Dreams will come true! Hearts will soar! May 2016 TR *NEW 7/6 x2!*

[hokieinpa]

I like everything but the skunk smell...


We were riding pretty high after our little surprise meet with Rapunzel and Flynn! Our original plan had been to ride Figment so we got reorganized and parked the stroller in actual stroller parking versus wherever I had pushed in in a haze of Flynn Rider smolder seeing excitement!

​

While I was snapping this picture, the monorail passed right by. And I don't know about you, but every time the monorail passes over us, I shout "Monorail!" like I've never set foot in a Disney park before. And if I have my phone or camera ready, I always take a picture. So that means I have lots of pictures like this:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hocf1Z]​

​

The standby wait was listed at 5 minutes so the ride was walk on, as it almost always is. I actually waved people by us to stop and take a few pictures.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hkg7aE]​

​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hocy5e]​

​

Nate was pumped to ride this for some reason. I had explained that it was about using your imagination and that it might get a little silly, so he was all in!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HkfRmm]​

​

And the boys LOVED it, of course! Except that skunk smell...not such big fans of that! But overall, it was just the right amount of silly to appeal to little boys! And isn't Figment just so cute?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GsMLZB]​

​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hh9B1n]​

​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GsMJVX]​

​

We spent some time in the play area after. The boys really liked this music station!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hoci6B]​

​

And they all took turns creating their own "Figment"!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GsMBr8]​

​

Soon we were heading out and back into the sunshine. And you do know what's right there and perfect to play in on a hot day?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu8Bz8]​

​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu9Xnx]
​

https://flic.kr/p/Gu9Xnxhttps://flic.kr/p/Gu9Xnx​

The boys had a ball playing in the fountains! We let them play for about 10 minutes until they were just wet enough to cool off some! Then we packed up and headed off to our next destination!


Next up

I am Speed[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]

 

[Whit64130]

Next up in our Epcot morning was a visit to The Land pavilion. I was interested to see what it was like with Soarin' closed for refurbisment!

I would love to see the Land Pavillion empty. You know to actually take time to look around without getting trampled. But then again I guess I would rather ride Soarin'

This is Colin telling Rapuznel "We have your movie at home! It's called Tangled! I like your hair!" Such a charmer.

Too cute! Rapunzel is my favorite princess!

While I was snapping this picture, the monorail passed right by. And I don't know about you, but every time the monorail passes over us, I shout "Monorail!" like I've never set foot in a Disney park before. And if I have my phone or camera ready, I always take a picture. So that means I have lots of pictures like this:

​

Even though we drive and drive from park to park I still try to ride the monorail from EPCOT to TTC at least once a trip. I just LOVE it and feel so Disney haha.

 

[NJlauren]

I also love figment! I feel like he is very underrated!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad the boys enjoyed Figment! And they look like they had so much fun playing in the fountains!

 

[ariane37]

When DH and I went in January, Soarin' had closed already but we went in the Land pavilion to ride Living with the Land. It was so weird to see it that empty! It was early in the morning and of course since they'd stopped serving breakfast there was hardly anybody there at all.
As cool as it was I missed the breakfast crowd for some reason lol!
My DS10 still loves Figment and wants to ride it numerous times each trip

 

[MissMaryQC]

I LOVE photos of the monorail! I get super, over excited when I see one too.

I actually waved people by us to stop and take a few pictures.

Oh my! That is really a short wait!

And the boys LOVED it, of course! Except that skunk smell...not such big fans of that! But overall, it was just the right amount of silly to appeal to little boys! And isn't Figment just so cute?

HAHA! I don't think anyone much cares for that portion of the attraction.

We spent some time in the play area after. The boys really liked this music station!

Cute! I've not spent time in there in many years.

The boys had a ball playing in the fountains! We let them play for about 10 minutes until they were just wet enough to cool off some! Then we packed up and headed off to our next destination!

Always a nice way to cool down in the blazing Florida heat!

 

[Dugette]

Very painless and all my worries about a split stay were pretty much gone!

Yep, it's generally a pretty smooth transfer (unless they lose something...)

The PhotoPass photographer must have missed Colin's fist bump. And this is the best family picture we got. Jake wasn't looking at the camera for any of them...this has been a recurring theme for us if you've read other TRs. We just have to take what we can get with family pictures!

Sorry the pics didn't turn out better, but so glad you got to be first of the day to meet Baymax. Izzy LOVES fist bumps, so this is going to be a must do for us next trip.

I was kind of hoping to see some of the new Finding Dory characters but we missed them by about a week.

Oh, I didn't know they were adding them. We just saw the movie last night. Cool!

Next, I pointed out this Peanut Butter Tree. Again, who knew? But a quick Google search tells me the tree bears a fruit that is very similar to peanut butter in both flavor and scent. Cool, right?

Huh, good to know. I had wondered what that was.

We moved on from the Peanut Butter Sandwich tree and saw this banana tree.

Mmmm, peanut butter and banana sandwiches!

Do you see what I see? Rapunzel and Flynn Rider! And with a short line! We were in! I grabbed the autograph book and we waited less than 10 minutes. Then the boys were up!

Wow, very cool that you ran across them! Great meet!

 

[hokieinpa]

I would love to see the Land Pavillion empty. You know to actually take time to look around without getting trampled. But then again I guess I would rather ride Soarin'

It was so strange to see it empty! It was a little on the early side for lunch but I don't think Sunshine Seasons was as busy as normal. But I guess it's back to normal now! I'm excited to see the new Soarin' this fall!

Too cute! Rapunzel is my favorite princess!

It was a really lucky little surprise for us! We all love Rapunzel and Flynn. It was so much fun to meet them together!

Even though we drive and drive from park to park I still try to ride the monorail from EPCOT to TTC at least once a trip. I just LOVE it and feel so Disney haha.

Yes! We try and take the monorail at least once each trip, even if it's not totally necessary. It doesn't feel like a Disney trip without a ride on the monorail!

I also love figment! I feel like he is very underrated!

It's such a fun ride and I think you just have to leave there happy!

I'm glad the boys enjoyed Figment! And they look like they had so much fun playing in the fountains!

They loved Figment and already have it on the list for our next trip! And those fountains were so much fun! Definitely on our list for next trip too.

When DH and I went in January, Soarin' had closed already but we went in the Land pavilion to ride Living with the Land. It was so weird to see it that empty! It was early in the morning and of course since they'd stopped serving breakfast there was hardly anybody there at all.
As cool as it was I missed the breakfast crowd for some reason lol!

Wasn't it strange to see it so empty? There is usually such a crowd EVERYWHERE around Soarin' but it was like a ghost town or something!

My DS10 still loves Figment and wants to ride it numerous times each trip

It's such a happy ride! We love the songs and the silly little Figment!

I LOVE photos of the monorail! I get super, over excited when I see one too.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I love that they pass right through the park over Epcot. It just feels so Disney!

Oh my! That is really a short wait!

It was so nice to basically be able to walk on to all of the rides that morning!

HAHA! I don't think anyone much cares for that portion of the attraction.

Definitely not my favorite part of the ride! They could have picked so many other smells...

Cute! I've not spent time in there in many years.

The boys had so much fun! I bet you'll be spending some time there next May!

Always a nice way to cool down in the blazing Florida heat!

They had a great time trying to catch the water/run away from the water! A fun way to cool off!

 

[hokieinpa]

Yep, it's generally a pretty smooth transfer (unless they lose something...)

Oh no! We were lucky and had everything arrive at AKL but I'm sure things get misplaced along the way!

Sorry the pics didn't turn out better, but so glad you got to be first of the day to meet Baymax. Izzy LOVES fist bumps, so this is going to be a must do for us next trip.

I think Jake was just in total awe and couldn't look away from Baymax! And I think Izzy will love meeting him!

Oh, I didn't know they were adding them. We just saw the movie last night. Cool!

Yes! I'm not sure how it will work but that was the rumor floating around.

Huh, good to know. I had wondered what that was.

I need to google have the stuff growing in there! Or either I had not idea it grew like that - like a cinnamon tree. Super interesting stuff! It almost makes me want to take that Behind the Seeds tour!

Mmmm, peanut butter and banana sandwiches!

Yum! I never made that connection that it does sound pretty good right now!

Wow, very cool that you ran across them! Great meet!

It was a nice little surprise! I know about Characterpalooza and have heard of these training meets at Epcot, but it was fun to actually run into one! And we've been wanting to meet Rapunzel and Flynn together since our first trip but always missed them at parties for one reason or another. So it was lucky that we got to see both of them this day with really no wait!

 

[Saphire5742]

Finally made my way over...
Love the look of Wilderness Lodge. Thank you for showing us around. Would love to stay there someday, or just spend a whole day exploring.
I like your Nate's idea of a peanut butter sandwich tree. I could so go for that!
So cool that you got a surprise Rapunzel and Flynn meet. Your boys are too cute!
Looking forward to reading more...

 

[khertz]

Oh. Man. I'm SO JEALOUS of that random Rapunzel/Flynn meet!!!!!!! It was such a huge disappointment that they didn't have the princes meeting with the princesses at MNSSHP last year because I had LOVED getting to meet them together in 2013 at our first party. I probably would have squealed out loud to walk up on them in Epcot like that!!!

Figment gets picked on a lot, but we love that ride! I never got to ride the old one, which seems to be the complaint most people have is that they are nostalgic for the original version. I guess since I can't miss something I never experienced, I'm just fine with this version. I think it's cute!

 

[ArielSRL]

We missed the Imagination Pavilion this trip (not because it wasn't on my plans, mind you, but because, as I think I mentioned, my plans weren't really followed...d'oh) and this makes me a tad sad that we did. However, I'm glad your boys enjoyed it. And we will definitely hit it up next trip because Figment is one of my husband's fave characters! So, I'll just start looking forward to it now!

 

[kastoney]

Loving all the figment love ; ) Laughed out loud about the skunk part. Casey is the exact same way and insist on holding her nose for the first half of the ride until we get past it

 

[hokieinpa]

Finally made my way over...

Thanks for following along!

Love the look of Wilderness Lodge. Thank you for showing us around. Would love to stay there someday, or just spend a whole day exploring.

We really enjoyed our stay at Wilderness Lodge, even if it was only one night! It's a beautiful resort and I would love to stay another time!

I like your Nate's idea of a peanut butter sandwich tree. I could so go for that!

That does sound pretty good!

So cool that you got a surprise Rapunzel and Flynn meet. Your boys are too cute!

We were so lucky to stumble on that little meet! It was so much fun meeting them together and seeing them interact with each other!

Oh. Man. I'm SO JEALOUS of that random Rapunzel/Flynn meet!!!!!!! It was such a huge disappointment that they didn't have the princes meeting with the princesses at MNSSHP last year because I had LOVED getting to meet them together in 2013 at our first party. I probably would have squealed out loud to walk up on them in Epcot like that!!!

It was so lucky that we found them since heading over to Figment wasn't in my original plans! I've heard of character training at Epcot but I think this is a fairly new spot. And seeing them together was so much fun! Our first MNSSHP was the first year princes stopped meeting with the princesses so we were bummed. So this was a really exciting find!

Figment gets picked on a lot, but we love that ride! I never got to ride the old one, which seems to be the complaint most people have is that they are nostalgic for the original version. I guess since I can't miss something I never experienced, I'm just fine with this version. I think it's cute!

I thought it was so much fun! We loved the music and Figment is so cute! And the play area after is fun too!

We missed the Imagination Pavilion this trip (not because it wasn't on my plans, mind you, but because, as I think I mentioned, my plans weren't really followed...d'oh) and this makes me a tad sad that we did. However, I'm glad your boys enjoyed it. And we will definitely hit it up next trip because Figment is one of my husband's fave characters! So, I'll just start looking forward to it now!

Oh man, next trip!! On our first trips I feel like I overplanned and now I think I've reached a good point in knowing how long everything will really take! Figment is really cute and the ride is definitely fun!!

Loving all the figment love ; ) Laughed out loud about the skunk part. Casey is the exact same way and insist on holding her nose for the first half of the ride until we get past it

I think Figment gets a bad rap with the new version but we all really like it...except that skunk part. The play area after was a big hit too!

 

[ArielSRL]

Oh man, next trip!! On our first trips I feel like I overplanned and now I think I've reached a good point in knowing how long everything will really take! Figment is really cute and the ride is definitely fun!!

Yes, I learned that with two kids (and two grands) it takes a lot longer to get from one place to the next...that's for sure! I'll be scaling it back some for our next trip but I do think we will accomplish quite a bit more doing rope drop. I've done Figment a few times - even the original - so I know the boys would enjoy it!

 

[hokieinpa]

I am Speed.


After our little trip with Figment and some fun in the jumping fountains, it was just about time for Nate and Colin's favorite part of Epcot - Test Track! They are starting to get a bit obsessed with this ride. One of our teenage neighbors showed them a drivers licenses I guess they used to issue at Test Track? I'm not sure if this this still a thing but it only deepened their interest in Test Track. Me? I can honestly take it or leave it...but I really love that they love it so much!

We still had a few minutes before our FP+ window opened so we headed over to let the boys run in the Cactus Road Rally playground.

​

It was a really cute little play area, with a fun theme and topiaries, of course!

​

​

The boys had a great time climbing, driving, and just generally burning off some extra energy! Colin kept climbing to the top of this slide and saying under his breath "I am Speed." (A Lightning McQueen quote for those not so entrenched in the Cars culture) and then sliding down.

​

​

But it was quite warm in most of the play area and the equipment itself was very hot to the touch. There were shaded areas but I was worried about the boys getting too hot. The window for our FP+ was just about to open so we rounded them up and headed over...but first a picture.

​

See those red cheeks! It was toasty out there - 91 actual temperature with a real feel close to 100. But everyone is looking at the camera! Score!

I took Nate and Colin to ride Test Track and we grabbed a Rider Swap pass for Jim to use with them later. Jake was tired so Jim was going to try to get him to settle down for a nap in the stroller in the dump area after Test Track. Spoiler Alert - He was quite unsuccessful in his attempts.

The boys had a blast designing the car and didn't do too badly at taking turns!

​

​

We had a great time, of course! I feel bad that Nate was blocked by the seat in front of him but I'm just happy our Test Track picture showed up this time!

​

After our ride, we found Jim and Jake (still wide awake) in the area with all the cars. I handed him the Rider Swap pass and he took the older boys off for another ride. I don't have any pictures of the design stage but here is the ride photo.

​

Jake stated that he was "HUNGRY" so we went off in search of some popcorn. I was texting back and forth with my mom as well since they had flown into MCO that morning. They had dropped off their things at AKL and our room was ready!! At this point, they were on a bus to Epcot so we made plans to meet up near Spaceship Earth. Jake and I settled in to enjoy our popcorn and he was quite the happy guy! Food has that effect on him.

​

Jim and the boys finished up on Test Track and met us in the breezeway near MouseGear. We refilled our water bottles at the Electric Umbrella and relaxed for a bit longer when we heard a familiar sound...

​

It was the JAMMitors...again! We caught their show in November and loved it so the boys were excited to see them again! We watched for a few minutes and then headed back to the shade. Because Florida.

My parents arrived at this point so we spent a few minutes hearing them rave about Animal Kingdom Lodge before heading over for our FP+ for Spaceship Earth!


Next up

Welcome To Your Future!

 

[hokieinpa]

Welcome To Your Future!


We made our way over to Spaceship Earth for our 3rd FP+ of the day. I guess I liked these fun topiaries on the way over enough to stop and take a picture?

​

Then Spaceship Earth! I'm going to go ahead and rank this in my Top 5 Favorite Attractions in all of WDW. I'm not 100% of the order of the Top 5 but it includes Tower of Terror, People Mover, Soarin', small world, and Splash Mountain as well. And that makes 6 I guess. So Top 6 Favorite Attractions!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JDqqZt]
​

https://flic.kr/p/JDqqZthttps://flic.kr/p/JDqqZt​

My mom and I rode together this time, which was fun since we're usually riding with the boys! It was a nice treat!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HivE1T]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GZiSBW]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GZjPkU]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu2yPb]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu9V1Z]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hg9ZE7]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GZjJF3]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hg9wwE]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HgaThL]
​

[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GZiSBW][url=https://flic.kr/p/GZjPkU][url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu2yPb][url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu9V1Z][url=https://flic.kr/p/Hg9ZE7][url=https://flic.kr/p/GZjJF3][url=https://flic.kr/p/Hg9wwE][url=https://flic.kr/p/HgaThL]

After our ride, we spent a solid 20 minutes in the play area! The boys love the racing game especially. You are racing to destroy some kind of satellite or super weapon I think?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hg9s7Y]
​

https://flic.kr/p/Hg9s7Yhttps://flic.kr/p/Hg9s7Y​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Gu2pyh]​

​

And the energy shuffleboard. This one is hard for them but they have so much fun pushing those little energy balls around!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HmD94u]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HivzG2]​

[/url]​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HivzG2]

Our time in Future World was ending and it was time to head over to explore the World Showcase! We did stop for some PhotoPass pictures and ended up with 2 that I'm pretty happy with! My picture luck turned around a bit on this trip!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4]​

​

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HBC7FW]​

​

Next up

Frushi and Pizza[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]

 

[ArielSRL]

Great updates! OMG, I know about the hot! When we were there a few weeks ago, my boys looked exactly the same, with the same flushed faces! I'm glad the boys had fun on TT and boy do I know about the not napping, yet tired kiddo(s). My two would both usually fall asleep at some point though it was usually never when Will usually does nor when I wanted AJ to (who doesn't nap at home).

Great photos. My one regret is that I never got my boys out of the stroller for the Photopass photos. We were just always running behind and rushing. In any case, I'll file it under "what I learned" for this trip and rectify next year.

I love the Cars area. My boys are fairly obsessed with McQueen and friends. But I'm assuming that was all gone for our trip. But to be honest, I wouldn't know because we basically only hit up The Land, The Seas, and Spaceship Earth this trip. Epcot got the cold shoulder! Wasn't planned that way but ended up that way.

Nice you and your mom got to ride SSE without the boys. Glad the boys enjoyed the play area.

Looking forward to more!

 

[Saphire5742]

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/Gu97BB'][/URL]​

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/HmErQu'][/URL]

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/HmErQu']

Love this photo! Maybe it's the Cars topiary in the background, but your boys are looking very cool.

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/HmDxKY'][URL='https://flic.kr/p/Hiv8dk']​

[/URL]​

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/HmDxKY'][/URL]

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/HmDxKY']

They did a great job!

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4'][URL='https://flic.kr/p/HBC7FW']​

[/URL]​

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4'][URL='https://flic.kr/p/HBC7FW'][/URL]
[URL='https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4'][/URL][/URL]

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4'][URL='https://flic.kr/p/J35GD4']

Nice family portrait.

Sounds like a productive Epcot morning, even in that heat.[/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]

 

[cajunfan]

OK, Don't know what I did, but the popcorn picture and the mention that food makes Jake a happy guy...made me giggle...food has that same effect on me! LOL