[kittylady1972]

[size="3"]We had not been able to do quite a few things at Magic Kingdom, so we decided this would be a good day to return there. We arrived early just after park opening and headed right to Peter Pan, a ride notorious for long waits later! We hadn't gotten around to breakfast before leaving, so we then backtracked to Main Street (since that was the only thing open this early) and went into the Main Street Bakery.

Why have we NEVER been here before?? This place is AWESOME!

The pastries were HUGE and OH SO GOOD! DH and I split a ham, egg and cheese croissant and a cherry turnover, which was also shared by Noah. Nicolas had a bowl of cereal AND part of a Cinnamon Roll which was also HUGE! The in-laws got some pastries also and everything was just so good. We sat outside at a table near main street to eat and relax for a bit. Then it was off to Tomorrowland.

We hit the Monster's Inc show first. During the show, they ended up spotlighting on Nicolas to ask him questions, which he and the other kids just LOVED! We then hopped on Buzz Lightyear and when we came out we noticed the big Stitch Show (NEW) was forming a bit of a crowd on the carpets in front of the stage, so we decided to check it out.

Well unfortunately the placement of the sun at about 11am is right above this stage and sitting out there offers almost NO protection from the hot, hot sun but we stuck it out. This is another interactive show with Stitch on the big screen interacting with some performers on the stage as well as the audience. It was cute enough, and it ends with dancing which I thought the kids would love but I think it was just too hot. We really couldn't leave fast enough.



We tried to head over to the "Rocket Ships" per Noah's request, but the line there was just too long so I promised him we'd come back another day and do that. Noelle wanted to drive the cars again, but we decided to try something new while we were here. This resulted in a MEGA-MELTDOWN by her and we practically had to drag her to our next selection...the Carousel of Progress. I don't think the kids have ever done this, though it's something DH and I try to do every trip. The poor cast member in charge there kept asking me if she needed to leave and warning me that we could NOT exit once it started, and I assured him she'd be fine. She was of course...and ended up LOVING it and asking to do it again later. Go figure.

After that we decided to ride Haunted Mansion again and then I was really feeling a need to hit Columbia Harbour House for lunch...I LOVE that place! I had my fish n'chips and the clam chowder as did DH while the kids mostly snacked a bit. At this point Noah was definitely looking a bit tired and so the decision was made to split up for the day. DH took DS4 Noah back to the room with his parents, so they headed back to the minivan to drive back and I stayed behind with the older two so we could do a few more rides together. We'd meet them back the room well before dinner...or so was the plan.

The kids and I walked over to Splash Mountain...and it was a 90-minute wait. BTMRR was listed as 20 minutes, so we FastPassed Splash and headed to BTMRR where it was pretty obvious from the line that they needed to update that wait time. We heard the CM at the front of the line mention 30-40 minutes as the real wait most likely, and sure enough that's about how long we waited. The kids were pretty good in the line though...thanks to the help of spray fans! When we got off the ride it was 2:45pm and our Fastpass time for Splash was 3:35pm, so we decided to take the boat over and explore Tom Sawyer Island, something again we've never taken the kids to do.

We walked through all of the caves, exploring the area around the island for a while, and then it was time to head back to the main land!


They LOVED the bridge:



We grabbed some snacks and then got right in line at 3:35pm exactly. It was so nice to breeze through the line after waiting 40 minutes for the last ride. I knew we'd have to get this one over quick since we would then have to hop a bus back to our room and get ready for our 5:45pm reservation at Tutto Italia in EPCOT.

So we get into our little boat, all 3 of us in the front seat, and we start out and go around the corner where really the ride has barely begun, but at one point we end up stopped just NEXT to the big drop. So a boat comes down the BIG BIG drop and SPLASH! is right...the splash from that boat COMPLETELY SOAKS all three of us! We ride the rest of the ride totally soaked and have no fear at all for the big drop since that doesn't get you NEARLY as wet as we already were! Anyway, you can see from the photo all three of us in front and already soaked:


We came off the road and hightailed it for the front of the park. We didn't have to wait too long for a bus, but once it arrived it sat there forever as the driver seemed to be working some instrument in the front of the bus. At least we arrived well ahead of the HUGE tour group that got in line next and waited for the next bus.

There was no time to shower before dinner and I had called ahead to DH who had clothes sitting out for everyone since we still had to at least put on dry clothing. The kids and I arrived, quickly changed in RECORD time, then all headed for the car for the drive to EPCOT. We really were moving pretty fast once at the park to the point that it was still 1/2 hour before dinner and we were already walking around World Showcase, so I told everybody to just SLOW DOWN we had plenty of time.

We were seated in Tutto Italia right away. The food here was pretty good, but not much of a selection for the kids. I was THRILLED to discover the kids' menu mentioned Cheese Sticks and Nicolas (DS9 the Picky Eater) LOVES Mozzarella Sticks so I got two orders for him. Ummm...big mistake. This was UNSALTED cheese so those of you with little ones be forewarned! They really had no taste to them, I didn't enjoy them and neither did Nicolas...I think we did get pizza for Noah and that had some real flavor so Nicolas shared that. We also ended up getting dessert, DH and I splitting that again, and it was all pretty good. I think we'd go back here again for a meal...we used to love Alfredo's.