For those of you that know me, you know that I have posted a picture of my kids, all nestled snug in bed, about to be woken up and forced to have fun in
every single one of my previous Trip Reports. So there's no reason to think I'm going to break that streak now, is there?
Man, trip reporting is fun!
I did let the kids sleep in for a little bit this morning while I ran downstairs to to gift shop/general store to pick up some breakfast. Our typical Disney breakfast is eaten in the hotel room, but coming from Houston, we didn't have the ability to pack any of the food we would usually bring. I browsed around the store for a bit and was asked by several Cast Members if they could assist me with anything. I asked them for recommendations on what type of mood my kids would be in when they woke up so I could get the right type of food so I wouldn't have to come back down again. As good as Disney is at guest service, they really had no clue on this one.
I eventually settled on a pack of English Muffins, a small jar of peanut butter, a half gallon of milk, some string cheese and a bunch of bananas. I paid the bill, and when the lady told me to have a magical day, I just replied with "I'll see you in 20 minutes when my kids wake up and they decide that I picked wrong."
(Side Note: while the $17 I paid for those items was much steeper than I would normally pay in a grocery store, it's still much cheaper than any restaurant breakfast on property. So technically I still came out ahead)
As usual, Evan was the first one up and enjoyed his morning cheese stick on the balcony. One of these days we're going to get a savanna view room...
Soon everyone was up, dressed and fed (after another trip down to the store - I think for peanut butter and jelly Uncrustable sandwiches), and we were on our way to...
...EPCOT, and the Flower and Garden Festival.
Yes, he smelled like strawberries. And in a wonderful Disney Touch, they even added his tag:
There's really no bad time of the year to visit Disney World - the Halloween Decorations are awesome, the Christmas themeing is out of this world, but Spring is one of my 3 favorite seasons to visit. (I've never been there in the summer, so I can't speak to that. Although, we do leave in leave in 2 weeks, so I'll let you know what I think of it when we get back). Anyway, back to Spring. EPCOT goes all out with their planting and the flowers are just amazing...
My first stop - it's always my first stop at EPCOT - was The Land for Soarin Fast Passes. Grandma & Grandpa were still en route from their house, so the 4 of us hit what is probably Evan's favorite ride: Test Track!
Madison took us out on some high speed loops. The back end was a little sloppy coming out of the turn, so she radioed into the pit crew to take out two turns of wedge on the next stop. (I haven't followed professional racing in a few years. Hopefully someone will come along and tell me if that sentence made any sense.)
Enjoy that hair blowing in the wind, buddy. If you're anything like daddy, it isn't going to last forever.
You know the balding man's mantra, "Hair today, gone tomorrow."
It's a pretty tame Photopass picture by Photopass Picture standards, but I though I would post because Madison is scared that she is...
plugging her ears?
We stopped in the GM showroom on our way out to check out the Camero.
Don't worry, Evan, as soon as I hit my mid-life crisis, we'll be getting one of these bad boys. And a color-coordinated Yellow Pages for you to sit on so you can see out.
It wasn't quite Soarin FastPass return time yet, but it was getting close. We started the walk across the park but noticed the Character Greeting Spot line was about as short as we'd ever seen it, so we jumped in. They have several widescreen TVs mounted in the queue showing old Disney cartoons to entertain the ... kids ... while you wait. What I thought was cool was that instead of having a black bar on either side of the cartoon to fill up the space on the widescreen TV, they pushed the cartoon to one side, and put trivia about the cartoon, director, voice actor, etc on the other side.
Well, a few Mickey & Donald cartoons later, and we were face to face the Mouse himself.
And since we're on the topic, allow me to rant about Mickey's ears for just a moment. How do you handle pictures with him? Madison and Evan don't have to worry because they're short enough. But Bambi and I are demonstrating two of the classic moves: I'm standing a bit further off to the side, she's doing the "duck under". Much like the riddle of the Sphinx, it's a classic puzzle: how do you take the optimal picture with Mickey Mouse without his ears getting in the way?
Moving on down the line, we came to the animated dog that doesn't talk:
About this time, Bambi's parents found us and jumped in the picture with Mickey's BFF (I'm not a 12 year old girl, so could someone tell me if I used "BBF" in the correct context here?)
The pants-less duck. Madison, watch your hand there, sweetheart.
And finally the animated dog that does talk. Also in the picture: Goofy.
After the character greeting, I headed over to Mouse Gears to spend the "20% before noon" coupon that Disney was printing on their dining receipts. The rest of the family went to go see Figment and his nasty, disgusting skunk smell.
Before we left, Chris (DisDadDoc) told us about when he went there with his kids, he was telling them about the loops that they put into this ride to make it more exciting. The CM actually played along and, as their car started to move past the operator's podium, told them to make sure they fastened their seat belts. The kids panicked for a bit because their car didn't have seat belts.
Well, never a family to pass up the opportunity for a little psychological torture to our own flesh and blood, Bambi tried the same trick. Her Cast Member, however, did not get the joke and would not play along. Spoil sport.
But no matter, they enjoyed the ride as much as they always have (
kids: a lot.
Bambi: well, let's just say the ride isn't long enough for her to cut her hair off, braid it into a noose and hang herself. Not that she hasn't tried.)
I met up with them at the exit and watched Evan sing some House of Pain to himself. (♪ ♪ ♫"I came to get down. I came to get down. So get out your seats and jump around. Jump around, Jump around, Jump around. Jump up, Jump up and get down."♪ ♪ ♫)...
...and to see Madison firmly establishing herself as the next Van Gogh (minus the creepy ear thing).
Sadly, the Finding Nemo ride was down. (No, seriously, sadly. I like this ride). So, we crossed the park again for another ride on Test Track. We happen to cross the park several times on this trip. Not the most efficient touring strategy, but at least we got to walk by that really cool fountain a lot. I'll take that view as a consolation prize any day.
Without further ado, Evan will present to you, in slide show form, the
3 Moods of Test Track
HOT!
COLD!
WEEEEEEEE!
Coming Up Next: Some wonderful nature and something disgustingly unnatural.
.
Nice booty shaking from Evan and yourself as well 
What? I've a very good dancer! 
