Another wake up call this morning and Layni answers this one but says she doesn't know who it was or what they said. Oh well. We were awake and that's what matters. Layni got dressed in her Ariel gown and crown because we had ADR's at Akerhaus in Norway this morning with the princesses. We were at the bus stop at 8:15 and since we had ADR's for breakfast, we were allowed to enter through the Princess Breakfast line even though we had to wait until 9 (our ADR's weren't until 10), but that line was MUCH shorter than the other turnstiles so we made out big time! We were in the front of the line at the rope when Donald, Mickey, Mary Poppins, & Chip -n- Dale came out to see us (there may have been more but that's all I remember). We joined the mobfest (are you getting sick of that word yet?) heading to Soarin' at rope drop. We grabbed a FP, then got in the standby line. We enjoyed Soarin' very much, but it wasn't a "must do again" ride for us. Then we walked to Norway for our breakfast. The princesses were Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Mulan, and SnowWhite. The food was good but the butter was wierd. Sweet/sugary or something. This is one of my favorite pictures:
After the breakfast, we rode Maelstrom and then headed back to Mexico to start our World Showcase tour. We rode El Rio de Tiempo. The pyramid was really neat but the rest was a little boring, but relaxing. The kids started their masks here. Since we already were in Norway, we walked on by not even thinking about getting the stamp for the masks. We got Layni and Brayden's faces painted in the Outpost:
In Japan, we watched Miyuki the candy maker and she made suckers for all 3 of my kids. They got to hold their own sucker in the front of the fans to dry and then she wrapped them up and let us take them home. We got an eagle, a tiger, and a panda bear. The kids did not do well with the World Showcase as it was VERY VERY hot and tiring and alot of walking. So basically, we just strolled through and found the kidcot stations and never went in any shops or sampled any treats. I was disappointed that nobody was as interested as I was in the countries.
It still took us almost 3 hours just to get through the countries doing only what I stated. We planned to ride Soarin' again with our FP's on the way out, but everyone just wanted to swim, so we gave them to an unsuspecting family. The guy looked at me like I'd just spoken a foreign language so either he didn't speak English or he had no idea what fastpasses were. We were so hot and tired, I just left them with him and hoped he'd figure it out. We headed back to POR for an afternoon swim which was always the highlight of the day. Back on the bus to Magic Kingdom by 4pm. Arrive at Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:55 for 5:15 ADR's. We were seated almost immediately. Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and Minnie came around to our table several times. This was lots of fun and good food too. PITA didn't like it as well as 50's diner, but I thought it was yummy. We then decided to go on Haunted Mansion. As we were in line, guess what happens? You got it! The ride broke down. PITA was laughing his a** off as I was just SURE someone was AGAIN playing a trick on me. This seriously could not happen this many times to me, could it? About 10 minutes later, it was up and running again, but broke down 3 times while we were on it. Only for about 30 seconds each time. We were cracking up! The kids actually loved that the ride broke down while we were on it, so that was good. We finally got off and walked right into Philharmagic. CUTE CUTE show. Loved it! Again, Brayden wasn't thrilled with the 3-D effect, but Jake laughed hard throughout the whole thing. 5-10 minute wait for Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear too. Then we walked to the HUB and got a front row seat for Spectro. This is where everything went to H-E-doubletoothpicks in a handbasket. We got to our seat around 8pm. I was soooooo proud that I'd nabbed a front row seat right smack in front of the castle. Score 1,000 points for Dena!
However, nobody else shared in my joy. Everyone was hot and bored and their butts hurt and they were crowded and they couldn't move and they were thirsty and when was the parade gonna start????????????????????????????? I wanted to kick them all. Every last one of them. Hard, too! How could they not appreciate this coveted spot??? So I sat there and ignored them. PITA bought Layni a helium balloon to make her happy which lasted all of 2 minutes and cost $6.00. Not a wise investment if you ask me. But nobody did, so whatever. Here is a picture of our view from our seat as it is getting dark:
Isn't that beautiful? Wouldn't YOU have appreciate that spot??? So anyway, moving on..........the parade starts and I think it's really beautiful. I had to experiment with my camera a little to get decent shots. Here is one that I love:
Ok, so that was 2 that I love, but I didn't think you'd mind.
The kids seemed to enjoy the parade, but Layni was miserable and crying for who knows WHAT reason. When the parade was over, my PITA was fit to be tied between the tight crowds and Layni crying. At this point it is 9:20 and he thinks he's leaving. I said "WHHHOOOOOAAAAAA, we still have WISHES". He said "What time does that start?". I knew this wasn't going to go well, but I said it anyway ~ "10:00". PITA's response ~ "10:00????? You expect us to sit in this crowd for another 40 minutes and wait AGAIN?????". Ummmm, yes. But it was not to be. I'd had it. So I huffed and puffed and gathered our stuff and was one of "those" moms who yank their kid by the arm and say "Just forget it, we're leaving, we're done". Layni starts flipping out about missing the fireworks and PITA is about to spontaneously combust. I am STEAMING mad at this family of mine. Finally, 1/2 way down main street I decide that *I* am NOT missing WISHES. Nosiree! So I come to a screeching halt and park my kids on the sidewalk. Layni is happy now UNTIL her helium balloon gets loose and flies away and it's a complete meltdown again. PITA starts up again too grumbling under his breath, so what do I do??? Have a meltdown as well and start crying myself! Yes, I CRIED! This was NOT how it was supposed to be. All the OTHER families were having fun. So I give PITA my best dirty look while I stroll to the center of main street to get a good view of the castle for my fireworks pictures that I'd been planning for 3 months. Here is my best shot:
After fireworks, we all silently stroll to the POR bus stop (furthest one away of course.........sorry all you POR folks), and head home without anyone saying much. Straight to bed with little words. Tomorrow is a new day!! And a MUCH better one incase anyone was afraid for my sanity.
Up next: water park day that turned to MGM day due to rain, and DTD take 2!
). I didn't set a wake-up call for this morning because this was supposed to be our water park day and I didn't think it was necessary to get there right at 9:00. So we woke up around 8:30 to thunder and pouring rain. I'm no genious, but I didn't think Blizzard Beach was in our best interest for today. But when you have ADR's scheduled all over the place, how can you move days? 
It was around 1:15 by now and we missed the Indiana Jones Show. Next one wasn't until 2:45 so we rode TOT again with our FP's and grabbed lunch at Rosie's Cafe. I was nervous because I'd never heard of that place reviewed on this board but Backlot Express was clear across the park so we decided to take our chances. We thought the food was very good. I still wanted to see Voyage of Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, Backlot Tour, and Great Movie ride, but everyone else wanted to go back and swim instead. By now it was hot and sunny again. So we left and went back to POR and swam for 2 hours!!! What fun. I think it was the right choice. Then we took the boat to DTD, grabbed the shuttle ferry to the West Side and went to Disney Quest. It is 7pm now. DisneyQuest was fun, but not something I think I'd do again. The boys would probably disagree though. I did have fun playing the original Frogger! We ate at the pizza place there (not bad, not great) and left around 10pm. Back to POR via buses and went swimming AGAIN at the quiet pool until 11:30. In bed by 12:15. Here are some late night swimming pics:
After we got off, we met up with the boys who all LOVED this ride. Nobody felt bad except my poor sissy. As soon as it was over, she had a big smile on her face and said she loved it, but as we were walking out, she said her head hurt and was leaning on me and asked to sit down. I felt so bad. We sat down for a few minutes and she kept saying she didn't feel good. 
After about 5 minutes of her laying on my lap and me rubbing her back, I asked her if she wanted something to drink. She perked up and said yes, so we walked over to the snack stand and got her a coke. She slowly started to feel better over the next 10 minutes. Then she was fine. Running all over and back to normal. Thank goodness. PITA and Brayden wanted to ride again, but Jake, Layni and I decided once was enough even though we really enjoyed it. It was now 5:30 and we had ADR's at Coral Reef at 6:00 so we decided to use our Test Track FP's real quick. I guess you could say this time I had a little bit better luck because the ride didn't break down until we were pulling up to get out. BUT we were still stuck in the car. After about 10 minutes (and current time now being 5:55), I am sweating my Coral Reef ADR. They finally say "stay put, a CM will be coming around to escort you out of your car". So I'm thinking we'll be first, but no.......we see people that were stuck in the middle of the ride getting out and walking down steps. I am literally within STEPS of the exit and it's in full view. I decide to be bad and we all get out of the car and sneak toward the exit (with the whole line of people waiting to board staring at us). A CM runs up to us and says "NO! You can't do that". I said "Mam, we have ADR's and we are not missing dinner, sorry". She then said "Right this way.........." and showed us the exit. 
I felt a little bad, but I was HUNGRY! We arrived at Coral Reef at 6:10 and explained our Test Track situation and had no problems getting a table within about 5 minutes. We were on the middle level and I was a little disappointed in the view of the aquarium (couldn't help being jealous of the lucky ducks who had tables right in front up against the glass). Here is a view from our level (which doesn't look bad, but the aquariums are really dark and you can't see inside well except when a scuba diver approaches the glass):
We secured a spot right on the bridge near the International Gateway exit to view the show (can you see what's coming?). We did have to sit and wait almost an hour for it to start but this time we had a little more room to move about. Everyone behaved. Here is one of my pics:
And best of all? NO MELTDOWNS! Another great day!
