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Saturday March 13 It was another early morning today with Hollywood Studios having "magic hours".
Once in the park, we made a beeline for Toy Story Mania, which we rode once without any wait, and then got fast passes for later. It was such a fun ride, a favorite for everyone!
After that, Ed and I wanted to go on The Tower of Terror. N said that he was interested too, so we explained to him that it was a ride where we are on an elevator that drops down really fast. He said he was ok with it, so we decided to go for it, knowing that he wouldn't fully understand what the ride was about until he went on it, but also thinking that there are kids who end up loving it. We wouldn't know if he was one of those kids unless he tried it. He was fine until the ride actually did its first drop, and then I could hear him yelling,"Mommy!" each time it fell. When it was over he said, "I don't want to go on that ride again!". You can see that he looks a little stunned in the pictures we took after.
We then went to see The Great Movie Ride, which the kids did not like, especially E- too much of the gun fight. After that, we went to The Little Mermaid show, hoping to have something K would enjoy since she loves the Little Mermaid, but it was a little too intense for her, and she hated being sprintzed by water. After that, the kids got to play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, which they all liked a lot, although it was a little too zoo-like for the adults!
We ate lunch at 50's Prime Time which is a fun restaurant that pretends you are part of the family-making you set the table, clean your plates, and handing out punishments for misbehaviors. One woman had to put her nose against the wall for having her elbows on the table, and Ed had to take the plates to the kitchen because he didn't eat all his veggies. At this point of the day K began to lose it, so I took her back for a nap while the others rode Star Tours.
We had an early dinner (4:10) at Epcot's Garden Grill, so Ed and the kids came back to the hotel and we met up with his parents. This was the last of the character meals, and the KK really loved meeting Chip and Dale. They both came by our table a couple of times to give her hugs and kisses, and she was super excited each time, coming out of her "I'm not eating, I'm whining" funk. Mickey got her to eat a bite of chicken, something we had been unable to coax her to do!
We had an extra feature of having our restaurant revolve so that we saw scenes from inside Living with the Land ride. It took the whole meal to make one revolution so we went past scenes of a desert, a rain forest and a farm, as well as a mural painted wall.
After dinner K played in a fountain spot, even though it was about 60 degrees. She really had fun, although I got lots of funny looks from passing grown-ups who were bundled up in sweatshirts and jeans. I just shook my head and agreed that I didn't know how she stood it!
We ended up our last day at Epcot with a complete tour around the lagoon past all the countries to get the rest of the stamps for the kids' books. E was pretty tired by the end, but she was a trooper and walked the whole way without complaining.
Thursday March 11
It was a good thing the kids got an early bedtime last night, because it was another early morning and a full day with no "rest" time! Magic Kingdom had an extra "Magic Hour" for resort guests, before the park opened to the general public. We took a 7:15 shuttle to get to the 8 am opening. The sky was threatening to open, so we jumped onto Dumbo a couple of times before the rain started. It was a pretty soggy day in the park as we went on rides in Fantasy Land and Tomorrow Land. It did mean that we could pretty much ride whatever we wanted with little to no wait, and the park was uncrowded. We were thankful for our raincoats and umbrellas as well as the indoor attractions.
We enjoyed a little break from the weather at lunch time when we ate at the Crystal Palace and met Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger.
We left the park around 4 amid torrential downpours, and took the monorail to the Contemporary Resort where we had a 5 p.m. character dinner at Chef Mickey. As we ate, Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Minnie and Mickey came over to our table for pictures and autographs. We also made them each do the "hot dog" dance (from Mickey MouseClubhouse).
KK was now used to seeing these larger than life characters, and enthusiastically greeted each one. Her favorite by far, was Minnie Mouse. She jumped up and gave her a big hug and kiss.
It was a perfect ending to a somewhat soggy day.**I did take a bunch of pictures today, but many did not turn out as my flaky camera decided it didn't want to work. I had left my other camera at home because it was too large to carry around each day. As a result, the pictures I got weren't always the ones I wanted to take. Oh well!**
Wednesday March 10
We had a bit of a later start this morning since Epcot didn't open until 9. Our first priority was getting over to Soarin'. Ed's parents went on right away with E and N, while Ed and I waited with K, who was too small to ride. When they came out, we went in and E and N rode again with us. It was so cool! We rode in the front row, so we were on the top section of the ride when it started. There were no shows dangling in front of us, so it was easier to be immersed in the experience. I was disappointed when it ended! We then headed over to Test Track. Noah decided to be brave once he heard it was like driving a race car, and he loved the ride. E sat it out with K. We then went over to a fairy garden and playground where the kids played before lunch.
It was getting pretty warm, around 79 degrees, so we found a cool spot in the shade next to Mexico to eat. Near the end of our meal, Donald Duck came out of a gate nearby and the kids got to be first in line to meet him, before the passing crowd swooped in and formed a long line. We also caught Daisy Duck and Stitch on our way out of the park, with a relatively short line. As you can see by the absence of K from these pictures, she was not down with these characters!
We took the kids back for rest time and K napped while E and N watched TV. Ed and I got ready for a night out on our own and we left around 4 for Downtown Disney and the Cirque de Soleil show (the kids spent a fun afternoon and evening swimming with their grandparents). Ed and I had heard great things about Cirque, and were excited to see the show. We were thoroughly enjoying the show, when halfway through there was a bike act with a stunt rider who did all kinds of tricks. To our surprise, Ed was asked to come up onto the stage and lie down while the bike did jumps over his head! I had read that they sometimes got the audience to participate, but I never expected us to be a part of it. It was a lot of fun, and made the show all the more memorable.
Tuesday March 9
This morning was another early one. We woke up the kids around 6:30 a.m. to get them dressed and out to the shuttle stop by 7 a.m. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and were admitted into the park at 8, an hour before the official opening so that we could eat with the princesses in the castle. It was such a neat way to start off our week! We were probably in a group of the first 50 people to get in the park. Main Street was completely empty, and we got a couple of shots with the castle in the background before E decided that enough was enough- Cinderella was waiting!
We first met Cinderella, and K was a bit unsure, not quite believing her eyes. She kind of stared at Cinderella, and wasn't very responsive. That soon changed as we ate our breakfast, and Snow White, Belle, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty all came to our table to greet us. K was very taken with Snow White in particular. It was fun to see her get so excited! The older kids kind of just took it all in stride, posed for photos, and asked for autographs.
After breakfast we made our way to Adventure Land where we rode Aladdin's Carpet two times in a row, without any wait.
We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean. All the kids were in agreement that they did not like that ride- too dark and scary! We took turns watching the kids with Ed's parents to ride Big Thunder Mt. before taking a trip onto Tom Sawyer's island. Unfortunately, we didn't find the hidden paint brushes, so did not get the prize for the day, but it was neat to explore the caves (E didn't like them either). Since it was a little chilly and overcast, Splash Mt. had no wait. Ed and I got right on, and of course were soaked! Phil and Nancy went, and barely got splashed! After lunch we waited in line for the Jungle Cruise for about 1/2 hour, no fast passes today. Then Ed and I returned back to the hotel, it was naptime for N and K and swim time for E.
We went over to Epcot met up with Phil and Nancy in Japan for dinner.
We walked through some of the nations, getting passport stamps for the kids' books before we found a spot to watch Illuminations. After waiting 45 minutes, we got into a front row section that is roped off until 10 minutes before the show. Shortly into the show, KK decided she needed to go to the bathroom (even though I had just taken her!!), and I had to miss the ending. I think she was actually looking for an excuse to get away from the light and noise. Oh well, at least I saw part of it.
We joined the rush of people exiting the park and go back to our rooms around 10 pm. The kids were beyond exhausted!
**I apologize in advance for anyone who doesn't want a blow-by-blow of our vacation. I wanted to put down our activities so that I will remember what we did. Feel free to skip the next few entries!**
Monday March 8
The day started super early as Ed and I got ourselves and the kids up and out the door by 5:20 a.m.! We encountered no traffic, and were checked in and through security in enough time to relax a little before our 7:10 flight. The kids enjoyed the flight, spending their time going through various activities in their own back packs- coloring books, video games, books, and puzzles.
We arrived in sunny Florida around 10:30, and checked into the Caribbean Beach Resort around 11:30. Since our rooms weren't going to be ready until 3, we ate lunch and spent the afternoon in the pool. The kiddie pool had a really cool pirate ship that included slides, water spouts and fountains.
After settling our luggage into our rooms, we made our way to Downtown Disney where we had dinner reservations at T-Rex, a dinosaur themed restaurant. The decor was AMAZING, albeit a bit loud (roaring dinosaurs and all), but it was all part of the fun.
After dinner we stopped in at the Lego store, marveled over the displays, and then returned to the hotel for bedtime. I think everyone was asleep by 8:30!
Around this time of the year I long for spring, green grass, and flowers. Unfortunately, it is still about a month before we even have daffodils, so I start bringing inside cuttings of forsythia. The bright spot of color really brightens my mood, as well as our home.
This year I found some branches that had broken off of a tree after all the heavy snow. I wasn't sure what kind of tree it was, but I thought I would try to force the buds. I cut the branch up into manageable lengths, put them in some vases, and watched to see what would happen. Even if they didn't bloom, I liked the fuzzy buds- they kind of looked like large pussy willows. After about two weeks, blossoms started to emerge...
magnolias!!
