Where I last left off, we had just hobbled back to out families and our rooms.
Our plan had been to get cleaned up, sleep for about an hour and then head MK for the rest of the afternoon. I showered, got dressed and then I literally collapsed on the bed and I think I was out before my head even hit the pillow. DH and the kids came in about 30 minutes later and woke me up. So much for an hour long nap.
Oh well. I was up so we decided to head out. It was a little past 12:00. I called my parents and let them know we were heading out and they said they'd meet us in LoF. I also called my sister and her hubby said they would be right there. 20 minutes later I called again to find that my sister was just getting in the shower.
This was a common theme throughout the whole trip - waiting on my sister. But, having learned from our last trip, I told them that we were heading the MK and they could just meet there when they were ready. I think this tactic annoyed them, but it made my family happy. We are commando-style Disney travelers, my sister's family is not. So we found that if we went our way and they just met up with us when they could, it made everyone so much happier.
I have one little side story that I forgot to mention. Remember when I mentioned the irate lady at the check-in desk that was really mad that she wasn't by her family? Well, it turns out that the only room next to the rest of her family was next to my parents that was slated for my sister's family. So, when my sister got in late Saturday night, they found that they were upgraded into a Lion King Suite!! Quite the upgrade!! So, we got to see the inside of a suite which was really neat!
The shower stall:
The couch - I loved this! So much detail!
So anyway, we headed out to the bus stop to find that it had started raining. There was a small line for the bus, but just as we walked up a bus for the MK pulled up. Awesome! We got on and in no time we were at the park. First thing was first, I wanted a PP pic with just my family. It had stopped raining by then, so we got a nice picture with the clouds starting to disperse. When I finally get around to getting all my pp off the cd, I'll post them.
This is a pretty good shot of the crowds:
Second thing on our list was to head to Be Our Guest. We really wanted to check this place out, but it wasn't work out for dinner so I was really hoping for lunch. I knew the wait was insane, but we thought it would be worth it. However, just as we walked up, they closed the queue.
Bummer!!! It was a little bit after 1 by this time and I figured that with the restaurant closing at 2 and a 45 minute wait, they were closing to avoid having to be open later than 2.
Feeling sad and dejected, we turned around and headed back out of Fantasyland. We were hungry, I was tired and limping with a very sore knee and all we wanted to do was eat. So, we stopped at the first place we came across - Pinocchio's Village Haus. This was a first for us, but the menu looked good and the line wasn't long. DH headed to order the food and I found us a table. We found the perfect table overlooking It's A Small World.
It was really pretty neat.
By this time I was so hungry I thought I might pass out, so the food couldn't come fast enough. Finally DH delivered, and even though I was starving I did manage to get a picture.
It was so good. I had the Barbeque Chicken Flatbread, DH had the Pepperoni Flatbread and both the kids split Cheese Flatbread, grapes and a yogurt and chocolate cake for desert. I have never been a huge fan of Disney pizza, so I wasn't expecting much. But this was really tasty! The it had great flavor and the bread was perfect - not too dry, but not dripping in oil. Unfortunately though, I think that I ate too quickly, or my stomach just wasn't ready for that much food yet. About 1/2 way through my meal my stomach started to feel queasy. I was disappointed because it was really good, but I didn't want to ruin the rest of my day so I just called quits and threw the rest away. I was disappointed that we didn't get to try BOG, but I was happy with PInocchio's, so it worked out.
After lunch, we decided to hear to IASW since we had just spent our lunch overlooking it. As we were standing in line waiting, I looked over to my right to see a friend from my hometown! How funny that out of all the places to be in Disney, I run into a friend and her daughter on It's A Small World. It really s a small world!
Anyway, after getting the song stuck in our heads, we headed over to Mickey's Philharmagic - one of my all time favorites! I was so excited for everyone to see this.
In the middle of the show, I received a text from my sister. They were just pulling up to the park! I am so glad that we left before them - I would have been steaming mad had we waited for them!
Philharmagic was a big hit - they all really liked it. By the time we got out of there, the rest of my family showed up. We decided to head over to Pirates of the Caribbean. This was my BILs first trip to Disney and since they were a day late, this was now his first ride. I am happy to say that he loved it. Of course, he was too cool to really admit that he loved it, but he did.
After that we decided that it was time to meet some animals. So, Jungle Cruise was up next. We had a really good tour guide, he was funny and played the part really well. I wasn't in a great spot for good pictures, so I didn't get many. Something I found interesting about this ride was how much it scared my DD. She was really worried about the snake and the hippos, and the crocs really scared her. I spent most of the ride reassuring her that the snakes don't bite!
After the cruise, we had stop and remind the kids of what happens when they misbehave in Disney:
Then it was time for a Disney classic: The Tiki Room. I always think of this attraction as boring and old, but it's also classic Walt Disney and a must-do for us. Plus, it gets us off our feet and out of the heat. And my DD loved it and still talks about it.
After that we were all pretty much done. I was tired and my knee was about twice it's normal size by this point and my poor sister had now been awake for almost 36 hours straight, not to mention running 13 miles in the middle. I was getting concerned about my ability to make it through the rest of the week with my knee bothering me this much and I just really wanted to get back to our room and into bed. So we all headed to the bus. But, not before getting a Castle picture!
With a little pixie dust, the bus pulled up just as we did and we were even able to sit down!
When we got back to AoA, we headed to Landscapes of Flavors for some quick dinner. I still wasn't that hungry, my stomach was still a little on the edge. I just grabbed some fruit and hobbled my way back to the room. DH had the Mongolian grill which he said was really good and I believe the kids split some sort of pasta. Sorry, no pictures since I left before they got their food. I was in bed asleep before they even got back to the room. When they came in, I had DH get some ice and I spent about 30 minutes icing my knee and I wrote in my trip journal. It did seem to help and I quickly fell back asleep.
So, we waited. I debated just leaving without them, but we kind of needed them to execute the plan of attack to get FP and signed up. On the other hand the longer we waited, the less chance we were going to make it all work anyway. So, as I was stewing over my decision, they showed up. It was 8:30, but we still had a chance. I gathered them all up and herded them towards the bus stop. There was a line, but I knew we would be able to get on it. Within a couple of minutes a bus pulled up and we all piled on. A very nice man gave up his seats for my sister and I. I don't think that his son was thrilled, but we were. He said that anyone that can run 13.1 miles deserves a seat on a bus! My sister and I wore our medals, our tech shirts or our "I Did It" shirts the whole week so we got a lot of congrats! That was pretty fun to experience. Plus, I wanted everyone to know why was hobbling around!
