Somebody's Gonna Pee in a Cup, West Coast - Link to new TR 1/21

[pkondz]

Okay - none of my business, but I just thought I would share. Until reading TRs on this board, I never thought about the Mary Poppins movie for Willow - it really wasn't one that I remembered seeing as a kid (and I don't think I did). Because of this place, I ended up buying the DVD for Willow some years ago, and I'm so glad I did. The story and the MUSIC are so great - kids just love it. Willow still enjoys it (although not as obsessively as she did a few years ago) - it would make for a great Christmas present for DD and DS.

Heck, I just bought it as a Christmas gift for DD17 this past year!

 

[that's nice]

Those of you who have followed my past TR’s know that I am very adamant about rope drop being one of the most important details when it comes to touring Disney World. I always hit rope drop. After day 1, MiL was even commenting later in the morning that it was a good thing we got there when we did to get so much done before the lines built up. DW, I know, agrees with me and knows it is important.

One of these days we will make RD.

I am very adamant about rope drop being one of the most important details when it comes to touring Disney World. I always hit rope drop.

Yea yea, we heard you already!

We parked the stroller and went to get rider swap.

Ride swap, best kept secret in all of WDW!

I had heard it was short, I didn’t realize how short it was until I experienced it.

That's what she said.

You look really enthused.

Can you say Beeotch?

I can say it but this is a family board.

Somebody’s Gonna Pee In a Cup

Oooh, oooh, I can't wait!!!!

It was good, but the food wasn’t quite as good as on our previous trips.

That is what we found when we ate at WCC. We haven't been back since.

I have to say, that while it seems odd that Elsa lights Cinderella’s castle instead of the Fairy Godmother, I think this show was very well done and amazing to see.

UGH, the Frozen effect.

We ended up waiting 20 minutes to get on a boat in the FP line.

Since PotC was down earlier in the day, they probably let anyone into the FP line that has one earlier in the day.

Wishes is probably my favorite show at Disney World.

I'm right there with ya buddy.

“ I think somebody’s gonna get to go pee in a cup tonight.”

That is a little nutty. I'm wondering if he panicked? Or did he really not have a clue what he was doing? I'd say the boat captains are usually on point.

 

[that's nice]

And in an unlikely change of events, we were parked and standing in line at the turnstiles a good 20 minutes before they started letting people in.

Now you are just rubbing it in.

I have to say, it was a good show. I’m definitely glad I finally saw it. I might be villified for saying this, but it didn’t really live up to the hype, to me. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed it, but I don’t think it is something that we’ll need to do every trip, by any means.

ITA.. we only see it every few trips. Depending on how hot it is in August, it might be on our agenda then.

They weren’t into this show at all, and it was getting a little frustrating trying to keep them distracted. It reached a point where I just wanted the show to end so we could get out of there and move on to something else. I think anybody who is a parent, can totally relate to this.

Been there, done that with Christopher.

And let me just say, this turned out to be a mistake. Wow…. Definitely should have stuck with Flame Tree.

Come on man!

She is beautiful Andy... Love the dress!

Jasmine was cold? Weren't you inside? LOL

As we were walking out, DD got all excited and yelled “Goodbye Cinderella!” Cinderella turned and gave her a smile and a wave. The perfect end to our dinner experience.

How cute!

As I said, the food and the service were both excellent. We had no problems or complaints on that end of things. But the character interactions we got and DD’s excitement for seeing the princesses made it worthwhile. It would be hard to justify the cost of that meal otherwise.

Disney has a great way of taking your money don't they?

The next thing I know I hear him asking to see wristbands and he’s standing right behind me.

Well, you can either wait till I’m done or I can show you now but that would make things kind of awkward…

Hey, he wanted to see 'IT'. You should of showed him.

So if you’re standing with a stroller and have to be in the area of one of those buses where they pivot, make sure you take a careful look to figure out which parts move together or against each other.

Noted!


And I'm all caught up!

 

[afwdwfan]

Great up date. I can appreciate your view on Lion King. Go see it when the kids are older or you are sans kids. It is one of my favorite shows however waiting can be difficult and it is a long show for children the age of yours. Great pictures. I have to agree with you though a mid day nap is a necessity at WDW if you want to catch any nighttime magic

Lion King was good... but it just isn't really my all time favorite show or anything like that. But the kids having no interest certainly didn't help. I hate wasting Disney time on naps, but we were dragging.

I made a comment before I realized I had two more pages to get through. Love DD's dress for the evening. I am glad that you enjoyed CRT. We did too, very much but not as much as California Grill or Jiko!The Pics with all the princesses are very good. I would have loved to see pics of the dance a long with P and P. I bet that was cute. Sounds like you had a great evening at the party.

We had a great time! The kids just loved all the character time we had. And dinner was pretty good for the adults too. No complaints.

And here I'd have thought that she would've said that you remind her of Sebastian only more crabby!?

Exactly! That's why I was so thrown off by it!

Looks like a nice time at Cindy's table, and your kids were at the perfect age so totally worth it.

It was. It would have been a little bit better if DS would have been a little more willing to interact with the princesses, but DD sure had a blast.

Your wife really took some nice pictures of the parade.

She did. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing! Your kids are about the same age as mine will be this trip - excited to hear how it worked out for you guys. Looking forward to following along the rest of the trip!

Welcome! I hope I can share some helpful information. For the most part, we had a pretty smooth trip with the kids. I think it is a really good age to take them.

My 7yo DD will ride ANYTHING, but to this date, she is STILL apprehensive about EE b\c of the Yeti. She's a pretty logical kid, but for some reasons, she is suspect of the animatronic Yeti. My DD7 will ride, but either my DW or I are sitting out for round 2 and the other rides with my oldest DD10. So when we get to AK early in the AM and have the opportunity to ride multiple times without a wait, one of us is usually hanging with DD7 checking out stuff in the gift shop!

Yeah... I think this might be us in a few years. DD is a daredevil, so she'll probably ride everything while DS will be afraid of anything dark.

re: the Festival of the Lion King, you have to see it at least once and I do think over time the hype has almost made it impossible for it to meet the expectations of viewers (my self included). And my kids, they've seen the show a few times and for the past several trips, they've shown zero interest in seeing it again.

I think that's pretty much right. it isn't a bad show, but it has just been talked up so much that it leaves you feeling a little less than impressed.

I'm so glad you did!! LOL!! Love your report...this is my favorite part! Can we be friends?

Hey, you're a Disdad. We're already friends.

 

[afwdwfan]

Although the new way you quote does make it easier when responding to TRs.

Figures. There has been some serious monorail problems this year.

You should know...

I guess better than being boobyful.

That's a matter of opinion.

Wow, sounds like our mornings when we enter the park.

Frustrating, isn't it?

That has happened to us too... not there but the playground in DHS. Scary stuff.

That would be even worse. At least in this case, we assume that she must be somewhere inside an enclosed room.

LOL... love this!!!!

So is he a fan or a hater?

You know... I think he enjoyed it. The first time anyway...

Annnnnnnd this is why I get scared to leave a park in the middle of the day.

I'm not a big fan of the mid-day break for the simple fact that it just takes so much time to get back to the hotel, then get the kids to sleep then get back to the park... just a lot of wasted time. I'd much rather sit down for a table service lunch and hope the kids nap in the stroller.

Juliana was the queen of this. She'd fight falling asleep till we were 5 minutes from home.

Our kids are masters of this skill...

All the planning and then they do this... what can you do?

Not a #@$% thing...

Cute picture!!! Glad he was enjoying the characters.

Me too... it really would have sucked to schedule a character meal and have neither of the kids care to see them!

Ummmm, can I made a confession here? We've never stopped to watch a movie in a country. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.

That's an easy one to fix...

Yea, everyone knows Joe Morton. He is the founder of this:

Oh, thanks for clearing it up.

Just joined in tonight and am all caught up! I am loving your TR so far, looks like so much fun. You have a beautiful family, and your kids are so cute! seeing their excited faces in all of those pictures makes me smile.

Welcome! We had our ups and downs, but we really had a great time. The kids enjoying themselves makes it all worthwhile!

That is so great you decided to stay at AoA. I am so excited looking at all your pictures as I will be staying there in a little over a month! So happy your family got upgraded - that's awesome! I am staying in a Nemo suite with my friends and love the style of the rooms.

I loved AoA, I'm sure you'll have a great stay there! It really is a beautiful resort. I'd gladly go back!

I have always wanted to go to the world during Christmastime, and experience all the fun events, and your trip makes me more excited to experience it! I love all your Character pictures, meeting all those friendly faces is always so much fun. I am so happy you and your family enjoyed CRT! That is a meal I look forward to trying one day.

We love Christmas at the World. We first went the week after Thanksgiving in 2011 and loved it so much that we've made 2 Christmas time trips since. The parks really are beautiful, the crowds are typically not too bad and it is just a great way to get in the holiday spirit and have some fun at the parks. Unfortunately, with DS getting ready to start school, this will probably be our last Christmas time trip for a long, long time.

I can't wait to read more of your TR!

Thanks!

Okay - none of my business, but I just thought I would share. Until reading TRs on this board, I never thought about the Mary Poppins movie for Willow - it really wasn't one that I remembered seeing as a kid (and I don't think I did). Because of this place, I ended up buying the DVD for Willow some years ago, and I'm so glad I did. The story and the MUSIC are so great - kids just love it. Willow still enjoys it (although not as obsessively as she did a few years ago) - it would make for a great Christmas present for DD and DS.

They actually have seen the movie now. They were at my Mom's one evening and she watched it with them. DS's new favorite word is supercal... well, you get it.

 

[afwdwfan]

Heck, I just bought it as a Christmas gift for DD17 this past year!

Gotta love the Disney classics.

One of these days we will make RD.

You really need to work on that one.

Ride swap, best kept secret in all of WDW!

That's what she said.

You look really enthused.

Yeah, I kind of spaced on it. I wanted to do something funny for the camera and then I forgot all about it. I was kind of like... ah crap, too late.

I can say it but this is a family board.

Good point.

Oooh, oooh, I can't wait!!!!

I figured you'd really be looking forward to this part.

That is what we found when we ate at WCC. We haven't been back since.

I still like it and still want to give it a chance. But the ribs just weren't cooked right.

UGH, the Frozen effect.

Eh, it wasn't bad. I liked the effect, but I think it would have been a better show if they could have worked Cinderella into it in some fashion... I mean since it is her castle after all.

Since PotC was down earlier in the day, they probably let anyone into the FP line that has one earlier in the day.

That's kind of what I thought it might have been, but man, it was crazy.

I'm right there with ya buddy.

The lighting, the castle, the music, the fireworks... It just feels magical.

That is a little nutty. I'm wondering if he panicked? Or did he really not have a clue what he was doing? I'd say the boat captains are usually on point.

Yeah, it was definitely odd. I'm kind of thinking it might have been panic. He seemed to gun the throttle and overcorrect a bit when things started going wrong.

Now you are just rubbing it in.

Hey, I'm just glad we made it. Getting DW out of bed in the morning can be a battle.

ITA.. we only see it every few trips. Depending on how hot it is in August, it might be on our agenda then.

I think that's kind of how I feel about it. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, but we won't be in a big hurry to rush back and see it.

Been there, done that with Christopher.

Come on man!

I know... big mistake. But I think part of what played in on it was that I'd had ribs at WCC the night before, and I just wasn't feeling it that morning. Maybe if the ribs at WCC had been better.

She is beautiful Andy... Love the dress!

Thanks!

Jasmine was cold? Weren't you inside? LOL

I know... well, she was probably the most disappointing of the princesses we saw there. For multiple reasons.

How cute!

It was. I'm glad Cinderella took a moment to acknowledge her.

Disney has a great way of taking your money don't they?

They have certainly mastered that art.

Hey, he wanted to see 'IT'. You should of showed him.

I'm sure you would have.

 

[tstottle]

Hi Andy, I'm a Andi too. I'm really enjoying your review. I read through it all and I have a question. We are driving from Ohio to WDW in December of this year and I was wondering how long it took you to drive from Indiana? Did you drive straight through? My husband thinks we can drive straight through but I think it might be hard on all of us. It will be DH and myself and 2 DS's 14yrs old and 11 yrs old. I'm looking forward to reading more of your review and seeing your pictures.

Hi! We've driven to Florida quite a few times from Central Ohio. For us, with stops, it was 18 hours. The first time, we planned to stay overnight somewhere, but then realized we only had four hours to go and just kept on join! It's exciting being able to wake up in Ohio and end up in Orlando! We've been driving since our kids were 4, 9 and 11, but are switching to flying this year. Last time we went, we had construction on the way back (we always do the trip back in one day, even if we take two on the way down depending on what we have going on our first day) and it took an extra 2-3 hours, and it was just too rough.

 

[afwdwfan]

Bubby’s Gone!

It was around 4:30 am when DD came running into our bedroom screaming.

Bubby’s gone! Bubby’s gone!

Nothing like a nice surge of adrenaline in the middle of the night when you’re planning to sleep in a bit.

We had talked about this a bit before. We were concerned that DS might try to leave the room when we didn’t want him to. He was able to reach both of the security locks on our door, and during afternoon breaks and in the morning when we were getting ready, we’d let him walk across the hall to MiL and FiL’s room. And he was able to let himself back in using his Magic Band. We were afraid that he’d wake up in the middle of the night and want to see his mammaw and pappaw.

DW and I both jumped out of bed and ran out to the front room. I checked the door and both security locks were still latched. I felt relieved at that point since it meant he couldn’t have left the room..

DW was checking the fold out couch that DS and DD were sleeping on. Turns out that DS was wrapped up, completely buried in blankets and when DD woke up and couldn’t see him, she thought he was gone.

With the excitement behind us, we got the DD calmed back down and laid her back in bed. I grabbed one of the chairs from the kitchen and put it in front of the door so that if he should get an idea to sneak out the door, he’d at least have to make a little bit of noise to do it.

We went back to bed and woke up at around 8:00. We got up and gave the kids baths and got everyone ready to go. Our plan for the day was to go to EPCOT. We already had FP+ for Soarin, but we didn’t want to get there too terribly late so that we could ride Test Track as well.

The park opened at 9, but we got there at around 10. DW wanted to do some shopping, so the plan was to go to TT and get a rider swap pass. FiL, DS and I would ride standby while DW and MiL went into Mouse Gears to do their shopping.

The posted wait was 40 minutes. I think we ended up waiting about 30. In the Design Studio, we let DS design our car. It had incredible scores for power and capability, but seemed to lack a bit in the other areas.

We all enjoyed the ride, and walked through the showroom looking at the new cars on the way out. When we made it to the exit, DW and MiL were already there. FiL and I took DD and found a place to sit while MiL, DW and DS went to ride Test Track. They also let DS design the vehicle. He changed it up a little bit this time, but still a cool looking car. Apparently, she deleted the picture she took.


I had it saved on my phone… but it must have been on the phone’s memory instead of the SD card. We’ll save that story for Disneyland…

Anyway, his second design was pretty cool too. He had a lime green car that really had that late 60’s early 70’s muscle car look.

After we finished there, it was time for our first FP+ which was Spaceship Earth. We headed over to ride an EPCOT classic. I think MiL and FiL both enjoyed the ride. They seemed to enjoy the classic Disney dark rides. We didn’t spend much time hanging out in the post show area though. We had another FP+ coming up later, but we wanted to get some lunch first. DW requested her favorite QS place in EPCOT, which just happens to be clear across the park from Soarin.

We headed over to the Cantina de San Angel to grab some lunch. DW and I each ordered the nachos. We brought some food with us for DD to eat, but after we already ordered and got all our food, she decided she wanted a milk, so I went back up to get that.

It was pretty crowded there for lunch. We couldn’t even find tables together. But it was a beautiful afternoon. Sitting outside, near the water. Aside from wanting to kick some birds into the lake, it was just a nice setting and a delicious lunch. I destroyed my nachos and made quick work of the churro. The meal didn’t disappoint.

DW got the popsicle for dessert, but DD wanted it. We knew what kind of a war we’d have if she got it and DS didn’t so I was going to go buy a couple of popsicles for the kids. The lines were just way too long though, so we headed out to the frozen snacks cart that sits at the corner of the walkway between Mexico and the restrooms. We ended up getting a couple of strawberry/lemon Olaf popsicles with snack credits. And our kids, who love popsicles, ate hardly any of them. So FiL and I finished them off as we walked over towards Soarin.

We had a little bit of time to get over there though, so I kind of threw DW for a loop when I steered the stroller a bit off course. I figured we needed to make a quick stop in Club Cool to try some new drinks.

We went in and found a dispenser that was open and tried a few of the drinks there. But there was a big problem. The Beverly dispenser was out of order. I tried to discretely look around the room and saw that the Beverly was out on just about all the drink stations. I ended up walking around the room and finally found a dispenser that had Beverly. I filled a few cups and walked back over to our spot. I took a big drink of one of the cups and said they all needed to try this one. I handed one to DW. She’s been there and done that. She clearly knew what I was trying to do, so she handed the cup to FiL and told him to try it. I think it is safe to say that he wasn’t a fan.


Oh, I’m so glad we made our detour through Club Cool. It was so worth it.


It took a few minutes, but we finally peeled our shoes off the the sticky floor and walked out towards Soarin. We parked the stroller and headed in to ride. We grabbed a rider swap so that DW and I could ride with DS while MiL and FiL waited. We lucked out and got to fly in the top row and DS absolutely loved it. He ran out the exit yelling about the golf ball to FiL. We sent them off with DS to ride and replaced them on the bench that they had found. They had been talking to a gentleman who was waiting with a baby while his wife and daughter rode. When they got back, they did the rider swap thing also so he took their daughter to ride while his wife waited with the baby. She was sitting on the left side of our bench, DW was in the middle with DD and I was on the far right.

I was sitting there on my phone, checking e-mail and Facebook, completely oblivious to what was going on around me. This was the day after the Christmas party at DS’s preschool and one of the parents had posted a video on Facebook of some of the activities they did. I was going to show DW but when I turned and looked to my left, I quickly turned my attention back to my phone.

The lady sitting next to DW was nursing the baby. And um… wow, it was all out there.

Now before we get into any kind of debate about nursing, I don’t have a problem with it. DW nursed both of our kids, but she always covered up or found a more secluded location. This, on the other hand, was pretty much right out there in the open sitting on a bench in the exit of Soarin.

Thankfully, MiL and FiL were soon headed out with DS so we hopped up and headed out of the Land Pavilion.

Our next FP+ was for Nemo, so we headed over to the Seas. The kids enjoyed the ride, even DS. He wasn’t crazy about the sharks, but he got over it. When we got into the aquarium, we managed to catch the end of a show in the observation area where the CM’s were interacting with the dolphins and talking about them. I totally missed the entire gist of the show, because we were so late getting there, but it was fun to see the dolphins swimming around and reacting to the CM’s directions.

Literally, 2 pictures in the aquarium… 1 of them was I don’t know what. That’s all we had from the whole day.

After seeing the dolphins we went to check out the manatees and then decided to go see Turtle Talk.

We were among the last into the show, but there was some room up front on the left side for the kids. There weren’t any open benches on that side of the room, but having learned from our Enchanted Tales morning, we wanted to be close enough to get to the kids when the show ended. DW and I just stood behind the back row on the left side where we could see the kids and easily get to them when we needed to. Crush came out and had a lot of fun talking to all the little dudes.

He took time to teach the kids all the various uses of the word "dude" and he encouraged them to use the word dude as much as they could throughout the day.


So all the parents appreciated that.


DS actually raised his hand to ask a question, which really surprised me, but he didn’t get called on. Crush apparently had a pretty big impact on DS during the show though. Our kids never really watched Nemo much before that trip, but when DW let them pick out a Christmas ornament to buy, DS picked Crush.

After Turtle Talk, we were pretty much done in Future World. I would have liked to ride Mission Space, but nobody else wanted to, so I was ok with sacrificing that one this trip. Ellen’s Energy Adventure was out because… well, dark and dinosaurs.



And I didn’t need a nap yet.

We were headed back to World Showcase, but as we were walking near the Imagination Pavilion, the kids started begging to ride again. We figured they just wanted to play in the post show area. We told them we could ride, but we aren’t going to play the games after the ride this time. They agreed, so off we went.

When we exited the ride though, DD didn’t want to keep our deal. She was running for the create a Figment e-mail kiosks. I grabbed her and picked her up and carried her out the door, but she wasn’t very happy with me. It really wouldn’t have been a big deal to spend some more time in there. We didn’t have big specific plans for the day anyway. But honestly, none of the adults wanted to hang around in there again and we made a deal with the kids, so we were going to hold them to their end of the deal on principle.



Of course there’s no reasoning with a 2 year old, but how else are they going to learn?

We went outside and sat down while the kids ran around the jumping fountains again. I noticed that off in the corner there was a camera and lighting set up which would have had Spaceship Earth in the background. I don’t know if it was for some kind of a commercial or promotional video or what, but there was a little girl dressed up as princess Belle sitting in a chair talking to the camera while someone asked her questions. Her parents were standing there watching and taking pictures. They looked familiar.


It was the friendly dad from Soarin!



And nursing mom.

This time she was fully clothed.

After the kids burned off some energy, we headed off towards WS. We walked through the pavilions starting with Canada once again, but didn’t really do anything of note. We really just strolled around and took in the sights.

When we made our way over to the American Pavilion, we headed inside to listen to the Voices of Liberty perform Christmas and Chanukah songs before going in to watch the American Adventure. I always enjoy this show, but it had been a while since I’ve seen it. FiL is a history buff so he really loved this one. DD just wanted us to keep the fruit snacks coming, and DS fell asleep. So all in all, it was a successful show.

When we got outside to the daylight, DS woke back up. We had an ADR coming up in about 45 minutes, but we really didn’t have anything else that we just felt we had to do so we headed on into Italy to see if we could check in early. Despite our early arrival at Via Napoli, we were seated within about 5 minutes.

Our server came by to take our order, and we couldn’t even hear him. If you’ve never been to Via Napoli, it is a loud restaurant. It is a big room, with lots of people and noise just echos. Our server was soft spoken with a heavy accent, and it just made it very difficult to understand anything he said to us.

We ended up ordering a kids cheese pizza for DS and a mezzo metro pepperoni for the rest of us to share.


Yes. I realize that is probably too much pizza for 4 ½ people to eat.


But I was more than ready to pick up the slack for anybody else.

Our kids were a little bit over the edge at this point. DD never napped at all, and she needed one. DS’s short nap in American Adventure had turned him grumpy, so we were glad that our food was out quickly.

On a normal day, DS won’t eat pizza with pepperoni or anything on it. DD will. Which is why we just ordered him a kids cheese pizza and figured she’d eat a piece of our pepperoni.

When he got our food, DS was mad. He didn’t want a pizza with the red sauce on it. He doesn’t like red sauce.

He only likes it on every other slice of pizza he’s ever had… but whatever.

He was just being grumpy and refusing to eat. DD on the other hand, decided that she didn’t want pizza with pepperoni on it today.

We ended up taking DS’s pizza and gave it to her. She ended up downing the whole thing. Then DS started to get mad because he didn’t have anything to eat. So we gave him a slice of pepperoni. Complete with his dreaded red sauce.

He ate every bite and wanted more.

Seriously… I love our kids, but they can drive me nuts sometimes.

I lost count of how much pizza I ate. Everybody was winding down, and there was still pizza on the tray. I had to take a couple of minutes to make room, but by the time I finished, there was nothing but crumbs.

We enjoyed our meal, as always. The pizza was delicious, and Via Napoli is still on our list of must do’s when we go back.


MiL and FiL weren't that impressed by it. They thought it was good, but when MiL said it was "almost as good" as the pizza at a local Italian restaurant, it just about killed me. DW and I both think the pizza there is good, and it is kind of like the VN pizza... but VN just tastes fresher and the local place just uses basic commercial ovens. It's kind of like VN light.

I will say though that the service was a little bit of a disappointment. We never saw our server except for the few times he came to our table and we had to flag down another server to get our get him a few times. Once, because we had a pizza, but didn’t have plates, a second time because we needed drink refills, and then a third time to get our check.

As I said, the kids weren’t in the best of moods, so once we finished eating we just wanted to get them out of there. We were paying out of pocket rather than using the dining plan for this meal and MiL was nice enough to offer to buy this one for us. DW and I ended up taking the kids out to the courtyard just to get them out of the restaurant while MiL waited for him to bring the check. Thankfully it was only a few minutes longer and MiL soon joined us outside.

We got the kids back in the stroller and headed towards the restrooms in Germany. Once again, the kids had fun watching the trains and DW headed into Karmell-Kuche for some more caramel corn. This time though, she hit the jackpot. She ordered a small, but they had to make more, I guess. Anyway, they took her order and had her stand off the to the side, and then they ended up serving caramel corn to 2 or 3 people who were actually in line behind her and ordered after she did. She asked the person at the counter why she hadn’t got hers yet and they ended up giving her her order, in addition to a large bag as an apology. Jackpot!

We ate our caramel corn as we walked around the WS. We made the mandatory detour to ride it’s a small Mexico.

I still say it is physically impossible to walk through Mexico without riding. I don’t think we have ever managed to do so.

When we finished, we decided that we were pretty much done for the day.

We’d accomplished our must dos for EPCOT. There were a few more things I’d have liked to do, but the goal for the day was to do TT and Soarin and then just make it a relaxing, laid back park day. And for us, those are rare!

We needed a leisurely day though, we knew the next day was going to be a crazy park open to park close type of day with a lot of scrambling to get things in.

We stopped on the way out to get a couple of PP pictures. We always get a family picture here at some point. This has to be my favorite from the whole trip.

We left the park and we were back at AoA before 8 pm. We decided that we’d take the kids swimming, but DW and MiL wanted to go check to see if purchases they’d made for resort delivery had made it there yet. DS had Donald and Goofy decorations on his Magic Band that my parents had brought him from their September trip. When we were leaving EPCOT, he’d noticed that he lost Donald and was pretty upset about it. DW was also able to find a replacement while she was at the gift shop.

While they were gone, I got the kids ready to go to the pool. When DW returned, we headed out and decided to go check out the Nemo pool. We got in the water and holy crap!


It. Was. Cold!!!!!


I assume that it must just be that the larger volume of water makes it harder to heat, but wow. I told DW that the Cars pool was nowhere near this cold the other night. And the air temperature was much colder the evening I took DS swimming. We decided to bail on Nemo and grabbed our towels and headed for the Cozy Cone. Once we were in the water there it was sweet relief. It was considerably warmer than the Nemo pool.

FiL came down and sat by the pool while we swam. He said MiL was sore and tired so she went to bed right after she got back to the room.

We swam for maybe 15 or 20 minutes when DD started to get cold. I took her in for a warm bath while DW stayed out with DS for a while longer.


It turned out to be a nice day for us. We got to sleep in a bit, we didn’t run ourselves ragged, and we were in bed in time to hear the fireworks from Illuminations.


But as someone who likes to hit the parks rope drop to park close and maximize every minute of Disney available to me…


There’s just something unsettling about laying in bed and hearing fireworks.


It just feels like I failed.



Sorry for the wordy post with the lack of pics. I just didn't see a good way to break it all up so I figured I'd get it all done in one shot. The next update will have a lot more pictures!

 

[glaserjm]

Great update! I think my least favorite thing about FP+ is the tiers in relation to Epcot. Since you can't do both TT & Soarin' it pretty much takes the whole "but you can go to the park whenever you want" thing moot. While a 30 minute wait for TT isn't terrible, I long for the day where you could just FP- both attractions.

I'm glad your son liked Turtle Talk...I always think that show is adorable!

VN pizza is awesome in my book, but DH feels similarly to your in-laws and doesn't really feel it is that much better than some similar pizzerias at home. I wholeheartedly disagree with him and luckily am still able to convince him to go every once in a while.

There is something disconcerting about hearing the fireworks while you're laying in bed, but if it makes for an easy wake-up the next day, it's worth it (guess we'll have to wait for the next update to see if that happened for you guys!)

 

[Gracefulskinny]

It was around 4:30 am when DD came running into our bedroom screaming.

Bubby’s gone! Bubby’s gone!

I don't know what I would do.

Nothing like a nice surge of adrenaline in the middle of the night when you’re planning to sleep in a bit.

No kidding!

I took a big drink of one of the cups and said they all needed to try this one.

And you say I'm evil!

I think it is safe to say that he wasn’t a fan.

Shame you didn't get a video!

Now before we get into any kind of debate about nursing, I don’t have a problem with it. DW nursed both of our kids, but she always covered up or found a more secluded location. This, on the other hand, was pretty much right out there in the open sitting on a bench in the exit of Soarin.

Oh those situations are just awkward. There just isn't a winning way around it. Even as a fellow mommy I get that awkward feeling when its out and about in wide public places.

Literally, 2 pictures in the aquarium… 1 of them was I don’t know what. That’s all we had from the whole day.

Meh, aquariums are hard to photograph in anyways.

After Turtle Talk, we were pretty much done in Future World. I would have liked to ride Mission Space, but nobody else wanted to, so I was ok with sacrificing that one this trip. Ellen’s Energy Adventure was out because… well, dark and dinosaurs.



And I didn’t need a nap yet.

When we exited the ride though, DD didn’t want to keep our deal. She was running for the create a Figment e-mail kiosks. I grabbed her and picked her up and carried her out the door, but she wasn’t very happy with me. It really wouldn’t have been a big deal to spend some more time in there. We didn’t have big specific plans for the day anyway. But honestly, none of the adults wanted to hang around in there again and we made a deal with the kids, so we were going to hold them to their end of the deal on principle.

Ah the hard parental calls. Always best when you can stand strong!

Of course there’s no reasoning with a 2 year old, but how else are they going to learn?

That would be the battle of the day in my house.

It was the friendly dad from Soarin!



And nursing mom.

This time she was fully clothed.

We ended up taking DS’s pizza and gave it to her. She ended up downing the whole thing. Then DS started to get mad because he didn’t have anything to eat. So we gave him a slice of pepperoni. Complete with his dreaded red sauce.

He ate every bite and wanted more.

Seriously… I love our kids, but they can drive me nuts sometimes.

Don't you LOVE when kids do this to you?

I lost count of how much pizza I ate. Everybody was winding down, and there was still pizza on the tray. I had to take a couple of minutes to make room, but by the time I finished, there was nothing but crumbs.

Most Impressive!

There’s just something unsettling about laying in bed and hearing fireworks.


It just feels like I failed.

I can understand that.

 

[vamassey1]

First off this was a really great update.

Bubby’s gone! Bubby’s gone!

Biggest fear ever! So glad it was just a false alarm.

The park opened at 9, but we got there at around 10.

This would have killed me, rope drop or die.

We headed over to the Cantina de San Angel to grab some lunch.

Haven't tried this yet but it sounds good. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it.

So FiL and I finished them off as we walked over towards Soarin.

Oh the sacrifices we make for our kids.

Oh, I’m so glad we made our detour through Club Cool. It was so worth it.

We're going with some newbies in April. I really hope we get someone.

The lady sitting next to DW was nursing the baby. And um… wow, it was all out there.

I'm a mom and I'm not comfortable with this. I'm ok with breast feeding, but discretely.

Our next FP+ was for Nemo, so we headed over to the Seas.

We always end up spending way more time in here then we plan on.

I would have liked to ride Mission Space, but nobody else wanted to, so I was ok with sacrificing that one this trip.

DH loves this but the rest of us not so much. He pouts when he doesn't get to ride.

And I didn’t need a nap yet.

My favorite nap place. I've only ridden it twice and can not tell you what it looks like.

After the kids burned off some energy, we headed off towards WS.

I'm so glad there are so many places for little ones to burn off energy.

When we made our way over to the American Pavilion, we headed inside to listen to the Voices of Liberty perform Christmas and Chanukah songs before going in to watch the American Adventure. I always enjoy this show, but it had been a while since I’ve seen it. FiL is a history buff so he really loved this one. DD just wanted us to keep the fruit snacks coming, and DS fell asleep. So all in all, it was a successful show.

I love the Voices of Liberty and I love history but this is another place I have yet to see the whole show.

If you’ve never been to Via Napoli, it is a loud restaurant.

Never been here either, but I would love to try it. I'm so glad your family enjoyed it. Another positive vote or going.

Seriously… I love our kids, but they can drive me nuts sometimes.

This doesn't get any better as they get older.

We stopped on the way out to get a couple of PP pictures. We always get a family picture here at some point. This has to be my favorite from the whole trip.

Fabulous Family photo!

But as someone who likes to hit the parks rope drop to park close and maximize every minute of Disney available to me…


There’s just something unsettling about laying in bed and hearing fireworks.


It just feels like I failed.

I know how you feel. When everyone else wants to leave the park all I can think about is what I'll be missing.

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Seriously… I love our kids, but they can drive me nuts sometimes.

This. This X100.

Last trip DW got very sick after Tower of Terror (we found out later that she was pregnant, but we lost the baby in December of that year). She wasn't doing much after that. On that day we were supposed to go see Fantasmic. She ended up bowing out and was going to take DS1 (at the time) back to the room. DS6 decided he wanted to go back too. So it left me and DS13 to watch Fantasmic. I felt terrible watching the one thing we ALL really wanted to see without everyone.

I guess what I'm saying is, it happens, but there are other chances.

 

[Leshaface]

Yikes that is quite the wake up call, I bet you were panicing a bit.

How in the world would Beverly be out? Are people loving it that much?

Quite the show you got there waiting outside of Soarin'! I totally agree with covering up while nursing. Don't say this on BF threads though. Those women are crazy

And I didn’t need a nap yet.

Good job on polishing off that pizza. I'm ashamed to say, I can out eat DH when it comes to pizza. Yes. I'm digusting

Score on the extra popcorn!

Definitely a great PP picture of you guys.

It just feels like I failed.

That is exactly how I felt a lot of times during our trip.

 

[SarahDisney]

Bubby’s gone! Bubby’s gone!

Uh-oh. That's not what you want to wake up and hear.

Turns out that DS was wrapped up, completely buried in blankets and when DD woke up and couldn’t see him, she thought he was gone.

The cocoon ... comfortable for sleeping, scary for people who don't know you're buried under the covers.

With the excitement behind us, we got the DD calmed back down and laid her back in bed. I grabbed one of the chairs from the kitchen and put it in front of the door so that if he should get an idea to sneak out the door, he’d at least have to make a little bit of noise to do it.

That's a really good idea. Why didn't you think of it earlier?

The posted wait was 40 minutes. I think we ended up waiting about 30. In the Design Studio, we let DS design our car. It had incredible scores for power and capability, but seemed to lack a bit in the other areas.

It's really hard to balance everything, okay? The care looks good and power and capability covers half of the ride.

I had it saved on my phone… but it must have been on the phone’s memory instead of the SD card. We’ll save that story for Disneyland…

I guess that's the downside of whatever happened to your phone in CA ...

The lady sitting next to DW was nursing the baby. And um… wow, it was all out there.

Now before we get into any kind of debate about nursing, I don’t have a problem with it. DW nursed both of our kids, but she always covered up or found a more secluded location. This, on the other hand, was pretty much right out there in the open sitting on a bench in the exit of Soarin.

Agreed. I see so many people om FB and elsewhere saying that they have a right to nurse anywhere and nobody should complain ... I'm not saying that you can't nurse anywhere you want, just be more respectful of the people around you and cover up a bit. I saw a woman nursing while I was boarding a plane last week ... but she was fully covered, so I had no problem with it. You may be feeding your kid, but you're also revealing yourself in public, and to me that's not appropriate.

He took time to teach the kids all the various uses of the word "dude" and he encouraged them to use the word dude as much as they could throughout the day.


So all the parents appreciated that.

Yeah, I'm guessing that can get a little annoying after a while

DS actually raised his hand to ask a question, which really surprised me, but he didn’t get called on. Crush apparently had a pretty big impact on DS during the show though. Our kids never really watched Nemo much before that trip, but when DW let them pick out a Christmas ornament to buy, DS picked Crush.

Nice! I love when an interaction at Disney makes someone more interested in a character that they weren't so into before.

Seriously… I love our kids, but they can drive me nuts sometimes.

I think all kids are like that. Some adults too ...

I love this picture! Such a great family picture!

But as someone who likes to hit the parks rope drop to park close and maximize every minute of Disney available to me…


There’s just something unsettling about laying in bed and hearing fireworks.


It just feels like I failed.

Totally understand that ... it's hard to put aside the intense desire to do everything and accept that it's okay to take it easier once in a while. But you got everything you wanted to get done done, so that makes it okay that you missed fireworks.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Great update.
Sorry you saw more than you bargained for.
I am sorry you got woken up bright and way too early. AT least your wife found the lump of blankets still asleep.
Sounds like your day was a good one.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

YIKES on your crazy wake up call! I'm glad everything was okay!

I'm glad you got all the must-do headliners in! I, too, would've been a bit uncomfortable sitting next to the woman at Soarin'. Breastfeeding is awesome, and such, but I don't necessarily want a prime view.

VIA NAPOLI! I love that place! I am very impressed with your ability to polish off pizza!

Your family photo is fabulous!

 

[afwdwfan]

Great update! I think my least favorite thing about FP+ is the tiers in relation to Epcot. Since you can't do both TT & Soarin' it pretty much takes the whole "but you can go to the park whenever you want" thing moot. While a 30 minute wait for TT isn't terrible, I long for the day where you could just FP- both attractions.

I know. That is by far the biggest drawback of the new system. It really stinks that you have to use all 3 before you can get another one too. I'd be willing to "sacrifice" my third FP+ just to get both Tier 1's.

I'm glad your son liked Turtle Talk...I always think that show is adorable!

It is a fun show. The kids seem to really enjoy it. And the adults seem to like it pretty well too.

VN pizza is awesome in my book, but DH feels similarly to your in-laws and doesn't really feel it is that much better than some similar pizzerias at home. I wholeheartedly disagree with him and luckily am still able to convince him to go every once in a while.

Oh my gosh... I think MiL just likes the more sterile, doughy, processed crust. I think her biggest problem was the "burnt" spots on the crust. To me, that's part of what makes it so good.

There is something disconcerting about hearing the fireworks while you're laying in bed, but if it makes for an easy wake-up the next day, it's worth it (guess we'll have to wait for the next update to see if that happened for you guys!)

It's one of those love/hate things. I loved the fact that if we wanted to, we could see the Illuminations fireworks from our window. I hated the fact that we were in the room for Illuminations.

I don't know what I would do.

Probably freak out. That was my initial reaction.

And you say I'm evil!

I meant it as a compliment.

Shame you didn't get a video!

I know. I warned you that we were bad about the photo evidence on this trip!

Oh those situations are just awkward. There just isn't a winning way around it. Even as a fellow mommy I get that awkward feeling when its out and about in wide public places.

I mean literally... you could se everything. It was not discrete at all.

Meh, aquariums are hard to photograph in anyways.

Especially when you don't get the camera out.

Ah the hard parental calls. Always best when you can stand strong!

And it helps when the kids are about as hard headed as I am.

That would be the battle of the day in my house.

Oh, we're fighting those with her constantly. One second she's this sweet, happy, cute little girl. Then all of a sudden, watch out!

Don't you LOVE when kids do this to you?

I barely have my sanity as it is.

Most Impressive!

Nothing will stand between me and my VN pizza. And we're not letting any go to waste. It was a matter of principle.

I can understand that.

Just one of those things that you have to do when you become a parent with small kids and have to be "responsible."

First off this was a really great update.

Thanks. I thought it was pretty weak, myself, but I'm glad I didn't bore everyone to tears.

Biggest fear ever! So glad it was just a false alarm.

Me too. We definitely had about 30 seconds of freak out time that felt more like 30 minutes.

This would have killed me, rope drop or die.

Oh trust me. I died on the inside several times on this trip. Missing rope drop is the number one sin of Disney planning.

Haven't tried this yet but it sounds good. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it.

We really love it. Heck, we liked it enough to grab some nachos to snack on the night we saw Illuminations and then came back for more for lunch. They do loaded nachos right.

Oh the sacrifices we make for our kids.

Just change my name from Dad to Garbage Disposal.

We're going with some newbies in April. I really hope we get someone.

Good luck! I have faith in you!

I'm a mom and I'm not comfortable with this. I'm ok with breast feeding, but discretely.

That's how I feel about it. This was far from discrete. Let's just say I saw more than I felt I should have.

We always end up spending way more time in here then we plan on.

The kids really love it there.

DH loves this but the rest of us not so much. He pouts when he doesn't get to ride.

I love the ride. But I also have some motion sickness issues on simulator type rides, so I kind of have to get myself in the right state of mind to ride. I guess that's why I was ok missing it this time around. Especially if I was going to have to ride solo.

Last time I rode though, I was with my BiL who talked me into riding Orange with him, after drinking about halfway around the world. I don't know how I survived that one!

My favorite nap place. I've only ridden it twice and can not tell you what it looks like.

I like the dinosaur AA's. Aside from that it is a nice long air conditioned nap. That's how I did my mid day breaks before kids!

I'm so glad there are so many places for little ones to burn off energy.

They are very good about providing those opportunities.

I love the Voices of Liberty and I love history but this is another place I have yet to see the whole show.

Never been here either, but I would love to try it. I'm so glad your family enjoyed it. Another positive vote or going.

We love it! DW and I tried it a few years ago and we've gone back every trip since.

This doesn't get any better as they get older.

I wasn't holding my breath...

Fabulous Family photo!

Thanks! I really liked that one too. We have it framed in our living room.

I know how you feel. When everyone else wants to leave the park all I can think about is what I'll be missing.

I always just want to tell them to go back and I'll meet them at the room later. But I know how well that would go over.

 

[afwdwfan]

This. This X100.

Last trip DW got very sick after Tower of Terror (we found out later that she was pregnant, but we lost the baby in December of that year).

Oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear that. We went through that before DS was born, not an easy at all.

I guess what I'm saying is, it happens, but there are other chances.

That's very true.

Yikes that is quite the wake up call, I bet you were panicing a bit.

Just a little bit...

How in the world would Beverly be out? Are people loving it that much?

I was assuming the machines were just broken due to internal corrosion or something.

Did you happen to see if there was plenty of Beverly available when you went?

Quite the show you got there waiting outside of Soarin'! I totally agree with covering up while nursing. Don't say this on BF threads though. Those women are crazy

Yeah... I was almost afraid to say anything about it here because I wasn't sure how everyone would react. But then again, I try not to hold back on my TR's and just tell it like it is... be it good, bad or ugly.

But yeah, she wasn't being very discrete and I saw way more than I should have.

And no, this was not one of those peripheral vision type scenarios.

Good job on polishing off that pizza. I'm ashamed to say, I can out eat DH when it comes to pizza. Yes. I'm digusting

This statement makes no sense at all... ashamed??? I think the word you're looking for is proud!

Score on the extra popcorn!

I got my own bag for once!

Definitely a great PP picture of you guys

Thanks!

That is exactly how I felt a lot of times during our trip.

 

[afwdwfan]

Uh-oh. That's not what you want to wake up and hear.

Not at all!

The cocoon ... comfortable for sleeping, scary for people who don't know you're buried under the covers.

He was none the wiser. Never even woke up.

That's a really good idea. Why didn't you think of it earlier?

I don't know. I probably should have.

It's really hard to balance everything, okay? The care looks good and power and capability covers half of the ride.

Yeah, his overall score was really pretty good.

I guess that's the downside of whatever happened to your phone in CA ...

Agreed. I see so many people om FB and elsewhere saying that they have a right to nurse anywhere and nobody should complain ... I'm not saying that you can't nurse anywhere you want, just be more respectful of the people around you and cover up a bit. I saw a woman nursing while I was boarding a plane last week ... but she was fully covered, so I had no problem with it. You may be feeding your kid, but you're also revealing yourself in public, and to me that's not appropriate.

Yeah, this is exactly how I feel. I don't have a problem with it at all. But when you're sitting there in public putting on a show. That's a bit much and just awkward.

Yeah, I'm guessing that can get a little annoying after a while

Dude... you have no idea.

Nice! I love when an interaction at Disney makes someone more interested in a character that they weren't so into before.

Nemo has taken a little bit larger of a role in our DVD rotation since then also.

I think all kids are like that. Some adults too ...

Yep... good point.

I love this picture! Such a great family picture!

Thanks!

Totally understand that ... it's hard to put aside the intense desire to do everything and accept that it's okay to take it easier once in a while. But you got everything you wanted to get done done, so that makes it okay that you missed fireworks.

Yeah. I mean we'd seen Illuminations already anyway. But I always like to use that "extra" night in a park to hit some rides while everyone else is worried about the show.

But yes, we did accomplish everything we set out to do, so it was definitely in line with our plans. It just didn't sit well with my mentality and the way I'm wired.

 

[afwdwfan]

Great update.

Thanks!

Sorry you saw more than you bargained for.

Yeah... it was definitely awkward. I felt like I wanted to get up and go somewhere else. But then I knew if I got up and went somewhere else, it would still be weird because she'd know why I got up and went somewhere else. So I just made sure to focus my attention elsewhere.

I am sorry you got woken up bright and way too early. AT least your wife found the lump of blankets still asleep.

We were glad it was a false alarm.

Sounds like your day was a good one.

It definitely was!

YIKES on your crazy wake up call! I'm glad everything was okay!

We were definitely panicked. Thankfully it was nothing.

I'm glad you got all the must-do headliners in! I, too, would've been a bit uncomfortable sitting next to the woman at Soarin'. Breastfeeding is awesome, and such, but I don't necessarily want a prime view.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with her doing it. I just didn't need to see everything.

VIA NAPOLI! I love that place! I am very impressed with your ability to polish off pizza!

VN is awesome! It has become an every trip ADR for us.

Your family photo is fabulous!

Thanks!