The Rick Springfield Fiasco

March 12, 2024 Kungaloosh Radio

Once a year, I have to mentally prepare myself for the eventual 💩show known as Garden Rocks. Usually, the crowds are manageable, but when it comes to Rick Springfield, I’ve seen grown women act like toddlers.

And here we are again for another round.

Now nothing against Rick Springfield, he puts on a great show, and I might actually think about seeing him in a real concert. But trying to manage my way past witchy women is enough to make me swear off all these free Epcot concerts… until next year.

This weekend was packed with going to the parks and resorts. Before the foot sprain, which still is sore, we had planned to visit the Easter eggs at Grand Floridian and Contemporary on Saturday. You can check out our adventures here.

While heading over to the Magic Kingdom was never in the plan, I somehow found myself right in the middle of the action.

We were only to spend an hour at the park, well that didn’t happen. This turned into “it’s only a half hour from fireworks,” “now everyone is leaving, so let the crowds die down,” to “there’s only another half/hour to park close.”

Yes, we closed down Magic Kingdom for the night.

During this time, we check out the Easter treats at Big Top.

My Doombuggy got stuck in the first entryway.

I took a shot of Cinderella Castle from the backside.

Also, discover a parrot by Pirates. It might be old age but I never remembered it being outside the shop.

I also enjoyed the Emporium windows.

Now off to bed for another jam-packed day.

Sunday

Today’s the day! We have been planning for this day for a long time. Our Garden Rocks dinner package was set, and we were ready for the day.

The dinner reservation for the 6:45 show was at 2:15 for the Biergarten. While we didn’t want to cut it close, we decided to show up at noon was the perfect time to wander around and head to the restaurant.

We had to check out the Prehistoric Garden with the disappearing/reappearing dino figures. More on that later…

I’m taking credit for this. Disney must’ve heard my Uncrustables complaint.

Like I’ve said a hundred times, this is my favorite festival.

Look at those cute ears… what little Orange Birds.

I love Biergarten! Nothing like stuffing yourself silly with beer cheese soup, sauerbraten, and sausages.

The food was excellent, probably the greatest tasting since the pandemic troubles. My only complaint with this restaurant is the service is very meh. Don’t expect quick refills on sodas or anything. It’s like plopping down the drinks and never seeing anyone for the entirety of your meal.

Along with that, it can be a hit-and-miss with who is seated next to you. They don’t do the communal seating, but the tables are still close together.

Unfortunately, our next-door table mates consisted of a mom who was more worried about Lightning Lane than her child, a dad chugging down a beer, and a little girl who spent the whole dinner eating right next to me with an open mouth and grabbing our table.

And when mom made a Test Track LL, the kid had a major conniption. I mean screaming “Don’t make me go on Test Track. Mom, noooooooo!”

Ugh, those are the chances at this spot.

After dinner, we decided to walk over to American Gardens Theater. Since my foot was still on the mend, Mom decided she wanted to see the 5:30 show. So she would wait in that line, while I went to the dinner package one.

Here’s a mini-rant: Now I’ve never had problems waiting in line, but for some reason, the Cast Member was super jumpy. He goes down the line, looking for your little sticker that comes with the package. You get a sticker with a time for the show. He sees my 6:30 and starts to go off. He’s saying that the venue is packed and they can’t accommodate me changing my time. I had to interrupt and tell him “I’m happy waiting for the next show. I don’t want to change my time.” Nope, he’s still going on…

I had to say (politely) I have no intentions of switching my times; I just want to wait in line. So after that, he leaves and lets me stand in line.

Yeah, it’s going to be a wait, but I wanted to get a good spot for my Mom, who uses an ECV. And these dinner packages only have limited space for the scooters.

A little time later, I see my Mom coming back. She didn’t want to wait for the 5:30 show because the line was too long. That’s fine.

Before they let everyone into the theater, another Cast Member comes down the line. She sees that we’re the first ECV, and she says “You’ll be first for the next show.”

After a little bit, everyone for the first show goes into the concert. We wait on the outside of the line with about 15 people ahead of us.

Fast-forward to 10 minutes before the show. The same Cast Member comes back and says, “There’s a change of plans. I have someone ahead of you, but I’ll still get you next to the stage.” Of course, Mom is excited, but that doesn’t pan out.

As the CM goes down the line, another lady in scooter start complaining how her scooter won’t fit in a regular space, and she can only park on the end next to the stage. So now the CM comes back to us and apologizes that she needs to move us, but we’ll still get an “excellent spot.”

I have to say accommodating a “Karen” and her bitching was kinda poor response by the Cast Member. It’s really not fair for us to get bumped because Big Bertha doesn’t think her scooter would fit into a regular space. Like I said, I hate the type of crowds at Rick Springfield.

So now, we kind of had an okay space until the 7-foot man decided to stand for the entire concert. Yes, I know people stand, but this was our paid view for the entire show.

And my “first class” video of the 6:45pm concert. A lot of zooming and weaving to get people’s heads out of the way.

Here’s my non-complaint complaint: If you have a family member in an ECV and expect a good seat, you might have to temper your expectations. No, you can’t stop people from standing up; it’s a concert. But be aware that you might not get a great view of the stage. Or you could complain that your scooter doesn’t fit into the designated space and get the best seat in the house.

After all this, my Mom said she would get out of her scooter next year and grab a seat in the first row of the venue. We did get to see Rick as he waded through the crowd.

After that bummer, we tried to make it to the last show. Even when a bad foot, I was bobbing and weaving throughout the crowd. And yes, I made it to a great spot in line.

Thankfully, the second show was exponentially better. We had a less dramatic crowd, and Mom got a better view of the stage. She actually was a few feet down from the first spot.

Mom was happy, and she got to see Rick as he left the American Gardens area and went to the back of the American Adventure Pavilion.

That should be it, right? Right?

Can we come back tomorrow?

Ugh!

The Next Day

I knew that getting back to Epcot on Monday was going to be a challenge. Unlike other Disney bloggers, vloggers, and the like, I have a full-time job, so getting away is not as easy anymore.

I was able to skip my lunch and leave a little early. Unfortunately, we live a little farther up the road from the Mouse House, so spontaneous trips are hard on the weekdays.

Once we got inside, Mom went full force to the concert venue, while I grabbed something to eat.

I pretty much woofed it down, like a pelican eating a fish, and headed back to the American Garden Theater. Mom did see the show from the outside, but then she decided to wait in line for 6:45.

Unlike past years, the CMs have been moving the crowds into the theater quickly, probably within 15 minutes of the last show.

We got in and got better seats than the day before. During this time, I decided to skip this show and hold a place in line for the last show. I know, I made things super complicated, but I just wanted to make sure Mom saw the last performance of the night.

So yeah, all that running around, and I only saw one show. But it was still great. The weekday crowd was completely different from the weekend one. There were no rude people; everyone was just there to have fun.

Plus, Rick Springfield stopped the show to meet little Gizmo the dog. How cool is that?

Well, that should’ve been the conclusion to a great night, but only it wasn’t. We were planning to grab a bite at Regal Eagle Smokehouse. But first I grabbed some gumbo.

Apparently, the quick service wasn’t expecting a big rush of people, which led to them running out of BBQ pork. Instead, there were only chicken fingers and burgers, which, as you can imagine, didn’t go over too well.

And, of course, people were extremely upset, with one guy saying “I don’t want kids’ food. I want real food!” The poor manager’s hands were shaking trying to put in orders, refunding money, and calming the crowd.

He said to the guy, “Well, everything is on the house.” Then that guy decided that burgers and chicken fingers were pretty okay to eat.

Anyway, we had a mobile order and had to substitute BBQ pork for chicken fingers. I was willing to pay for the banana pudding, but the manager picked it up and gave us a soda.

So behold a free dinner from Epcot.