The Darling Family June Beach Club Trip:Hugging Ewoks and Finding Peter Pan

[cjackearl]

You know, your's is the second TR I've seen where the family has different character ringer tees, and they look so great! Matchy, but not too matchy-matchy.

Love the Epcot pictures of you guys. And yea for John's alone time with Mom.

We laughed so hard at our futures on SE! Good job getting a picture.

 

[liznboys]

Great pictures!!!

The Spaceship Earth faces/cartoon bodies always make me laugh!

My dh and the boys played that city thingy game too while I went and picked up our Disney meet pictures! I think he took pictures on his iPhone actually...need to get those.

Aww, alone time for you and John.

 

[dismagiclover]

Your family pic in Epcot turned out great!! I just love the character shirts!! We did something very similar on our MK day. I'm thinking about doing it again on our next trip.

The picture of your kids looking down at Tinkerbell is so cute!!!

We haven't done Spaceship Earth yet. It's definitely a must-do next time. I didn't even realize that they had an interactive/game area after the ride. Hmmm....the boys would love that!!

The Epcot pictures did turn out good! I can't believe you've never ridden Spaceship Earth For the Darling Family it's a staple. We do it multiple times every trip!

What a great set of photos...it looks like you guys had a great time meeting characters!!!!!

Love the kids shirts!! Can't wait to hear more!!!

We never lack for character meet 'n greets in the Darling Family

I know how I sometimes feel after a nap if it's any longer than 10 - 15 minutes. Makes me feel icky. Glad they all perked up at dinner!

Great family photo.

The nap thing was not one of my more brilliant ideas, but alls well that ends well

You know, your's is the second TR I've seen where the family has different character ringer tees, and they look so great! Matchy, but not too matchy-matchy.

Love the Epcot pictures of you guys. And yea for John's alone time with Mom.

We laughed so hard at our futures on SE! Good job getting a picture.

It is a bit strange how much I get out of the character tshirt thing. I think I may be a bit too easily amused

Great pictures!!!

The Spaceship Earth faces/cartoon bodies always make me laugh!

My dh and the boys played that city thingy game too while I went and picked up our Disney meet pictures! I think he took pictures on his iPhone actually...need to get those.

Aww, alone time for you and John.

You better get those photos Liz! You can never let perfectly good photos die in a camera John always loves being with me, but of course it's great to be loved

 

[dismagiclover]

It was time for our visit with Donald and he loved, loved, loved John’s shirt. We are talking jumping up and down and multiple hugs. I told Donald he was John’s favorite and more hugging ensued.

Donald insisted on this picture.

Things got a bit dicey when Donald saw my shirt. He didn’t even want me in the picture. He made sure I stood behind him and did all he could to cover all evidence of the Mouse. Poor Donald. Always feeling second best.

Needless to say, Donald was very fun and John loved every second of it

Next up was Goofy. He loved both of our shirts, but wanted to know where his own shirt was. I told him DH had it on, but couldn’t make the picture. He was a tad bit disappointed, but still gave us some love.

Anyway, it was a fun character meet. And we’d be back. (Foreshadowing)

Meanwhile in the Seas, DH, Wendy and Michael rode Nemo which they all loved. They then caught the last show of Turtle Talk with Crush. The first kid Crush called on was Michael. DH doesn’t really remember what was said, but he does remember Michael screaming “Dude” at the top of his lungs so it must have been exciting.

It was an Illuminations night so John and I headed over to the World Showcase to find a spot. Here is John in France.

We stopped and picked up croissants and pastries in France for breakfast and then found a spot by the railing. It was an OK spot, but a tree blocked some of our view of the globe. While we were waiting for the others to arrive I turned over the camera to John. These are a couple of the shots he took.

The rest of the clan arrived and we enjoyed Illuminations. I love the way they incorporate the buildings in the World Showcase into the show. After it was over we took a leisurely walk back to our room and climbed into bed for another night of Disney Dreams.

Up next: An Epcot day and an expansion of our cast.

 

[carissanboys]

Great interaction with Donald! He is Sully's favorite, too.

 

[Happy Elf]

The pictures with the characters were great! You can tell your DS was loving every minute of it!

 

[cjackearl]

Donald was too funny! I'm sure John loved it.

 

[Angies1274]

Love the pictures with Donald!! He's always so much fun!!

 

[SunnieRN]

I love Donald and his interaction with you both! The Donalds always seem to be right in character!!

Your family pictures at Epcot turned out great!

I lol at your Vanna White comment!! Just think of the future she could have in modeling!!

Looking forward to more!

 

[dismagiclover]

Great interaction with Donald! He is Sully's favorite, too.

I think Donald actually has more #1 fans than Mickey. Poor Donald though. He still has that complex

The pictures with the characters were great! You can tell your DS was loving every minute of it!

John does love any extra attention he gets it! I think it's the middle child thing.

Donald was too funny! I'm sure John loved it.

Donald really was a hoot this night!

Love the pictures with Donald!! He's always so much fun!!

I love it when the characters really play around with you. Especially because we see them so often (We'll visit them again in the next installment)

I love Donald and his interaction with you both! The Donalds always seem to be right in character!!

Your family pictures at Epcot turned out great!

I lol at your Vanna White comment!! Just think of the future she could have in modeling!!

Looking forward to more!

Donald and Goofy are definitely some of the most fun characters. (And Stitch of course.) The family picture did turn out great. My problem is I have so many good family pictures I can't display them all
Wendy's future as a model I'm not sure I'm ready for such things.

 

[dismagiclover]

Day 5
We were up by 7:30 and had breakfast in the room. (Yummy French pastries we’d bought the night before). Since Epcot was just a short walk away we didn’t leave the room until around 8:40. We went straight through the turnstiles, walked through the UK and Canada into Future World, and were stopped at a rope in Future World. The rope was dropped at 9:00 and we headed to our first ride of the day: Test Track. Once we arrived we discovered one downside to entering at the International Gateway. The crowds from the front gate had arrived before us. So the line was already out the door at Test Track. I knew it would move quickly so we hopped in and waited about 15 minutes. Before we knew it we were watching the introductory movie. We’d never seen this before because in the past we were always one of the first in line and just walked onto the cars. It was kind of fun to see the set up for the ride. We loaded into our car and had a great ride.

All of us like this ride. Even John who sometimes gets nervous on rides. We exited into the GM showroom and the kids immediately wanted to jump into all the cars. I sent DH off for Soarin fastpasses and the kids practiced their driving skills. (They just love this.) I can't believe this will be reality in about 7 years

John had such a great time meeting the characters last night that he wanted to take everyone back to meet them again. And it had been over 12 hours since we'd all seen them. So we found ourselves back at the Character Connection. Once again we have Mickey

Here's another great family shot with the Mouse

Then Pluto

These Pluto shots are different because usually Michael is the only one that gets the solo shot.

Have you had enough of character pictures yet?

Next up: We meet a mouse, duck, dog, and cat. The mouse, duck, and dog are easy to figure out. But who is the cat?

 

[cjackearl]

You know, I'd read that about the IG and rope drop and the crowds so we drove to Epcot on our rope drop morning. It felt weird because we were staying so close. Cute t-shirts again. Hmmm. Did you see Marie? Considering Wendy's shirt, that would have been perfect.

 

[stace208]

Awesome character photos!! We've never done the character connection because we've always had a meal with those same characters but it looks like such a fun place to meet them all!!

I love the Test Track photo too! I was a little chicken this trip and didn't ride.

Oh, I bet you see Marie! That would be fabulous! We looked everywhere for her but never found her!

 

[letstalkboutdisney]

Love the family photo!

I think it would make a great Christmas card!

Bummer about the line at test track. I thought the CM's let you in 5 minuties early at the furture world rope. At least you didn't end up waiting long.

 

[Angies1274]

Ahh...more great character shirts and pictures!!! too cute! Test Track is so much fun!! Love the ride photo!!

 

[MagicShell]

I'm glad to hear that Chef Mickey's was a hit. We have never been there. I would love to go one day. You can never see Mickey Mouse too much in my opinion. I love the Donald Duck pictures. He is too funny.

 

[Happy Elf]

Looks like the kids enjoyed checking out the new cars! Can't wait for more!

 

[Villainess]

All caught up - I'm guessing you met Marie

 

[GGOOFY1]

Great updates, keep them coming, love the pictures What a beautiful family.

 

[SunnieRN]

More great character shots!!!! Your kids are just so cute!!

It was nice to see that Peter Pan enjoyed his test track ride! That picture is just too cute!