The Epic continues.....The Party's Over (***COMPLETED 3/19***)

[Ellester]

DisneyJo, TigerandTink, Disneyland_Mama, Lovemy3babes, MomofCKJ - and anyone else I've missed - Thanks for climbing aboard! I hope to follow MomofCKJ's example and finish my report up with in a month (or so) of now. It is fun remembering all the highs and lows. Everyday Rebecca says "I wish we were still at Disney World". I know how you feel sweetie, I know....

[natale1980]

can't wait for more!!

-nat

[OhMari]

Loosing kids are scary. My mom lost my dd in her house. They had carpenters at her house removing big bow windows and they were putting in 2 patio windows in their place. My dd got cold, put on her jacket and curled up in a chair and fell asleep. She was 4 at the time, and we all thought she walked home to my house. It took an hour to find her wraped up in that chair. I think we all aged 10 years that day.

I posted before that I enjoyed your pictures, the early ones are really neat.

[BlueBayou]

Great trip report! Thanks so much for sharing.

Sher

[Ellester]

Originally Posted by OhMari

Loosing kids are scary. My mom lost my dd in her house. They had carpenters at her house removing big bow windows and they were putting in 2 patio windows in their place. My dd got cold, put on her jacket and curled up in a chair and fell asleep. She was 4 at the time, and we all thought she walked home to my house. It took an hour to find her wraped up in that chair. I think we all aged 10 years that day.

I posted before that I enjoyed your pictures, the early ones are really neat.

That would be scary! I'm glad it all turned out alright, but I know what you mean about the instant aging! Thanks for moving my report!!

[soupy11]

Cool trip report! Yours kids are so expressive. Love the pics. Thanks for posting and can't wait for more!

[Ellester]

Sunday, January 14th

We awoke bright (or dark, actually) and early. My mom lost one of her earrings down the drain, so I called maintenance and they said they’d send someone during the day to pull the u-pipe off and see if it was in there. We managed to get to the bus stop by my planned time of 8:15. The Epcot bus pulled up soon after and we were off! Epcot was the closest park to SSR and we were there in under 15 minutes. I have to say that we had no problems with the buses all week. The longest we ever waited was maybe 15 minutes and we only had to stand once.

We arrived at Epcot. Laura ran off to Guest Services to pick up her will-call tickets and then we waited for opening. We were way over to one side, but we got to see some of the hubbub around the Family of the Day. The turnstiles opened and we headed with the crowd to beyond Spaceship Earth to await the rope drop. A bunch of characters and the Family of the Day came out. Andrew’s eyes just lit up when he saw Goofy, live and in person. He was on John’s shoulders (Andrew, not Goofy) and started waving like mad. “Hi Goofy! I love you, Goofy!” Those are the moments that make the whole trip worthwhile for me.

Andrew sees Goofy:


I'll go into a little aside here and let you know that John has a severe stroller aversion. He hates to push them, park them, put them on busses, put children in them, etc. So, we had no stroller on this trip. We don't even own a stroller anymore. We are too tall to comfortably push an umbrella stroller, so we've always had to travel with the big suckers. John said he would carry Andrew when needed, but we were not going to rent a stroller. So we didn't (except for one day, but I'll get to that later), Andrew spent lots of time on John's shoulders. He did walk quite a bit. It was only during the times he was asleep that I really wished for a stroller. But, even then John carried him so I can't complain too much. OK, aside over, back to the regularly scheduled trip report...

Finally, they dropped the rope and we headed with the masses towards Soarin’. I have to admit that I was sad to pass the spot where “Food Rocks” used to be. Anabelle was looking though some old stuff of mine right before we left that had been unearthed during our recent move. Among the memorabilia were some pins I had of the old veggie characters. The broccoli was my favorite.

Veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit, veggie, fruit….


We secured our Soarin’ FP’s and had Andrew measured. Now, we are tall people (I’m 5’11” and DH is 6’3”) so we make tall kids. We knew Andrew was right at the 40” mark, but weren’t actually sure he’d make the measurement. It would make things much easier if he could ride, but we were prepared to babyswap if he didn’t make it. He squeaked by and was given the go ahead to ride. They remeasured him again at the end of the queue, and he was still tall enough so into Soarin’ we all go. What a great ride! It was a first for all nine of us and I think we all loved it. Andrew lifted his feet into his seat so they wouldn’t get wet in the river, it was so cute!

We had 10:20am ADR’s at Akershus, so after Soarin’ we decided to ride Living with the Land. I always enjoy it, although the kids weren’t overly impressed. They did like the Mickey pumpkins. Andrew was a little afraid of the opening rainstorm. All week we could tell how scared he was by where he held his hands. If he was only a little nervous, one little hand would come up over his mouth. If he was really concerned, both hands would be up there. He never hid his eyes or closed them, it was always those little hands over his mouth. I wish I had a picture, but I was good in following that “no flash photography on the attractions” rule.

We walked out of the Land and a light rain had started falling. Of course, the ponchos were in the villa so we toughed it out. I ran over to get Test Track FP’s for later and we headed on to Akershus. We were seated about 15 minutes after checking in, the kids had a picture with Belle and then we headed to the buffet. We were quickly visited by Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine, and much to Anabelle’s delight, Mulan. Cassie had a cute discussion about apples with Snow White. Cassie was eating a whole apple from the buffet when Snow White stopped by. Snow was quite concerned about the safety of the apple and said she was now restricted to green apples and apple pie. It was cute!

Cassie didn't seem worried about any poison apples:


Anabelle's favorite


OK, time for the bill. Let’s see if we really do have credits now. Yes, we do. But, wait, we should have more adult TS credits than that left! Hmmm, after a little ciphering, we determined that the SSR CM had deducted FIVE ADULT TS credits instead of 5 CS credits when fixing our account last night. Looks like I have another visit to the front desk added to my evening agenda. I didn’t stress too much about it. I was prepared to give them one more shot to fix our DDP issues before I lost my cool. Plus, we were at Epcot! Can’t really get too worked up about it now.

Properly stuffed, we headed to the Maelstrom (it’s a FastPass, you know) and rode it without a wait. We dutifully tried on the Viking helmets and the kids started their KidCot masks.

Andrew the Marauder:


The CM manning the booth had the most uninterested expression the entire time we were there. I was commenting on his winning way with kids to another mom waiting by the station. She laughed and said she was just thinking the same thing. He did manage to get our kids their masks and eventually did engage them a little bit. He did have a lengthy discussion in Norwegian with another CM. I really wonder what they were saying. It reminded me of a Seinfeld I just saw again recently where Elaine knows the Korean manicurists are talking about her but has to bring Frank in as a translator/spy. Also reminded me of college when my friend’s Vietnamese roommate and her friends would go into fits of laughter when we came in the room. You could hear my friend’s name in their conversations, but we never knew what they were saying about her. Anyway….

At the Kidcot station:


I just like this one because I think it captures some of the joy:


Thankfully, the rain had stopped and it was drying up quickly. On the way back to Test Track, I picked up Mission Space FastPasses. At Test Track, the CM measured Andrew, and he came up short! Hmm, seems he shrunk over breakfast. OK, no problem, we’re good rule followers. Getting a two year old to stand up straight isn’t as simple as one would think. We got our babyswap pass and John waited with Andrew. Test Track has to have the slowest FastPass queue! But, we eventually got through and the kids all loved it (the grownups did to, I think). John took the three girls back on, the CM took pity on him since really you are only supposed to be able to bring a total of three people in with the babyswap pass. We waited in the GM showroom at the exit area and I think Andrew enjoyed that more than anything all week. He was in and out of every car at least twice. He didn’t care if he was in the front or back, he was just thrilled to have the run of all the cars and trucks.

Our little driver:


Hard to believe, but our first day was half way over already! But, Figment and Crush are still ahead......

[the_princess]

Great TR, keep it coming

[lexmelinda]

Great installment, Ellen! Andrew is only 2 and he's 40" high!?!?! Woowww...you do grow them big! The pictures are adorable! Looks like a fun morning. Did your mom find her earring?

[ampc3]

subbing... Love. love TR with kids around my kids ages.. it gives me good do's and don'ts... My youngest will be 4 during our sept trip, and I don't think she will make 40" then! (I grow them little -lol) Trying to figure out what to do with her during all the down time waiting for parent swaps etc..

[ampc3]

repeat

[ampc3]

posted 2x

[DisneyJo]

Can I just ask what the will-call tickets are? BTW great Epcot day, we love Soarin and TT and DD 10 has agreed to brave MS with me this time.

[MomofCKJ]

We too didn't use a stroller but for one day. When you have Daddy's shoulders it works out pretty well!

Your little guy is very tall for 2! Mine is 4 and was about 41 inches, just squeaked by most rides.

Love the picture of him seeing Goofy, you are right, that is what its all about!

How was the food at Akershus? My oldest just told me she wants to meet princesses on the next trip, that threw me for a loop but I thought Akershus might be the best place to do that. Not sure on Norwegian food though. Did your kids like the food?

Allyson

[Ellester]

Originally Posted by lexmelinda

Great installment, Ellen! Andrew is only 2 and he's 40" high!?!?! Woowww...you do grow them big! The pictures are adorable! Looks like a fun morning. Did your mom find her earring?

Thanks Melinda! Yeah, he's going to be our linebacker. Our girls are tall too, but he's catching up quickly. He and Rebecca wear the same size shoes (kids 11). He will be three in March. My mom did get the earring back, that will be in the next segment!

Originally Posted by ampc3

subbing... Love. love TR with kids around my kids ages.. it gives me good do's and don'ts... My youngest will be 4 during our sept trip, and I don't think she will make 40" then! (I grow them little -lol) Trying to figure out what to do with her during all the down time waiting for parent swaps etc..

I agree that reading about kids your own age is great! I got lots of tips doing the same thing you are! As far as parent swaps, they will give you the babyswap pass as you first go into the line, kind of like a FastPass. That way whoever is with the little one can head to the playground, get a snack, whatever. I don't think Andrew was bored too often.

Originally Posted by MomofCKJ

How was the food at Akershus? My oldest just told me she wants to meet princesses on the next trip, that threw me for a loop but I thought Akershus might be the best place to do that. Not sure on Norwegian food though. Did your kids like the food?

Allyson

Hi Allyson! We liked the food at Akershus, it was still breakfast while we were there. They have fruit, danishes, breads, bagels, smoked salmon, yogurt, cheese, salami and such on the cold buffet and then they bring a big plate to your table with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, and cheesy potatoes (served family style). The eggs were so-so and the meats were run of the mill but the potatoes were awesome. We could only speculate on the amounts of butter and cream in them. My arteries are hardening just thinking about them! The kids did well with the selection of fruit and bakery items. They love salami and bacon, both at the same meal about put them over the moon!

We've done CRT for breakfast as well and I think I like Akershus better. I remember that Anabelle (age 5) was indignant that Mary Poppins was at CRT. "She is NOT a princess Mommy! What is she doing here?" It was nice getting most of the princesses out of the way so we didn't need to track them down in the parks! CRT is beautiful, but I don't know that it's worth the premium they are charging now.

Love the cartoon in your siggie, I saw it in the paper yesterday and almost shot coffee out my nose!

Originally Posted by DisneyJo

Can I just ask what the will-call tickets are? BTW great Epcot day, we love Soarin and TT and DD 10 has agreed to brave MS with me this time.

My stepsister had actually paid for their tickets at Shades of Green (she has a military ID through her ex-husband) but for whatever reason they couldn't give her the actual tickets there. They printed them out for her at Guest Services, she just had to show her receipt. I don't know if she used her military discount or the Florida resident discount.

Thanks for hanging in there everyone! Next segment will post soon!