Family, friends, teachers & Stacy too! - The End 9/27 page 14

[mommytothreeboys]

Rain is no fun....but I'm glad to see you still managed to enjoy your time at Epcot!

I love the pics of Zach with the lemon. Too funny! And Alice may not be a princess, but she's certainly a girl! Hilarious!

My boys LOVED exploring the gift shop in Japan this past trip. So much cool stuff to see!

 

[eandesmom]

I am SO excited by your BOG update! I have hope that my uber picky non eating high mainentance nephews can do this. Not saying your kids are...wow that came out wrong but oh, I'm so happy it went so incredibly well and am going to INSIST on it...assuming I can even get a ressie lol.

ITA with Mary Ellen, those T's are adorable.

A resort day is nice but BLEH on outlet shopping (sorry). Very happy the rain finally let up and that Via was a hit, I cannot wait to take the E's there. I can completely understand being bummed you weren't by the ovens.

thank heavens you didn't miss Kaki Gori...do you guys ever? I love to see everyone's routines and "must do's"

It was pouring so hard that we decided to walk right next door to see Captiain EO. The camera didn’t come back out for a while. The boys weren’t quite sure what to think of Captian EO. I thought it was much more fun when I saw it with my friends after a few cocktails. We were happy to be out of the rain. When we came out, it was still raining but the downpour had passed so we moved on.
​

the boys had about the same reaction to Captain EO. I love your comment I'd never seen it before Epcot to be honest but Jeff definitely recalled it being cooler when he was younger. Oh how far film has come huh? Still it is a fun retro moment.

The Jeff and Karen $20 each is hysterical!!!!

 

[Angies1274]

Hi Amy!

I just realized you had a TR going for your April trip. I'm late but I'm here and all caught up!

Your villa was really nice! Glad you got your requests!

I'm so happy the boys enjoyed T-Rex! What a fun place.

I can't wait to see the updates to Test Track. I know my boys are going to love it!

Flame Tree is yummy! But, the birds can definitely be crazy!

BOG looks amazing!! I'm glad you enjoyed your meal!

 

[carissanboys]

Yay for an update!

Looks like you guys had a relaxing day with family. I'm not a shopper either (I kind of hate it unless I have a purpose--and even then I like to go and get out).

That stinks about your rainy day at Epcot, but you guys still had a great time! That pizza was huge! And looked delicious.

Connor loves to suck on lemons. He doesn't even make a face when he eats them.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

So fun, Jack wants that pizza. Guess a trip to Via Napoli is in our future.
Even with all that rain you guys made the most of it and looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hmmm - I wonder what this lemon tastes like. Yikes - its so bitter.



Let me taste it again just to make sure!



Yup - still bitter!

Kids. They crack me UP! He looks like he is in extreme pain!



That is HUGE! Wow!

Those ducks are adorable. I love when I get lucky enough to see some real babies.

So the trick to Captain EO is an adult beverage? The question is how many?

Boy it sure looks wet out.

Nice resort day. Back to back outlet shopping doesn't really appeal to me either when I am on vacation. But I do feel like I should hit up those outlets one of this trip.

Yeah for a bonus school trip cancelation and an update!

Zach was cracking me up with the lemon! And he just kept going back for more!

The ducks were such a fun find! They were so darn cute trying to find mama who was on the other side of the wall. They finally made their way over to her.

It was a wet day... but luckily it cleared up while we were at dinner.

I think I got my fill of the outlets and won't need to hurry back soon. We have plenty of outlets nearby at home so I'd rather not spend my vacation time shopping.

The field trip was much more fun this past week when it was in the low 70s and sunny.

I remember that rain storm....we were at AoA exploring and you could see the storm rolling in. Thankfully we got back to the car in time. We actually ate at Via Napoli the next week during a rain storm...got an adr like 2 hours before. I'm happy to hear Alex loved the pizza, Danica ate it up too. The eye candy in that restaurant............yum.

MEK: Captain EO has a two drink minimum

Eye candy! There certainly is a fair amount of that at Via Napoli!

Yes - there certainly should be a 2 drink minimum at Captain EO!

We love via Napoli! That pizza is HUGE!!!

My boys LOVE spaceship earth but we've been so many times that futures kinda look the same too.

My boys love to make goofy faces.

What section of Sheraton vistana were you in?

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Via Napoli is definitely somewhere we'll return. It'll be fun to try some new futures on SSE next time.

We were in the Cascades section at Vistana. We'd previously stayed in the Fountains & Lakes sections so we requested the other "side" of the resort & really enjoyed being near the other pools & the marketplace. I'd like to stay in the Spas or Courts sections but I don't think that would work out based on various factors (check-in day/unit size). I think we'll request a Cascades unit a couple buildings down from where we were next time. What is your favorite section?

Catching up on several groups of pictures. I am glad your experience at BOG was a good one. The castle is so nicely done. Our lunch food really wasn't anything to write home about, but I am glad I got to get pictures inside.

Splash, Big Thunder, and Space Mountains -

That is a huge pizza! We still need to go to Via Napoli.

I've really enjoyed the new areas of Magic Kingdom - I can't wait for the Mine Train to open!!

Via Napoli is a very reasonably priced TS restaurant.

Rain is no fun....but I'm glad to see you still managed to enjoy your time at Epcot!

I love the pics of Zach with the lemon. Too funny! And Alice may not be a princess, but she's certainly a girl! Hilarious!

My boys LOVED exploring the gift shop in Japan this past trip. So much cool stuff to see!

This was really the worst rain we saw all trip. Once this cleared out we were in good shape for the rest of our visit. Luckily we didn't have too much planned for Epcot that day.

Zach was so funny about Alice. He was really annoyed that Alex wanted a picture with her!

Japan definitely has the best gift shop for teen/tween boys!

I am SO excited by your BOG update! I have hope that my uber picky non eating high mainentance nephews can do this. Not saying your kids are...wow that came out wrong but oh, I'm so happy it went so incredibly well and am going to INSIST on it...assuming I can even get a ressie lol.

ITA with Mary Ellen, those T's are adorable.

A resort day is nice but BLEH on outlet shopping (sorry). Very happy the rain finally let up and that Via was a hit, I cannot wait to take the E's there. I can completely understand being bummed you weren't by the ovens.

thank heavens you didn't miss Kaki Gori...do you guys ever? I love to see everyone's routines and "must do's"



the boys had about the same reaction to Captain EO. I love your comment I'd never seen it before Epcot to be honest but Jeff definitely recalled it being cooler when he was younger. Oh how far film has come huh? Still it is a fun retro moment.

The Jeff and Karen $20 each is hysterical!!!!

BoG really was great! Alex can definitely be picky... no offense taken! That, along with his dietary restrictions, he can be hard to feed sometimes. Be our Guest did a great job at making him the perfect meal.

Outlet shopping once was OK, but the second time was more than enough!

I'm pretty sure I saw Captain EO at Epcot when I was younger. I went to WDW a couple times with my best friend's family when we were in high school.

Hi Amy!

I just realized you had a TR going for your April trip. I'm late but I'm here and all caught up!

Your villa was really nice! Glad you got your requests!

I'm so happy the boys enjoyed T-Rex! What a fun place.

I can't wait to see the updates to Test Track. I know my boys are going to love it!

Flame Tree is yummy! But, the birds can definitely be crazy!

BOG looks amazing!! I'm glad you enjoyed your meal!

I'm so glad to see you Angie!! Sorry to leave you hanging for so long now that you found me! I'm hoping to get back into the swing of regular updates now that school is out.

Our trip was off to a great start. It's so nice to experience new things even after so many trips to Disney!

Yay for an update!

Looks like you guys had a relaxing day with family. I'm not a shopper either (I kind of hate it unless I have a purpose--and even then I like to go and get out).

That stinks about your rainy day at Epcot, but you guys still had a great time! That pizza was huge! And looked delicious.

Connor loves to suck on lemons. He doesn't even make a face when he eats them.

I'm with you... Most of my clothes come from a couple different stores because when I need something I don't want to have to hunt all over.

Luckily the rainy afternoon at Epcot was the worst of the trip but we still made the best of it.

I don't know how Connor can suck on lemons without a face!

So fun, Jack wants that pizza. Guess a trip to Via Napoli is in our future.
Even with all that rain you guys made the most of it and looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

You should definitely try out Via Napoli. It's not too expensive (for Disney) and it doesn't require a credit card hold.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Sorry for the lack of updates! The kids finished 3rd & 6th grades on Thursday so things have slowed down & I finally have some time to write more updates!!

Day 6 – Monday 4/22

Plans for today were to go to Blizzard Beach & have a parents’ night out with the kids going to the Sandcastle Club. The weather was better but it was still going to be cool. Alex also had a cut on his foot that probably didn’t need to be wet all day, so we decided to move our waterpark day to later in the week. But what to do… Based on wanting to move our WP day to Wednesday (which was planned as an AK day), we decided to hit Animal Kingdom. We had mixed feeling about this because it was Animal Kingdom’s 15th Anniversary. We weren’t sure if it might be really crowded or not, but we were also excited to check it out.

We ran into Jiminy Cricket on the way in (but didn’t stop for photos or autographs).


They were handing out these special maps & pins on our way in.



First up…
















Photopass:




A little browsing…




After facing the Yeti, we were heading to Africa to ride the safari.






When I realized that Flights of Wonder was about to start, I persuaded the gang to head in & grab a seat.






I got a little worried when I realized there was going to be a bird so close to where we were sitting… luckily Alex was OK with it.










Continued...​

 

[DisMomAmy]

It was our first time seeing Flights of Wonder and we all enjoyed it. Alex was getting a little antsy toward the end but we didn’t have any bird issues. I’m not sure we’ll rush back to see it again soon, but I’m sure we’ll see it again in the future if the timing is right.

After FoW, we continued on toward Africa.




You know who the “family” is in my title… in Africa we bumped into our first “friends” of the trip. We saw a family from our home town. We stopped for a few minutes to chat then headed off the safari.
You’ve seen the pictures before so I’ll just post a few that I took from my phone.








Zach had my camera… here are a few of his best shots.










After the safari, we decided to take a walk on the Pangani trail.
We’ll start off with these beauties…




There were lots of birds…


And fish…

An underwater hippo…


Meerkats! My favorite!




And the best part… we didn’t get to see baby Lilly but we saw the mama! Or daddy??








Continued...​

 

[DisMomAmy]

Next up was lunch. We walked back over toward Asia so Tim could pick something up at Yak & Yeti. We left him there then headed to Flame Tree and got food for the rest of us. By the time we had our food, Tim had found us and we tried to find a seat without birds.

After lunch we headed to Dinoland and rode Dinosaur & Primeval Whirl.


Notice the woman behind Tim who appears to be bored & reading her park map!


I think we rode Expedition Everest one more time before heading out. Sorry no pix.
I did make everyone stop for more PP pix on the way out.






So how was the 15th Anniversary? I think it was a little more crowded than it might have otherwise been but it wasn’t mobbed by any means. There were some stations set up throughout the park with extra hands on learning opportunities. We also saw some side areas along the Pangani trail but didn’t stop because we were feeling pressure to have lunch before it got busy. I asked about merchandise before we left and was told that most of it had either sold out already or had long lines (which I wasn’t willing to wait in). We grabbed a couple extra maps and pins on the way out to share with some more “friends” later in the week.

When we got back to the room, we headed over to the Falls pool, which has the waterslide.


Some little friends:







We only swam/sunbathed for about an hour, then went back to the villa to get ready for dinner.

I only have one picture of the evening. The kids menu at Shula’s.


The reason I took this picture is because Alex is 12. Next year he’ll be 13 and too old for the Sandcastle club. When we picked the boys up from the club, Martha was on a break. She’s the woman who has worked there forever and has been there all three times the boys have visited. As we walked through the Beach Club, we ran into her. Alex ran up, gave her a hug and told he her wouldn’t be able to come back. She told him that if she’s still there, she would let him in and he should just say he’s 12 next time. (Of course Alex is way too much of a rule follower to every try that!)

As always, Tim & I really enjoyed our dinner at Shula’s. Between the dinner ($197 AFTER TIW discount) and the kids club ($46), it does make for an expensive date night. After we picked up the boys, we took them to Beaches & Cream for some dessert. On our way back out to the car, I stopped in the B&C gift shop and bought a vintage Epcot zip up sweatshirt. It might be a men’s sweatshirt but I love it and wear it a lot!

That’s it for Day 6. Up next… Meeting the Teacher.​

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We all enjoyed FoW last yr. it was our first time as well.

Wow those are some great shots Alex or Zach ( cant remember which) got of the animals!

That was funny about the girl reading the map on Dinosaur. Lol

I can't remember the name of the section we were in at SVR but the Falls pool (that one with the slide) was the closest pool and the one we went to. So I'm guessing we were in Falls ?? It was our first time staying there.

We haven't tried Shula's yet. It's on our to do list. We usually do one really expensive restaurant each trip and the last couple of times it's been Narcoossees. DH loves the surf and turf there...yum!

We leave for FL next Sat. I can't wait!! We'll be spending 4th of July week in Disney. I am excited and a little nervous about the crowds. I'm hoping its not much worse than April vacation. Have you ever gone in July?

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[ddluvsdisney]

I forgot to say that my DS16 would have found it difficult to lie about his age too ( when he was their age)

That was so very nice of her to say though! They must be so well behaved

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[disneyfan61]

How did I miss this?? Now I have to go & read!!

 

[RachelNinja]

Joining in from your link on the Disney FB page

I love the pics of the timeshare. My parents have a timeshare in Kissimmee, and it really offers something that regular ol' hotel rooms can't. It just feels more relaxing to go back there after a day at the parks and to really rest knowing you can just walk to the fridge and make something in the kitchen. That's not to say that staying on property didn't have its benefits too! I loved not having to rely on anyone for transportation when at the parks and not having to worry about getting lost when my dad was driving around! Staying on property means that my husband and I are by ourselves, so that's always fun too. I look forward to going to the timeshare when we have our own kids!

Smart move having the boys save up their allowance! It looked like it really worked out great!

I was wondering what Alex's backpack held! I think it's so cool how it can encourage someone to keep drinking all day. How much water does it hold when completely filled?

I love how your entire family rides all the thrill rides together! My own family has never done that because my mom doesn't do rides like that and at one point or another, my older brother and younger brother went through phases where they tried acting as if they were "too cool" for certain rides, but in reality, they were just scared! I don't think it'll happen for my future family either because I'm not big on thrill rides! Thunder Mountain and Test Track are my kinds of thrill! Hopefully, our kids will enjoy going on those as a family!

 

[eandesmom]

Zach got some great pictures!

Notice the woman behind Tim who appears to be bored & reading her park map!

That's a good one!

The reason I took this picture is because Alex is 12. Next year he’ll be 13 and too old for the Sandcastle club. When we picked the boys up from the club, Martha was on a break. She’s the woman who has worked there forever and has been there all three times the boys have visited. As we walked through the Beach Club, we ran into her. Alex ran up, gave her a hug and told he her wouldn’t be able to come back. She told him that if she’s still there, she would let him in and he should just say he’s 12 next time. (Of course Alex is way too much of a rule follower to every try that!)

Aw, that is so sweet of her!

Overall seems like a great day and a lovely evening (even if it was a pricey one). Nothing wrong with a man's shirt, all the really cool epcot retro ones were, I saw several that I liked!

 

[MEK]

Photopass:



.​

I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh at the bright pink shorts. There - got that out of my system.

Zach did a great job with the safari pictures. I especially love the elephant shot.

I also love the tract on EE. Pretty cool.

I'm glad that the 15th anniversary crowds were not crazy. Looks like a great park dark.

Nick date night at Shula's. Did you enjoy the food?

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Great updates Amy! I know all about being crazy busy...glad you had some time to update at all!

Flights of Wonder....been there, done that, NEVER doing that again. I'm glad you didn't have any issues!

Love the gorilla pics. They were very shy for us on our trip this year. You got some good views!

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Hey I am cought up and can't wait to read more

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What a fun AK day, looks like you had a great time and so cool about the extra little side interactive things. My kids love that kind of stuff.

I love that you guys do the whole couple dinner thing and the boys go to the kids club. I have a hard time lying about age too, one time a ticket lady at a local place told me to say Joey was 2 or 3, he is 5 but really small (she couldn't believe he was 5), I just couldn't do it and bought him a ticket. So will Alex be dining with you next year?

can't wait to read more

 

[MeMom]

It has been too long since I have been able to check in here. It was good to see the AK pictures. I wish we could have been there on anniversary day, but school was back in session after a nice two week break and right at state testing time, so that was a definite no!

Flights of Wonder is nice to see occasionally. After the show, they bring out a bird or two to hang out on stage, so it's nice to get close-up pictures and to hear kids get to ask questions.

Zach got nice pictures! Good job, buddy!

Too bad Alex can't hang out in the kids' club any more. They need a place for teens.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I love the report so far