Hold my umbrella while I find your poncho! A May 2012 TR-- NEW-FINALLY! 1/17; pg. 29

[MHTeacher]

Great TR. don't think i would risk the dslr on EE but love the pics .... Like mother, like daughter. What Nikon lens did you bring to WDW?

Thanks! I'm not sure what picture you're talking about, but the one of the tracks ripped out was taken with my phone.

Our dslr is a canon-We took two lenses. The standard one that comes with your dslr-the 15-55mm lens, and most of the safari shots were taken with the zoom lens-75-300mm.

I can't believe that you rode Kali River Rapids twice and didn't get soaked. We've skipped it the last two or three trips simply because I don't want to walk around in dripping wet clothes. You were lucky!

Wow! Your pictures from the safari and fantastic! Just look at the lion posing for his picture. I've never seen him standing up like that.

Thanks, Lisa! I had never seen the lions standing on KS ever! That's why I was so excited to ride in the evening and see them up and moving!

We had not ridden KRR since 2003! We realized that Reid had never been on it, and he really wanted to. So, we all took one for the team!

 

[MHTeacher]

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS---Monday, May 28---Day 2-Part 1

The Carpenters sang about rainy days and Mondays. No, I’m not quite old enough to remember them very well, but my parents had some Carpenter albums (What’s that? ) when I was a kid, and I loved playing and singing along with them. I attribute my Carpenter love to this time of my life. Of course, rainy days and Mondays seemed to get the Carpenters down and caused them to wear frowns. Our Monday was rainy, but it didn’t bring us down and didn’t cause too many frowns!

So…On with the day!

Monday morning I had the alarm set for 7. After getting ready for the most part, I woke up the others, and we left the Poly by just a little after 8. We walked right over to the TTC and took the Epcot monorail. After getting through security, we tried to choose a line. The lines were long, wrapped back around the ticket gates. I remembered a tip Josh from easywdw had written about the gates. He has said that at Epcot the far right lines are always closed—they’ll say something like breakfast ADRs or Cast member entrance---but that they always open these up to everyone closer to opening. So, we got in the line as far right as we could, and sure enough around 8:40, a cast member moved over there, and we were right in position to move into that line. We actually got there first, and were through the ticket gate, in the park by 8:50.

We had decided that we wanted to try to get over to the Character Spot and be first in line for this. The “first family” in line gets to have their picture made with all of the fab five. Then, they split into their different spots, and everyone later in the day, has to see them one at a time. I’m happy to report that we got there first! The doors there don’t open until 9, so we stood there and watched everyone else turn right to head to Soarin’. Finally it was 9, and a CM came to unlock the doors. She opened them, and Mickey was standing right there with her. She said, "Welcome first family!" This became the joke for the day. The girls happily tweeted that we were the first family of Epcot-like we were the president or something!

After visiting with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald, we left. Kevin went to Soarin’ to get fast passes for us, and the rest of us did a quick restroom stop, and agreed to meet him outside Nemo.

After taking some pictures around, we decided to sit in the shade-sort of to the right of the Nemo entrance. I knew Kevin would be coming from The Land Pavilion, so I kept an eye out for him, and we waited, and waited!

Finally when it seemed like double the amount of time it should have taken, I called him, and of course, got no answer. Then my cell rang, and it was him. He told me he was coming out of the gift shop, and wanted to know where we were. I saw him then, and waved. He asked if we had been there the entire time, and I said yes. He said he had not ever seen us, and had finally decided that we had gone on in to ride without him. He guessed we were in the Sea Labs, walking around and looking at the fish. So, he had climbed into his own little clamshell, and ridden through Nemo all by himself. We laughed about the sight of this middle-aged man riding through Nemo in a clamshell all by himself! We went back through together, and then actually did come out and explore the labs. While we were there, we watched the manatees being fed.

We also looked at some fish-

After we had been in here for way too long-we walked over to Soarin’ to use our fast pass. We were about 15 minutes early, so we grabbed a table, and snacked on some chips. As soon as it was time, we walked through the fast pass line.

When we finished around 10:30, we were thinking about getting another fast pass, but the return time was for 4:40-5:40. We had a dinner reservation for 5, so we knew that wouldn’t work. This was one of those moments, that I hated the fact that they now enforce FP return times. Back in the “good-ole-days”, we would have taken that fast pass, and came back closer to 8 or 9. But, alas, I digress!

Instead we walked over to Journey into Imagination---Reid likes this even though it’s not a favorite of the big folks in our family. We walked on with a very little wait. I was shocked to have to even wait in a line, but realized that every time we ride this, it is late in the afternoon/early evening. I guess a line is going to be there when it’s not even 11 in the morning.

When we finished, Kevin noticed the Captain EO sign, and asked me about this. He remembered seeing the movie when he came to Disney during his only family trip in the late 80s. Since I’m a huge MJ fan, we talked the kids into watching. Not to mention, there was a really dark cloud hanging over our heads, and it looked like it was going to pour at any time. (That’s always a good time to do an inside attraction!) They really don’t know what they’re missing by not growing up in the “Thriller” days, do they? Kevin and I thought it was fun, but the kids were not too impressed. *OH WELL*

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[MHTeacher]

When we came out of the movie, it indeed was raining. Umbrellas came out, and the kids played in the fountains and tried to “catch” some water for a few minutes.

Then we walked over to World Showcase. The kids were already talking about being hungry, so we stopped in Mexico and got nachos at the Cantina. Hungry?

After we finished, we walked through Norway,

and walked into the ten-minute stand-by line at Maelstrom.

We continued our walk through WS, pausing to look at some treats in Germany:

Then we walked over to the American pavilion, so that we could listen to the Voices of Liberty. We got there right when the other performance had ended, so we had thirty minutes of downtime.

During their performance, I was the girl sang to during their “Old Susanna” song. I had heard them sing this before, and knew what they do, so when one started to me, I knew what was coming. It was quite funny, and the kids got a good laugh out of it.

While the VoL were singing, it began to rain pretty hard, so when they finished, we decided to go on into the theater and watch “The American Adventure.”

That was a good plan, because when we finished, the rain had just about stopped.

We continued our trip around WS, and I decided that I needed a little snack to help me wait for dinner. I knew just what I wanted. We wandered into the back of France and found the bakery. I got a Napoleon. I believe a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake were also purchased, but the only thing I took a picture of was the Napoleon.

After finishing our snack, it was discovered that something was missing! Someone in our party had left something in a ride. They knew what it was, and where they left it. The question was---Would it still be there?

UP NEXT: WE TREK HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD FOR WHAT?

 

[Queenofallthings]

I remember that Monday well! You made the best of a rainy day that's for sure! Great pictures, love the fact that you were first family of the day....that's pretty neat!

 

[mirage0306]

Joining in, if you don't mind! Your trip sounds like so much fun so far. How cool that you were the first family at Epcot!

I, too, am a reformed (not by choice) FP hoarder. RIP, massive stack of FPs. I miss you.

 

[wakica]

So glad you made the best of a rainy day Sounds like the rain always showed up when you were near an indoor thing you could do to pass the time away so that's good.
Can't wait to hear the rest of your Epcot day and hope you found the missing item!!

 

[mindystar]

Good Eeyore day--little black rain cloud over us! I love the Carpenters' Christmas album/well I have the cd
I did not know about the First Family of EPCOT, so thank you for that info!!! And how cool that you all got to the be the First Family that day
Mmmm. . .that Napoleon was good-was it not--yummers!!!
Oh no, I sure hope what was lost was found. . .in past experience people are very good about returning things, esp in EPCOT

 

[PixieMama]

Oh, I didn't know that little tip about being the "first family"! Love it... will have to keep that in mind for our next family trip.

Mmmmm, nachos from La Cantina. So yummy!

 

[Lisa29]

Oh, cliffhanger, not fair!

I didn't know about being the first family at the character spot at Epcot - I would love a picture of the girls with all 5 characters. I hope that doesn't become too well known or it will be like the Toy Story Mania rush!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

We had a chance to be the first family at the Epcot character spot once and my boys wouldn't stop for it, they were hell bent on getting to Soarin'......

Were those nachos as good as they look?

 

[Lidian]

Totally awesome tip about the "First Family" at EP! I had no clue they did that!! We've always booked it straight to Soarin'... but we've also never made RD at EP either.

Too funny about your DH riding Nemo alone while you guys were waiting for him. Totally sounds like my DH.

Journey is always something I enjoy. Not entirely sure why ... but I like it, and it's cute. Plus, I've never seen a wait! We usually hit it right after Soarin FPs and riding Living with the Land.

I kind of enjoyed Captain EO ... but no one else in my group did (that includes my family plus our local friends).

Those nachos looked YUMMY! Mmmmm! Now I want nachos.

We've never been in the American pavilion (I know, we're not right in the head), what do they do when they sing?

That Napoleon looks YUM YUM YUM! Now I want to try it. (Okay, so I meant to try it in March, but forgot. )

Oh no about the missing item! I really hope that whatever was lost was found (or it was easily replaceable)!! Anxious to hear more!

 

[MHTeacher]

I remember that Monday well! You made the best of a rainy day that's for sure! Great pictures, love the fact that you were first family of the day....that's pretty neat!

Thanks!

Joining in, if you don't mind! Your trip sounds like so much fun so far. How cool that you were the first family at Epcot!

Glad to have you reading!

So glad you made the best of a rainy day Sounds like the rain always showed up when you were near an indoor thing you could do to pass the time away so that's good.
Can't wait to hear the rest of your Epcot day and hope you found the missing item!!

I think that's one of the great things about Disney--that there are so many indoor attractions. So you can always get out of the rain if you need to!

I did not know about the First Family of EPCOT, so thank you for that info!!! And how cool that you all got to the be the First Family that day
Mmmm. . .that Napoleon was good-was it not--yummers!!!

I gained that little bit of information from MeMom! (Thanks, MeMom! )

Did you have a Napoleon too? They are yummy, but I had to share with everyone wanting a bite!

 

[MHTeacher]

Oh, I didn't know that little tip about being the "first family"! Love it... will have to keep that in mind for our next family trip.

Yep-only the first family gets their photo with all five characters at one time. It was fun!

Oh, cliffhanger, not fair!

I didn't know about being the first family at the character spot at Epcot - I would love a picture of the girls with all 5 characters. I hope that doesn't become too well known or it will be like the Toy Story Mania rush!!

Maybe we better quit talking about it!

We had a chance to be the first family at the Epcot character spot once and my boys wouldn't stop for it, they were hell bent on getting to Soarin'......

Were those nachos as good as they look?

Men! They are so stubborn, aren't they?

The nachos were good. Kevin and I were sharing, so I had to pick around the tomatoes, but other than that, I enjoyed them!

Too funny about your DH riding Nemo alone while you guys were waiting for him. Totally sounds like my DH.

We've never been in the American pavilion (I know, we're not right in the head), what do they do when they sing?

I know---We laughed and laughed about him riding around, just him, sitting in his little clamshell!

The Voices of Liberty sing at different times ( you have to check the times guide), and they sing a number of folk/patriotic songs acapella. (not sure on the spelling there). When they sang "Ole Susanna", one of the guys walked over to where I was sitting, he kneeled on one knee, and took my hand and sang. Then when he stood up to walk back, he didn't let go of my hand, but made it look like I was the one holding on to him!

It is our favorite show in Epcot, and we never miss it. You have to go next time!

 

[MissLiz]

Oh, the memories of that Monday. We were just walking out of the Mexico pavillion when we heard the first thunder. My brilliant thought was to get over to the Norway pavillion and go on Maelstrom before it really started raining.

We made it to the little shop right past the restaurant on the water side in Mexico and the bottom dropped out! I thought I was completely prepared but when I put my oldest DD's poncho on, it was too short and when I put the raincoat on my little one, it was too small. Ooops.

We stood under the tarp of that shop for quite a while as the CMs tried to desperately find places for the baskets that were on the ground getting soaked.

Can't wait to hear about what was left and where!

 

[Lidian]

I know---We laughed and laughed about him riding around, just him, sitting in his little clamshell!

The Voices of Liberty sing at different times ( you have to check the times guide), and they sing a number of folk/patriotic songs acapella. (not sure on the spelling there). When they sang "Ole Susanna", one of the guys walked over to where I was sitting, he kneeled on one knee, and took my hand and sang. Then when he stood up to walk back, he didn't let go of my hand, but made it look like I was the one holding on to him!

It is our favorite show in Epcot, and we never miss it. You have to go next time!

My similar story is from May 2011: We had met a DISer and went to ride the WEDway. I was going to visit with her in her car along with her DS and my DD. I told DH to take DS and get another car. DH got confused, DS jumped into my car, and before we could really rectify the situation, DH was riding in a car with another family (he was alone with this family). It was absolutely hilarious!

I will totally have to check out the American pavilion more next May! It never feels like we get enough EP time, but I'm hoping to plan TWO days at EP, so we can get in all the shows we want to see!!! The show sounds great!

 

[mickeystoontown]

How neat that you were the first family to have pictures taken at the Character Spot!

The enforcement of the Fastpass return times has thrown a kink into a lot of touring plans. I didn't even know about the "non-enforcement" until a couple of trips ago so we always returned within the time frame. However, I had gotten used to being able to pull Fastpasses and then return whenever we wanted to.

 

[amazingact21]

Epcot when it rains is one of the better parks to be in, in my opinion, because there's so many shops and shows to go inside and see while waiting out the storms. Sounds like listening to VoL and watching the American Adventure was a good plan.

I did not know that the first family at Epcot's Character Spot gets a photo with all 5 characters. That is really cool, and it's fantastic that you were able to do it!

 

[Elleshoodat]

All caught up! You guys pack so much into so little time ... it's great! Much different from touring with a toddler.

I must say, I am jealous of two things - your stay at the Poly (we have to get there one day), and your nachos and Napoleon at Epcot. Both of those look so appealing right now.

 

[MHTeacher]

Oh, the memories of that Monday. We were just walking out of the Mexico pavillion when we heard the first thunder. My brilliant thought was to get over to the Norway pavillion and go on Maelstrom before it really started raining.

We made it to the little shop right past the restaurant on the water side in Mexico and the bottom dropped out! I thought I was completely prepared but when I put my oldest DD's poncho on, it was too short and when I put the raincoat on my little one, it was too small. Ooops.

We stood under the tarp of that shop for quite a while as the CMs tried to desperately find places for the baskets that were on the ground getting soaked.

Can't wait to hear about what was left and where!

There was a second downpour prior to 5 and we were trapped in Norway---I had returned for the infamous lost item. We stood under one of those little tarps on the store fronts for what seemed like forever!

My similar story is from May 2011: We had met a DISer and went to ride the WEDway. I was going to visit with her in her car along with her DS and my DD. I told DH to take DS and get another car. DH got confused, DS jumped into my car, and before we could really rectify the situation, DH was riding in a car with another family (he was alone with this family). It was absolutely hilarious!

That is so funny! I would have loved to have seen that family's expressions when some strange man jumped in the car with them! What did they do?

The enforcement of the Fastpass return times has thrown a kink into a lot of touring plans. I didn't even know about the "non-enforcement" until a couple of trips ago so we always returned within the time frame. However, I had gotten used to being able to pull Fastpasses and then return whenever we wanted to.

It definitely changed our trip this time around, but I guess I'm beating a dead horse now, so I might as well accept it and deal with it! (That doesn't mean I have to like it though! )

 

[MHTeacher]

Epcot when it rains is one of the better parks to be in, in my opinion, because there's so many shops and shows to go inside and see while waiting out the storms. Sounds like listening to VoL and watching the American Adventure was a good plan.

I did not know that the first family at Epcot's Character Spot gets a photo with all 5 characters. That is really cool, and it's fantastic that you were able to do it!

I completely agree! I know from when I've visited Six Flags that there is almost no where to get when it rains. I think Epcot, DHS, and MK have lots of shops and indoor attractions to help you out!

All caught up! You guys pack so much into so little time ... it's great! Much different from touring with a toddler.

I must say, I am jealous of two things - your stay at the Poly (we have to get there one day), and your nachos and Napoleon at Epcot. Both of those look so appealing right now.

Your toddler will be running around before you know it, and you'll be able to pack a whole lot more into your day!

Both were delicious-but I must admit-I think about that Napoleon a lot!