Day 4 - Part 1 - December 20th, 2009
Well, the plan for today was to hit Epcot at rope drop, but as bad as I was feeling when I went to bed I was having serious doubts. I thought I might have to make a trip to an emergency clinic. But when my alarm went off at the crack of dawn I was feeling a tad better. I decided to take another antibiotic and see how the day went. I know crazy right, but I had been planning this trip since we got back from our last one in 2007 and didnt want to miss a moment of it.
I quietly got dressed before waking up the rest of the gang. I knocked on my moms door to find out that she wasnt feeling well. It seemed she had caught a stomach bug and was just exhausted from our trip already. She decided to stay in the room and I told her we would check back in on her.
After everyone was ready we headed to the bus stops and within a few short minutes an Epcot bus pulled up so we were off. The only problem was rope drop was at 9:00 a.m. and we were at the gates by 8:15 a.m. Talk about early! I made my way past the long line that was already forming at two of the gates and went searching for a gate with a green light on. Thanks to the disboards I knew that these would open too and I would then be at the front of the line. We ended up in a line behind one other family. Yippee!
At about 8:45 or so, they opened the gates and led us into the courtyard to wait. James had strict instructions to take the kids to Soarin and get fast passes. I was headed to rent a locker and dispose of our mountain of jackets. It had warmed up enough that I knew we wouldnt need the heavy jackets we had brought until later in the day. Luckily, I was the first one at the locker counter and was in and out of there fast enough to catch up with the group at the rope drop area. I couldnt get to my family, but I could see them from the back of the group. Once the rope drop I was able to catch up with my family just as they were entering the pavilion. We quickly headed downstairs with everyone else!
Here is a picture on the bus to Epcot that morning
I told you we had our heavy jackets on.
Can you tell we are from South Texas?
I had read that you wanted to get your fast pass and then get in the standby line, but the line to get fast passes was so long and moving so slowly we decided to jump in the standby line and get fast passes when we got off. I was worried since Christopher hadnt made the cut when we were here on Thursday, but we headed to the front and the cast member working the measuring stick pulled Chris over and measured him and
.. you wont believe it but he passed! I was thrilled. We headed down to the loading areas without any wait. We ended up in the front row. When we got off Chris was so excited a new Soarin fan was born he just loved it!!
When we got off I went and got fast passes for all of us for later. The lines had cleared out a bit and I was able to quickly get them. But I was happy we did the opposite of what I had planned because when I checked out the standby time it was already up to 30 minutes! We decided to stop by Sunshine Seasons for some breakfast. We ended up using some snack credits for a couple of cinnamon rolls and drinks. While we were waiting my cousins wife, Desi came walking by. They were there early!! She called Jason and he brought the rest of the family down while she went to get fast passes and then we all rode Living with the Land walk-on.
When we got off the ride, it was time to head over Norway for our breakfast reservations. Desi and her family had a 10:30 a.m. reservation and we had an 10:40 a.m. one. They were called in to be seated almost as soon as they checked in. But we had our first long wait of our trip! We had an ADR for 11:00 a.m., but we werent called to be seated until 11:30 a.m. Almost an hour after our ADR time.
I hated it! It drives me nuts waiting when I can be doing other things. And I was sure as soon as I bolted to get fast passes for Test Track our name would be called so we just waited.
We were finally called for our seating and got in line for our pictures with Belle.
After we were seated I headed to the buffet line to get some items for me and the kids. I loaded up a plate full of cheese, salami, and fresh fruit. I avoided the baked goods, since I knew that the last time we were there the chef had said to avoid them with a peanut allergy.
I headed back to the table just as Cinderella was leaving. Quickly after Cinderella we also saw Snow White and Aurora. We settled down to eat some breakfast for a while. Everything was good
we had eggs, bacon, sausage on the breakfast platter. And of course some of that wonderful, heavenly, potato casserole! I know my kids love princesses, but Im pretty sure another reason I booked Akerhouse was because of their potato casserole. I love it!
As we finished up, we were surprised to see Ariel. The kids were thrilled. The last time we came she wasnt at Norways breakfast seating, so it was a surprise to see her. Christopher loves Ariel. Ariel and Mary Poppins are his absolute favorite Disney characters. He got his second kiss of this trip a lovely kiss on the cheek from Ariel!
After seeing Ariel, we headed out. I texted Desi to find out where they were and they were riding Soarin with my aunt. I also texted Derrick to find out if they had arrived at the park yet. They had! And they had already picked up Soarin fast passes and were riding the boat ride in the Mexico pavilion. We told them we would head that way and only had to wait a few minutes before they came out. Both of our times were up to get new fast passes so we decided to head towards Test Track to get fast passes.
When we arrived I was amazed to find the line to get fast passes was really long.
I jumped in line with all our tickets and spent the entire 15 minutes it took me to get fast passes talking to some boys all about touring strategies. They were there with their families and had no plan.
They had just gotten in the Test Track line because it looked line. I explained they needed to get a Soarin fast pass as soon as possible and then we discussed the must-fast pass rides in the other parks. It always makes me feel good when I can help those non-planners out.
Their father even came over to thank me for all the information I had pumped into them.
I headed back over to our group to see what the plan was.
Derrick and his family wanted to ride Spaceship Earth and I was game. I was looking forward to seeing how I liked the changes to the ride. It was nice. I think I could take or leave the changes. They didnt seem to affect me much. When we got off I called my mom to check in with her. She said she was still feeling under the weather and wasnt feeling up to the parks.
So we agreed that we would stay and she would rest.
Derrick and his family headed off to Le Cellier.
When we had booked our ADRs they hadnt been able to get Le Cellier for dinner so they had picked up a late lunch reservation. We decided to check out the Visa Character Spot. On our way, we ran into Desi and her family. They wanted to know where we were going so I explained to them. The problem was they dont have a Disney Visa and I knew I wouldnt be able to get everyone in with me. So I helped Desi locate Jasmine. Her oldest daughters favorite character is Jasmine and they had missed her when we saw her at Magic Kingdom at Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party. We found out where she was and I sent them on their way and we headed over to Innoventions
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And you will have to wait until my next update to see who we met since I have a pile of laundry calling my name. Hope everyone has a great day!
Stephanie
. Oh well.... Maybe next time. In the meantime, though, I am anxiously awaiting your next installment.
She did tell him she was sorry she couldn't marry him though since she is already married to Prince Eric so I guess he will have to settle for Mary Poppins. 
I decided to have the bag sent to package pickup at the front of the park. I knew I could have it sent back to the room, but I wasnt sure when it would arrive and I needed to have it so I could have Christophers presents ready in the morning.
It made for a nice break!
Hopefully, the next time they go he will be past some of his ride fears, poor guy! 
I haven't done any planning except for booking the trip itself 
I have no plans for my days yet of any idea of what restaurants to pick. I know I'm going to have a ton of dining credits with the deluxe plan and spending two whole days off property, but we really treasure eating at nice sit-down restaurants together, so we will probably do mostly signature restaurants for lunches and dinners to use up all the credits. We are also thinking about going to Victoria and Alberts for one night. Might as well do it all and do it right before we have kids and can't afford to or don't have the extra time. I have been looking at tickets and was sold on the idea of going cheap on Southwest, but I have found some deals on Delta for $99 each way and that will work out cheaper most likely even with the cost of baggage. We only need to take one suitcase and one carry-on each. Southwest's schedule isn't up that far in advance, but i've been looking at similar times of the week in the months that are available and it's more expensive to fly with them for us. Which is nice since I LOVE Delta! But mine was finally getting to the ages where they can sit though dinner without getting into too much trouble. I can't wait to hear what you decide on!
But we the kids got great character interaction here; I think the shirts I had made to wear here really helped. I dont know how many of you read my pre-trip report where I posted pictures of the t-shirts I had made, but for this breakfast I had made Haley an I Love Piglet shirt, Ashley had an I Love Eeyore shirt, and Christopher had a shirt with Tigger on it. Eeyore and Piglet loved the girls shirts. Each got huge hugs and they both pointed out the girls shirts. I was thrilled!! We got to see everyone, but Tigger twice while we were there. 
