I'm right behind your tushie!! A January 2011 TR!! Updated April 27th

[stayhomemom77]

It was the BEST SAFARI EVER!! The animals were all out and really active and our tour guide was AMAZING!! An ostrich was in the road blocking the truck ahead of us so we had to stop and wait a bit and we got a really good view of the ostrich then and again a few moments later when we passed them. We even got a really good look at the lions!! It was so fun!

I'm just going to throw up a couple of pics because DH took a kajillion (this is one of his faves!!) and it's all the same standard stuff you see on here anyway. I love these pics because he wasn't able to zoom in on the animals so you get a bunch of nice wide shots of the gorgeous scenery as well as tiny specks of animals. LOL

After that we stopped to drum a bit on our way to the Maharaja Jungle trek.

I like this trek better that Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and we had missed it in April.

No one wanted to stand in line to meet Meeko so DH just took a pic.

We then crossed back over to get on the train to head to Rafiki’s planet watch but got side tracked first by a fountain and then by an ice cream truck.

The fountain:

DD got a Mickey Bar and DS and DH got the sandwich. I passed…I had planned on having an ice cream snack this day but I wasn’t remotely hungry at this point (too many darned tator tots).

We had to wait at the stroller parking for the kids to finish their ice cream but it didn’t take too long. We hoped on with the smallest of waits and were soon on our way. I sure liked the train ride, although I think it’s sad when you have to hear “Sir, sit down!! No standing on the train, ma’am.” a whole ton of times.

We got a few pics and walked down the path to the building so happy and so carefree. We went inside and explored for a bit. The kids watched the movie on endangered species for a while and DD (animal lover) was worried about the poor BATS of all things!! I mean, seriously…the manatees didn’t phase her, it was the BATS!! Crazy kid!

After tossing some coins in the wishing well, we split up…lefties versus righties and eventually we lefties made our way outside. We went into the petting zoo area and then came right out again!! DS does not like petting zoos and I finally asked him what the heck was going on! He had known what it was but tried to make himself go in there and then panicked once the gate clanged shut behind us and demanded we leave at once. No hysterics or crying of any kind just an abrupt change of heart.

This hadn’t been the first time either. Remember ToT?? I sat him down on a bench and talked to him to find out what was going on in his little mind. At home, when the trip was in the vague future (where he understood he would be at least six or seven years of age) he had told me all about what he would try “on the next trip” assuming he would then be old enough to handle these attractions.

However, upon learning that the trip was so soon and that he would still be five, he was just trying to be brave. He complained that since we had tricked him about WHEN we were going on this trip he now felt that he needed to honor his earlier declarations about which rides and attractions he would now be brave enough to try. So really it was all MY fault. I assured him that he had already earned himself his stuffy simply by being brave at the character breakfasts and could choose for himself completely from now on.

I confessed to him that I DID hope he was still willing to go on Test Track with me but I wasn’t going to make him do it and it was up to him to choose. He promised me he would go on TT, I stated once again it was okay if he changed his mind when the time came and then we shopped a bit in the outdoor store there.

We then headed back inside…we hadn’t seen the others for a while and there isn’t a lot of ground to cover back there so we thought we’d try and find them. DS reached his hand in the little nook toward a fake spider which MOVED!!! in response to his reaching hand. It scared him so badly he jumped a mile and started crying and then really lost it when Mommy failed to hold in a laugh.

There it is…I am a cruel, evil mother who can’t comfort a terrified five year old without laughing at him. He let me hug him but I had to hold him for a long time. Eventually the righties found us and I had to explain why DS was so upset. He managed to dry up completely with Daddy’s gentle ministrations (he hadn’t laughed at him, of course) and explained fully….warning his sister not to stick her hand in there.

He was soon all smiles again and we headed back outside. The righties headed to the petting zoo and DS and I back to the store whereupon he purchased a marble egg.

After a time, the righties joined us (I bought a GIANT bag for my homeward bound purse that said “Tigger, is that you?” on it and pictured Pooh Bear examining a real tiger with a magnifying glass. I LOVE that bag.

While we looked around with the righties, I managed to scare DD with a fake snake and made HER cry. Yep, no mama of the year awards for me unfortunately. She refused to let me comfort her and ran to Daddy to tattle on me. She finally deigned to accept my apology and all was well with the world again.

We headed back to Africa for the strollers at this point. I’m glad we did Rafiki’s Planet Watch once, but DH and I were both somewhat underwhelmed by the whole experience…I just expected MORE I guess and it’s not likely we’ll bother heading back there again unless they add some new stuff. The best part of that area according to the kids was the shopping, although DD did seem delighted that the animals in the petting zoo area kept running away from her.

I'm at my pic limit so I'm going to leave it here for now!

Stay tuned for the remainder of our exciting day at the Animal Kingdom!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

We retrieved the strollers and split up once again…this time boys versus girls. We ladies headed to Camp MM to get Minnie’s autograph and the boys went to investigate the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. DD and I lucked out and got into an AMAZINGLY short line for Minnie and then not two minutes after lining up about FOUR THOUSAND PEOPLE got in line right behind us. I *think* we were seconds ahead of the Lion King show letting out which was great for our objective but sucky because when we arrived we thought we might be able to get in the line we’d passed to meet Lilo and Stitch. Due to the sudden swarm of crowds…this didn’t happen.

DD and I chatted with another mom and daughter ahead of us who were admiring my new bag and seemed confused by my vast Disney knowledge but apparent inexperience with lining up for character meets. We do a lot of character meals, what can I say?

Just like in HS, we were early to meet the boys but headed towards Dinoland anyway when we bumped into them almost quite literally when our two paths met. I chatted up a CM wanting to know the best strategy for exiting the park. We were heading to Dinoland for an hour but our departure time was scheduled to be during the parade and I wanted to be sure we could get out without too much trouble. She suggested we cut through the shops, which worked like a charm.

When we got to Dinoland, I asked DH if he minded me hanging back for a couple of minutes to rest while the rest of them headed into the Boneyard. I snagged a water and a seat but not before contemplating an ice cream purchase (too close to dinner) and snagged a pic of Pluto. Unfortunately, some pesky kids who waited patiently in line to meet him (and their folks with their own cameras) were in the way.

I sat for about 20 minutes and then brought the water in to share with the others.

They had made a beeline for the sandpits and refused to leave. If I’d known that…I would have just gone right in there to sit! DH kept telling them that if they wanted to climb on any of the equipment or get any pics taken they only had X mins left in which to do it but they both declared they wanted to stay in the pit until it was time to leave the park. Personally, I think it was the addition of the shovels and pails. They were having SO MUCH FUN playing in the fake sand with those buckets and we were chillin' on the sidelines so we were totally fine with it.

We left when our time there was up and headed out during the parade with nary a problem. Although one person attempting to do the same was in a rage about something and knocked a display of purses down and didn’t even look back. The lady right behind her picked most of it up and I helped with the rest. We didn’t even speak just rolled our eyes at each other and left the store feeling superior. (Well, I did…I can’t speak for the other lady!)

We hopped on the WL bus and had plenty of time to explore the interior of the resort before we needed to check in for dinner. We scored again as they still had their tree up. We had serious tree mojo all during this trip!!

DH hit up the gift shop in his ever continued search for a wallet while I took the kids over to play with the Lincoln logs even though it was still 20 minutes to five. Our ADR was for 5:05 pm but DH wanted me to check in RIGHT on time so we wouldn’t be seated quite so quickly.

Though we hadn’t had much to eat since the buffet at 10 am (nothing at all in my case) neither one of us was especially hungry. I checked in right on time but they still seated us right away…we got a pager but it was only a minute or two before it went off so I shrugged helplessly at DH and we followed our waitress Nicky (tag read Enrique) to our lovely window side table.

She pulled up a chair (we were her only table at that point) and thoroughly explained the dining plan entitlements to us. Bottomless milkshakes are still included in seven flavors (chocolate, vanilla, caramel, strawberry, cotton candy, bubblegum and orange). Though I knew better from last year, I ordered the milkshake AND the skillet and couldn’t manage to eat very much because I was so full from my refill!

DS asked for ketchup and 15 bottles were delivered to our table.

DS and DD were DELIGHTED and waited with baited breath until the next table asked for ketchup and we had to take all the bottles over to them.

The family at that table were all mouths agape when we appeared with the ketchup (must have been first timers!!) DS participated in this with great relish but avoided the pony races later. DD was a sport though and they were both disappointed that no one dropped their fork at our table!!

We requested waters somewhere in the middle of the meal but by then our server had many tables and we had to ask a couple of times and finally gave up when we asked for the check. She brought it out and told us that she was just waiting on bottles of water from the other restaurant. We got our desserts to go (yummy cheesecake!!) and the water bottles really came in handy later.

Oh my gosh, I STUFFED myself at this meal. All you can eat skillet and unlimited refills on milkshakes kick my behind I tell ya!! I was seriously lucky I didn't make myself sick. DH although he didn't get the skillet ate all of his generous meal and then sampled a bit of mine (cause I hardly put a dent into several of the items though I did eat quite a lot!!) so he too was a bit rolly polly at the end of the meal. We were serious piggies...it was a bit ridiculous and NOT my finest hour!!

We headed back to the bus stop, this time to head to DTD. This had always been the plan, but I was quite glad we were going to be going to walk off some of the gluttony of dinner.

It was about 6:30 pm at this point and dark. We waited a while for a bus and then endured the torturous bus ride of eternity with stops at GF, Blizzard Beach and finally DTD. It was drizzling a bit at this point but no one minded…I offered out the ponchos but no one wanted to wear one. We shopped a bit in several stores and I insisted we go to Goofy’s where I got myself a make your own treat. I got the giant vanilla oreo dipped in dark chocolate and mini m&m’s with a milk chocolate drizzle. We worked on this beauty for the rest of the week. It was SOOOOOO tasty!

T-Rex was a zoo but we made our way down there so the kids could make their own Dino’s. We stopped on the way to do the Cha Cha slide and then continue on for the Dino’s. I made DH grab pics of the Dino's on the wall because his sister and her family are going to be doing this next month and I thought she'd be interested.

DD was then broke and DS had about $25 left. We split up when we left there so that the boys could check out the Lego store while DD and I headed straight for WoD where the boys would meet us when they were done.

I made another rookie mistake but not saying “where” to meet at WoD and we spent a fair amount of time trying to find the boys once we’d shopped our fill. At one point I got the handles of a lady’s bag wrapped around the stroller wheel and it was a ridiculous comedy of errors while I tried to get it off. DD couldn’t stop giggling and neither could I. The poor woman was obviously waiting on someone and had several bags piled on the floor as out of the way as she could get them but she moved them after our stroller tried to shoplift!

We finally found the boys and headed back to the bus stop. While waiting in line for the bus, DD made friends with two sisters one of which was her age who insisted on sharing some of their stickers with my kiddies. The little sweeties were from Shreeveport and were so cute and polite and the three of them chatted from the moment they met until the moment they were ripped apart to go in different directions once we were back at the resort.

Seriously, they barely drew breath and were making one another laugh so hard on the bus that they were cracking up all the people around them.
Mom and Dad started chatting us up and you could see the girls came by it honestly. We had a really pleasant ride back to the hotel with our friends from Shreeveport (and can I just confess, I just kept wanting to say…”Go to bed, y’all from Shreeveport?” a la Ray from The Princess and the Frog. I restrained myself though and only said it to DH in the safety and privacy of our room later on!)

Bedtime routine was efficient this night and DH and I finally had our cheesecake dessert. I didn’t make notes so I can’t be sure but I do believe I ate the entire thing. It tasted just as good as it had in April and since DH had his own I ate my up guilt free!

Up next: Our Park free day...well, kind of!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

WOW you are an updating machine today!!!
Lots of adventure - don't feel bad about not being mother of the year - we all have our days!

Love Minnie's cute outfit!!

 

[onescgirl]

y'all are having a great trip!
I LOVE the picture with Minnie all dressed up in her Christmas attire! I didn't know they did that at Christmas time.
I would love to eat at WCC the next time we go. I would not tell anyone else in my family about the ketchup & would love to see the looks on their face when they asked for it!!

 

[Duchie]

I love your updates! We've never done the build your own dino and seeing the pics of them I wish we had. Those are really cute.

I have to admit we're also rookies to eating at WL. Do they always bring 15 bottles of ketchup if you ask for it? Dare I ask what happens if you drop your fork? The next time we go we want to stay at the DVC units there so I loved seeing your pics.

 

[stayhomemom77]

y'all are having a great trip!
I LOVE the picture with Minnie all dressed up in her Christmas attire! I didn't know they did that at Christmas time.
I would love to eat at WCC the next time we go. I would not tell anyone else in my family about the ketchup & would love to see the looks on their face when they asked for it!!

I knew they dressed up at Christmas but I was really surprised she was still in her Christmas outfit when we were there. All intel pointed to regular programming as of January 4th. So, I was thrilled we lucked out on this bit of magic. DD was soooooo happy to meet Minnie.

There's a list I read somewhere (I DIS too much so I really have no idea where I saw it...either on here or on AllEars) that suggests a bunch of things to do/say to get an "unexpected" response from your server there. Some people get intimidated by it but it fits right in with this goofy family. When we went last year they were singing "If you're happy and you know it" into a microphone and they did "....shout yee haw!" and then the mic was suddenly in my face. So, I yelled YEE HAW!! as loud as I could. Good times, good times.

I love your updates! We've never done the build your own dino and seeing the pics of them I wish we had. Those are really cute.

I wasn't overly excited about the Dino's. We practically LIVE in our BAB workshop here in our local mall. The kids go around and around and around examining accessories until I think I'm going to go bonkers but it was their money and they were determined to get a Dino each. The excitement over them died before the trip ended.


I have to admit we're also rookies to eating at WL. Do they always bring 15 bottles of ketchup if you ask for it? Dare I ask what happens if you drop your fork? The next time we go we want to stay at the DVC units there so I loved seeing your pics.

YUP! Always! It's great...my kids were so gleeful. If you drop your fork, they'll bring you one that's three feet tall! And if you get a soda and ask for a refill they bring you a giant mason jar full! I can't remember all the other stuff they do but there's a huge list of ways they mess with you.

I'm sorry the photos were of such poor quality but I think DH's phone was pretty good considering there was no flash. Gellybean also stayed there in December so check out her TR for more pics.

 

[merbobear]

I'm only halfway through your DHS day, but loving your TR so far! I would have been devastated at the lack of camera charger...good thing your dh saved the day with his android!

 

[merbobear]

I'm only halfway through your DHS day, but loving your TR so far! I would have been devastated at the lack of camera charger...good thing your dh saved the day with his android!

 

[clayfolks]

I spent last night and this morning reading your PTR and TR instead of working!! Thank you so much for the entertainment. I can't wait for the next installment.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I'm only halfway through your DHS day, but loving your TR so far! I would have been devastated at the lack of camera charger...good thing your dh saved the day with his android!

I spent last night and this morning reading your PTR and TR instead of working!! Thank you so much for the entertainment. I can't wait for the next installment.

Hey folks!! Welcome to my TR. I'm really glad you are enjoying it. The next installment is coming up next.

Regarding the charger...I was all set to try and buy a replacement one (charger, battery, heck...even camera ) but as you say DH saved the day with his android. That's the second time I've forgotten to pack the charger. I forgot on our last trip too. Although the camera only began dying on our third last day that time, thank goodness.

Update coming right up!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Howdy folks...I'm back for another installment!!

Everyone slept in until 8 am this morning and woke up feeling so good! Although this was supposed to be a park free day, we decided that we would be going into Epcot for lunch (YUM!!) and would likely stay for a few hours. Dinner was to be at Kouzzina’s tonight so we could (and did) stay right through until we needed to leave for our ADR.

Our first objective was breakfast which was quickly achieved. I think the kids had pancakes, I had the Bounty Platter again and shared with DH, who just got cereal. Sorry, no pics again...because DH was the resident photographer, I didn't bug him too much about the CS options and sometimes I just plain forgot.

There was absolutely NO inside seating so we sat just outside the door. After breakfast we headed down to the playground where the kids made more friends and had a good time. We let them play for a good long while and then, around 10:30 am (it was nice and sunny but the breeze was cool) we started to pool hop. Relax everyone…we only hopped at Pop!!

We started with the computer pool at the kid’s insistence, then moved to the hippy dippy and finally the bowling pin pool. We then headed back to the room to shower and change. I cannot tell you just how delighted the kids were with this little activity! A whole morning spent checking out the playground and pools of our resort?? And no one rushing them because we had “something” else to do next? They were seriously in seventh heaven! I have since resolved to have more of these days built into our future trips.

When everyone was ready we headed to Epcot. The kids were not interested in sampling what the World Showcase had to offer so we brought along leftover breakfast juice and uncrustables for them. Because it was already lunchtime (close to 1 pm), we pretty much headed straight for the World Showcase.

On the way to Norway (where I was getting my meal) we somehow ended up behind a lady who decided to remove her thick sweater. Her skirt must have had some static cling going on because it hitched a ride with the sweater and DD and I were “treated” to a lovely view of her leopard print underwear which was readily visible even though she was wearing black tights. Her daughter noticed and snatched at the top to pull it back down while DD and I stifled giggles.

Anyway, I was getting my meal from Norway and DH decided to get something from China. Sorry, we first picked up TT fastpasses and then headed to Norway and the kids had already finished their uncrustables so we got them Mickey ice creams while we walked. Ugh…the details are becoming sketchy already!

Some pics of Norway:

I had DD with me and the boys went to China. I got in the longish line and ordered the Norwegian club with a fruit cup and cream horn for dessert. My food was amazing!! DH and I shared everything and we sat in the Norway dining area.

DH came back with a veggie stir fry with white rice and red bean ice cream. His food was disgusting!! I only took a couple of bites, made a face and told him it was gross.

He was all mystified when I still handed over one half of the sandwich. He kept trying to give it back. It took me a good five minutes to convince him that I only wanted half of a meal. He was so worried I wasn’t going to get enough to eat but finally, after telling him that if I was hungry later I would get something later, he took the sandwich.

And it was a good thing too because he didn’t like his meal either. He ate more of it than I did but a fair amount of it got trashed. I tried the red bean ice cream and didn’t like it and once again he was baffled when I handed over (more than) half of my cream horn even though I told him it was delicious. We offered up everything to the kids and DS tried (and liked) the desserts and shared with us but rejected everything else. DD wouldn't even try the cream horn!!

We cleaned up and moved on forgetting to get the pic with the troll!! For the third time, I had to explain to DH why I “wasn’t eating anything.” We’ve been together for 15 years and I can pack it away!! But NOT on vacation. Through trial and error I’ve learned to take it easy when it comes to food intake on vacation or there are serious repercussions.

Added to that was the fact that I had been dieting successfully for seven months and just didn’t have the appetite I once had. He likes to splurge on vacation…I like to nibble. But although he had been given such information (REPEATEDLY) he couldn’t seem to retain it. He had somehow gotten it into his mind that I was leaving the table hungry every time we ate so he felt guilty when I gave away half of my food to him and didn’t take anything in return. Sadly, the third time was not the charm in this case and he continued to be puzzled for the remainder of the trip.

We headed clockwise around the world showcase from Norway. I insisted we hit up Karamel Kuche for some tasty treats (a caramel filled chocolate cookie for me and some soft caramel thing for Randy) for later. We just strolled really and popped into stores where and when they occurred to us.

Italy:

We popped into the store in Japan to check out the Pokemon goods and DS spent the remainder of his money on a couple of figurines and DD and I secretly picked up a couple more for him for his upcoming birthday.

Considering his purchase:

Morocco:

Canada:

We pushed on towards Future World once again and look what we found!!

I was so geeked!! We had seen the Christmas trees in all 4 parks!! Who hoo!! I was on .

DH continued to look for a wallet without success and we eventually made our way to Club Cool. I tasted everything INCLUDING the Beverly. (DH did too and actually LIKED IT!!) DS tried everything BUT the Beverly and DD tried nothing. She doesn’t drink pop…she hates the bubbles.

Before trying Beverly. This is my nervous face:

Aaaaaaaand after:

That is some bitter stuff! It tastes like liquid citrus rind. YUCK!!

DS and I then cashed in our fastpasses for TT while DD and DH waited. DS was a trooper. Though he kept assuring me he WANTED to go on this ride, I could tell he was pretty nervous about it. I held his hand the entire time and there were parts of it that he liked but when you go outside on the track really fast I looked over at him and he had his teeth tightly clenched with a really comical grimace on his face while he said, “wheeeeeeeeee!”

I almost died laughing. I showed him what his face had looked like and he made me do it over and over and over again. Then he made me do it for the others. We didn’t have a ton of time left before we had to leave for dinner so instead of going on again with DH (which DS was still interested in doing) we just went as a family to Mission: Space. This was one of the rides DD needed to go on in order to earn her stuffy. She went reluctantly and nervously and seemed to have fun at the time but when we got off she said it was completely scary and had no interest in going on it again.

Okay picture limit...I'll leave it here for now!

 

[ocean134]

I am loving all the pictures. I miss being there so much. I just sigh with each pic.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I am loving all the pictures. I miss being there so much. I just sigh with each pic.

Welcome, welcome!!

I'm glad our less-than-perfect pictures are bring you some joy. (Well, AND sadness but let's not focus on that!!)

I'm going to try and bang out another update tonight tomorrow so stay tuned.

 

[ocean134]

Welcome, welcome!!

I'm glad our less-than-perfect pictures are bring you some joy. (Well, AND sadness but let's not focus on that!!)

I'm going to try and bang out another update tonight tomorrow so stay tuned.

That's right, we won't focus on the sad stuff.

 

[stayhomemom77]

A randomly taken TT pic...

Okay so I left off with us riding Mission:Space as a family and DD relieved that she had in fact earned herself her stuffy. Our plan was to pick it up the following day when we were back in Epcot for our "official" park day. Earlier in the day when we had been in the store in Japan the kids had decided upon which stuffy they were going to choose when the time came.

I think there was a potty stop and then at this point we had to go. It was getting dangerously close to our ADR time and we still needed to cross and exit the park.

DD had a meltdown upon discovering that she was going to have to wait until the next day before getting the stuffy she so richly deserved (even though we TOLD them it wasn't going to be today, she felt the strain of the last ride had raised the stakes, so to speak). She stared crying...HARD. So, DH left us where the path branches off at England to go to the exit and jogged off to Japan to buy one Pichu for DS and one Pikachu for DD.

We were about 10 minutes late for our ADR due to this detour and because when we had a view of the Boardwalk and BC/YC area, DH stopped to take some photos. He was suitably impressed when I told him that I had always wanted to stay in this area.

Tushie alert!!

I knew we were late but we didn’t bother rushing and in the end it didn’t seem to matter at all. We checked in at 5:15 and only waited a couple of minutes before being seated. I didn’t have time to check out the Boardwalk bakery and get my Mickey head cake (another thing on my Wish List) so we agreed we’d stop a little later.

We were seated in Cora’s room all by our lonesome and we stayed that way until about quarter to six. It was nice, private and we had great service! This night was going to be the other half of our Kona night. I was ordering side dishes and an appetizer while DH was using the TS credit and then we were going to be sharing.

We ordered Calamari to start and it was tasty although I was a bit grossed out by the whole baby squid that DH found and insisted on showing the rest of us (and eating!!) Apparently I can handle the little circles but not that. LOL

DH ordered the Lamb Shank and I got Agvolemono (lemon chicken rice soup) and a side of garlic fried smashed potatoes which were delicious. I also couldn’t get enough of the bread. It was so tasty with the olive oil for dipping.

DS actually ordered a meal here…pizza so we paid OOP for him with my stuff. DD ordered the chicken skewer (mom and dad were so proud she got something sort of authentic for the restaurant) and everyone liked their meals.

Other servers brought out the food and they brought both kids a pizza. I told them DD’s order was wrong and the gent tried to get her to just eat the pizza because the chicken was made fresh and wouldn’t be ready for like 20 minutes. That ticked off both DH and myself and DD just calmly said that she would wait for her chicken. It came out in like 5 minutes so they either had hers made and someone else’s pizza was brought to our table by mistake or it doesn’t actually take 20 minutes to cook four pieces of chicken on a skewer!!

I tried a bit of DH's meal…it was quite tasty but I wasn’t a big fan of the gigante beans. I was pretty full by the time dessert came around but DH ordered the Loukomades and we shared. I didn’t like them and neither did he. I ate one and he had a couple but we agreed we’d never get them again.

The kids got the pizza dessert cookies and were in seventh heaven once again because I told them it was a cool dessert but didn’t say what it was so they were surprised when it was brought out! They also tried a Loukomade each and it was a unanimous vote against the little doughnut holes. Either we’ve been spoiled by Tim Horton’s or they’re just not that good…either way…we won’t be eating those again.

Originally, the idea was to head back to Pop once dinner was over but as it was only a little after 6 pm and we were still feeling energetic we decided to go back into the park for a bit. We lingered and enjoyed the sights of the Boardwalk after dark.

Then the unthinkable happened...we FORGOT TO GO TO THE BAKERY!!! So, for anyone who’s counting I had planned on hitting up all three of the bakeries for certain treats and didn’t get to try a single one!

Missing the bakery didn’t occur to me until the following day and DH suggested we hit it up that night before leaving but I decided against it. I did get a second chance to go to that one and voted against it so it in no way sucked any of the magic out of my vacation.

However...the next time we go to Disney my main priority is going to be hitting up THOSE BAKERIES!!

We went back into Epcot and came across these:

We went straight back to Mission:Space so the boys could ride the orange side. DD and I hung out in the gift shop while we waited. Unfortunately, it started pouring and the strollers were outside so they were completely soaked when we were ready to go. The kids sat in them anyway and never complained so I guess it couldn’t have been too bad.

Because there was no line at Nemo we decided to finish up the night there. DH really wanted to end the night with a ride all four of us were going on and this is the one we chose. It was really fun….absolutely no wait and the kids were annoyed that we kept chivying them along the queue…they wanted to stop and look for ages but Mom and Dad weren’t quite as interested in this idea.

So we finished on a high note and headed out towards the busses when the suggestion was made (I’m not sure by whom) that we should head to Port Orleans for a little prowl around. We hopped in their bus line and waited over 20 minutes with no bus in sight. At this point it was now after 8 pm and I thought we should abort. We’d have to rush and it was dark anyway and we still had time to do this on departure day so DH agreed.

We waited only a few minutes at our bus stop even though we watched a bus pull away when we were still too far to catch it so we were excited about that. The kids were in bed by 9:23 pm and were very soon fast asleep.

 

[Purpleblanket]

We did so much during our week between Christmas and New Years but the one thing we missed that I really wanted to do was roam the "Boardwalk" and maybe take friendship ship there.
I guess that is a good excuse to go back!
But what do you do when I'm the only one who has the disney "bug" and wants to go back???

Debbie

 

[onescgirl]

It looks like you had a great day at Epcot! I love your Beverly face!

Those pizza dessert cookies look so cute & yummy!

 

[stayhomemom77]

We did so much during our week between Christmas and New Years but the one thing we missed that I really wanted to do was roam the "Boardwalk" and maybe take friendship ship there.
I guess that is a good excuse to go back!
But what do you do when I'm the only one who has the disney "bug" and wants to go back???

Debbie

That's an excellent question!! I'm not the only one who wants to go back...the kids want to go too but DH isn't interested in visiting there any time soon. He wants to do a few other trips first. I began saving my own personal spending money the instant we got back and if I had my way, we'd be going again at the end of August.

The boardwalk area is great! We did spend some time there (obviously) but I would like to go back and explore it more thoroughly and OF COURSE hit up the bakery! Eventually, I'd love to stay at the Boardwalk...it's taken some time but I think I can reconcile myself to the Creepy Clown!

It looks like you had a great day at Epcot! I love your Beverly face!

Those pizza dessert cookies look so cute & yummy!

My kids were also quite delighted with my Beverly face! I tried and tried to get them to try it but they were having none of it. DS has recently begun to suggest that next time we go he might be willing to give it a quick taste but I'm thinking it's just all talk!

I didn't sample the cookies myself but I do know that the sauce was the same stuff we got for dipping the Loukomades into and it was tasty. The kids had no complaints though and ate every scrap of their desserts. It was a great meal!

 

[stayhomemom77]

I guess I missed putting in our Spaceship Earth ride (I know it was still light out because I remember parking the strollers so it would have been in the afternoon somewhere possibly before TT) but anyway I rode with DD and she made me laugh by saying, “I can’t believe we’re at Disney!”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “We’ve been here for days!”

“I know but I think that every day we’re here!”

What a silly girl and even more vindication for the surprise that sort of fell flat when we told them about the trip. I had a really great time on this trip and everyone was so happy and cheerful and having so much fun!

DH and I hardly ever fight but we’ve been known to snark at one another on vacation (we had a GIANT fight on our honeymoon—too funny, although we didn’t think so at the time!!). I guess the stress of traveling just gets to us and I am ashamed to say that we’ve even gotten angry at one another in Disney!

BUT NOT THIS TRIP!! I’m so totally serious when I tell you that we didn’t have one single argument the entire time we were on vacation. I can’t speak for him absolutely of course but I think it was because we were all so relaxed and rested that we were able to deal with the little minor annoyances that came along and not take it out on one another. That was certainly true in my case.

Anyway...I've got a few pics of Spaceship Earth but they're...well, I'll let you judge them for yourselves:

That first one was amazing, no? DH gave up after the second pic...dark, moving rides with no flash equal really bad pics! Lesson learned!

Okay, so that was a bit of day five fixing...now on to Day Six like the title says!!

The day dawned and we got up around 8 a.m. for our last full day at Disney. We were heading back for the “official” Epcot day and we wanted to be fairly early but we weren’t willing to kill ourselves to make rope drop. We got to the park at 9:10 am and we were just fine with this arrival time. As we passed through the ticket stiles DD cracked the rest of us up by saying, “Ahh…it’s just like I remember!” Hmmmm…could it be because we were just here LAST NIGHT??

The boys headed to TT right away for the ride they’d postponed last night and we ladies went over to get Soarin’ fastpasses. The boys had no wait and rejoined us earlier than expected.

We had time to hop on LWTL before heading back outside to head over to TT to meet them but they were approaching the stroller parking area just as we were exiting the building so they saved us the walk. We made a potty stop and then headed to Innoventions to make the Velcro frogs and we had finished all of this before 10 a.m.

Outside of early entry which I experienced for the first time this trip, we have found that arriving within fifteen minutes of rope drop works the best for us. I can’t handle the press of the crowds very well (my claustrophobia) so those few precious minutes means that we miss the sea of bodies and yet we’re still there early enough to get decent fastpass times and hit some of the rides with little to no wait times. We had time to do the Great Piggy Bank Adventure before heading back to The Land to use our Soarin’ fastpasses. We were in the front row (who hoo) C and I just LOOOOOOOOOVE this ride.

While we were in line, I was able to tell the kids about Cassandra the famous prophetess from Ancient Troy and there were two tweens in the family behind us that were absolutely spellbound by my story. It actually made me sort of self conscious because I knew that they were listening. The ENTIRE time we waited in line (for about 10 minutes or so) not one word was spoken between anyone in that family!! Mom, Dad, daughter and son all stayed mum the whole time. I confess that sort of creeped me out. Now granted, my kids are still young enough that I have to “entertain” them in line but I guess I just figure that some kind of conversation beyond the “stop kicking your sister” and “get down from there” type of thing generally goes on in families when they’re on vacation. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was weird.

Anyway, I managed to entertain four kids with my mad storytelling skills and I had my ride. It was great! I was all excited because I noticed that at the end of the scene when we arrive at Disneyland, it was all decorated for Christmas!! So cool that Soarin’ is seasonal!

After getting back from California we went on LWTL (again in the case of me and DD). I know this ride is pretty tame, but it’s one of my favourites. It’s always been quite popular with our family…we seem to like the boat rides and there’s just something cool about a ride that also teaches you something…FUN!!

Again, a dark ride that moves and no flash so these aren't the greatest but any pic is better than no pic when you're jonesing for a Disney fix, am I right?

Hmmm...I'm starting to think that this must be one of DH's faves too...why else would he take this many pics of the dark. Ah...here are some that are decently lit:

How many more of these should I post?

Alright! Did ya feel like you were actually on that ride for a minute there?

Dang...picture limit!! Okay, I'll leave it here for now and then I'll come back in an hour or two and get a bit more done!

 

[onescgirl]

Great Epcot day! I love the Living with the Land ride.