After exploring the lobby we all started to feel our choice to skip breakfast on the Magic. Poor Aladdin was really feeling it since he had eaten so little the day before. So we headed over to Captain Cook's in it's temporary location (during the remodel). Along the way "Goofy" and "Stitch" stopped to smell some flowers.
When we finally arrived at Captain Cook's...boy...was it SMALL!! But it had the basics (tonga toast and breakfast platters...yum) and we were able to purchase (we paid OOP instead of wasting a CS credit) a fairly appealing breakfast. We were lucky to get one of the few tables scattered on the small patio outside of the temporary location. As we sat and ate we talked about all of the fun we had enjoyed so far while on our vacation and all of the fun that was yet to come.
It is important to mention that our friends who had sailed on the Magic with us were also checking in to the Poly with us as well!
We were very excited about this!! More magical vacation memories with our good friends! So as we reflected on how much we were looking forward to spending some more time with them...up they walked. Talk about great timing.
We all thought it would be good to head over to the volcano pool and get some time in sunning and swimming while we waited for our rooms to be prepared. We had a lot of fun spending the morning out at the pool. The younger boys and "Cinderella" spent over an hour playing in the pop jets and "Aladdin" and their two older kids went down the volcano pool slide more times then I can even count. Come to think of it, the younger kids did too once they were done with the pop jets. I even took a trip through the heart of the volcano and made it out alive
It was a fun water slide, but if I were voting, I would vote for the one at the Contemp. over it.
Another thing the Contemp. pool rated higher then the Volcano pool on was HEAT!! HEAT!! Uhhh...forgive me...but don't they heat all of the deluxe pools? They simply did NOT heat the Poly's volcano pool at all! I was FREEZING the entire time I was in the water (and it was in the upper 80s outside and sunny). Even sitting by the little "spa" area where the stream "enters" the pool it was COLD!! I didn't stay in the water long and although the kids were loving playing in the pool with their friends, they took breaks to warm up every so often.
After about two hours of water play we checked and found out that our room was ready...we were going to be staying in Tokelau in a remodeled room. We were staying on the third floor and had our own balcony. When we looked out our window...this is what we saw:
The quiet pool.
And if you stood (or sat) outside on our balcony and looked to the right you could see Cinderella's castle!!!!
Not a great picture...but it was a great surprise view!!
Here are some pictures of our room (the inside). I thought they were nice. Very spacious and (since I think we were the first people in them....very clean and spiffy).
**HINT...if you want rooms next to each other...link them in the reservations system...we had neglected to do so (a big oops for a obsessive planner like myself) and because of the electrical problems in a long house (or maybe it was in two of them) they were pretty full up. We were unable to get rooms in the same building.**
While we were checking out our new home for the next 4 days we got a phone call from dh's sister. She was calling to let us know that they were down in Orlando for the day (they are from GA). Also, she told us that they were at Epcot...so instead of the "take it easy at the resort" day we had planned we thought it would be a lot of fun to head on over to Epcot and enjoy a surprise day at the park with them!! It was a very quick walk to the Ticket and Transportation Center. WOW...FAST!!!! Minutes later we had boarded the monorail to Epcot and at about 1:00 we were on our way to Epcot!!
The boys and I were able to sit up front while dh once again rode in the back with the "regular folk". It was so much fun and there was so much to see!
Upon our arrival at Epcot we headed over to the Electric Grill to meet up with dh's sister and her family. We used one of our CS meals here...it was NOT our favorite meal...they didn't even have mushrooms on their topping bar (sniff sniff). Neither our boys nor their kids knew that they would be seeing the other at Epcot that day! It was AWESOME to see the look of sheer joy on all of the kids faces!!
After a very happy surprise, a ton of hugs and a quick lunch we headed out into the park. First we headed over to Test Track and I directed everyone to the "secret extra Fast Pass" machine. Okay...so maybe it's not secret...but this one machine spit fast passes out for both Test Track and Mission Space!! As we walked up to the machine I was hoping that it would still give out both sets...as I put in our tickets I held my breathe...and IT DID!! WOO HOO!! I looked like the queen of inside Disney info!
We headed over and took another journey on Mission Space. Once again "Aladdin" and I opted for the wimpy version and were joined by dh's sister and our niece. My db-i-l and other niece chose to go on the spinning version. Dh and our two youngest and our 8 year old nephew took a break and had a nice little visit while exploring the MS store/after ride area. While we were waiting for the ride to start my ds-i-l started to wimp out...only by promising her that the ride was "not that bad" did "Aladdin" and I stop her from opting out of the ride. It was a lot of fun to have all 4 places in the module taken by someone in our party. It was like a private ride all for us!! Thankfully my ds-i-l made it through okay and all of us had a load of fun riding it! Upon returning to our home planet we caught up with ds and the kids and made our way back over to Innovations since we still had time left before our Test Track fast pass window. We did the Plastics booth with the robot racers where you get to build a computerized robot and then race it through a maze against the others who have each built their own racers. Before the race you vote for the best looking robot ("Goofy" won this honor). And dh (racing with the robot "Stitch" built) won the race. "Aladdin" came in second place!! It was a good round for our family!! Upon finishing the racing portion it was time to build our very own plastic robots! Another one of those hard to believe it really is true FREE things at WDW!! Here is a picture of "Aladdin" and his cousin with a robot.
After building our robots it was time to head back and take a ride on Test Track. We had a lot of fun doing that!! It was great for the boys to be able to act as little Disney tour guides to their cousins! After our super speedy test drive we headed over to Soarin'. The wait was listed at over an hour...and no fast passes were left...so instead of waiting we opted to skip Soarin'...our family had done it well over 10 times during the first part of our Disney vacation and they didn't mind to miss it (having never been to Epcot before, everything was brand new to them). So instead of taking a ride over CA, we went to chat with a turtle.
Here is "Stitch" walking with his one of his cousins.
Over at Turtle Talk with Crush both "Goofy" and "Stitch" were chosen to talk with Crush. "Goofy" asked Crush what he did for fun. The answer to that was "Ahh...great question....I catch a wave dude!!!".
Then "Stitch" was asked his name and where he was from. Even dh and I got into the act when Crush asked who "Stitch's" parents were! It was a lot of fun! And we all laughed the entire show through.
Here are all of the cousins together outside of The Living Seas.
After our visit with Crush, it was almost time for us to make our way back to the Poly. We had dinner ressies at Ohana and we surely didn't want to miss our dinner there (double YUM)! Before we left we took one final ride with them. We chose Figment because we knew that it would not have a wait and it did not. As we headed out of the park with them (they were on their way over to MK to see SpectroMagic) we gave them one final hug and took a few last pictures of what would be our last visit to Epcot this trip.
Photos snapped we once again boarded the monorail and made our way back to the Poly. We got back with just enough time to change and head over to Ohana. Once there we saw we would have a bit of a wait on our hands...so we ordered two Lapu Lapu's (served in pineapples) and grabbed a seat. The drinks were very good and the wait passed very quickly.
We LOVED Ohana! This is now tops on our must dine list!! The views from the window. The FOOD...oh the food. The peel and eat shrimp was divine. The skewers of meat OH MY GOODNESS! Every single thing that passed through our lips was a little bit of heaven! It was all very good!! The kids also had a lot of fun joining in the parade and the limbo contest.
After dinner we did a bit of shopping and then went back to our room. Pretty soon it was time for the fireworks to start so we met our friends down at the beach and had a really nice time just sitting on the beach, watching the fireworks and visiting with some of our favorite people. It was a nice peaceful end to our first night back on land. We ended up sitting and talking for quite a while after the fireworks ended and by the time we went back to the room it was time to get ready for bed and finally close our eyes and sleep. BUT...before I did, I had to take just a few more pictures!
UP NEXT...going back to AK!! And a very special mom and me time at MK with "Aladdin".
for you!! 
thanks for saying that my modest little (or big since I go on and on sometimes 
I've never been on a 
