Ok, so now we are onto Wednesday or Day 5 of our amazing Disney Vacation. We have been saying how lucky we have been for everything to be going so well. The only things that weren't perfect were the heat and the crowds. Of course we couldn't control or change either so we actually got used to the heat or went to the pool and the crowds: well, when they got to be too much we found a quiet, shady spot somewhere and had a snack or drink or again went to the pool. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall so to speak during school vacation week to see how much more crowded that week was than ours since I was pulling my kids out to avoid crowds.
Anyway, ok, well not too big of a surprise...we all slept in again. We did go to OPR for breakfast and again DS had the Bounty Platter. There were some yummy looking pastries that I kept saying I was going to try, but never did. So, off to Epcot we went.
Maybe someday my kids will actually see the Lion King, one of the only Disney movies my kids have not seen.
We went straight to Soaring as this was a ride we did not do last time. We used the Baby Swap and all got to ride. When the first round of people were on Soaring, my brother and I took baby on the river ride inside the Land. This was surprisingly interesting. I loved learning about how they are researching various ways to grow fruits and veggies.
Look at this 9 pound lemon!
I would love to have these pumpkins hanging in my yard every Fall:
After the river greenhouse tour we all got back to the entrance to Soaring at the same time and took our turn. By the way, Soaring was great! Another top 3 for my DD5 and me!
Now it was time to head to our 1:30pm ADR at Akershus!
This was another highly anticipated meal! So, we arrive a few minutes early which was a good thing because the line to check in was a little long. We waited in the sun for a few minutes and were very happy to get our royal named called. First, we met Belle. The baby surprisingly wanted nothing to do with her, just woke up from a nap. Belle very sweetly tried to engage her. My pics of Belle were not good. Luckily we had the picture come with the deal so I have them
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I have read other people say that they didn't think this building was anything special, but I thought it was very pretty and enjoyed looking around while waiting for the princesses.
I think I was just as excited for them to walk out as my DD5. I couldn't wait to see who would be greeting us today. My DD5's 2 wishes were Jasmine and Ariel with Ariel being wished for the most
. So, out first was Aurora, who is actually DD5's favorite, but she had met her in 2008. She was still thrilled to see her on her way nonetheless. Princess Aurora apparently did not approve of baby's eating habits. She was so sweet wiping her face.
Look at how happy DD5 was with her favorite Princess:
They were all thrilled to meet Snow White and DD5 got her forhead kissed again!
Then it was Cindy. The second the baby say her she started yelling "Cinwella, Cindwella!!" so we were happy when she finally made it over to her. The baby demanded to be out of her highchair and scooted over on her bum to meet Cindy!
So now we have met 4 princesses and we weren't sure if there were anymore and then I saw her.....it was ARIEL! We were so excited!!
She was lovely; played with DS's hair and spent quite a bit of time with us.
So now that we have seen the beautiful ladies it is time to talk food. This was the BEST meal we had all week and I really do think we had some good ADRs. I really wasn't expecting too much being a character meal and also did not know what to think of it being a Norwegian place, but we were so thrilled we made this ADR. First, we helped ourselves to the appetizer buffet. The shrimp salad was so tasty and light. The meats and veggies were all fresh. Then came our meals, which I again was distracted by the characters so can't be too detailed. I had the chicken sandwich was amazing and not a typical sandwich. Again, my brother had fish and ate every bite. My DH liked his and I can't recall what he had. Then came the desserts. They serve multiple and various desserts to your table. One was a pastry filled with fruit and maybe cream cheese, but it was beyond yummy. Then there was the best chocolate cake I have ever had. There were 2 other desserts that I can't recall but they were equally good. I will definately be returning to this place and not just for the princesses.
Next, it was off to explore more of Epcot and a theme was emerging. We were noticing that we were trying and experiencing things that we had overlooked last time. The Land, Spaceship Earth, Kim Possible, Figment and Innovations were some of these overlooked experiences. First, Innovations. I had totally skipped this last time and I have to admit that I only decided to check it out this time because I wanted AC. Well, the 2 oldest and I decided to see what the "Pig" thing was all about and boy, were we glad we did. We answered our questions, received our piggy bank and were off to learn about saving money. Of course, we all picked going on an amazing vacation as our goal. So, we put our $ in the right places, learned to hide it and diversify and attempted to avoid deflation. My kids LOVED this. Unfortunately we did not save enough for our vacation so you know what this meant? Back in we go to try again.
After this we found Kim Possible.
Now, my kids do not watch this show, not that I would have a problem with it.
I had heard a little about this, but did not really know what we were getting into when I got our ticket. By the description, this was right up my son's alley. So, we were told to go to Norway at 4:45. We made it to Norway and my son got his phone. He was hooked right then. His first mission was Mexico.
We made it to Mexico and he was thrilled to see that he could manipulate the environment with his phone, but we had to hide because the bad guys might see us!
My DD 5 joined in and 3 hours later we were in France doing our 4th mission! My son could have done this all night. We had to practically pry it out of his hands. The fabulous thing for everyone was that we saw way more of the countries than we had ever bothered to see last time. We sat on the streets of France enjoying a snack. We made a gargoyle stick his tongue out at us in a museum and flooded bad guys out of their apartment and had golf balls come out of telephone booths in England. So fun! What an amazing experience that we almost walked right by.
Here are some pics we took along the way:
My kids loved the Figment ride and all 3 had fun in the workshop afterward, especially playing music with their feet.
So we stayed for Illuminations. We bought some baked goods from was it Merekesh? and enjoyed them during the show. Then it was onto a busy bus for the ride home. I think we managed to swim when we got back, but we were out when we finally laid down.
. My DS always gets motion sickness so we carry bags with us all the time. One year we got off the plane and I realized he never got sick. But as we were going up the escalade he caught his sandal on the medal part and cut his foot wide open needing stitches. What a great surprise in your room
. I wish our room was ready that early, great start to your TR.
We didn't make even one rope drop. Oh well! We got the girls dressed in their Minnie dresses because this was our Chef Mickey's Day!! This was my son's favorite in 2008 and remains his favorite meal still. We love the Mickey waffles! So, here come the characters. It felt like they came and went a little faster this time, but like I mentioned before everything seemed a little busier this year.
. Yum!
Aaargh, did I say gold? 
