If you don't have anything nice to say...write about it in your trip report

[DisneyRegulars]

Day 1!

Well we made it. I've been with my MIL for over 15 hours straight and haven't wanted to strangle her or anything. This trip might be okay. Maybe. Well, I'm not going to get my hopes up just yet. Our travel was smooth. The only hiccup we currently have is a rather ill Tigger. I knew something was up when I gave him the ipad on the plane and he watched half an episode of Doc McStuffins and then said he was done. Then he proceeded to lie on me and stare off into space the remainder of the flight. I gave him some tylenol as soon as I got access to my check through, and when I took his temp back at the hotel it was 99.8, so there is definitely a little bug there. How big is yet to be determined but there are some good signs. 1. He had enough energy this afternoon to request to go swimming (we went swimming in the giant tub together) 2. He is still eating, albeit a little, he is still eating so that's a good sign. Hopefully he'll wake up tomorrow and be a new man.

So on our way to AKL we made it to Disney property and ran into construction cones and then were forced to turn left or right when we really wanted straight. Hmmm....seems we had forgotten it was marathon weekend and the marathoners were still marathoning around 12:00. So we chose right, immediately got lost, but decided instead of trying to find our way back to the hotel we would just head to downtown disney for an Earl of Sandwich Sandwich. I think everybody else in all of Disney had this same plan. We arrived at downtown at 12:04, drove for quite some time before finding a spot. I opted to stay in the car because Tigger had fallen asleep, while MIL and Grizzly went and got sandwiches. Grizzly reports that the line was actually outside and around the corner of EOS. What is even more crazy is that Grizzly stood in this humungous line twice!! Once for his sandwich and then once again for mine because he wanted mine to be hot. What a crazy sweetie. He totally would have gotten a cold sandwich if I had been the one to go. MIL earned bonus points by claiming that it was the best sandwich she had ever had. We didn't even really say much about it before hand, only that we liked them. So we'll give MIL 20 points for liking EOS, I'll take them away as she gets on my nerves.

Now at this point MIL is already totally impressed with everything she has seen. She is in awe of how well the grounds are maintained, and can't believe the size of the place. She also thinks our hotel room is amazing (she's smitten with the marble counters), and she also liked the Safari Amber beer so now she's up to 25 points.

Tigger and I lounged in the room, took a bath and watched the Duffy channel (a never ending loop of classic Mickey cartoons). He's feeling lousy and didn't even want to play the hide the pillow game. At 5:10 we all left, even Tigger and went over to Jiko for dinner. MIL's treat. That place was fabulous. I thought the food was delicious (sorry no pictures), but my favorite favorite part was the seagull lights all over the ceiling and walls. I wanted to take all of them. They were so cool. Tigger lasted through the appetizer course, then I pulled his chair next to mine and he laid down and fell asleep with his head on my lap. This marks the first time he has EVER fallen asleep anywhere other than his bed, his car seat or his stroller. This kid has never fallen asleep with his head in my lap before. Oh wait, there was about 20 minutes on the plane this morning. I feel bad for him, hope he gets better soon.

So tomorrow we have EPCOT if Tigger is good. If not I will send MIL and Grizzly to HS since there is not much there for Tigger anyways.

One more note about Jiko, we got the peppermint Creme Brulee and it was delicious, except we each got one, and we had enough for 6 people. I'm quite full at the moment!

I know there were quite a few of you who said you were following along, so if there is something that you care about let me know and I'll be sure to add that in with more details.

Oh, our room was ready when we arrived around 1:30. I'll also be adding more pictures, and I apologize for their large size, but I can't shrink them until I get to a computer, my phone and ipad just can't seem to do it. They don't look bad on the DIS ap though, but for those on a computer...so sorry!

 

[SusieBea]

Yay! Off to a pretty good start. I hope your lil guy feels better tomorrow, and, as a MIL, I'm glad your MIL hasn't Pd you off yet. We arrive tomorrow. She can come drink with me! (or you can)

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Yay! Off to a pretty good start. I hope your lil guy feels better tomorrow, and, as a MIL, I'm glad your MIL hasn't Pd you off yet. We arrive tomorrow. She can come drink with me! (or you can)

Happy travels! The weather is nice and warm and waiting for you!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Everybody is (insert curse word of choice here) snoring and I am going to lose my mind!!! I have been up since midnight because of it! Long day ahead.

 

[disney212]

Glad to see it is going well and MIL in behaving!

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

Faithfully following along. Sorry Tigger has been under the weather, hope he is is back to himself before too long. I love your points system for MIL! Glad to hear she is not in the negatives (yet)!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Faithfully following along. Sorry Tigger has been under the weather, hope he is is back to himself before too long. I love your points system for MIL! Glad to hear she is not in the negatives (yet)!

Things are going well. Glad you are still here!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

First Full Day: EPCOT

So yesterday was our first full day in the parks and it went fairly well with only about 3 minutes of near disaster which involved me wanting to storm out of the Magic Kingdom. But the day started at EPCOT, so let's begin there.

Actually the day started at about 12am when Tigger woke up and needed to go pee. By the time I got my ear plugs out and glasses on he was half way to the bathroom. Totally odd, this marked the first time he has ever gotten out of bed on his own AND the first time he has ever gotten up to pee in the middle of the night. About an hour later he wakes again and wants his back rubbed. I rubbed, and rubbed and rubbed, then he rolled over and wanted his tummy rubbed. Meanwhile Grizzly's sleep machine sounds like there is a hurricane mixed with rabid dog over on the other side of the room. By the time Tigger has fallen asleep I'm now trapped in his bed because he is leaning on me, and there's no way I'm moving because I would rather stay there than have to rub again because my arm is about to fall off. But Grizzly is making a racket. So I start to chuck Tigger's stuffed animals at him. They silence him for about 5 minutes at a time. Finally I run out of stuffed animals, but I can't reach my earplugs from Tigger's bed and I am going completely insane. I decide to jump ship. I weasel my way out into the living room and pull out the sofa chair and snooze there. It's 3am. Shortly after I move out there MIL is snoring loud enough to be heard through the wall. LONGEST NIGHT EVER!!!!

Finally at 6:30 I get everyone up and we get on our way to EPCOT. Through some miracle Tigger is feeling better. I can tell because he is singing and dancing again. His fever is pretty low, 99.2. I give him a little tylenol for good measure and we head off for an easy morning at EPCOT.

I was pleasantly surprised by two things with MIL. 1. She wanted to wear her Mickey Ears we had gotten her for Christmas that said 'Grandma' on the back (+20 points), and 2. She also was happy to wear her 1st visit button. Before getting into things I now also have a new found appreciation for anyone who drives a scooter around the parks. You have to be a brave soul to do that, and also super super careful to manage to make it through a day without hitting anyone. I'm glad MIL has her scooter because she definitely wouldn't be able to handle the walking, but I sure am glad I'm not the one who has to maneuver through the crowds with one. Seems terrifying and super stressful. I think for stressed out MIL the fact that she does not have to walk out weighs the stressful driving aspect, but only just barely. So hats off to all you scooter riders, that is not an easy job you have!

Back to the trip report. We headed to EPCOT, and got there about 5 minutes before rope drop. We headed straight to Test Track but found that Tigger was too little by at least an inch even though at home he measured 40 inches with no shoes. Oh well, we kept on keeping on. We went on Finding Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush, MIL liked both. (+5 points for laughing during Turtle Talk) I then took MIL on Soarin with Fast Passes we had grabbed earlier while Grizzly took Tigger on the Figment ride. Well MIL didn't really like Soarin. Turns out she is afraid of heights, and she spent the whole ride with her eyes shut. Poor MIL. I felt bad. When we met back up with Tigger he was sort of fussy and had also acquired a mini Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster. Hmmm.... At this point I took Tigger back to the hotel, we swam, ate lunch and colored in the community hall. MIL and Grizzly stayed behind and rode Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and toured the World Showcase. They arrived back at 2 something and had both had a good time, handed me a Fast Pass for Test Track and I went back to Epcot by myself to use it.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

So I head out to EPCOT. I like being on my own. There is no one to discuss plans with I can just do what I want. My fast pass for Test Track is for 4:25, and I plan to be back to the hotel by 5:30. I check out the single rider line but it is sticking out of the building and looks really long. I skip it an instead start my quest for the perfect Dr. Weasel ear hat. I check out Mouse Gear. Nothing great. I head to the gift shops at the front of world showcase. I find the most wonderful ears. They are Mouseketeer Ears like the original mousketeers with a peek at the front and a different badge. I love them. I scoop them up and head back to Mouse Gear to get them embroidered. I hand them to the cashier person and she meanly says "we can't do those". What? Hopes dashed. At this point I'm on about 1.5 hours of sleep. I just worked my butt off for 6 years trying to finish my degree, I find the perfect ears and she can't embroider them with Dr. Weasel? I'm pathetically nearly in tears and so frustrated. I ended up returning the ears. She asked her fellow cast mate, and she said they were 'special ears and couldn't be embroider per company policy'. I was so sad. I left earless and walked the wrong way around world showcase to get a salted caramel square in Germany. I haven't gotten 50 feet outside with store when I see a little girl wearing the ears and hers are embroidered with 'Justine' on the back. I turn red with anger like a cartoon character. So ANGRY!!!!!! Why is it that I can never remember where Germany is? Halfway around the world on my sad sad walk of earlessness Grizzly texts that they are going to the MK because Tigger did not nap. I text him back "Sounds like hell". But somehow I get roped into going when I really just want to stay and ride test track. I end up hurrying to catch the monorail, and through some divine intervention am able to sprint from the monorail and catch the same ferry as them to the MK.

The MK is busy. It's a 6/10 according to touringplans.com. 6 is way to busy if you have a scooter with you. We meander very slowly and make our way to the tea cups. On the way at some point Tigger is given a baggie of gold fish. We get to the tea cups and he does not want to relinquish the gold fish. Since there are about 10000 gold fish in his baggie Grizzly wants to leave the tea cups and go 'tour through the new fantasy land and look around'. All I could think was that MIL would hate having to do that. It was so busy. There would be no happily looking around it would have been torture for her on the scooter. Grizzly didn't see this. I told him it was a bad idea at least 3 times before I was done. I had just had it. I wasn't about to argue over it in front of MIL so instead I said something like "fine, I'm going back to the hotel, I'm tired, do what you want". Grizzly of course doesn't let me go and is like "What do you want to do then? Sit here while he eats his fish?" YES! EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO!!!! So we sit while Tigger slowly eats his fish. This reminds me a lesson that I had learned last trip too, snacks should always be in very small quantities unless you want to wait 45 minutes for Tigger to eat the whole thing. After about 20 minutes we finally have a Tigger that is ready to ride a ride. After the tea cups we head over to Dumbo.

We remain in the Dumbo playground for the rest of eternity. After about 45 minutes of following Tigger around MIL and Grizzly give up and sit in the sidelines. Tigger continues for another 30 minutes. Occasionally I ask him is he wants to ride Dumbo with Grandma and he says "When I'm done playing". Translation: 'oh my god this playground is so awesome have you seen the tiny firetruck? I could play with that FOREVER, so no mom I don't think I actually want to ride Dumbo'. Tigger rides Dumbo with Grandma, and Grandma won't let him fly it high. Her plan is thwarted though when all the elephants are forced up at the end. I have a fantastic picture of her cowering. I will post it if she ticks me off, but somehow I'm thinking that may not happen.

There was an electrical parade scheduled for 7pm. It was 6:40ish, so we decided to head out before the parade. Unfortunately when we got to the circle we were met by the celebration parade, a sneak attack! It was not listed on whatever I had been looking at. Grrrrr.... Instead of a nice easy walk out we were once again caught amongst the masses, but at least it wasn't after Wishes. Coming up....more MIL awesomeness. Yes you read that correctly, MIL and awesomeness in the same sentence.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Dinner Day 1:

So after a long day in the parks we get home to options of sandwiches and salad. MIL wants appetizers and offers to take me down to Sanaa for appetizers and drinks at the bar her treat. Um okay! I get the world's strongest Mojito, she has the safari amber, but the best was yet to come. The appetizers were AMAZING. We decide we want to eat them every night. We had 3 kinds of naan plus 3 yummy sauces (coriander, cucumber raika, and pickled garlic) and lamb kefta with mint sauce. We were both completely stuffed after these two shared appetizers and they were soooooooo delicious. We ordered the 3 breads for Grizzly to go, and figured we should have another drink while we waited, so we each had a white russian. MIL loves baileys, kalhua and mudslides, but had somehow never had a white russian. SHE LOVED IT. We had a nice time down there together. I was able to find it amusing rather than annoying (most likely thanks to the alcohol) when she insisted on paying the bar tender immediately after each purchase. Order a drink, MUST PAY NOW. Order an appetizer, MUST PAY YOU IMMEDIATELY!!! She would wave her 20 out in the air until she took it. Silly MIL. Each time the bar tender would ask her if she would just like a tab, and MIL was not having any of it. So anyways, if you find yourself in Kidani village and want a cheap and delicious meal, go down to Sanaa, sit at the bar and order the bread appetizer and the lamb kefta. There are about 10-12 different sauces and 6 different breads, so we have to go back to try more.

Next up a near perfect morning in the Magic Kingdom. I think I was hoping to be able to rant and rave about MIL, but so far she has been wonderful, and is really getting into the Disney spirit. It's actually kind of cool to see.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Tuesday Magic Kingdom Morning:

So there has been a lot of writing and not many pictures, but I seem to take most of the pictures, and most of them have MIL in them, and I know she doesn't like her picture on the internet, so I'm trying to respect that. If IMGUR would ever get it's act together I do have a cute one of me and Tigger on the Astro Orbiter. As we get ready to leave this morning we are all wearing our Mickey ears and I ask Tigger if he would like to wear his. We've had his Mickey ears since he was 14 months old on his first trip. This is trip 5, we've brought them every trip, and this was the first time he was willing to wear them. So cool. I was very excited about this.

We got to MK with about 5 minutes to spare before the opening show. It was packed inside the gates, so we hung back just outside the turnstiles. It wasn't crowded at all and we had a great view of the opening number. MIL loved it! She had her camera with her today and was busy taking pictures of everything the whole day. I think you can tell how much someone likes something by the number of pictures they take. MIL took 7 million.

Notable moments of the morning included MIL getting scared on the People Mover. Yup the people mover. She really is quite wussy. She took about 8 bazillion pictures on IASM (don't ask me why, most normal people would rather forget it). She absolutely loved Mickey's Philharmagic and mentioned that it was the first 3D movie she had ever seen. We very skillfully distracted Tigger as we snuck past the dreaded Winnie the Pooh queue by saying "LOOK AT THE HONEY POTS" and then sprinting past all the fun stuff. I just really didn't want to get trapped there for 2 hours again like the last time, we can go back one evening and let him play. I left with Tigger after philharmagic. MIL and Grizzly went to Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch and according to MIL they had 'such amazing service!' She also apparently had the same fridge as in the 1940's scene of Carousel of Progress, and she was so excited to tell me this when she got back later. She reportedly like haunted mansion, but Grizzly didn't take her on Pirates because of the slight drops in the ride and her terrified reaction to the People Mover.

I meanwhile was back home trying not to strangle Tigger. I made us lunch. He refused to eat lunch. We then got all ready and headed down to the pool. It felt impossible to make it to the pool. Sometimes having a toddler is so frustrating. Tigger is pale as a ghost and turns red instantly in the sun, so I had just invested considerable time sunblocking him so I wanted to make use of that sun block darn it! On the way out of the lobby he spots the tv playing the endless loop of cartoons on the Duffy channel. The same cartoons he has seen way too many times to admit now. He has to watch one. I want to pull my hair out. I sit there fuming as I try to remind myself that it is in fact okay if we never make it to the pool. When one finishes I say we have to leave. "Six more" he says. I am so frustrated by this. Somehow I get him moving and we make it out the door. But this kid is obsessed with flowers, plants and leaves. Well this place is full of new flowers plants and leaves he has never seen before. The 3 minute walk to the pool takes us 45 as he has to inspect each new plant, each new flower, and each new leaf. To top it off there are leaf imprints in the side walk and Tigger has to inspect them all. Horticulturist perhaps? We make it to the pool and he spends 95% of the time picking up leaves (shocking!) and putting them in the tiny kiddy pool of the splash area. Only his ankles are wet. I spend 95% of the time removing leaves from the kiddy pool. We did flounder around in the big pool for a bit too. We had fun before starting the 45 minute walk back to the hotel where Tigger begs me over and over to take a bus while simultaneously picking up 100's of tiny leaves, handing them to me and asking me to count them. By the time we got back Grizzly and MIL arrived a few minutes later and I was just done. Grizzly got to put the beast down for his nap while I chatted with MIL who was very excited by the remainder of her MK morning. Her review was that "I liked EPCOT yesterday, but I LOVE the Magic Kingdom" How cool! We have a koolaid drinker on our hands!

MIL also is being a great roommate/non parent. When Tigger asked her if he could watch TV this morning MIL said "you have to ask your mama". That was awesome! She did get to be grandmotherly and let Tigger pick out a toy when we left Winnie the Pooh. He picked out a small Pluto. I was shocked that he didn't pick Daisy.

I think tonight we will head to EPCOT to catch Illuminations. We'll bring Tigger because tomorrow is Hollywood Studios day and since we aren't doing the headliners we don't really need to be there at rope drop.

Ah...all caught up minus the pictures. Now I can rest a bit before waking the beasts (MIL and TIgger).

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Okay, got one picture uploaded! Tigger and me on Astro Orbiter.

 

[ercrbc]

Great report! We are checking into OKW on Friday, also with toddlers so I am relating to your experiences quite a bit.

The stop at Dumbo made me laugh, we had the same issue with our kids on our Oct trip. We got them out by promising we would go directly back and spend more time playing

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Great report! We are checking into OKW on Friday, also with toddlers so I am relating to your experiences quite a bit.

The stop at Dumbo made me laugh, we had the same issue with our kids on our Oct trip. We got them out by promising we would go directly back and spend more time playing

Thanks! I think Disney could make a killing by selling massages right outside the ride. My neck was killing me from looking up trying to track my beast for so long.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Tuesday Evening:

So yesterday evening we had the wonderful idea of going to EPCOT to watch Illuminations in the evening. A plan that would come back to bite us big time today. On the surface the plan had merit. We let Tigger nap until he woke himself up at 6:15. Since today's plans included only HS we didn't feel the need to get up early, so we took Tigger with us even though his bedtime is typically 7:30pm. We will never learn.

We dined on horrendous frozen pizza for dinner. We won't do that again, and headed out to EPCOT at 7pm. First stop was club cool to have MIL and Tigger taste the sodas. MIL was cute and tried all of them. Beverly and the Chinese watermelon one were her least favorites. This was Tigger's first exposure to any kind of soda. He was smitten with the Ginger Ale, but didn't like all the other ones. His reaction to Beverly was quite funny. After Club Cool we stopped at the Character Spot. This was the best time and place to meet Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. There was zero line. Tigger was terrified of all of them. Since there wasn't a line the characters tried extra hard to entice him but he wanted nothing to do with them. The first camera guy dropped MIL's camera on the ground and it broke. Here was where I really am starting to warm up to her. She didn't flip out. She didn't get angry. She didn't say anything actually. Huh? Is this the same woman? For reference she still talks about how a waitress once dropped a sundae on FIL's lap and it completely ruined their meal, some 30 years ago. She said something like 'it happens, I needed a new one anyway'. My goodness what is in the water here? Whatever it is I have to find out and bring some home with me.

I went back in the Mouse Gear shop to try to get my ears again, hoping a different cast member would be able to help. This time I got a different story. It wasn't 'special ears company policy' this time I was told, try the Magic Kingdom, they have different machines. Hmmm... just goes to show you that Cast Members are not the most reliable sources of info. Still earless we headed over to find a Safari Amber and some salted caramel squares and just sat and chilled and killed time until Illuminations. MIL bought Tigger a light thingy. A $15 light thingy. He better not expect those every trip because I will certainly not pay $15, geeez!

I think the look on his face is why people buy them. He thought it was awesome. MIL LOVED Illuminations. Even the really boring part in the middle where the earth spins around and nothing happens. She LOVED LOVED LOVED it. This bodes well because we saved Fantasmic and Wishes for last because we like both of those shows better. After Illuminations we stayed put for about 10 minutes until most people had filed past then we easily made our way back to our car. Overall a fine evening, but the next morning, oh boy!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Ah Wednesday Morning, The morning of whiney toddler hell.

So after the first night of non-sleep I kicked Grizzly out into the living room. That left me and beasty in the studio, Grizzly in the living room and MIL in the master. The plan for this morning was to let Tigger sleep in, then hang out in the morning before sending MIL and Grizzly to HS for the afternoon. I planned on joining them with Tigger for Fantasmic. Um...after this morning there will be no Fantasmic for Tigger because I'm hoping to enjoy the remaining 2 days of my vacation. Sleeping in for Tigger meant he slept until 7:15 instead of 6:30. Grrrr. I brought him out to see his Dad and went back to bed. By the time I got up Tigger was just a plain old bear of a child. We decided to go to Downtown so I could find my ears, Tigger could play in the fountain and we could get some lunch. Then ensued us trying to coerce Tigger to go pee and put his shoes on. 30 minutes later I finally convinced MIL and Grizzly to just leave without us. Once they left Tigger had his shoes on and went pee within 5 seconds because he didn't want to be left behind. At Downtown Tigger was bearable, but not great and I really just wanted to get him home and resting so that maybe tomorrow can be better. He got to pick out a toy at downtown and chose a remote control train. Disney sells these remote control trains to torture parents. Firstly, the train had 8 of those terrible wire tie things holding the train in the packaging. Then the train required 2 AAA and a 9v battery. Who on earth travels with extra 9v batteries? Now, lets say for a moment that I happen to have a 9v battery, I certainly don't have a screw driver to get the tiny batter cover screws out. Grrrrrr.... So Tigger and I head down to the gift shop. On the way I meet Juan, a mechanic for Disney and ask him to open the battery cases for us. He is wonderful and helps us out. The gift shop has AAA but no 9v. When I ask about 9v she says they don't carry them, but that all the toys they sell need them. Further evidence that Disney is just trying to torture us. I buy the $7 AAA which do me no good without the 9v, but at least I'm 3/4 of the way to having a working train toy. Tigger has to sit and watch a cartoon in the lobby again, and once again wants to watch 6. At least he went down for a nap okay. I myself am enjoying writing my trip report and watching daytime television which I never get to watch, so all is good.

Tomorrow is a MK day with EMH in the morning. We hope to visit the new Fantasy Land. Yesterday we tried to eat at BOG, we headed over at 10:50 for an early lunch and the line was already humungous, so we just gave up and left. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.

On a brighter note. Yesterday during our trip to the pool Tigger lost his elevator button pushing privileges because he kept pressing too many buttons. Well he got them back today, and so far he has only pressed the buttons I have asked him to press.

Holy cow! I almost forgot the most important thing. I was able to get my Dr. Weasel ears at Downtown. Yeah! I plan on taking a picture of the back of my hat in front of the castle tomorrow and hanging that on my office wall instead of my diploma. They look awesome too!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Some pics from our trip :
Splashing around:

Grandma in her ears!

Dad and Tigger in their ears :

My favorite ride:

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

Anxious to hear how the rest of your trip went. i think you were going home on the day we arrived (yesterday). So far, so good for us!

 

[disney212]

Loving the pictures!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Magic Kingdom Thursday Day 4:

Don't worry I haven't forgotten you guys. Just got severely bogged down with trying not to kill Tigger, but that's a story for another entry. Right now I will bring us back to Thursday morning. We crawled out of bed. Yes, we are all crawling at this point. Even MIL says that she is getting tired. But we are troopers and make it to the Magic Kingdom just as the opening show is starting for the 8am Extra Magic Hour.

Our plan is to head straight for Enchanted Tales With Belle. Well, it turns out we were not the only people with this plan. Of the 1000 people who entered the park with us, I estimate 3 headed towards Space Mountain, 1 headed towards Thunder Mountain, and the other 996 went to Enchanted Tales With Belle. We arrived in line at 8:07 after stopping oh so briefly to grab fast passes for Under the Sea (Brilliant Idea by the way!). This was by far our longest wait of the trip, maybe 25 minutes, but 25 minutes is an eternity with an under the weather toddler that insists on being held.

I thought Enchanted Tales was super cute. The mirror part at the beginning just floored me. It was so awesome. Best special effect I've seen since going to a David Copperfield show. Lumiere was also very impressive. The engineer inside me just wanted to rip his arms off to see how he moved so effortlessly and lifelike. If you have a little girl between the ages of 3 and 8 I would say this is a must do. Belle was so sweet taking pictures with each child. Just so cool. If you are anyone else (ie. not a girl between 3 and 8), you have to do this at least once just to see the mirror part. Sooooo cooool.

Next we trotted over to Under the Sea with our fast passes. I thought this ride was cute. Certainly not a head liner, but my son adored the 'under the sea' part and said he wanted to ride again.

We then headed over to the Jungle Cruise, but found the line too long so we grabbed Fast Passes and sat and had ice cream. Still having time we went to the Enchanted Torture Room. My gosh the Tiki room is so terrible. Even MIL, who hasn't said anything bad all week admitted she didn't really like it. A quick hop on Aladdin's carpets and we were off on our Jungle Cruise. Our guide was amazing and MIL laughed and laughed the whole time. We then went on Pirates and then decided to call it quits because it was getting crowded and Tigger had reached his limit. We stopped to grab a few pictures of my Dr. Weasel hat in front of the castle. They really didn't turn out like I had pictured in my head. Grizzly and MIL took Tigger back to the hotel while I hung back in the park for a bit and just looked around. Made it back to the hotel just in time to go down to the pool with everyone. It was getting cold at this point so I opted to drink beer with MIL rather than swim. Tigger swam until he was blue and shivering. We then put him down for a nap and started "The Great Park Hop of 2013". The time was 2:30pm and we were determined to hit all the big rides at each park before the parks closed at 9pm. Would we make it? I'll add more tomorrow during my lunch break. Until then, have a wonderful day.