square. Of course, I didn’t figure out that we were on the wrong train until we were crossing the East River and could see the Brooklyn Bridge out the window. Ugh! I felt so stupid. We got off the train in Brooklyn and grabbed the 4 train back to Manhattan and Union Square.
We entered the magical world of Max Brenner Chocolate. Willy Wonka truly does exist. The hostess greeted us by saying, “Oh look! Kids!” I laughed out loud. She asked me if they were allergic to nuts. I told her they weren’t so she took us to the candy bar and passed out caramelized chocolate-covered pecans. Yum! Dinner was great…dessert was fantastic. The kids shared half of a Chocolate Pizza. Mom had the Chocolate Chai Tea and I had the Vanilla Profiterole Fondue Skewers. Need I say more?
After dinner we took the correct train to the theater district. It was a slow train, but it got us to our destination. I’m not sure why it was slow, but do you ever notice that people talk on the train to strangers only when there are problems on the train? While the train is going, everybody pretends they are the only passengers on board. When the train stops for no reason…people start talking. It’s kinda strange, if you ask me. Mr. Smarty Pants was talking to me about who knows what and the guy next to me starts laughing. He looks at Mr. Smarty Pants and says, “You’re one funny little guy, you know that?” Mr. Smarty Pants nodded his head. Of course he knows he’s funny. I just wish I now remembered what he was telling me. I have no idea what tickled this stranger’s funny bone. Most of our conversations on the train have to do with the advertising posters. We had an earlier conversation about bed bugs…but that was on the Brooklyn bound train.
Anyways…the show started at 7:00. It was fantastic…of course. Most Broadway shows are. The first half went by without incident. We even had a great view because nobody was sitting in the row in front of us. The second half was a little bit more adventurous. It started with some not-so-tiny seat hoppers deciding to take advantage of the empty row in front of us. Halfway through the 2nd act, they regretted their decision and quickly went back to their original seats. Why? Because Mr. Smarty Pants decided his chocolate pizza didn’t agree with his tummy.
That’s right…my 6-year-old son vomited in the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in Manhattan. He puked all over the floor and on the people sitting in the row in front of us in the middle of “If Only.” I grabbed him and walked as fast as I could to the lobby, ripped off his clothes and did laundry using the bathroom sink and hand dryer while he shivered and fussed about having to be in the women’s bathroom…as if puking in a public place wasn’t humiliating enough…
When the actors took their final bow, I made my way back to our seats to assess the damage. The people behind us were kind enough to give us an entire package of baby wipes, but there’s only so much you can do. I was grateful for their sympathy. They told me their youngest was a puker, so they understood.
I was bummed I didn't get to watch the end of the show...but, I'm told that Eric and Ariel got together and lived happily ever after. (I hope I didn't ruin the ending for anybody...Sorry if I did!)
I hope that we don’t single handedly discourage Broadway from doing Kids Night on Broadway from this point on. If the program shuts down…you can blame the kid who puked during The Little Mermaid…my kid.
We left the theater and made our way back to the train station. We got to Penn Station just in time for Mr. Smarty Pants to mention he had to throw up again. Mom took him over to a trash can and held him over it while he tried to empty his stomach again. It’s amazing how much space you can get in a crowded train terminal when you have a puking child. Our gate was called and we walked to the platform and somehow managed to get an entire train car to ourselves. I should take Mr. Smarty Pants with me to NYC more often. I’m sure I can train him to fake puke in order to get some personal space.
Oh that's really funny.
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