40 Attractions to Celebrate My 40th Birthday! ***6 days to go PTR update and how many emails?***

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I love that your son came up with the idea! That makes it even better! My girls have caught my planning bug and come up with ideas like that sometimes... My 40th trip is for September but we are keeping it a surprise from the girls, so I can't have them plan with me this time. But that is what the boards are for right?

Now I'm not a big food photographer so you all will have to excuse me. I'll try to do better on our next trip.

I ALWAYS forget to take pictures of our food too! But I am determined to do better this next trip. We will see.

Our favorite lazy river ever. It's about 8 feet deep at the deepest place. We both love to swim so this is perfect. And Alex loves to try to dive all the way down and bring back up a handful of sand. Once they let him be a junior lifeguard but that was a different trip!

This resort is def on my bucket list. One day... And it is all for being able to use this pool area! It looks amazing.

This trip was my for my birthday and when he found out, he insisted on making me a special dessert for every evening (many of the available desserts have pectin). Talk about pixie dust! My heart swells every time I think about it

These are def the things that make Disney the best!

He sang happy birthday to me and I felt as awesome as a kid does on their birthday.

I am trying to decide if I want to get a birthday button or not. My birthday is actually in July but we are waiting till September to go, to avoid the summer crowds and all. I know people do wear there buttons when it isn't there birthday. But it feels weird to me. But I also kind of want to, it is a trip to celebrate by birthday....

We used the FP specially arranged by the Concierge CMs which means we missed the new queue. I've still never seen it! Sorry about the poor quality selfie but you can see how happy we all were to be sailing off to Neverland.

I love the Peter Pan Ride! The que is worth doing at least once. We did it at rope drop on our last trip. It worked out perfect the wait was just long enough to see all of the que and get on the ride.

I think it's nearly impossible to get good pictures on this ride but this one from the end is one of my favorite parts of the ride and it's actually passable. I really wish I could load music to go with these posts. Wouldn't it be nice to hear the sound track as you read?

I think they need to work on that idea, music with the posts! DH is the photographer in the family and he gets good pics on these rides, somehow.... Not sure how, mine look like yours a lot of the time.

I love the little girl behind you photobombing you guys!

This was Alex's favorite ride when he was 5 months old. At that time, I thought taking babies to WDW was ludicrous but after seeing his face on this ride, I changed my mind forever. He was so engaged and happy.

It's a Small World is great for little kids! My youngest on our first trip (she was just shy of 3) loooooooved the ride. I think we ended up taking her on it each time her sister went on a ride that she was too short for. She was singing that songs the whole trip. And wanted to go on the dolly ride AGAIN (and again and again).

I keep teasing him that we will do 9 attractions for his 9th birthday trip this summer.

Too funny! Maybe 9 attractions in each park? I want to do a birthday trip for both of our girls but I can't decide what age would be best to do it. I was going to do 10 but my oldest just turning 9 and next year will be too soon. Maybe 13?

Initially I had planned to leave earlier and rope drop RnRC by walking instead of taking the boat but that plan was clearly scrapped. Instead I rested comfortably on a friendship and we made our leisurely way past the Swolphin and on to DHS.

 

[Elandon]

I am trying to decide if I want to get a birthday button or not. My birthday is actually in July but we are waiting till September to go, to avoid the summer crowds and al

My birthday was actually on the 6th (two days before travel) but I would recommend celebrating whenever you like!

Maybe 9 attractions in each park? I want to do a birthday trip for both of our girls but I can't decide what age would be best to do it. I was going to do 10 but my oldest just turning 9 and next year will be too soon. Maybe 13?

Alex loves your 9 attractions in each park idea. He's working out if it's going to be "enough". We will be at Disney for 10 days this summer so we will be covering a lot of ground.

As for birthday trips, his birthday is in August which means he misses out on a school birthday celebration and often many of his friends are away for his party. He gets to celebrate his birthday at Disney almost every year! But we limit him to a couple of "celebration days" so it doesn't go crazy. Your kids will love a birthday trip whenever you take them!

 

[Elandon]

Oh dear. I've been using photobucket to host my photos but I keep seeing all these grey squares on other trip reports and when I looked into it, I found out that photobucket randomly changed their rules on everyone about a week ago and basically froze their accounts and broke their pictures unless they were willing to pay $400/year for photo hosting. That's ludicrous. There are a bunch of photo hosting sites out there that cost way less than that. I have no idea why mine were working but I decided to no longer trust them. So- I moved all my photos to flickr (which I have used before) and re-linked everything in the trip report so far. I hope this ensures my report from such extortive practices but who knows. I'm happy to pay a fee for photo hosting but $400/year is steep for being able to write a trip report.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Alex loves your 9 attractions in each park idea. He's working out if it's going to be "enough". We will be at Disney for 10 days this summer so we will be covering a lot of ground.

I love that he is working out if it's enough!

I'm happy to pay a fee for photo hosting but $400/year is steep for being able to write a trip report.

I have been uploading directly to the dis site. But that can be a pain! $400 is a lot! Yikes.

 

[Elandon]

have been uploading directly to the dis site. But that can be a pain! $400 is a lot! Yikes.

Flickr is still free and, in my estimation, has a better reputation so I'm hoping when they decide to go "not free" it will be more reasonably priced. I think photobucket lost a lot of users with their little cash grab move. It's just sad that so many old trip reports are photo-less.

 

[Elandon]

Feb 9 ctd: Attractions 11, 12, 13, & 14 (and one is a twofer)​

First of all Happy 4th of July, everyone! I think I will do two updates today to celebrate, but first I'm going to go sit by the pool and read other people's trip reports.

We left off with attractions #10: goofy! We actually ran into Goofy on the way to attraction #11: Red carpet Minnie and Sorcerer Mickey. This is a cute meet & greet if you haven't tried it yet. We did standby bc it was still pretty early in the day and we probably waited about fifteen minutes. I love the posters on the way in. They change and are very cute often bringing in a lot of references to other disneyana. Minnie looks lovely all dressed up for the red carpet and Mickey's set is pretty cool. There's a lot of detail there.

IMG_0827 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_7944514901 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_7944489993 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

It's prime attraction time for us in the first hour so we made no stops on the way to using our next FPP: Star Tours (attraction #12)

IMG_0828 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0829 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I just love the detail of this area. I can't wait for star wars land because I just know it's going to exceed expectations.

Grandma Missie doesn't really like this ride. She says it's too jerky for her. Anyone have advice on what will also be too jerky at Universal? We are going this summer and I've never been so I don't really know what to expect or how to advise her. The standby was very short and Alex is a big star wars fan so we decided to ride standby once and then use our FPP. The first time, I got some very special pixie dust: I was the rebel spy! As we were waiting in the little corrals before you board your speeder, Alex says to me "Mom, I think you might be the rebel spy" but I didn't really believe him. He was right! I can't remember where we went on that ride except to say that we ended in Coruscant (did you know the spell check actually recognizes that word?) so Alex took my picture with the poster outside the ride. Wy did he take it in black & white? He said he was being artistic. I was ridiculously happy about this--much more so than is normal I think. Second ride, no rebel spy love for either of us.

IMG_0832 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

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We stopped in the gift shop on the way out and Alex spent some of his souvenir money on hand cuffs. I think they are "first order hand cuffs" or something but they will make an appearance later so you can check them out. After this, we found grandma missie face timing friends from a bench near the entrance to Indiana Jones. We were headed there eventually but we had a little time and we needed to get as many attractions in as possible so we headed to attraction #13: MuppetVision 3D.

IMG_0846 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0848 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Apparently I didn't get any pictures of the details on the inside of the waiting area (which are pretty cool actually). I remember my feet hurting a lot and we walked in and I just plopped down on the floor somewhere in the middle of the room and didn't move until we were ready to go in. Gotta rest when you can! The movie was cute, as always. It's not one of our favorites. Our next attraction was specially requested by Alex. I mentioned that he wants to be an imagineer... Well, he is very interested in special effects and shows these days so the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (attraction #14) was up next and we had a FPP so we could sit in a good section. We headed straight over and loved the show as always. I didn't take enough pictures though. But it wasn't raining (it's often raining when we end up doing this attraction for some reason) so we got to see the part with the plane at the end.

IMG_0850 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

After seeing the plane burst into flames and everyone survive the mayhem, we were ready for lunch. It's a good thing we had an ADR all lined up at one of my favorites but we needed to arrange some transportation. Mom and Alex were sure we were in trouble when we got to the buses and they realized there were no buses to DS at this hour (I think they run between parks and DS after 4 pm?) but I had a plan to do something new! There were a couple of protests as we headed toward the Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter bus stops (I figured we could take either for my plan) but we boarded a bus and got on our way. As we drove, Alex used his hand cuffs to tie everyone on the bus to the various posts and rails. Lovely. The dad of the other family riding with us was very interested in his hand cuffs. Turns out he was an actual policeman and taught Alex a thing or two about hand cuff usage. I love how friendly people are at Disney!

IMG_0853 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

A little bit later we got off the bus at Port Orleans Riverside. But that's not where we would be eating....

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The dad of the other family riding with us was very interested in his hand cuffs. Turns out he was an actual policeman and taught Alex a thing or two about hand cuff usage. I love how friendly people are at Disney!

It's so true. Everyone is so much more chatty and friendly! If we could only all be that way in real life..

IMG_0829 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I just love the detail of this area. I can't wait for star wars land because I just know it's going to exceed expectations.

I want to go into the Ewok Hut!!! We can't wait for Star Wars land too! It will be so crowded for so long! I mean look at what people did for Avator! I can't even imagine what Star Wars will be like. But I still can't wait!

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_7944514901 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I keep forgetting about fancy dressed Minnie. We might have to try and meet her when we are there. Cute picture!

 

[Elandon]

Feb 9 ctd: Disney Springs, Attraction #15 and a Lazy Evening​

So we had just arrived at Port Orleans Riverside (which I had never been to before) and walked through the grounds. This resort is awesome. My family was seriously mystified as to what we might be doing there when we were trying to get to DS. And then we got to the boat launch in the back! I looked like a genius. There was a boat about to leave for DS and they held it a minute for us (probably bc Alex was racing a head and begging them to stay--he's very good at that). We sat down on the boat and headed down the Sassagoula River on what was quite a pleasant little cruise. There was another kid around Alex's age so they played with his handcuffs. I just want to take a moment to mention again what beautiful February weather we were having. It's usually hit or miss at that time of year and this was definitely a hit.

IMG_0859 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

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IMG_0861 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

We arrived at DS just in time to head to one of my favorite restaurants (which is also attraction #15) The Boathouse. Because of the superior weather, we were able to sit outside on the dock and had a lovely time. Alex loves it because the kids meals come in the these cardboard amphicars and there are lots of boats to see on the waterways. Alex had a burger. My mom and I shared two appetizers and the truffle fries. I forgot exactly what they were called but they were delicious. But this time I got food pics! Sorry some are half eaten. I haven't gotten the hang of preparing for trip reports yet.

IMG_0874 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

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After lunch, we did some shopping. Well, Grandma Missie and I shopped while Alex made racing cars at the lego store.

IMG_1661 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I got a new Alex & Ani bracelet and looked a lot in the Marketplace but I had already gotten most of the things I wanted in there. In fact, as my birthday present, my mom had ordered a bunch of blue and white dishes and coffee cups from there and had them shipped to my house before we left. On a previous trip, I had bought a bunch of attraction glasses and some little attraction plates and lugged them around with us because I didn't want to wait for them to be shipped to my house (no one here can possibly understand that ) and I think she wanted to head off the inevitable. Nonetheless, it was really appreciated! I use those cups every morning and those plates every day.

Alex got some candy at Goofy's and we looked in the Art of Disney place. I know we did a lot of stuff that I am not remembering but it wasn't out of the ordinary. I think lunch was at 1:30 and we headed back to the Beach Club around 5:30. I was tired and sore since we didn't have a rest that afternoon and we all decided to stay in for the night. Evening views from our awesome room!

IMG_0886 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0883 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

We weren't too hungry so we picked up some appetizers at the club lounge and Alex and I went down to watch the movie in the atrium. When we got there, we found a random kids activity: pottery painting. Alex really wanted to do it so he painted a lightning mcqueen for a bit while I sat outside on the beach and watched the star wars fireworks over the boardwalk. Not the best fireworks. My memory is pretty special though! I rarely get time to myself on these family vacations.

IMG_0890 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

After he was done painting (sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product, it got delivered to our room on the last day and packed shortly thereafter), we went back to the club lounge for special dessert number two. I shared with Alex this time and he asked for a kid version of the strawberry sparkler that they brought in a huge glass. He still talks about this. It might be the biggest sugary drink I've ever let him have!

IMG_0882 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

And check out my oreo trifle:

IMG_0912 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Again, sorry it's half eaten. But you can see that these weren't just little dessert things, they're works of art! And they get better each night!!!

While we were downstairs, my mom had gone to Epcot (her favorite park) to watch illuminations and she came back just as we were finishing up and heading to the room. We made use of our three TVs for a half hour or so and then we went to bed for much needed rest. And that's where we will end Feb 9th. Feb 10th starts at what is probably my favorite park: animal kingdom!

The attractions so far:
1. Beaches & Cream
2. StormAlong Bay
3. Town Square Mickey
4. Peter Pan's Flight
5. BTMRR
6. IASW
7. Carousel
8. Wishes
9. TSMM
10. Goofy
11. Minnie & Sorcerer Mickey
12. Star Tours
13. Muppetvision
14. Indiana Jones
15. Boathouse

Tomorrow is a big day.....

Hope you are all having a great fourth of July! I just watched the lifestream of the MK fireworks. So awesome. I want to do that one year.

 

[KathyM2]

I just love the detail of this area. I can't wait for star wars land because I just know it's going to exceed expectations.

I'm with you on this...can't wait to see how it will all look in real life.

I love how friendly people are at Disney!

Agreed. It's so easy to start up conversations with people, everyone is just so happy to be there.

Evening views from our awesome room!

That is so beautiful. Love the BC.

 

[Elandon]

Feb 10: Animal Kingdom Attractions 16-20 (and that's just the morning!)​

Another update today! I am just racing through this report! In fact, I am typing this while waiting on hold to fix some issues with our summer reservations. What else are you supposed to do while on hold with Disney?

OK, we left off ready to start Day 3. After our early night on day 2, we were all up and ready to go for a VERY packed day. We had FPP scheduled for EPCOT that afternoon so we needed to do everything standby at Animal Kingdom. I had never done that before but it was necessary because of all that tiering at EPCOT . After a quick breakfast at the club lounge, we caught a bus to animal kingdom and were taking pictures of our first attraction by 10:23 am. Now, this may not be your choice for a first attraction (or first choice of timing-- #ropedropfail) when trying to do things standby but we went straight back to Flights of Wonder (attraction #16). Alex and I had never seen this before and it was a "must do" for this trip and although AK is one of my favorites we knew we would be doing a lot of AK this summer so it was only a small part of this trip. Flights of Wonder was great! I liked the story and the birds were cool. I don't think it's going to be a must do for all our trips but it was nice to do something new.

IMG_1106 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0916 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0921 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

After that, I wanted to ride Expedition Everest (attraction #17). Both Grandma Missie & Alex were not interested in this so they headed to Dinoland USA and rode triceratops spin. Why? They both love that ride for no clear reason. Alex doesn't even want to ride Dumbo much anymore. I loved EE as usual. I did single rider so it wasn't a long wait.

IMG_1107 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_7945295594 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I like this picture:

IMG_0925 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Having tackled Everest, we met over by attraction #18: Tiffins! We didn't have reservations because we had already eaten in the restaurant on a previous trip and loved it but wanted to try the lounge. We got there a little bit before 11:30 and had our pick of seats. We chose the inside lounge because it was still a little chilly and had a really comfy setup.

IMG_0932 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_0928 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

There are those handcuffs again....

IMG_0926 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

We had the bread service (like Sanaa but different--still awesome), the sliders, and a bunch of other appetizers. Alex had a non-alcoholic specialty drink and I had the alcohol version. I'm pretty sure it had gin in it. I really like drinks with gin. The food was awesome. We knew it was going to be a long day so taking it easy at AK let us soak in the atmosphere (which is the best park of AK, in my opinion).

Only one thing at AK could drag us out of our happy, soft chairs in such a beautiful setting: Festival of the Lion King (attraction #19). We got up with very little time to spare hoping we could make the 1pm show. It wasn't too busy at AK that day.

IMG_0937 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1101 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

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I know these pictures aren't the best but I just looooooooooooove this show. Again, I wish I could upload sound so you can hear it while you scroll through. Alex's favorite part is the tumble monkeys and I love the bird ballet. You just cannot beat FotLK. Except maybe for attraction #20: Finding Nemo the Musical! They kind of tie for me. They are very different but both are really masterful productions. As I mentioned before, Alex is super into shows, special effects, lighting, and sound these days and these two shows have been a big inspiration for him. I see little snippets of them in his creative play at home all the time. For Nemo, we sat really close this time (sitting further back is great too, just a different experience). Alex wanted to be close so he could see how things work.

IMG_1109 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

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IMG_1115 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Those pictures are a bit better! Maybe I am catching on. Or perhaps the lighting is better. All the pictures are taken with my iPhone or photopass.

At this point it was about 3pm and we headed back to the buses and the beach club. I'm sure I insisted on stopping to shop for a bit and Alex complained that he was running out of souvenir money and was too tired/hungry/poor to shop right now. On his best days he tries to redirect me by saying we need to be in a hurry for something else. On his worst days he says I can't have anything if he can't have anything because it's not fair. That just makes me want to shop more. This little shopping argument happens multiple times a day so forgive me if I don't mention it each time. I don't think you guys want to hear the nitty gritty of parenting on vacation!

Tonight we are going to Epcot to use our fast passes and experience the Festival of the Arts!

 

[KathyM2]

so we needed to do everything standby at Animal Kingdom. I had never done that before but it was necessary because of all that tiering at EPCOT .

Yeah the tiering makes FP+ challenging for Epcot...well and DHS and AK too lol Oh well. You do what you gotta do.

we went straight back to Flights of Wonder

I've never made it to this either but keep meaning too. It's on our list for next trip too.

we met over by attraction #18: Tiffins! We didn't have reservations because we had already eaten in the restaurant on a previous trip and loved it but wanted to try the lounge.

This looks awesome. We are going for dinner in August but the lounge looks really good too and my faves are usually appetizers anyway. The drinks sound good too.

I don't think you guys want to hear the nitty gritty of parenting on vacation!

I feel your pain.

 

[MrsPMcD]

Grandma Missie doesn't really like this ride. She says it's too jerky for her. Anyone have advice on what will also be too jerky at Universal? We are going this summer and I've never been so I don't really know what to expect or how to advise her.

It depends what she means by jerky! For example does your Mum manage Dinosaur? I find that jerky but can do it, sadly can't do Star Tours because it makes me feel ill But I would say she should avoid The Simpsons ride (I found it horrific) There are some jolts/jerks in Spiderman (I don't want to go into specifics/spoilers) but it's not as continuous as Star Tours. The Mummy is an inside rollercoaster so if she doesn't like Everest I don't think she will like that. The Minions ride, Minion Mayhem, was so jerky even my husband didn't like it! Hmm I think Universal rules out quite a lot!! I can't manage HP and the forbidden journey because of motion sickness but Gringots is fine. I can do rollercoasters just not the simulators but I think the ones I mention above are the ones you get most thrown around by. I don't know about Skull Island because we haven't been since it opened.

My family was seriously mystified as to what we might be doing there when we were trying to get to DS. And then we got to the boat launch in the back! I looked like a genius.

Ha I love doing things like this that makes you look like A Disney Guru! All hail the Disnerd of the group!

Evening views from our awesome room!

Oh I love that view. I can't wait to be back at the YC!

we went straight back to Flights of Wonder

My Mum and I love this show too! Can't wait to see it again, we may be brave enough to volunteer this time...! By the way have you caught Winged Encounters ever? My DH and I stumbled across it on honeymoon and am determined to pick up a showtimes leaflet this time to see it again. It's the macaws out flying around the park and coming back to the "bird ring" (I have no idea what it's actually called but it's a wooden circle on a stick that they all sit on!). I would highly recommend that - think it's one of those "hidden shows" that's actually still quite hidden!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Another update today! I am just racing through this report! In fact, I am typing this while waiting on hold to fix some issues with our summer reservations. What else are you supposed to do while on hold with Disney?

When do you guys go this summer? You are so lucky to be going again so soon!

Flights of Wonder was great! I liked the story and the birds were cool. I don't think it's going to be a must do for all our trips but it was nice to do something new.

WE have not done that yet. We will have to at some point. I like that it was new to you both.

After that, I wanted to ride Expedition Everest (attraction #17). Both Grandma Missie & Alex were not interested in this so they headed to Dinoland USA and rode triceratops spin. Why? They both love that ride for no clear reason. Alex doesn't even want to ride Dumbo much anymore. I loved EE as usual. I did single rider so it wasn't a long wait.

I have never done the single rider line for EE. Is the que shorter? Do you get to see any of the good stuff in the regular line?

There are those handcuffs again....

Fun for hours, huh?

We had the bread service (like Sanaa but different--still awesome), the sliders, and a bunch of other appetizers. Alex had a non-alcoholic specialty drink and I had the alcohol version. I'm pretty sure it had gin in it. I really like drinks with gin. The food was awesome. We knew it was going to be a long day so taking it easy at AK let us soak in the atmosphere (which is the best park of AK, in my opinion).

That sounds lovely. I will have to remember that, if we need to take a break.

I know these pictures aren't the best but I just looooooooooooove this show.

I love that show as well!

Alex wanted to be close so he could see how things work.

I love Alex! I think it's awesome that he is so into all of that shows. Def an Imagineer in the making!

 

[Elandon]

It depends what she means by jerky

Thanks for the advice. This will be helpful!

By the way have you caught Winged Encounters ever?

We will put it on the list. Always looking for new things to do.

When do you guys go this summer?

August 13-26 (including some time at universal at the end)

Is the que shorter?

The queue is shorter usually but you don't get to see much of the good stuff. And I also think Alex is pretty great!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Just wanted to say...I read through all your posts and love the trip report! 40 for 40 is an awesome theme! Your suite at the Beach Club looks amazing. And club level too! That sounds amazing...bucket list for me for sure! And you were the Rebel Spy!!?!? That's just icing on the cake. Excited to read more about your amazing trip!!

 

[Elandon]

Just wanted to say...I read through all your posts and love the trip report! 40 for 40 is an awesome theme! Your suite at the Beach Club looks amazing. And club level too! That sounds amazing...bucket list for me for sure! And you were the Rebel Spy!!?!? That's just icing on the cake. Excited to read more about your amazing trip!!

Yes--it was a pretty perfect trip all considered. I've been reading your trip report too and it's great! Thanks for following me!

 

[Stasieki]

Reading along... sounds like a great trip!!

 

[Elandon]

Feb 10 (ctd): Attractions 21-25 & Festival of the Arts!​

So we left off after our morning at AK which was halfway through our 40 attractions and about half way through the trip so we were keeping a good pace to achieve our goal. After AK, we took a little break in the room to get changed and ready for the evening at Epcot. Usually we spend at least part of most days at Epcot when we are at Beach Club because of proximity and love but we put that off on this trip because Festival of the Arts was only happening over the weekends. Feb 10 was Friday so we got some snacks at the lounge (and a preview of my special dessert but I'm saving that for later in the trip report) and headed over to the International Gateway. Epcot is Grandma Missie's favorite park. She's already been there this trip (she went the previous night to watch illuminations) but we had big plans for this evening. We were headed to an attraction but first we saw a piece of art that was missing some subjects. We joined the picture and the result was cute!

PhotoPass_Visiting_EPCOT_7945792002 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Next was a second tier FPP and attraction #21: Figment! This is not one of my favorites but Alex seems to like it. We obviously didn't need a FP for it but might as well use it. The evening light makes the upside down waterfall look nice.

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We entered the imagination institute and were seated on the big red train. As usual, our tour got hijacked by a friendly, purple dragon who wanted to show us all sorts of things!

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Alex explored the play area afterwards and sent some figments to our neighbors. Then it was off to the land Pavilion. This place always smells awesome like great food with bacon. Always the bacon. Living with the Land (attraction #22) had almost no wait so we decided to step right up and learn something about agriculture at Disney. Grandma Missie grew up on a farm and she loves this ride.

IMG_1133 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1134 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1135 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1138 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Grandma Missie says this last scene is exactly like where she grew up in Central Illinois. She points out all these little details that were exactly like her family farm. I visited a few times as a very little kid and remember them too but not like she does. I love seeing her face light up at this part. You don't usually get to experience your parents the way they were as children but it's fun to think of them running around care-free and joyful. While we are not doing it this trip, we also love the Garden Grill because we get to see all these scenes as there restaurant turns.

We did the behind the seeds tour a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, even Alex and he was only about 6. It was starting to get darker outside and I think this might have been my first time riding through the greenhouses when it wasn't bright outside.

IMG_1140 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

This is another time when I wish we could have the audio embedded. I love all the things they say and the music at the end when you go past the agrarian pictures from around the world. Those are getting a bit dated. I have one recording from the land before they changed the song and I really wish they had never gotten rid of it. That song was awesome, something about a tiny little seed.... I never rode it then since my first trip to WDW was in 1999 or we just missed it on that trip if it still had the song. I don't know.

Next up, a family favorite: Soarin (attraction #23). We all loved the old version of this and we love the new version. Grandma Missie may have gotten on it last night after illuminations. It is her hands down favorite and she sneaks over to epcot and rides it whenever she can. We almost always wait for B1 because, well, it's our thing now I guess. The line was too long for multiple rides today so we had to soak it all in on one go.


IMG_1143 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1144 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1146 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1148 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Gotta love our flight attendant, Patrick! And a selfie in the super cool ride vehicle. Alex loves how the imagineer made a model out of toys to prove the idea could work. We've watched that video on youtube so many times! I don't mind the CGI in the new film but I've never sat anywhere but B1.

After Soarin, we had one more FPP and this one came at Alex's request: Mission Space (attraction #24). I think he really likes pushing the buttons because he talks about who is going to be which role and how we will handle not having a fourth person over and over again before we go. We do Green because Alex wants all of us to go and Grandma and I don't like orange. I've done it once and it feels very authentic. I mean, I guess I don't really know what it feels like to be launched into space but the experience of mission space orange confirms that I made a good life choice by not pursuing a career as an astronaut. Too much chest pressure!

IMG_1149 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1150 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

All locked in!

IMG_1151 by Emily Landon, on Flickr


We made it to Mars with only a small landing issue, no thanks to that unexpected Asteroid storm. Then we exited back into Epcot (it was only training). We skipped the play area afterwards (much to Alex's displeasure) because last time someone failed to come back when mom called it was time to go. And that means someone isn't responsible enough to play in that area. I've apologized. Just kidding. Alex said he thinks he will be responsible enough once he turns 9 (which is conveniently just before our summer trip). I believe him. 9 is a big deal. It's almost double digits.

We decided to walk back to the international gateway by going around the countries the long way (i.e. enter by Mexico) so we did. In China, we stumbled upon the acrobats who were just about to start. Alex got a strawberry oolong slushy (the best slushy in disney except perhaps for frozen coke or the raspberry lemonade one from the cheshire cat place in MK--I should mention that one year we attempted to try every single slushy at WDW. We are now slushy experts and, basically, those are the only three worth getting. We drank a lot of bad slashes that summer. Even Alex was sick of them about halfway through but we had most of them in the end.) and we sat down to watch the acrobats. It must be more comfortable for them at night although February isn't too bad. I just don't know how they do it in mid-july. I'm glad this wasn't the set with the roller skates. That one strikes me as weird.

IMG_1152 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

Alex is in the green shirt.

IMG_1162 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1173 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

IMG_1189 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

I have in my notes that we stayed for illuminations but I have no pictures of it so it doesn't count! We may have caught it as we were walking back. Either way, we were back in the lounge by 9:32 for my last pixie dust of the day. Tonight's special dessert was a hazelnut opera cake. It was soooooooooooo good. And do not miss the huge platter of fresh berries. I felt like a real princess!

IMG_1663 by Emily Landon, on Flickr

And that's it for the third day. One more full day and a half day to go. What will we do? Will we get to 40 attractions? We still have a lot to do.

 

[heaven2dc]

Enjoying your trip report! So nice that your son was patient to wait to play with the Legos while you and Grandma shopped (and vice versa - while you waited with him to play with Legos after you shopped)! We haven't visited Disney Springs since the remodel so anxious to stop at all of the stores. We'll definitely have to split up our group so the kids have a chance to shop with either their parent or grandparent (and for me to shop for surprise gifts!).

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Alex said he thinks he will be responsible enough once he turns 9 (which is conveniently just before our summer trip). I believe him. 9 is a big deal. It's almost double digits.

Morgan just turned 9 and it is... She seems closer to a crabby pre-teen and less to a little kid. Makes me want to cry!

Looks like a nice evening! I am kind of afraid to do Mission Space. I want to try it but I also don't want to feel yucky for the rest of the day.