FINISHED! 7/2 The magic (and not-so-magic) memories Jan29-Feb4 Disney/Universal

[Moodyzblu]

My boys LOVE the Figment ride !! Then you get that song stuck in your head.
They also love the area after the ride .. we spend an hour in there easy.

LOVE to eat at Sunshine Seasons .. the pork chop is my favorite.

 

[sarahcor]

I checked in at The Garden Grill and had just enough time to change Westin’s diaper and then our pager went off. We were seated and our first visitor came along:

I wasn’t sure how Westin would react, he loved them. He really wanted to eat all their noses. Kind of gross, hopefully they sanitize during breaks.

The food here is served family style. There was unlimited beef, turkey, fish, vegetables, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad and rolls. Mia also got a kids meal with chicken, mac and cheese and sweet potato fries. The fries were a big hit with everyone. Bridget, Rob and Grace were able to eat all of the food except the rolls.

For dessert we had an apple crisp with ice cream and for Mia it was a red cake decorated like a ladybug. For the wheat free they had the gluten free cookie and brownie warmed up and topped with ice cream. I was stuffed by this point but managed to make room for the crisp part of the dessert. It was pretty good but when I make apple crisp I like to put peanut butter in mine.
Our server was very nice but very talkative. I think we had almost 4 rotations in the restaurant before we were done. The characters were great and we all enjoyed our meals.

 

[sarahcor]

We had test track fastpasses from earlier so I sat out with Westin and our bags while everyone else rode. We did the baby swap and Grace, Rob and Westin sat out on the next ride.

Westin was fast asleep at this point so we ended the night with a nice, slow ride on Spaceship Earth

 

[sarahcor]

I knew it would be Figment! I love that this is her favorite. And how awesome that she got picked by Crush, too.

Sounds fun so far. I'm in!

Thanks, hope you enjoy!

My boys LOVE the Figment ride !! Then you get that song stuck in your head.
They also love the area after the ride .. we spend an hour in there easy.

LOVE to eat at Sunshine Seasons .. the pork chop is my favorite.

I like to listen for the Figment song played on the bus when we are pulling up to Epcot, can't wait for next trip when Westin will be able to play on the lighted floor.

 

[nickymaria]

Great TR! What gorgeous family & friends! Can't wait to read more...

 

[KatMark]

Love the review of Garden Grill. Just showed DH the pictures and he wants to go back.

Glad you could do the baby swap and all ride on Test Track.

 

[sarahcor]

Great TR! What gorgeous family & friends! Can't wait to read more...

Thanks so much! I should have another update this weekend.

 

[sarahcor]

Love the review of Garden Grill. Just showed DH the pictures and he wants to go back.

Glad you could do the baby swap and all ride on Test Track.

The baby swap worked great for us. Just saw your trip report link, I'll have to check it out.

 

[sarahcor]

The next morning was our second day at Epcot but our first full day. I tried to be at the bus stop by 8:30 each morning, the kids are ready to go:

We had never done the character meet at Epcot with the Fab 5 so that was our first goal for this morning:

My mom made a Minnie Mouse dress for Mia to wear and Mickey liked it a lot.

Rob’s favorite thing was meeting the characters.

Minnie was also very impressed with Mia’s dress:

Goofy gave Mia a twirl before she got a big hug, he also like the dress:

After the meet and greet Mia, Bridget and I did Mission Space – weenie side. Someday I may be brave enough to try the other side.

Paul had a cinnamon-sugar pretzel while waiting for us to get off the ride, he really liked it. Mia had a Mickey ice cream bar and shared with Westin.

We hadn’t gotten to Kim Possible the day before and really wanted to try it so we headed to World Showcase in search of a mission.

 

[allisonmayi]

well what a BEAUTIFUL family...I may be a bit partial though
Sister, im ready for Disney whenever you are

 

[sarahcor]

well what a BEAUTIFUL family...I may be a bit partial though
Sister, im ready for Disney whenever you are

Hi Sister, can't wait to get you to Disney!

 

[sarahcor]

On our way to Kim Possible we ran into Duffy, Westin was sleeping so Mia was the only one to meet him:

Since Westin was sleeping Paul sat out with him while the rest of us went to Mexico to ride with Donald. I left the camera in the stroller so I don’t have pictures of this ride. We continued around to Germany to try out Karamell-Küche. Mia and I split a caramel filled chocolate cookie, it was moist and delicious:

We checked in to the KimPossible area and were sent to Japan

Mia and Rob were sharing the phone, we should have gotten two phones. It was too hard for all of us to crowd around one phone. We got distracted by Miyuki and saw her make a giraffe.

Bridget, Grace and Rob met Jasmine and Eric but Westin had woken up and he was hungry now. Today we had a late lunch at LeCellier so Paul and I pulled off to the side in Morocco to feed him his delicious baby food. Next we saw Belle and Beast but the line was way long so we didn’t wait to meet them.
Paul was waiting to see the France performers so we all took a bench and sat for a while. Mia got picked to sit in one of their chairs which made her day.

We saw Marie with a short wait and this is when my camera card became full. I have few pictures from Bridget that I may scan in if I can figure out how that works.

We saw Alice on our way to LeCellier so I erased one picture to get one of Westin meeting Alice:

Lunch was great, I love the filet and risotto. Dessert was the whiskey chocolate cake, I didn’t enjoy this as much as the last time. It was not the same cake as last visit. Overall everyone loved their meals, the chef came out to talk to Grace, Bridget and Rob about their gluten allergy. I changed Westin in this bathroom and discovered when we got back to the hotel that I had forgotten the diaper wipes traveling container at the bathroom. Leaving lunch totally stuffed, we headed out for a break before coming back later that night for Illuminations.

 

[ortholablady]

Looks like fun so far! I was there the exact same dates as you. Wonder if we ever crossed paths? I started my first TR also. I haven't gotten too far yet but hope to do another update today.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Awesome pics and update ! Love Mia's dress.

 

[sarahcor]

Looks like fun so far! I was there the exact same dates as you. Wonder if we ever crossed paths? I started my first TR also. I haven't gotten too far yet but hope to do another update today.

I'll have to check out your report. I wish I had done one sooner, it keeps the magic going once I'm home and missing Disney.

Awesome pics and update ! Love Mia's dress.

Thanks, she really felt special in her dress. I see your trip will be coming soon, have a great time!

 

[sarahcor]

We arrived back at Epcot with plans to do Test Track again with our fastpasses from earlier, but never made it.

I had to make another stop at the caramel shop for more goodies. Mia got another cookie and I got a shortbread cookie.

We found a nice spot in front of Italy and waited for the show to begin. I love the grand marnier slush from France so I set off for my drink of the trip. Paul came with me and he got a beer at the American stand.

While we waited we talked with a cast member who was guarding the handicap seating area where Rob sat. The cast member was very nice and was telling us all kinds of stuff like there are going to be two new countries added to the showcase, that Epcot almost closed a few years ago until some company stepped in to save it and how he hopes to be the operating manager of Epcot someday. I don’t know how factual his information was, but it helped to pass the time.
Mia was tired and actually fell asleep on the sidewalk.

I put our backpack down a little later and she used it as a pillow.

I wasn’t having much luck with fireworks pictures so I put the camera away and enjoyed the show. Tomorrow was our day at Hollywood Studios.

 

[sarahcor]

posted twice

 

[sarahcor]

Hollywood Studios, how I love to hate you. On our past trips this has been Paul’s least favorite park and today would be no different. I rank HS as my third favorite park but I really enjoy the old-time movie feel of the “main street”. Our major blow up of a past trip happened here. We had eaten at Pizza Planet and we all had a cup of pop, soda, whatever. Paul had regular coke and Mia and I had diet. I thought he wouldn’t notice that I poured them all into one cup, but he did. You would have thought I did the worst thing ever. He actually left the park and Mia, my mom and I continued on our happy way. I think that Disney 24/7 gets to be a bit much for him.
Anyways, we showed up to the entrance about 15 minutes until 9:00. I had read that they quit the opening show and it was true. I actually prefer entering the park through the turnstiles and dispersing a few people at a time rather than a giant mass of people speed walking to Toy Story.
We started the day at Toy Story, Westin had fallen asleep so I didn’t get to focus as much as I would have liked, but I still did ok.

We headed off next to Tower of Terror, well Bridget, Mia and myself. Paul was getting fastpasses for Rock n Roller Coaster. Bridget is a dance teacher and her students were betting that she would not ride TOT.

13 minute wait time, scary!

I love the line for TOT, here are some lobby pics:

I tried to get a picture as we dropping/raising but it didn’t turn out.

We lived to ride on!
We met up with Paul and Westin, I think Paul had a breakfast sandwich while waiting for us. He couldn’t get fastpasses because we had already gotten some for Toy Story. I think they changed the FP distribution. I remember being able to get a FP as long as it wasn’t for the same frame of time as a FP you already had. Well now it doesn’t matter if you have a FP for say 10:00-11:00 and you are trying to get a FP for 11:30-12:30, it says on the first FP what time you are eligible for your next FP. Boo! I hear they are changing FP soon and won’t let you come back after your time anymore either. That will be ok because I do feel like a cheater when I use an expired FP, no cheating in Disney!
We saw a little piggy on our way to the great movie ride.

Paul hates The Great Movie ride and Mia is scared of the Predator part so they sat out while the rest of us rode. We stopped for a bathroom break and according to the itinerary up next was lunch. It didn’t play out like that…our plans changed and we had a major blow up instead.

 

[sarahcor]

So, instead of heading to Pizza Planet for lunch as planned, Bridget and family were dying to use the special front of the line passes they had received on the first day for the room inconvenience. They decided we should ride Star Tours.
Paul flipped out, he was hungry and not at all interested in doing Star Tours. I tried to calm him down, we would do Star Tours with the passes and then eat. Not good enough, he threw the park tickets/room keys down to the ground. He started to walk away but turned around and picked up his ticket and gave me the others. He had Westin in the stroller and said he had enough of this, don’t bother me, I’m gone and he took off toward the exit with Westin. He also had a few not very nice words to say, people were staring, it was the low point of the trip for sure.
I knew that our traveling party was starting to get to him. Being with family for a week straight is hard enough but adding a new group of people to be with all day long was too much to handle. They wanted to do and see everything, they might never be back again. Paul wanted to tour more relaxed, he knows he’ll be back again and wanted to take it slow. I was trying to make everyone happy and it backfired.
I decided we would ignore Paul and started towards Star Tours but the more we walked the worse I felt. I’m in my most favorite place anywhere and I felt like garbage. I started to cry behind my sunglasses and turned to Mia. “Do you want to come back with me or stay with Bridget?” of course, she chooses to stay at the park and I set off to see if I could catch Paul and Westin. During the time I was exiting Paul turned around and went back to find us, only to find that I had left to get him. I got to the Pop bus stop and it was empty. I sat on the bench and cried some more, I’ve ruined everybody’s vacation. After a few minutes I see Paul running down the sidewalk with Westin in the stroller. He explained that he needed some space and time away from everybody. I apologized and so did he. He knew he looked like a big, donkey, we’ll say. He wanted to go back in and apologize to Bridget/fam too. We met back up with them after they saw Indiana Jones. After all this craziness they didn’t even do Star Tours, Rob doesn’t like simulators and they didn’t realize that was what Star Tours was. AHH!!
Paul apologized but Bridget and Grace were acting odd, which then made him annoyed. We decided to eat lunch together and then split up. We needed some family alone time with just the four of us. Paul finally got his Pizza Planet, all was well with the world. After lunch we wanted to meet some characters. The line was too long for Phineas and Ferb so I snapped a paparazzi photo as we walked by.

Westin met Lighting McQueen and Mater

Mia sang in the rain

We finally met Mike and Sully. This is favorite movie of ours and both Mia and I had on our Monster shirts. The photographer and handler mentioned our shirts and Mike noticed Mia’s shirt too.

We headed back to the hotel for a little relaxation but Westin didn’t feel like relaxing.

Paul took the kids swimming, I was in for a few minutes but it was too cold for me.

With Westin not wanting to nap we decided to head back to the park until our dinner reservation at Kona. Bridget lived her dream of being a professional dancer for a song during the High Musical song show that was being performed.

We decided to hit up Rock n Roller coaster before leaving for dinner. It was a rockin ride and Bridget actually liked it, she thought she’d be too scared to enjoy it.

Dinner at Kona was great, unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. Westin was sleeping almost the entire time so I didn’t have any available hands for the camera. The chocolate volcano desert was a favorite of Bridget/family, it is made with rice flour so they were able to have it. She said it was the best desert she has had since discovering her gluten allergy nearly ten years ago. We all had steak with sticky rice or mashed potatoes. Of course I ate too much of the delicious bread with the macadamia butter, that could be a meal by itself. Go Kona!
So, we caught the monorail to Magic Kingdom and waited for the bus. We probably should have rode the monorail to Epcot because Wishes had just finished so there was a large crowd waiting for the bus. We got on one bus and Bridget/family were on another because they load first with the Rob in the wheelchair.

After a long, mentally challenging day I was glad to turn in for the night. Magic Kingdom was our destination for the next day. Being at Disney for three days and not yet seeing the castle was not our normal routine, I was extra excited to see it tomorrow!

 

[sarahcor]

We started the next day with some breakfast from the pop food court. Paul got me a cheese Danish and it was delicious until I got half way through, all of a sudden I felt nauseous. I sat for a while and started to feel better so we headed to the bus stop. Despite my nausea we made it for the opening show.

Somebody’s coming around the bend.

With Epcot and Hollywood Studios not having their morning opening show I was glad that Magic Kingdom still had theirs.
One of our favorite family movies to watch is Princess and the Frog, I was so excited to see Tiana on Main Street . I turned into a stalker and got an action shot of her.

We then saw Jasmine and Aladdin ahead but they were going too fast for us to catch them.

The castle! Of course I had a tear in my eye as we approached the hub, it is just so magical. Mia thinks this is extremely lame, of course. I later found out Grace also had some tears when she first caught a glimpse of Cinderella’s castle.

The Dapper Dans sang Happy Birthday to Rob.

We did Peter Pan and then went to Snow White. I told Mia to take it all in because Snow White will be closed when we come back next time. She was never frightened of this ride and was bummed out this was her last time to ride.

I wanted to take a lot of pictures on Snow White but I don’t know how to work my camera in dark places while moving so most of them turned out bad.

Bye Snow White.
An empty Fantasy Land.

Winnie the Pooh was next, Westin liked this ride. Prior to this he had been sleeping so he missed Peter Pan and Snow White.

So excited for the completion of New Fantasy Land!

Rob and Grace got in line to meet Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and the White Rabbit while the rest of us rode the teacups, minus Paul, he doesn’t do spinning rides.

Next we headed to Space Mountain and did the baby-swap. I sat out with Westin while Paul, Bridget and Mia rode. Mia had never done the speedway so she went on that next while Paul rode Space Mountain with me.

I took too long getting my camera out to snag a picture of the picture so I tried to get one while exiting on the moving walkway.