Day 3- Birthday @ Epcot
Im back! We were out of town for a few days and then we got back, dh decided to pull his back out. Hes been in bed for the last couple of days and Im just now getting caught up. Anyways, here goes
We woke up Monday morning to Goofy wishing ds1 a Happy Birthday!!!! Thats right, ds1 is 7 today! We were up and at em early this morning, dressed and went to catch the bus to Epcot. It was an empty bus, with only one other family on it with us. I took this as a good sign! It was their last day and they said that every day they had been at Epcot there had been relatively light crowds. Woo hoo. I felt sorry for them as this was there last day and you could tell by the looks on the kids faces. I wasnt looking forward to that day with our boys, but I tried not to think about it! We arrived just as Epcot opened. I grabbed a bd button from guest services for ds, who got yet another call from Goofy, and we hopped right onto SE. There was no wait! Everyone loved this ride even ds3. Its kind of long, so I wondered if it would keep his attention, but sure enough it did. DS2 still think we were actually in space at the end of the ride! We decided to go against the crowd, everyone was headed for Soarin and TT was closed, and went straight to Journey into imagination with Figment. We walked right on! We were the only family in the tram and the one ahead of us was empty! It was fun and enjoyed by all. I think its definitely geared for the 3-5 age group as ds2 really liked it! We didnt spend too much time in the Image works lab because it was time for the first showing of hista! Everyone wore their glasses except for ds3 who watched without. He continued to amaze me by sitting still and enjoying the ride. We all jumped at the snake and I had forgotten about the seats moving! We all loved it and it turned out to be one of dh favorites of the whole trip! We hadnt eaten breakfast, so we decided to head over to the WS, after stopping for a few pics in front of the big ball, none of which turned out good,
to get an early lunch. I didnt have ADRs for lunch, as I just wanted to grab CS. Dh had it in his head to eat in Mexico at a sit down place, so we put our name in and then went to ride El Rio Del Tempo. Yep
.. same as I remember it when I was 5. Funny its one of the only things I remember about that trip. I also found the exact same tambourine that I got when I was a kid. I still have it as a matter of fact. After riding, we looked at the gift shop, and tried on a few sombreros!
I got a T-shirt and had it sent to our room. Then it was time to eat. We were seated right by the water and it really was pretty, although I kept thinking that we were missing precious touring time. It is the whole families vacation though, so I had to make a small sacrifice for dh. I cant remember what we ate, but I do remember that it wasnt that good. I also remember that we were charged for the smoothies, when at Boma the night before we werent. They wouldnt count it as a dessert either which I thought was strange. Note: The dining plan is GREAT, but it takes a bit to really understand what is included and whats not. By the end of the trip we were pros and hopefully well be wiser next time. They also didnt have chesse dip! What? No CHEESE DIP????? Isnt that un American er
unmexican or something???? My kids love cheese dip and were disappointed. On a positive note, they did make a big deal about ds1 bday. They brought him a free dessert, sang and made him a little hat out of a napkin. Hes kind of shy, but he enjoyed the attention, I think. With full tummies and feet WELL rested, too well rested if you ask me, but thats besides the point. Im at DW and its against the law to be annoyed with your husband, right? Anyways, we decide to tour the rest of the WS. We get the masks for the kids and have them stamped and then are on our way to Norway. We rode Maelstrom. The cm noticed it was ds bday and said that we got our very own boat just because it was his bday. You shouldve seen him smile! Got off the boat and went right outside. Does anyone stay for the movie after? I felt kind of rude. The kids got their masks stamped and next up was China and Germany. Somewhere alon the lines we met up with Belle, Snow White and Sleeping beauty.
I c
I cant remember in what order. They had no lines and we got some really great Pics! Dh has decided his mission is to get his picture taken with all the princesses. Hes only lacking a few which gives me great leverage to go back again next year. In fact
.. just last week I told him that he didnt get his picture taken with Ariel. Darn shame. I guess well have to go back next year so we can fulfill that fantasy. LOL. We then stopped in Italy where the kids got their stamps and looked at the gift shop. I may note that everyone we ran into wished my ds a happy birthday. In fact, dh commented that more people wished ds a happy birthday this day then had my husband in his whole lifetime! Pretty Special. What happened next was magical and something we wont ever forget. When we came out of the Italy pavilion, Sergio was performing. He is a mime/street performer. We had been standing for just a few minutes when ds1 (the bday boy) was picked to be his assistant. Its kind of confusing since he doesnt talk, he just blows a whistle! He was a star! By this time a pretty large crowd had gathered around. Ds1 had to stand a distance away from him and catch a tennis ball in the net. He did pretty good until he enlisted the help of your truly. I have absolutely NO hand eye coordination. I mean, I suck royally!. Of course I missed completely. I wasnt even close. Dh had to be the big macho man and show me up. He helped ds catch it from very far away. He continued to assist him up until his show ended. It was so cool and definitely made ds bday a special day to remember.
After it was over we stopped to get some popcorn and waters with our snack credits. It was HOT that day. An older man came up and gave ds1 a $1.00. He said that he was just so good helping Serrgio that he had to give him a tip! He was so excited! I wasnt sure how the AA would go over with the little ones, but dh wanted to see it. We decided to go for it and got there right before the show was going to start. We got some good seats and ds2 fell right asleep and slept through the whole thing, while ds3 sat in my lap and was entertained. It was a good rest for all of our feet! After that we toured the rest of the WS not stopping for any of the shows, just to get the boys masks stamped. At the end of it, they got a little prize since we had managed to tour all the countries. After that, we headed back towards FW. We headed for Soarin which actually was posting a fairly short wait. I told dh to take the boys on that while I took ds3 for a stroll and to watch the fountains. I stopped and bough each boy some mickey ears
and looked at all the pins. I would have loved to have gotten the boys started on pin trading, but I think theyre still a bit young to really get into it, so well have that to look forward to on the next trip. Dh called me when they were finished riding, reporting that it was AWESOME, and we met up again to catch the monorail for our bday dinner at Chef Mickeys!
Up next: A monorail ride, Dinner at Chef Mickeys and Illuminations
Your trip report is awesome and I love the pics. I'll be waiting for the rest. 
I was told that we should have been seated and that hed see to it that were were seated ASAP. 10-15 minutes later we still were not seated. I went up again to ask what the problem was and was told this time that if youre not seated within 10 minutes, someone is going home tonight. I was beginning to think that it would be us going home. My kids were not going to be able to hold out much longer. We were all famished. It had been a long time since flame tree at AK early in the day. Dh was getting annoyed. A few more minutes passed and a hostess was seating us
or at least trying to. We got taken to a table that already had people sitting at it! She brought us back to the hostess station where she had an argument with the boy who was making table assignments and had not a clue what he was doing! Here we go again
this time she finds a table and were seated. Not two minutes after someone comes by with a tray full of wine glasses and drops them right next to our table. Shattered glass everywhere! 
Sigh. This is not looking good for us. Our waitress was very nice though, and after finding out that were on the dining plan proceeded to tell us that the smoothies there are included on the plan. Woo hoo. Its rather confusing because we tried to get smoothies elsewhere in the world on that trip and they were most definitely NOT included. Anyways, unfortunately the smoothies were pretty much the highlight of the meal for us. Im not sure if its just that we as a family are not very adventurous eaters or if our whole experience prior to eating kind of put a damper on it or what. It was probably a combination of both. We just werent that impressed. Sorry. 
I had high hopes and had heard such great things, but it wasnt for us. The desserts were good. I thought the service was lacking and a lot of the food was cold. I kind of felt bad wasting one of our precious TS meals on it. It sucks to wait that long and be disappointed. Oh well. It may have been an off night, as I certainly seem to be in the minority as far as Boma is concerned. Hey, I tried it, but Ill be going somewhere else next time. By the time we left Boma it was close to 9. We had a BIG day ahead of us tomorrow. We got the kids in their jimmies and I put them in bed while dh went down to the hot tub. When he came back up, I went down to the hot tub for a little while. It was grand. There wasnt anyone in it. Ah
so relaxing. 
We need one of these at home! Dh and I watched the animals again from the balcony, (this is becoming a nightly ritual) we snacked on some crackers and smoothies (we got 2 to go from Boma) and settled into bed. Tomorrow. our oldest turns 7. I cant believe it! He is growing so fast. Im hoping for a magical birthday for him. I can guarantee that 7 years ago that night wasnt near as enjoyable as being at the world. I was in labor, after all. LOL.
! Thanks for sharing
