Ten Sleeps in Disney World!! - An Aug Trip Report *5/9 Departure Day & Final Thoughts

[JPFamilyMom]

Sounds like a great end to your evening. Very relaxing.

Can't wait to see what happens next

p.s. I'm stealing your idea for the favorite and not so favorite things from each day. Hope you don't mind.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I love how Ariana could find nothing bad to say about the Animal Kingdom...now she's definitely a glass half full kind of girl...

Poor Demetri...not being tall enough to ride but before you know it-he will be...

Love a nice swim in the evening...


************************

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Sounds like a great end to your day! Those nachos sound soooo yummy! I'm thinking the nachos in Mexico will have to be my lunch next month on our Epcot day, along with a margarita! YUMMY!!

Oh that sounds heavenly! I'm jealous!

I'm glad you had a nice swim! I've heard that the main pools at Pop etc can get pretty rowdy and sometimes unenjoyable because of that! That's no fun on vacation!!!!

We've been caught in rowdy crowds too but we lucked out this trip. Very peaceful!

Can't wait to read more!

I didn't take any pictures of the pool this time---no waterproof camera here, either. We only did the Hippy Dippy Pool because it was so close to our room. It was so funny, because the water was so warm, and hardly refreshing but the flower spouts were great. I think we spent most of our time under them.

The flower spouts were pretty forceful so for us it was more of a duck and weave thing!

Nachos--yum!! I agree with Alex!! EE is so much fun!!!! That's too bad Demetri couldn't ride.

Yeah he was upset at the time but he's happy knowing he'll be for sure tall enough next time.

Ah... all caught up! I feel so much better now!

*What a lovely mother-daughter breakfast with Cindy... and that picture!

*You got to do so much inthe MK that day, despite the time lost waiting for the boys.

*So glad Demitri knew what to do when he got separated from Alex! And then to have Adriana wander off...Your poor heart!

*That picture after your last Kali ride looks like its a shot of a family of wet cats! Oh well, it was refreshing, right?!

Oh I laughed to read that! Wet cats.... so true! Yes it was very refreshing and sooo much fun!

Looking forward to more...

Kathy

A swim at the end of a Disney day is the perfect nightcap. Except of course for an actual nightcap. And if said nightcap is at the pool where you're swimming? PERFECT!

Sounds like a great end to your evening. Very relaxing.

Can't wait to see what happens next

p.s. I'm stealing your idea for the favorite and not so favorite things from each day. Hope you don't mind.

Awesome! I loved watching them relive the day in their minds to figure out the answers!

I love how Ariana could find nothing bad to say about the Animal Kingdom...now she's definitely a glass half full kind of girl...

Poor Demetri...not being tall enough to ride but before you know it-he will be...

Love a nice swim in the evening...

Definately a great day!

************************

 

[Mickey_Mom]

This morning we were a teeny bit better getting out the door a little earlier, and with Bunny leaving housekeeping a special thank you for his new friend…

… we headed off to the bus stop for Epcot.

Demetri loved his shirt for today and so wanted me to take a picture!

Ariana immediately showed me hers for a picture too …

Alex gave me a look when I raised my eyebrow in question if he wanted his picture taken…. I took that as a no.

Our first stop was Spaceship Earth.

I can’t believe I’d never noticed this before. Kinda cool.

I don’t know what it is, but a big part of me really likes this ride, but another part of me doesn’t. I love drifting thru the different scenes of history, they are so well put together.

My favorite scene, although it should be the math lessons in Greece (ha!) is:

I like creating the future and the pictures of Ariana and I came out quite cute.

And when you come out of the ride and they show the different faces on the big map, the boys had some pretty funny pictures too. George is at the very top and the boys are off to the side.

I really don’t know what it is that I don’t like about Spaceship Earth. I just can’t put my finger on it.

Last year we just breezed thru the part outside the ride but this year we stopped to see more of what was there and played some video games.

Next we headed towards the Innoventions buildings and signed up for a Kim Possible mission. Woo-hoo!! I was really looking forward to saving China!

George started walking around with Ariana and I caught up with the boys. Seems they’d added a picture taking thingie to the big fire truck that was there and they were making the picture all fancy before emailing it to themselves.

We were moving on when George caught up to me and said he was going to take Ariana to Soarin. She’d been asking constantly for it since we arrived and since she wasn’t so interested in the Innoventions buildings he would take her for some extra rides.

When I caught back up to the boys, they were playing a game where you take videos of yourself running, jumping and shaking your booty for a victory dance. As soon as you’re done the three scenes, you go to a video game machine where you play the game with yourself as the game. Way cool.

I got there pretty much as they were finishing up so I took a video of the boys playing the video game of themselves.




Then I got a picture of the victory dance.

You can even email the game to yourself at home so you can play it whenever you want. Way fun, I definitely recommend doing this!

The next thing we saw was the Great Piggy Bank Adventure.

I remembered reading a quick article on this that it was a really fun way to teach kids what it takes to save up for something. I’m game for anything fun and educational so off we went.

Alex chose the thing we were saving up for – a dream vacation. Ah! Now we’re talking! Aren’t the handles on the drawers adorable??

You get a piggy that you take with you to the different activities, and he keeps track of how much you’ve saved towards your goal. Our piggy was so cute! Demetri wanted to channel his inner piggy.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Mickey_Mom]

First you decide how much of the money that you earn you will spend, and how much you will save.

Then you ride the ups and downs of interest and money markets.

Lastly you decide how much of your money you’re going to put in what types of investments and hope that a sneaky fox doesn’t steal all your savings!

Your piggy then counts up all the money you’ve saved and tells you if you’ve made enough to reach your goal. Sadly, we were just short of what we’d need for our dream vacation. Boo-hoo.

I really recommend doing this too. It’s a cool way of showing your kids that the money doesn’t grow in the backyard off the trees.

We decided to give the wall of video games our attention for five more minutes….

… and then we headed on over to the Land to meet back up with George and Ariana who had left earlier to go to Soarin.

We went into the building, down the escalator and sat on the benches right where you get the fast passes. It’s the exit to the ride so we figured we’d catch up with them as they were coming off. We sat while one batch of people came off the ride. And then a second. And then a third. After thirty minutes of sitting on the benches, I asked Alex to walk back over to the entrance to the ride to see if we’d missed them walking thru. He came back five seconds later to get us. Turns out George and Ariana had been waiting at the entrance while we’d been waiting at the exit. Sigh.

So back on to Soarin we went.

To me, this ride makes me feel like I have total freedom. Over everything. I’m completely safe and yet I’m soaring over rivers and mountain tops and deserts and California, with the wind on my face and in my hair and the sweet smell of oranges in the air. I’m smiling from the moment we lift off to the moment we set down. Sometimes my feet swing beneath me like I’m a young girl again on a swing, sometimes they’re still while I’m slowly moving my eyes over the scenes taking everything in. When the golf ball flies towards us, Demetri reaches for it and when we reach the end and the fireworks over Disneyland are rocking our glider, I can see Ariana’s little dance of joy that tells me that is her favorite scene.

On one of our trips, I’d taken video of Soarin so that Ariana could watch it whenever she wanted to. Unfortunately we had a failure of epic proportions and the video was lost. My camera takes pretty decent videos so I knew I had to try again to get it. I’ve put the video here. If you haven’t been on Soarin before, I wouldn’t watch it. Don’t spoil the ride, you really must be there to get the full effect. For anyone wishing to relive the Soarin experience and just for a moment pretend you're there….. enjoy!


Next we headed off to the obligatory Circle of Life movie with Simba, Timon and Pumbaa. The movie itself is kinda cheesy, but the message is good and its always nice sitting in that huge theatre for a bit of a rest. In any case, Ariana and Demetri love it.

We came out of the Land building to find it was pouring. We’d been lucky so far and this was our first encounter with rain this trip. Well George and Demetri had briefly been caught in a rainstorm at the Boneyard in AK but Alex, Ariana and I had missed it while in Dinosaur so we were OK with it finally catching up to us. Not so lucky though was our stroller that hadn’t been under shelter when the rain hit. And our bag hadn’t been zipped up either so say goodbye to those napkins saved and those new maps we’d grabbed on the way in. Oh and our autograph book? It now has minor water damage to some of the page bottoms but all in all, it could have been much worse.

Right about then however, George and Alex started to get short tempered with one another. Alex had parked the stroller and George wasn’t mad about it but he said something to be funny and Alex took it the wrong way. Alex was somewhat miffed in his response and tone which then made George mad enough to walk towards the nearest tree with Demetri in the stroller and wait for us there sheltered from the rain. Desperate to smooth things over, I suggested we head to the Seas and visit Nemo before the boys and I headed to our 1:30pm lunch reservation at Teppan Edo.

We dashed thru the diminished rain ….

… and I took some lousy pictures from my clamobile.

We skipped Bruce and Crush for now knowing we’d be back and headed back outside for some silly fishy poses with Dory and Marlin.

I almost got a nice picture of the three kiddos with the Mine, Mine, Mine guys….

… and by then it was time to start heading to Teppan Edo. George was still a bit touchy from the run in with Alex and so he was in a “whatever” mood when I asked him when and where we’d meet up again after lunch. With no phones, he was now in the position of sitting in one spot waiting for us to join him. How did that go? Can you tell I’m foreshadowing? Uh-huh.

I’d left ourselves with a good twenty-five minutes to get to World Showcase and to Japan so we could stroll and take our time.

We caught a picture of the amazing disappearing golf ball. It really is there, but just barely… can you see it?

We turned the corner out of Future World to World Showcase and Canada. My gaze was always being drawn towards the beautiful water.

I love the maple leafs in the fence posts!

We strolled past the United Kingdom buildings and were going to call home and check in with our house sitter but there was no phone receiver.

A little more silliness…

… and with Paris in our sights..

… we reached Japan.

We were just over five minutes early and we checked in and took a seat in the lovely waiting area. It was about now that I realized all of our key cards were in the plastic pocket attached to the lanyard around Ariana’s neck. After our great timing to get to Japan right on time, no rushing, we had no way of paying for lunch.

Crap!

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Alex drew the short straw and had to run back to George to get one of our key cards. Luckily he found him right away but now we were twenty minutes late. We had to recheck in and only had to wait about another five minutes before our table was ready. We met our table mates and headed as a group to our table.

Each table has a hot cooking surface surrounded by ten seats. As we were taking our seats, I warned Demetri a few extra times not to try touching it. Going around the table, there was a single eater on the end, Alex was beside her and then Demetri and I. To my left was a lovely family from Boston finishing up the rest of the seats. Jinta was our server…

… and he took wonderful care of us until our chef was ready to start. He showed us all how to take a little piece of the wrapper that our chopsticks were in and using an elastic band, MacGyver them together so we looked like pros. We practiced picking up the crayons Demetri got with his kids menu and were experts by the time it came to eat.

Alex and I both ordered the Filet Mignon with vegetables, noodles and steamed rice while Demetri asked for the Tempura Combo with a shrimp and chicken with noodles, vegetables and steamed rice. Our chef, Kenji put on a marvelous 'show' preparing our meals.

Preparing an onion train which he choo-choo’d towards Demetri to his delight.

A quick Mickey head.

And his masterful cooking.

Producing our delicious dishes.

Demetri’s meal came from the kitchen in a monorail dish which he absolutely adored. Before our trip, I’d asked him what his favorite ride at Epcot was and he’d answered the monorail. (ha!)

I think I ate every possible bite I could of that meal. Oh the flavors! So delicious! The rice was a bit sticky and I noticed not much of it had been eaten at the entire table, but that just left me more room to have dessert! I had the chocolate ginger cake while the boys had the soft serve ice cream. So very, very, good. We would definately do Teppan Edo again.

It was nearing 3:30pm and we’d been away from George and Ariana for two hours now. A very long lunch! A last few pictures...

On our journey back, we walked past this cute couple…

this practically perfect lady….

and this lovely young girl….

We’d set the place to meet after lunch as the character spot but left the time open because I’d had no idea how long we’d be. I’d suggested to George that he take Ariana back to Soarin and have lunch at either the Electric Umbrella (we’d been there before so no trying anything new there) or to the Sunshine Seasons food court outside Soarin if he wanted a big variety. When we found them at the character spot, what he’d ended up doing is taking it slow visiting each character since the lines were practically nothing and then just stayed there and waited for us.

When I asked him why he chose to skip lunch he answered, “cause I’m an idiot.” Well then. At least he said it instead of me!

Next up: Rain, Rain... Go Away!

 

[jenjolt]

Aww...I'm glad you and your boys had a great lunch at Teppan Edo! I really would like to try and eat there sometime it looks like a great time!!!!

Soarin is such a great ride! I'm so glad its something that you guys are able to enjoy so much as a family!! I can't wait to be riding it soon!!!!

Loved the shirts...they are so cute!!!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Did you ask the family from Boston if they knew me? We're a very close-knit community up here.... all million of us.

Teppan Edo looks delicious - I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so my stomach was growling.


I love the pictures of Ariana with the characters! Minnie Mouse looks so... sassy? For lack of a better word... in her picture.

I'm sorry Alex & George got in a fight, but did it clear up by now? Was that his way of apologizing?

 

[Lady Lallie]

I love super long updates!

Thanks for the morning ride on Soarin. I find my legs swinging sometimes too, it's just the kind of ride that makes you so happy.

Teppan Edo looks like a great meal! Yum Yum!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

I'm joining in and loving your Trip Report!

You have a beautiful family and it sounds like you all have so much fun together!

 

[cjackearl]

Oh my, I loved this update! From the great tees, Ian would LOVE Demetri's 4 shirt!, to the magical ride on Soarin', to your delicious and fun looking lunch. Teppan Edo is on my must try list now, thanks to great reviews by you, Amy, and Jackie! That monorail dish is so cute, I wonder if they're available for sale anywhere? Did you e-mail yourself the video game? We never even went into Inoventions, but next time definitely. So how hungry were Arianna and George at this point?

 

[JPFamilyMom]

I played that piggy bank game online It looks a bit more interactive in the parks. That game Alex and Demetri played looks really cool, might have to try and do that with Jack.

I have never ridden Soarin' and that is even after two trips to DL/CA in Anaheim Trying to see if Jack will be up to it on this trip if he is tall enough.

The lunch looks like a lot of fun, but not something my kids would sit still for

 

[mickeystoontown]

Fantastic updates! It sounds like you guys have gotten a lot done at Epcot so far. I have a 12 year old son and every once in a while, he'll take our joking the wrong way and get all upset. I think it's the whole...."I don't know if I am still a little boy or a soon-to-be teenager" thing.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Angies1274]

Love the long update!!

Yay! for Demetri's shirt!! What a cutie he is!!!

We didn't spend too much time in Innoventions on our last trip, but we did make sure and do the one where you put yourself in a video game. It was so much fun!! Great pictures!!

Thanks for sharing the Soarin' video!! You know how much I love that ride. It made my day!!!

Sounds like you had a great experience at Teppan Edo. Everything looks so yummy!!!

Great character pictures with Ariana!!!

The "Rain, Rain..Go Away" sounds alot like our Epcot night.

Can't wait for more......

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hmmm...Another great update...

awesome review of Teppan Edo-I know that Em wants to "eat in Japan" (she is crazy for the store there too) next year on her BD trip but does she want Teppan...or Tokyo D?...your review sounds so good-it just makes me just want to go with Teppan...

I loved the great video game that the boys made...that's the kind of stuff I'd like to do...stop and smell the roses...if you will...if...DH wasn't in a rush to hit the "hightlights"... ...and Alex saving for a trip-now what trip would that be...

I'm sorry about Alex and George fighting......I wouldn't no anything about a stubborn father and teen fighting...---I'm sorry-its really upsetting you know I know but sometimes its comforting to know you aren't the only one...

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Aww...I'm glad you and your boys had a great lunch at Teppan Edo! I really would like to try and eat there sometime it looks like a great time!!!!

After writing about our Teppan Edo lunch I was inspired to make a similar dish for dinner from left over steak. Yummy, but not near as good as Kenji did it!

Soarin is such a great ride! I'm so glad its something that you guys are able to enjoy so much as a family!! I can't wait to be riding it soon!!!!

I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Loved the shirts...they are so cute!!!!



Can't wait to hear more!!

Did you ask the family from Boston if they knew me? We're a very close-knit community up here.... all million of us.

Oh, you know... they did say they knew of a young lady by the name of Danica, but I assumed they were talking about the race car driver.

Teppan Edo looks delicious - I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so my stomach was growling.

I can totally see you and Lou eating there! You'd love it!


I love the pictures of Ariana with the characters! Minnie Mouse looks so... sassy? For lack of a better word... in her picture.

Sassy is an awesome description! I miss meeting the characters. Our first trip it was our mission to meet every character and I want to do that again next time.

I'm sorry Alex & George got in a fight, but did it clear up by now? Was that his way of apologizing?

Unfortunately those two rarely apologize to one another, they just let it go. Fortunately however, they let it go very easily and instantly 'forgive' one another. Not me, I get sulky and hold grudges.

I love super long updates!

Yeah, it'd been a week since my last update so it felt good to just keep going!

Thanks for the morning ride on Soarin. I find my legs swinging sometimes too, it's just the kind of ride that makes you so happy.

I forgot to say we waited for the front row The best!

Teppan Edo looks like a great meal! Yum Yum!

Mmmmm, delish!

I'm joining in and loving your Trip Report!

You have a beautiful family and it sounds like you all have so much fun together!

.... and thank you! It was definately a main objective of ours this time around to just have fun!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Oh my, I loved this update! From the great tees, Ian would LOVE Demetri's 4 shirt!, to the magical ride on Soarin', to your delicious and fun looking lunch. Teppan Edo is on my must try list now, thanks to great reviews by you, Amy, and Jackie! That monorail dish is so cute, I wonder if they're available for sale anywhere? Did you e-mail yourself the video game? We never even went into Inoventions, but next time definitely. So how hungry were Arianna and George at this point?

I think I'm going to make Demetri a 5 shirt in February for his birthday! I would love to have that monorail dish too.. I'm going to look for it!

Yes, Alex emailed himself the video game and he said its a hoot to play it here at home. He smiles everytime. Ariana needs to be reminded to eat in Disney but yep, George was starving!

I played that piggy bank game online It looks a bit more interactive in the parks. That game Alex and Demetri played looks really cool, might have to try and do that with Jack.

Oh you really should do that with Jack, he'd love it! Demetri was asking to go back at the end of the evening and do the Piggy Bank game again. Not sure how much of the savings part he learned ... that piggy is so darn cute!

I have never ridden Soarin' and that is even after two trips to DL/CA in Anaheim Trying to see if Jack will be up to it on this trip if he is tall enough.

Oh I think he just might love it, it's so... transfixing, he won't be able to look away!

The lunch looks like a lot of fun, but not something my kids would sit still for

Yes, this was not an Ariana lunch either. I was a little concerned Demetri wouldn't like it but the monorail dish was a big hit for him.

Fantastic updates! It sounds like you guys have gotten a lot done at Epcot so far. I have a 12 year old son and every once in a while, he'll take our joking the wrong way and get all upset. I think it's the whole...."I don't know if I am still a little boy or a soon-to-be teenager" thing.

Looking forward to reading more!

So true! George is pretty sarcastic and I'm a bit of a wise a$$ myself so every once in a while Alex gets frustrated. Poor thing.

Love the long update!!

Yay! for Demetri's shirt!! What a cutie he is!!!

He gets away with alot due to said cuteness!

We didn't spend too much time in Innoventions on our last trip, but we did make sure and do the one where you put yourself in a video game. It was so much fun!! Great pictures!!

Innoventions has always been a favorite of Alex's but I was usually meh, either way. Was everything in there new this year or did I just not pay close enough attention? Cause it was super fun.

Thanks for sharing the Soarin' video!! You know how much I love that ride. It made my day!!!

Yay! I'm glad! That makes my day!

Sounds like you had a great experience at Teppan Edo. Everything looks so yummy!!!

We'll be back to that one for sure.

Great character pictures with Ariana!!!

I was surprised to see how well his pictures turned out. George is usually the thumb in the picture kinda photographer.

The "Rain, Rain..Go Away" sounds alot like our Epcot night.

It was a doozy!

Can't wait for more......

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hmmm...Another great update...

awesome review of Teppan Edo-I know that Em wants to "eat in Japan" (she is crazy for the store there too) next year on her BD trip but does she want Teppan...or Tokyo D?...your review sounds so good-it just makes me just want to go with Teppan...

I've read one review of Tokyo Dining and it sounded great too, but I don't think it had the extra fun of the chef with the hot plate, etc. They did a marvelous job.

I loved the great video game that the boys made...that's the kind of stuff I'd like to do...stop and smell the roses...if you will...if...DH wasn't in a rush to hit the "hightlights"... ...and Alex saving for a trip-now what trip would that be...

That video was a hoot and I LOVE that you can email it to yourself and just play over and over. I just asked Alex what his dream vacation would be and he said Hawaii or New York. Well I know one little girl who'd be voting for New York.....

I'm sorry about Alex and George fighting......I wouldn't no anything about a stubborn father and teen fighting...---I'm sorry-its really upsetting you know I know but sometimes its comforting to know you aren't the only one...

Isn't it 'funny' how each of us are at the point in our TRs where we're at Epcot and our husbands are bickering with our children? Was there something in the water?

 

[jordanyosh]

I laughed a bit about the sticky rice comment. Japanese rice is typically very sticky... Trust me I had it every day growing up...unless....wait a second.....maybe my mom was a bad cook.............no really, it's supposed to be sticky.

 

[ZeroToHero]

I laughed a bit about the sticky rice comment. Japanese rice is typically very sticky... Trust me I had it every day growing up...unless....wait a second.....maybe my mom was a bad cook.............no really, it's supposed to be sticky.

Very true, very true.

Otherwise sushi falls apart! Duhhhh.... c'mon, how did you not know that?

(Just kidding, I'm pretty sure that's not how sushi is held together)