For the First Time in Forever-

[vleeth]

Sounds like a great place to eat.

 

[mdsouth]

Sounds like a great place to eat.

It really was a nice relaxing meal for us. One we may or may not do again.

On this trip, I made it a point to try new places to eat. It was a success in that Haley tried some new foods that she still will eat now at home months later!

 

[jwwi]

Disney is magical, even if it means Haley like new foods......

 

[mdsouth]

Disney is magical, even if it means Haley like new foods......

Exactly, Thanks for hanging in here. I will be adding a new update tomorrow.

 

[mdsouth]

Chapter 20 – Hangin’ with the Fab 5

After dinner we went over to Innovations and checked out the some of the stuff they have in there. To me, it seems like they really could make better use of the space. Wouldn’t it be cool if they would incorporate the Disney characters in some sort of interactive display.

I just know that as a child and as a Disney loving adult, I feel that the WDW parks really have a very limited amount of rides/shows for the Fab 5. Why couldn’t they make one of the Innovations center a real live version of Mickey’s Clubhouse? They could even put in a small theater with seats that could show Mickey cartoons throughout the day. Parents and kids of all ages would enjoy the area as a much needed break during the day. People could hang out there in the air conditioning in the summer and the heat in the winter, recoup and then head back out in the rest of the park. It wouldn’t cost Disney much of anything, just the projection screen setup and seats. The seats could be benches as long as the benches had backs to them. There is just not enough seating in and around the parks to just relax. There was even a thread a while back on the lack of seating areas in the parks.


After Innovations, we stopped into the Character Spot since there really wasn’t any line. It really was a great time to go since there wasn’t any line the characters all took their time with us. There was only two other groups there at the same time as us. One was a young couple with their young son. They were right ahead of us, so it was fun watching the little boy interact with the characters for the very first time. Mickey played a little bit with Haley.



Minnie was all giggles and grins! She was just so cute!



We ended up dancing with Goofy. He was having fun and nobody was behind us, so we got our groove on with him. He twirled me around and around. Fantastic interaction!

 

[ariane37]

HAPPY NEW YEAR mdsouth!

Love the shirt you have on in the character spot pics, it's adorable

 

[mdsouth]

HAPPY NEW YEAR mdsouth! Love the shirt you have on in the character spot pics, it's adorable

Happy New Year, ariane37!

I got my shirt on the Disney store website

 

[ariane37]

Thanks! I have to get on the website before DH and I go on our anniversary trip in March

Speaking of the New Year, have you seen the contest Disney is running again for January? They're giving away a trip every day for the month!!! I think the website is www.Disneyflipside.com but I'll have to check. Maybe you can win a trip and go back sooner Maybe we can both win trips!

ETA: There's a whole thread on the Theme Parks board about the contest in case you missed it

 

[mdsouth]

Thanks! I have to get on the website before DH and I go on our anniversary trip in March Speaking of the New Year, have you seen the contest Disney is running again for January? They're giving away a trip every day for the month!!! I think the website is www.Disneyflipside.com but I'll have to check. Maybe you can win a trip and go back sooner Maybe we can both win trips! ETA: There's a whole thread on the Theme Parks board about the contest in case you missed it

Where are you and your hubby staying for your anniversary trip? Will you be doing a trip,report? I will follow along.
March is not to far away now! The weather should be great!

 

[ariane37]

Where are you and your hubby staying for your anniversary trip? Will you be doing a trip,report? I will follow along.
March is not to far away now! The weather should be great!

We are staying at the BWV for 4 nights Haven't been there since 2012 and since we won't have the boys, we plan on spending a lot of time in EPCOT so it's perfect. We are also doing the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which I'm SO excited about!!! You have to be 16 and since our youngest DS is only 9, I figured it'd be years until we got to do it. But when DH suggested this anniversary trip - and all the babysitting lined up - I had to book the tour lol.

Every time we come back from a trip I consider doing a TR.......maybe this will be the time I actually do!

When are you guys thinking of going back?

 

[mdsouth]

We are staying at the BWV for 4 nights Haven't been there since 2012 and since we won't have the boys, we plan on spending a lot of time in EPCOT so it's perfect. We are also doing the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which I'm SO excited about!!! You have to be 16 and since our youngest DS is only 9, I figured it'd be years until we got to do it. But when DH suggested this anniversary trip - and all the babysitting lined up - I had to book the tour lol. Every time we come back from a trip I consider doing a TR.......maybe this will be the time I actually do! When are you guys thinking of going back?

The Keys to the Kingdom Tour is something I hope to do someday. Like you, I haven't planned it since my daughter is only 11.
Your adults only trip sounds ideal staying at BWV will be perfect for your visits to Epcot

I Will not be going back until 2016 or later. But I can dream and enter the sweepstakes

 

[librarygeek]

Garden Grill looks really good, I would like to try it. I'm always interested after I do Living with the Land and hear about how they grow the food. And great character interaction! It's so awesome when it isn't crowded and they can really spend time with you.

 

[mdsouth]

Garden Grill looks really good, I would like to try it. I'm always interested after I do Living with the Land and hear about how they grow the food. And great character interaction! It's so awesome when it isn't crowded and they can really spend time with you.

It is not just the food at the Garden Grill but all the restaurants at Disney incorporates food grown by Disney. I don't know to what extent.

 

[mdsouth]

Chapter 21 – Exploring Epcot at Night


After our visit to the character spot, we headed towards Spaceship Earth. We were not planning on staying for Illuminations tonight since we would be back at Epcot later in the week. As we approached Spaceship Earth, I took several photos. These photos are my favorite scenery ones of the entire trip! In the first one you can just make out the image of the moon to the left of Spaceship Earth.


We also enjoyed seeing the beautiful light designs in the sidewalk. It is just the little touches like this that make WDW such a magical place!!


We jumped on to Spaceship Earth with no wait. After the ride we spent quite a bit of time exploring the different activities at the end. It was nice being able to explore a bit without the crowds. Haley is a fairly quiet, timid child so when there are others around, she will step back and just watch, instead of participating herself. So, the timing worked really well for us. It was in the early evening hours around seven or so when the majority of the people at Epcot were in the World Showcase.



We took a last photo at the front of Epcot before returning back to PORFQ for the night.


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[vleeth]

Sounds like a relaxing evening. It's so nice when you feel like you have the place to yourself.

 

[mdsouth]

Sounds like a relaxing evening. It's so nice when you feel like you have the place to yourself.

This trip in Feb spoiled me. I usually go in the middle of summer with all the crowds.

I would like to someday make an early breakfast reservation to see the parks empty in the daylight.

I will be posting my next installment tomorrow..

 

[mdsouth]

Chapter 22 – “It’s All About the Animals”
This morning, I had no trouble getting Haley up and out the door. We were headed to Animal Kingdom! This was the park she was looking forward to visiting the most. She is nuts about animals. She isn’t squeamish in any way around them either. She has been taking zoo classes for years and is now a Junior Zookeeper in the small zoo in our city.
As we headed into AK we stopped to take a few pictures with the Tree of Life in the background. As you can see from the pictures, Haley was dressed for the day.


I was happy that the set up the scene with baby Simba. It can out pretty good though I hate the way Haley is looking over the lens of her glasses. She does that constantly at home too. She has one lazy eye and the other has perfect eyesight. She wore a big eye patch on her good eye for about a year and a half trying to get the lazy eye to work more but it is still a problem we deal with on a daily basis.

We jumped on the Safari ride first. We only had to wait about 15 minutes in standby. I had a Fastpass for it later in the morning too since I knew she really wanted to go on this ride and that she would want to go on it multiple times.
It was a nice morning temperature wise so there were lots of animals out and moving about.




There was even a couple of baby giraffes out with their mother. My favorite animal of all time is the giraffe so it was a very special treat for me to see them in such a beautiful setting.


Haley’s current favorite animal is the zebra. One of the zebras came very close to our side of the truck which made for an ideal photo.

 

[vleeth]

Hope is nuts about animals and had to wear an eye patch. Giraffes are my favorite. We may have a bit too much in common!

 

[ariane37]

Well hello there mdsouth, I've been patiently waiting for another update

I LOVE Haley's purple zebra print outfit! Perfect for AK and she looks adorable

 

[mdsouth]

Hope is nuts about animals and had to wear an eye patch. Giraffes are my favorite. We may have a bit too much in common!

It is funny how we keep finding more similarities between our girls.