SOOZE Return of the Band Geeks! What's Next Update! p.25 10/10

[PrincessV]

Then Rosetta proceeded to ask Shae where her pink fairy dress was. Didn't she know that red headed fairies always wear pink?!?

Did Rosetta transfer from Disney's Marketing department?

To wrap up the evening, we had a wonderful monorail ride over to Epcot, we squeezed into our favorite firework viewing area, and held each other tight for our last Illuminations for a LONG time...

What we didn't know was how WONDERFUL our last day would be!!

Yay, I'm excited to hear what happened!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Welcome on board! I just love it when new band geeks find their way to me!!! Spartan Marching band... that's Michigan State, right? Or am I completely off base?!

Thanks for signing on! Hopefully I'll finish soon... then you can go back to read our 1st Band Geek trip! (Click on the BCV 2009 link in my signature... it'll take you right there!)

Yep, its MSU alright! And I will go back and read your other TRs when I need to procrastinate (semester starts tomorrow ) lol!

 

[Sooze]

You get me all sad about saying good-bye and then leave it on a cliff hanger of an awesome day!!! You stink!

Sorry to hear there were only 2 fairies! How odd! The photo-op sounds cute, but they should have that AND the 3rd fairy. At least Rosetta was there!!!

Well, I've got to do SOMETHING to keep you guys hanging around, right?

I guess if they couldn't have 3 fairies (for whatever reason), at least they had the photo op in that 3rd slot. It would've been really lame if they just pushed you on! And YAY for Rosetta!!!

great way to end the night, MK then over to epcot.

Just about perfection!!

I can't wait to read about the last day. I loved the pictures of Shae with Tink and Rosetta.

Thanks again for hanging around... update comin' up!

Did Rosetta transfer from Disney's Marketing department?

Or Walmart's....

Yay, I'm excited to hear what happened!

Coming up!

Yep, its MSU alright! And I will go back and read your other TRs when I need to procrastinate (semester starts tomorrow ) lol!

I guess your avatar should've given me a clue, eh?! Feel free to procrastinate with me Good luck with the new semester!!

 

[Sooze]

We had been able to enjoy 7 full days of DisneyWorld, and had one left to fill. Our plan was to soak up a full day of Epcot, with a lunch at TRex to split things up. We were going to hop in the car AFTER Illuminations and start the long ride home.

But first things first... let's get this day going!

We woke up to some fun Easter displays in the BW lobby. This was towel art done by the Mousekeeping department. You could vote for the display you liked best!

This is the one we voted for. A mommy bunny with all of her babies! So cute!

We were already dealing with this:

You know... the I-know-we-are-leaving-at-the-end-of-the-day face? I couldn't blame him...

We loaded up the car and said goodbye to our little studio. It really was a great home for the week. We weren't able to spread out like we can in a one-BR, but it was totally worth being able to stay longer!!

We began our Epcot day with a Kim Possible Mission. I had never 'officially' done one of these. While Matt and Shae strolled WS, Ty and I went on our Norwegian mission.

Looking for clues:

See the red flag? That was one of our signals! It was so neat to press the button on our Kim-municator, and see the flag go up!

Look at this perfect Disney day... sigh....

Taking pictures while Ty was busy saving the world (or maybe it was just the fashion industry...)

This Kim Possible mission was SO much fun. I loved how it got you into each country, into the shops and displays, and actually into the information within each country. I can't wait to do more of these the next time we go. I can see why so many people speak highly of them!!

We were on our way to meet back up with Matt and Shae and decided to take a final picture in front of Germany, Tyson's newest favorite country:

Since we were facing the reality of heading home, we knew our spirits would be lifted with one more session of VoL. Here are the kids enjoying the fountain in the American Adventure:

Amazing as always... just breathtaking....

We left Epcot for a quick lunch at DTD. Here is one of my favorite pictures from our trip of Matt and Shae walking out of International Gateway:

She's singing (as usual!!)

Since we had the convenience of our car, DTD was just a short trip away. We soon found ourselves here:

We had to wait a bit.. so we entertained ourselves the only way we know how... being GOOFY!!

Last trip, we were in the horrible Ice Cave, which looks cool, but can trigger my migraines with that freaky lighting. I was happy to see us placed in the meteor shower room this time. We were right next to a half-wall with a baby mammoth on it, which kept Shae busy. She talked to that thing the whole meal!

Speaking of.. here it is:

Mine... a good ol' bacon cheeseburger!

Tyson's.... yep... PIZZA.. UGH!

Matt's... some kind of chicken club thing:

And here is Shae with her Mac n Cheese:

Here are the kids with our Wooly Mammoth friend: (sorry, cell phone pic)

The food was very good!! The atmosphere was loud and fun. It was a great sit down lunch to wrap up the trip.

We stopped by the Lego store just to see the displays. I took this shot of the cubbies filled with Lego bits. I can't imagine coming in this store just to by some of those. They have to be for die-hard Lego fans who know just exactly what they need to finish a masterpiece. To me... it just looks like little pieces of toy that I'd find all over my house... and in my vacuum cleaner!

With full bellies, we headed back to Epcot. Well, all of us except for Matt. He was going to stay at the BW and try to catch a nap. Yeah... he was going to drive right away when we left that night, and he wanted to go as long as possible. So he found a comfy lounge chair and tried to get some sleep. The kids and I returned to Epcot... and we found a WHOLE bunch of NEW things to explore! YAY!!! I love when that happens. Wanna know what we did?! Well, don't leave yet! I have one more update to wrap this up. THEN I'll let you all know about our upcoming trip plans....

 

[micandminforever]

Up coming trip plans, what a wonderful thought.

 

[JenSop]

Great update! I think we all know that "Last day feeling." But hey, we always go back, right? Nothing better to beat the last day blues than thinking about your next trip!

When I see all those Legos, I think of when I was younger and was the queen of legos. I would just spend hours and hours creating buildings/houses/towns. (Perhaps I shouldn't admit this in public, but some of my legos actually came with me to college so that I could exercise my creative juices on the weekends. Yeah, I'm a dork on SO many levels.... )

 

[PrincessV]

We woke up to some fun Easter displays in the BW lobby. This was towel art done by the Mousekeeping department. You could vote for the display you liked best!

How funny! I bet the Mousekeepers had a blast doing this.

See the red flag? That was one of our signals!

Um, we DID that mission, but I never saw the flag! I'm assuming the kids saw it.

The kids and I returned to Epcot... and we found a WHOLE bunch of NEW things to explore!

Ooo, tell me more, tell me more!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Those towel animals are so cute! How creative!

I'm so glad, despite the "This is our last day" face, there was tons of Disney magic - it really sounds like a great day so far, and that it continues with new stuff to explore!

I saw the Ring Carvers stand last week while in Epcot and thought of your family! We never ended up there for Illuminations, but it DOES look like a great spot!

 

[Sooze]

Up coming trip plans, what a wonderful thought.

I know, right? Ours our so far away right now... I can't even begin to think about them yet...

Great update! I think we all know that "Last day feeling." But hey, we always go back, right? Nothing better to beat the last day blues than thinking about your next trip!

Amen, Jen! We remind ourselves all the time about how lucky we are that we can go back much sooner than most folks can!

When I see all those Legos, I think of when I was younger and was the queen of legos. I would just spend hours and hours creating buildings/houses/towns. (Perhaps I shouldn't admit this in public, but some of my legos actually came with me to college so that I could exercise my creative juices on the weekends. Yeah, I'm a dork on SO many levels.... )

My family never got into those... not sure why! We were Barbie-aholics!! I think it's great you brought them to college. I'm sure that was a great stress-reliever!

How funny! I bet the Mousekeepers had a blast doing this.

I think it's neat that Disney encourages everyone to show their creativity! From this activity, to the clean up crew doing the water paintings with their mops... so wonderful!

Um, we DID that mission, but I never saw the flag! I'm assuming the kids saw it.
Too many samplings of drinks around the world maybe?

Ooo, tell me more, tell me more!

I'm trying! I'm trying!! Thanks so much for not taking me off your subscribed threads list!!

Those towel animals are so cute! How creative!

It was such a fun lobby display. And the fact that we got to vote made us feel like an important part of it all!

I'm so glad, despite the "This is our last day" face, there was tons of Disney magic - it really sounds like a great day so far, and that it continues with new stuff to explore!

It was actually one of the best last-days we've had!! There was so much to do... there wasn't time to sulk!

I saw the Ring Carvers stand last week while in Epcot and thought of your family! We never ended up there for Illuminations, but it DOES look like a great spot!

That's so sweet that you thought of us!! I love seeing things at Disney that remind me of other Disers.. of course, when I mention it to Matt.. he just looks at me like I'm crazy!

 

[Sooze]

So when I last updated (over 20 days ago! GAH!!!), we had left Matt to catch some snoozies and the kids and I headed back into Epcot to see what we could find.

Look what we found!

These guys are trying to figure out what on Earth a phone is doing in a box:

We decided it was time to head into Innoventions. We really hadn't spent any time there yet on this trip, plus, it was entertaining for both kiddos! We stopped by this amazingly vibrant tree for some pictures. Just look at the color! (Try to ignore the grease spot... oi)

Shaelyn got extra princess-y in this shot:

Our first new adventure was in the Waste Management exhibit about reducing, reusing, and recycling. I must say, that Innoventions was EMP.TY this day. We walked into EVERYTHING!!

This adventure involved loading our information into a trash truck. The kids literally pushed the little truck around (that had our information in it) and parked into different 'docks' around the exhibit. Each dock had a different game and a different lesson in it. We had programed into the truck about how much trash our family might go through in a year. Our job was to reduce the effect of our waste by recycling or doing other acts of conservation. Here are some pictures from the wonderful time we had here!

Ty and Shae pushing the truck together. They didn't even have to take turns, they always did it together... so sweet!

Parking it in the dock:

Pushing together again! (They must've had a momentary lapse in remembering it was leaving day... look at those smiles!)

Up next was:

My plan was to walk through the exhibit with Tyson, but obviously not ride any of it, since Shae was too small. Then we were told by a CM that she couldn't even go into the area at all. Not only that, but she couldn't even wait in LINE. PERIOD. I felt bad for Ty because he REALLY wanted to do this! Then, I had a stroke of parental genius. Would he possibly wait and do this by himself? Shae and I could just meander around the exhibits nearby, and keep a watchful eye on him. Would he dare leave us and venture out on his own?! Dang straight he would!!! He said, "See ya!" and hopped in line. WHAT?!?! Where is my little boy who used to NEVER leave my side?! When did THIS happen?!! I even watched him strike up conversation with the kids around him. ((sniff sniff)) He's just a growin' and there's nothin' I can do about it!

Big boy in line alone:

After his amazing solo adventure, we were ready to cruise on over to the other side of Innoventions. On the way, we were going to stop and buy Matt a poster for his office in the Art of Disney. But before we could do that, Shae had to stop and play with the machines. This is my favorite picture, because she wanted to play, but didn't want to hear the loud noises. So here's how she took care of that dilemma:

We snagged the poster, then made our way to the 'other' Innoventions:

The Velcro show was about to start, so we jumped on in. Hilariously, we were the ONLY people in the show!!! So when the CM jumped out on stage to begin the fun, she saw JUST US in the audience. Poor thing!! So, of course, we were chosen to compete in the Velcro challenge. Here are some pictures the CM took of us competing. It was kids against Mom!

Working like a little team:

We tied:

Next, we spent time in the Velcro play area, where you could make cute little bracelets with Velcro characters, and keep them... for free! Yippee!!

Shae's froggy princess creation:

Next we found a Piggy Bank Money Adventure. Again, we walked right in and were handed a cute little piggy bank. We loaded our information into it, and created a goal of something we wanted to save money for. The piggy bank took us to different exhibits, and each time, we had to load the piggy bank into the dock. Sometimes we put him in a drawer, sometimes we sent him on a conveyer belt, and the BEST time, he was lifted up through a clear plastic tube. At every station, we were taught something about money and the economy. It was WAY cool... Walt would've been proud!

Choosing our goal:

Loading the bank into the drawer:

The kids and our piggy:

Traveling on a conveyor belt:

The COOLEST!

Rescuing the pig from the cool tube:

Weighing the piggy to see if we saved enough money:

We DID!!

Finally, we found the put-yourself-in-the-video-game game. We had a blast here, too!

Look, it's Mario and Luigi!

Matt finally caught up to us, as we were waiting for Tyson to do Sum of All Thrills.... AGAIN! This time, Ty had made a friend and they did the ride together. So cool!

Matt said he had barely slept, and I think he was a bit jealous that he missed out on all of our Innoventions fun. We had one more Illuminations to catch, then a really long ride home!

We settled in our usual spot near Mexico and soaked in every last firework and note of music. We reflected on the amazing week we had spent here, then got sad knowing it was going to be a long time until we were back....

A parting shot of the beautiful 'ball':

The ride home was COMPLETELY uneventful, thank goodness. I did most of the driving (which usually happens on the way home, Matt just can't pull it together...) But I loved it... a quiet car... a sleeping family... just me and some wonderful memories.

Thanks so much for those of you who hung in there with me through this MUCH too long Trip Report process. I'll be back to fill you in on upcoming trips.... including one that is coming much sooner than we had planned!!

 

[JenSop]

Great update Sooze! Hey, don't feel bad about too much time between the updates - I'm really bad myself lately. But the fall is SO BUSY that's it's just hard to find time! This reader totally understands!

I love your last shot of Spaceship Earth!

 

[PrincessV]

I have to admit - I'm all sorts of jealous right now! I have yet to get Leo interested in any of the Innoventions stuff you did, and I really want to try them! They all sound like so much fun.

Where is my little boy who used to NEVER leave my side?! When did THIS happen?!! I even watched him strike up conversation with the kids around him. ((sniff sniff)) He's just a growin' and there's nothin' I can do about it!

I totally understand; we seem to have just gotten to that point, too. Leo's begging to do more and more on his own in life... I'm ready, but I'm not, know what I mean?

A parting shot of the beautiful 'ball':

Gorgeous!

Thanks so much for those of you who hung in there with me through this MUCH too long Trip Report process.

Not "too long" at all - I love reading your reports!

I'll be back to fill you in on upcoming trips.... including one that is coming much sooner than we had planned!!

There's a hope we can FINALLY find one another in person soon-ish?!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

sounds like a great time in innoventions before you left, i didnt now about a few of those things in there, will have to explore more on the next trip.

 

[Sooze]

Great update Sooze! Hey, don't feel bad about too much time between the updates - I'm really bad myself lately. But the fall is SO BUSY that's it's just hard to find time! This reader totally understands!

I love your last shot of Spaceship Earth!

So BUSY!! I finally closed Annie... auditioned for Joseph... got cast.. then decided I needed a break. Just in time to get this done!!!

Now.. to get caught up on YOUR TR!!

 

[Sooze]

I have to admit - I'm all sorts of jealous right now! I have yet to get Leo interested in any of the Innoventions stuff you did, and I really want to try them! They all sound like so much fun.

He'll get there! It's better when you don't have to wait and you can walk right into the exhibit!

I totally understand; we seem to have just gotten to that point, too. Leo's begging to do more and more on his own in life... I'm ready, but I'm not, know what I mean?

I absolutely know what you mean!! Everyone tells you how hard parenting is, but I'm still not prepared!

Gorgeous!

From a photographer like you, I'll take that as a pretty big compliment!! Sometimes I get lucky with my puny little camera!

Not "too long" at all - I love reading your reports!

Thanks, V! I'm so glad we 'met'!

There's a hope we can FINALLY find one another in person soon-ish?!

Only if you plan on being in Epcot for Thanksgiving...

 

[Sooze]

sounds like a great time in innoventions before you left, i didnt now about a few of those things in there, will have to explore more on the next trip.

I didn't really either, until I read about some of them in other people's trip reports! They are such hidden gems!

 

[micandminforever]

Your last day at Epcot was a great ending to your trip. Thanksgiving is not to far away.

 

[PrincessV]

Only if you plan on being in Epcot for Thanksgiving...

Maybe! We had actually planned a trip over Thanksgiving week, but changed it to Dec. instead. But... we were so looking forward to the Tutto ADR I got for Thanksgiving dinner, we kept it, in case we decide to go for just that day! I'll let you know if we do

 

[brookelizabeth]

That's so sweet that you thought of us!! I love seeing things at Disney that remind me of other Disers.. of course, when I mention it to Matt.. he just looks at me like I'm crazy!

Joe has finally met a few people, and actually started reading my Trip Reports, so he's starting to understand it a bit and now points out stuff too!

What a very fun time in Innoventions! We haven't been into the side by Test Track in a long stinkin' time - no reason why, we just always end up the "fire truck" one. Henry would LOVE that garbage truck exhibit. And I want to try Sum of All Thrills! How brave of your little man to go it alone!!! And how many emotions rush through a Mom...happy, excited, sad, scared...!

We did the Piggy Bank Adventure, I agree - the tube ROCKED! And how cute is that little pig???

 

[Sooze]

Maybe! We had actually planned a trip over Thanksgiving week, but changed it to Dec. instead. But... we were so looking forward to the Tutto ADR I got for Thanksgiving dinner, we kept it, in case we decide to go for just that day! I'll let you know if we do

Ok.. seriously.. we have ressies at Tutto for Thanksgiving lunch. Coincidence? I think no!!