Chased By a Bear and a Trip to Urgent Care - A Very Merry Dis-mas 2016 TR! **Complete 2/23**

I'm sorry you didn't get to do any character meets :( But it sounds like you did a great job of keeping everyone fairly happy! I loved the castle show- so hilarious!! And I agree, there is nothing more special than Wishes (any version of it)!

I was super sad about the characters. I had to cling to my Country Bear experience! I knew X wasn't feeling awesome, and we hadn't been to the MK yet, and it was just so hard to resist those rides...someday I will meet Jack Skellington! Maybe if he comes out early at MNSSHP again this year. It was really the whole not-coming-out-until-7 thing that kind of ruined it for us, anyway.

The castle show was one of the best parts of the night. It was cute, and we just could not stop cracking up!

Wishes is my favorite...I know they'll probably replace it before long, and I just hope it's with something equally as awesome! (although that's going to be hard to do!)
 
I'm sorry you had some disappointment at MVMCP, but it also seems like you had lots of fun moments :) It's really changed since we last went in 2012! Not just the snacks ( we only had the not so good snickerdoodle cookies) but where Jack Sparrow meets, the shows, that's dance party?? I don't remember Peter meeting during the parties we went to and definitely not the Country Bears back then, how TOTALLY COOL is that?! But once again mom makes sure everyone else is happy first; it's a curse! Hopefully at MNSSHP you can get more character meets in, even though you'll be with MIL :scared1:
 
Great report. We have not gotten pictures before from various photopass shots and never had a problem getting them days or weeks later. If you call and have the day, approximate time and place they can find them. We did this many times. I would call.
 
The CMs working there were not in "show mode" at all. They were just chatting on and on about kind of inappropriate things, eye rolling, personal after hours activity (I'm trying to be subtle...emphasis on "personal" if you catch my drift) etc...

That is so unprofessional.

Some were good and some were not, but the sky was so pretty.

It was pretty!

I loved seeing the snowflakes projected onto the front of Pirates of the Caribbean!

Oh wow we didn't even go over to that side of the park!

I knew there was supposed to be a magic shot with Zero at the outside exit, so of course we stopped for the photopass photographer!

Or see this....

We were supposed to be looking surprised at him being there in the second one, but obviously we weren't looking in the right spot, LOL!

:rotfl:

L, on the other hand, thinks they're creepy looking.

I showed someone a picture of the country bears that had never seen them before, and they said that too.

So there you go, we've visited urgent care AND have been chased by a bear!

:laughing:

Are we out of the woods yet, are we out of the woods yet, are we out of the woods? Are we in the clear yet, are we in the clear yet?

Nope, not yet.

Same here. Josh wasn't feeling well all of MVMCP, and ended up leaving even earlier than me. (I still left early too). I wish I hadn't now, but my feet hurt and I didn't want to walk around alone the rest of the night.

This and Test Track are the only rides we've ever had trouble getting our pictures from. Test Track was just once,last summer, and we never ended up with them, so I feel like someone in the car with us must have done something to get the photo dumped. But for Buzz, we have issues almost every time :confused3

They found my lost EE picture last time. You just have to be as detailed as possible with date/time/what you were wearing in the pic, etc. Since we had other pictures and TR notes I was able to give them a 1-2 hour window, and a lot of detail and they found it fast.

On regular days, there's usually a photopass photographer here, but not tonight. My disappointment was growing! What was happening to our fun night??

I think there was on there when we went. Boo.

For some reason, this was hilarious to me and X. There was one reindeer in particular who was like, REAALLLYY into his dance number. I mean, he was just giving it his all, above and beyond the other reindeer. We were laughing so hard we were crying! L and DH just didn't get what we thought was so funny...I'm honestly not sure X and I knew why it was so funny either, but we just could not handle it. On top of that, the Clarabelle "All I Want For Christmas Is You" song was too much. The Clarabelle singing voice had us dying...and we would break into her song/voice frequently throughout the rest of the trip (and even after we came home...basically everyday we find a reason to sing it). I do not know how the performers were able to maintain their composure, but the woman singing with Clarabelle had a great voice and good for her for managing to not lose it during her parts of the song.

I did think the Clarabelle performance was pretty funny too :rotfl:
 


Loving your TR! DH has give the green light to book a bounce back offer so we're also going May '17!
 
Following along! Our first trip during Christmas ended with me being horribly ill from a stomach bug on travel home day. I wish I would have known about the Urgent Care clinic on property, because I'm sure they might have had something to help me get home on the plane without a bag :(

I'm glad to hear your kiddo sounds like a trooper though!
 
Why were we rushing??

Because unfortunately, X was feeling bad again. His stomach was pretty upset...I think it was because of the antibiotic. He needed to eat something, but his stomach hurt so he was afraid to. This led to him having some issues.

I also passed Peter Pan on the way, and was too surprised by it to stop and get a picture! He walked by and I said, "Oh! Peter Pan! Hi, Peter!" and he said hello cheerily and kept right on walking. He was blending in with the crowd and sort of messing with people along the way, tugging on a pigtail or tapping guests on the shoulder. He was moving pretty quickly.

OMG what is it about that area? My oldest got an upset stomach waiting in line for Mine Train and we did the same run through Frontierland...LOL
We also had the same experience with Peter Pan, he was walking around over by BOG and my kids kept chasing him around.
 


I'm sorry you had some disappointment at MVMCP, but it also seems like you had lots of fun moments :) It's really changed since we last went in 2012! Not just the snacks ( we only had the not so good snickerdoodle cookies) but where Jack Sparrow meets, the shows, that's dance party?? I don't remember Peter meeting during the parties we went to and definitely not the Country Bears back then, how TOTALLY COOL is that?! But once again mom makes sure everyone else is happy first; it's a curse! Hopefully at MNSSHP you can get more character meets in, even though you'll be with MIL :scared1:

We did have a lot of fun, even with the "mom curse"!

I guess I didn't realize the party had changed that much since then! Some of the locations were supposed to have cider or egg nog, and one in Fantasyland had blue sno-cones, but we never found any of that! It was all the snowman butter cookie things (which were good, but I'm OBSESSED with royal dansk butter cookies, and that's what they tasted like to me) except for the peppermint ones in Tomorrowland...I feel like somewhere was supposed to have molasses cookies. We only stopped at Tortuga Tavern and Lunching Pad, but we tried to go to the spot in Liberty Square, but we must have been too early because the door was closed and locked. No cookies for us there!

I loved that the Country Bears were out and about :lovestruc My love for them runs deep!

I do hope I can make more meet and greets in October!! (I'm also really looking forward to the parade and the Cadaver Dans.)

Great report. We have not gotten pictures before from various photopass shots and never had a problem getting them days or weeks later. If you call and have the day, approximate time and place they can find them. We did this many times. I would call.

We have too...for some reason I'm being lazy about it this time! I forget about it, and then when I remember I'm doing something else and don't have time. Vicious cycle!

That is so unprofessional.


Oh wow we didn't even go over to that side of the park!



Or see this....



:rotfl:



I showed someone a picture of the country bears that had never seen them before, and they said that too.



:laughing:



Same here. Josh wasn't feeling well all of MVMCP, and ended up leaving even earlier than me. (I still left early too). I wish I hadn't now, but my feet hurt and I didn't want to walk around alone the rest of the night.



They found my lost EE picture last time. You just have to be as detailed as possible with date/time/what you were wearing in the pic, etc. Since we had other pictures and TR notes I was able to give them a 1-2 hour window, and a lot of detail and they found it fast.


I did think the Clarabelle performance was pretty funny too :rotfl:

They were being really unprofessional...I think that's what bothered me more than anything. I don't usually get all up in arms when CMs drop the show a little bit, but this would have bugged me ANYWHERE, not just at WDW...I cut CMs a lot of slack because they work really hard and deal with morons all day, but if it bothers ME, it must be bad, LOL!!

Oh, Adventureland looked so cool during the party!! I was actually sad when we went over to the Tomorrowland area because it was all so much crowded there and Fantasyland. Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square were amazing...low lines and crowds for everything! Walking on to Big Thunder almost felt like we were doing something wrong...it was too easy!

Haha...that Zero picture where we're looking surprised about...well, not much really, reminds me of one we did on our last trip. Sven showed up in the magic shot and we were supposed to do the "shocked face" thing, and point, and we were pointing nowhere near where Sven was. It was hilarious, one of those so bad it's good kind of things.

I'm sorry Josh felt bad during the party! We have been lucky until this trip as far as everyone feeling ok, so I totally empathize. Being sick on a regular day is bad enough, but during vacation when you're supposed to be having fun?? Ugh!

I've had pictures found before, too, I've just been super lazy about these Buzz pictures. The Buzz ride gives us the most trouble with pictures...I even tapped my band at the end in an effort to try to get them...nope! We always look ridiculous in them anyway, so I think I'll just let them go!

Oh that Clarabelle...I mean, WHAT was that weird voice she was singing in?? I was dying!

Loving your TR! DH has give the green light to book a bounce back offer so we're also going May '17!

Thank you and HOORAYYYYY!! for a return visit in May!! I haven't been in May in a long time, and never this early in the month. If you've never seen Flower and Garden before, you are in for a treat. Epcot looks so amazing with all the added flowers!

Following along! Our first trip during Christmas ended with me being horribly ill from a stomach bug on travel home day. I wish I would have known about the Urgent Care clinic on property, because I'm sure they might have had something to help me get home on the plane without a bag :(

I'm glad to hear your kiddo sounds like a trooper though!

Oh no, that's awful! Especially since you were flying! We were really pleased with the urgent care place, and definitely would recommend it if anyone needed it on their trip. I hope it didn't stick around too long after you got home from that trip.

He was really trying to hang in there!

I'm glad you're here and following!!

OMG what is it about that area? My oldest got an upset stomach waiting in line for Mine Train and we did the same run through Frontierland...LOL
We also had the same experience with Peter Pan, he was walking around over by BOG and my kids kept chasing him around.

Oh no! It's the sick stomach area, I guess. Boo!! I hope your oldest felt better soon, and that it didn't cause an issue for the rest of the trip! It makes me feel so bad when the kids feel yucky during what's supposed to be such a fun time.

Peter Pan was so funny...He was bopping around all over the place and seemed to be having the time of his life, lol!
 
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Helllooooo Friends!!!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It was cold and windy here, like, temps in the teens. Today it's over 60. Saturday it's supposed to sleet.

Get your act together, Mother Nature.

Pick. A. Season.

We had fun around here. For Christmas, I got the kids the card game version of Oregon Trail. I'm sure some of you remember that visionary computer game, right?? The card game is fun and challenging...and yes, I did die of dysentery.

DH and I went furniture shopping on Sunday. We're getting ready to put new flooring in most of our downstairs, and I hate the sectional that we got when we bought the house almost three years ago, and I need a change. It's kind of a greige color (I hate that word, greige, but it fits perfectly to describe the color!) with a nailhead trim. It's going to look terrible on our carpet because it's so close to the same color, but I'm ready for the hulk of a sectional to get out of here. And the new stuff will be easier to move around while putting down the wood floor! It will be delivered Saturday...you know, during the sleet :sad2:

I'm really indecisive about large purchases. I mean, it took me over two years to pick curtains for our living room. And they're not even real curtains, they're technically tablecloths, but it was the only fabric I liked! With that information, you can probably guess that I've been going a little crazy with the "what if I've made a mistake" type of panic that has set in.

But forget about furniture, that's boring!! Let's finish up our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party night, shall we??


Chapter Four Part Four

I believe we ended the last part with me waxing poetic about the warm and fuzzies I get from Wishes, so that's where we'll pick up here!

Wishes had ended, and the plan was to make our way to Main Street and stake out a place for the second parade.

X's ear was bothering him again, so DH went ahead of us to go get some tylenol. The kids and I were going to hang out in our Wishes spot, but ultimately decided we'd go across the way and find a place to sit over by Casey's Corner. We sat on the wall thing by the garden area, kind of in between Casey's and Crystal Palace. That ended up being the perfect place, because DH had skipped going to find pain reliever at the Emporium, and had just gone to the first aid station!

One of us still had a bottle of water, so he took the pills and we were ready to find a parade spot.

We ended up here:



(Just a warning, my phone did NOT like taking pictures from here during the parade. The lighting and the phone did not make friends.)

Actually...I just lied. That's where we stopped first, and then we decided to move down more toward the center. I stepped out in the street to take a picture of all the snoap.



If you read my PTR, you'll appreciate this next shot...



Don't catch snoap flakes on your tongue!!!

I'm not sure if he caught any, but I will say we kept choking on it from breathing it in, or from it flying into our mouths while we were talking or laughing!

HERE is where we really stopped to watch the parade:



Those elves with the white balls are the Kringle Crew. They come out to warm up the crowd as we waitandwaitandwait for the parade to finally get to Main Street. They were fun, playing with the big beach ball things and throwing them to kids and people along the parade route. They also do a choreographed dance and pull guests up to dance with them.

We were at the back of a taped off area on the sidewalk. We had our very own lamppost to lean against, which was nice!

A balloon vendor was walking near us, so I had to get a balloon picture!



I don't know why I love the balloons, but I do! I kind of wanted to buy one this trip, just to have in our room while we were there. I should have done it, because I won't be able to have a balloon at Animal Kingdom Lodge in May :sad1: #FirstWorldProblems

Then I tried to get artsy, I guess??



I don't think I was actually trying to do anything other than take a picture of the wreath, really, but the castle peeking out is fun. I wish I'd been paying attention to what I was doing, because I probably could have got a really cool picture with the castle in the wreath or something!

Ok, it was time for the parade to begin!! The pictures are not great, remember, I warned you!!

First up was a large free roaming group of characters...but I guess I didn't pull any pics out of them. But next was the Big Boss Man himself, alongside his best gal Minnie:




It's only fitting that he is the one leading the parade!

Here are a few pics from the rest of it...I have about a million, but these are all I moved over to photobucket I guess:





Blurry Clarabelle, because I was still riding high on Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration...









(I have a better one of Snow, I don't know why I picked this one for the report??)





I was going through my iPhotos to make sure I put things in the right order, and I picked really terrible parade pictures for the report. I don't know what I was thinking. I have more that are much better...maybe I was rushing the day I pulled them out??

At any rate, we thought the parade was really cute! I was very happy I made the executive decision to watch from Main Street. It made it more special somehow!

After the parade, we went inside the Emporium for a minute as the crowds headed for the exit, and then popped back out for some photopass pictures!








I'm sad I have a snowflake shadow by my mouth in this one...I need to edit it, because it's cute otherwise, I think!



After the photopass stop we decided we were starving, and we joined the line at Casey's Corner. The kids went and grabbed a table while DH and I ordered. I have no pictures, but X had a chili dog, L had a plain hotdog and fries, and DH and I both had the bbq pulled pork slaw dog with no side. It is not something I would ordinarily order, but I tried DH's on our last trip and became obsessed. I had to have one of my own this time!! Maybe it was because it was almost midnight, and I hadn't eaten real food in about 6 or 7 hours, but it might have been the most satisfying meal of my life. I can still remember how hungry I was, LOL!!


The kids were ready for bed, and it was midnight now, so we headed for the front of the park...





Goodnight, Magic Kingdom. You throw a heck of a party.

I'll try to get another update posted in the morning...where would we go after such a fun night?? I'll tell you soon! Have a good evening, Friends!










 
I love all your Main Street photos!

I don't know what it is, but I find this parade super hard to photograph well!

Love the PP pictures with the snow falling down! The one of you and DH is adorable!
 
I love the photopass pics of the whole family after the parade. All the snoap falling and the tree in the background really makes it perfect.

We enjoyed Caseys so much that we went twice. I got the BBQ slaw dog the first time and it was very good but I liked the chili cheese dog better. DH is already planning on hitting up Caseys on our next trip.

Sounds like you guys were able to make the most out of your party night even if it didn't go as you originally planned.
 
You guys had a good location for the parade! That was my favorite part of MVMCP and my favorite part of the parade was the soldiers marching :goodvibes I like the mistletoe picture, Steve and I got one of those, too ;)
Our weather has been similar to yours and it's driving me crazy! Snow over the weekend but not much; Mon. and Tues. it didn't go above 19 degrees during the day, last night all after school activities were cancelled because we were supposed to get sleet/freezing rain-hardly got any. Today it was 53 and tomorrow is supposed to be 60!! I love the snow, the boys love snow days, and on top of that these drastic changes in temp from day to day make everyone sick :sick:
 
We got back to the resort, and I took the kids upstairs while DH went to the front desk to ask about our urgent care options. The front desk lady wasn't very helpful...she kept saying, "I can call 911, do you need an ambulance? I can call 911!" M was like, no...it's not that serious, LOL! She finally handed him a brochure for CentraCare, and he came back to the room.

This totally made me laugh because we stayed at BWI in November and my husband needed medical attention and the front desk lady gave him two brochures for urgent care (both of which were closed because it was after 10 p.m.) and half-heartedly said, "I could call an ambulance? Do you need an ambulance?" And it was serious, but husband and she were not communicating well, so my husband took three steps away from the desk and called 911 himself!

I'm enjoying your report! We also did Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam and MVMCP--I loved them both. I thought the Disney Christmas decorations were amazing!
 
(Just a warning, my phone did NOT like taking pictures from here during the parade. The lighting and the phone did not make friends.)

My phone and the lighting didn't make friends either.

I'm sad I have a snowflake shadow by my mouth in this one...I need to edit it, because it's cute otherwise, I think!

It is cute!
 
Ok, I'm way behind, but a few comments while I catch up:

Since I had never been to this resort before, and had only saw it in pictures, I kind of expected to be wow-ed immediately upon entry through the doors...but no, it's tricky like the Magic Kingdom! You have to walk forward a bit before the grandeur and INSANE BEAUTY AND MAGICAL GLORIOUSNESS slams into your face!!

The lobby of AKL! Oh my goodness beauteous! So glad you all enjoyed it, especially with the gorgeous Christmas tree! Already looking forward to hearing about your May AKL trip.

The plan was to walk over to Kidani...I didn't realize how far away it was! If you're ever in this situation, TAKE THE SHUTTLE!! It was a long, hot walk!

We found the walk to Kidani long-ish too. It was fine on a mild day when we were in no rush (solid 10+ mins), but when we attempted it on a warmer day when I was low on sleep I did NOT enjoy it.

it's a little card that says, "Stay on your feet, it's not a seat" or something...Oops! But I loved the validation for my always telling him to get down from the rails! L was sad...he wanted a Disney ticket, too, LOL!! He kept climbing up on rails during the rest of the trip, trying to get one. I kept ruining his plans and made him GET DOWN!!

I'm quickly falling in love with your boys. I totally would have been that kid at his age and done what L did!
 
Ok, I got myself caught up over lunch! So sad to hear that X was so sick, but great you got to the doctor and they make it so convenient. Hope he starts feeling better soon. I've been sick in WDW a couple of times, the worst one being the Christmas I started having symptoms of my brain condition, and I spent half the vacation like a sad little bump on a log. Not fun for X! Your party seemed like a lot of fun though. I feel you on the character meet issue. I'd wanted more character time at our party too, but the lines were long and I didn't want to waste the boyfriend's time at his first party. Maybe next time!
 
I love all your Main Street photos!

I don't know what it is, but I find this parade super hard to photograph well!

Love the PP pictures with the snow falling down! The one of you and DH is adorable!

Main Street just looked so beautiful with the snow falling :lovestruc

I was sad the parade pictures didn't come out that well. Maybe if someone were taking pictures from the flagpole area it might be better?? The lights they shine onto the floats were just causing all kinds of problems for me!

The snowy pp pictures ended up being some of my favorites!

I love the photopass pics of the whole family after the parade. All the snoap falling and the tree in the background really makes it perfect.

We enjoyed Caseys so much that we went twice. I got the BBQ slaw dog the first time and it was very good but I liked the chili cheese dog better. DH is already planning on hitting up Caseys on our next trip.

Sounds like you guys were able to make the most out of your party night even if it didn't go as you originally planned.

I could not get enough of the snow or the tree!! It made everything seem so magical!

Casey's is a favorite! I don't know if they just pump those hotdogs so full of salt or what, but they're delicious, LOL!! X never gives me a bit of his chili cheese dog :( I have dipped a fry in quickly before, and it is good...I'm just super fixated on the bbq ones.

We did have a good party night, even without the character meets. We got to do the main party stuff, and we had fun, so I was happy with it!

You guys had a good location for the parade! That was my favorite part of MVMCP and my favorite part of the parade was the soldiers marching :goodvibes I like the mistletoe picture, Steve and I got one of those, too ;)
Our weather has been similar to yours and it's driving me crazy! Snow over the weekend but not much; Mon. and Tues. it didn't go above 19 degrees during the day, last night all after school activities were cancelled because we were supposed to get sleet/freezing rain-hardly got any. Today it was 53 and tomorrow is supposed to be 60!! I love the snow, the boys love snow days, and on top of that these drastic changes in temp from day to day make everyone sick :sick:

I was really happy with the parade spot! It did clear out after Wishes, even though it was still more crowded that I thought it would be. Party crowds are my kind of crowds, though! If only every day was as crowded as a party night!

The mistletoe picture is cute! It will make another appearance or two in the report...every photographer wanted to do that one, I think!

Ugh, I'm sorry you're dealing with the yoyo weather too! It's such a pain. It makes me lazy. Yesterday was almost 70, and the wind was over 40mph. My lawn furniture was blown all over the yard, even the heavy stuff, and it was trash day so I had to go chase the trash and recycling cans down our street. Today we're back in the 30s...You're right, we're all going to be sick! I like to pretend my EmergenC stuff helps, but I don't know if it really does or not.

We missed out on all the snow...my kids really want a snow day, but I told them not to get their hopes up! I hope the ice that's supposed to come here stays north of us.

This totally made me laugh because we stayed at BWI in November and my husband needed medical attention and the front desk lady gave him two brochures for urgent care (both of which were closed because it was after 10 p.m.) and half-heartedly said, "I could call an ambulance? Do you need an ambulance?" And it was serious, but husband and she were not communicating well, so my husband took three steps away from the desk and called 911 himself!

I'm enjoying your report! We also did Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam and MVMCP--I loved them both. I thought the Disney Christmas decorations were amazing!

Oh, I'm so sorry your husband had to get an ambulance on your November trip!! I hope everything worked out ok!

I wonder if they're required to ask about the ambulance or something? Or maybe we just got the same lady!

I'm glad you're enjoying it! It's fun for me to relive it...it's weird how something still so recent seems like it was a lifetime ago.

The decorations were so pretty! I've seen pictures for years, but to see everything lit up and decorated in person was one of my favorite Disney experiences.

My phone and the lighting didn't make friends either.


It is cute!

That was the one good thing about the electric parade and paint the night in Disneyland...the floats being illuminated made a big difference in pictures.

And thank you! I thought the mistletoe was fun!

Ok, I'm way behind, but a few comments while I catch up:


The lobby of AKL! Oh my goodness beauteous! So glad you all enjoyed it, especially with the gorgeous Christmas tree! Already looking forward to hearing about your May AKL trip.


We found the walk to Kidani long-ish too. It was fine on a mild day when we were in no rush (solid 10+ mins), but when we attempted it on a warmer day when I was low on sleep I did NOT enjoy it.


I'm quickly falling in love with your boys. I totally would have been that kid at his age and done what L did!

Ok, I got myself caught up over lunch! So sad to hear that X was so sick, but great you got to the doctor and they make it so convenient. Hope he starts feeling better soon. I've been sick in WDW a couple of times, the worst one being the Christmas I started having symptoms of my brain condition, and I spent half the vacation like a sad little bump on a log. Not fun for X! Your party seemed like a lot of fun though. I feel you on the character meet issue. I'd wanted more character time at our party too, but the lines were long and I didn't want to waste the boyfriend's time at his first party. Maybe next time!

I'm behind on the ones I'm reading, too! I need to go catch up on everything.

AKL was sooo pretty! I'm so excited to stay there (even without the tree :sad:). I will definitely write about it! The trip report might be good therapy, depending on how my MIL is during the trip, LOL.

Haha! L was really sad about not getting his own ticket. They're good boys, and I hope that continues as they get older. X gets into the angsty teen thing a little bit, but not as much as he could. I'm grateful for that! We have a lot of fun.

Oh, I'm sorry you know what it's like to be sick at WDW! I'm sure it's hard to manage your condition while on vacation. I'm glad your most recent trip didn't end up like that!!

I wish the character lines weren't so long...that part about the party really frustrated me. I felt the same way about wasting time. If I'm not eating, I don't want to spend an hour (or more!) just standing around accomplishing nothing.
 
Did you know it was only Thursday??

I woke up this morning convinced it was Friday. That's not a fun mistake. Still not quite sure how I managed to get so mixed up :sad2:

I should be cleaning house but I'm taking a break...I started watching Game of Thrones. No, I'm not that far behind on pop culture. I read the books (which are WAAYYY outside of my usual genre) a few years ago and became obsessed with them. When I watched the show when it first came out I was so disappointed. But, I'm trying again. It's been so long since I've finished the books and I'm hoping that helps me separate the two so I can enjoy it. I'm not a prude, but the sex seems much more gratuitous in the show than the books, which bothers me, and the character casting makes me sympathetic to characters I 100% loathe in the books. I'm so conflicted.

So let's travel to a magical land that is NOT Westeros or the Iron Islands...to a beautiful place called Epcot.

Chapter Five: Around the World in...less than 80 days

The chapter title is lame. I know. Don't judge.

I didn't make everyone get up early on our post-MVMCP day. I think I woke up around 8 or so? It was another warm day, and even though the clouds were hanging around in the morning, the sky eventually turned blue.

I started the day with a look out over the Boardwalk...



You're probably thinking, "Why did she share this picture? It's nothing special."

It's a funny story...or maybe you just had to be there? On our Magical Express ride from the airport to the resort, we had a fun bus driver who was doing Disney trivia (which I crushed, by the way), and he mentioned that Disney had released a number of birds like hawks and owls to manage the seagull problem on property. It was funny because I had never seen so many seagulls on any other visit than this one! They were EVERYWHERE.

So, I shared that picture because when I looked outside that morning, there were seagulls all over the place, I think I see at least 4 just in that one shot. The boys and I counted seagulls all trip long.

I guess you had to be there after all, LOL!

Eventually we were all up and around and starting to get hungry, so we headed out to begin our day at Epcot.

I noticed a bridal party out having photos taken, so I had to be a creeper and take a picture of the bride and groom:



I swear there was a wedding every day we were there. I'd always see them on the list of events posted on the little board they had in the lobby.



Before long, we were through the International Gateway and I got my first look at Epcot of the trip!







The gray of morning was giving way to a beautiful blue, and I was excited to see the holiday decorations around the World Showcase. This was one of my most anticipated parts of the trip!





I was so in love with these peppermint decorations for some reason.

As I mentioned, we were hungry, and the original plan was to eat in France...but of course I had to have a look around first. My poor family, starving to death because of me.









The World Showcase had just opened, and it was nice to see it with so few people milling around!

We made our way to Les Halles, but I got distracted by this snowflake



but eventually we got there



So what did we eat???



I know what you're thinking. That is NOT French food! And you'd be right!

We weren't in France anymore



After looking in the cases and over the menu at Les Halles, it became clear that we were only interested in desserts there, and we needed something more substantial, so we kept moving to Morocco.

The food picture was my chicken shwarma platter from Tangierine Cafe. It's somewhere I've been wanting to eat for a long time, but we've always ended up elsewhere in the past, or we've just not been hungry when we've passed through.

DH had the combo shwarma that included both lamb and chicken



and both boys had nuggets and applesauce



This was a favorite meal for me! Everything on my plate was delicious. The kids' nuggets were like McDonalds nuggets deep fried, and they were really good! Don't gag, I'm being serious! They were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and the texture was good and not mushy.

If you're on the fence about trying this food for any reason, hop off! It's delicious. I absolutely recommend the chicken shwarma.

Our day was just getting started...what would we do?? I'll come back to tell you soon!

Only one more day 'til Friday, Friends!
 
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I have always wanted to try Tangerine but it doesn't interest husband. I may just have to do it on my own next time.
 
The World Showcase decorations are so pretty!! Your meal looks yum, I'm glad you finally got to try Tangierine Cafe!
 

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