What a day!
I woke up early and very refreshed! I only got about 6 hours of sleep, but they have new mattresses on the beds at BWV and wow! What a difference. I got up and decided to go for a run. As Lyz said in an earlier post, since I became a runner, I have day-dreamed about running the World. So I had to.
It was COLD. No need to be jealous of the weather. It was about 45* out there! There were a surprising number of runners and walkers! I ran around the Boardwalk (did that loop twice) and then ran to the Studios and back. About 3.5 miles total. It felt great
very energizing to finally be running while here. I was looking for green WiSH shirts and hats, but saw none.
Came back and the kids were just waking up.
Decided to log on to the Boards
and saw a PM with CONGRATULATIONS as the title. Then it said to listen to the podcastnow! I started to shake. Literally. It was hard to type. After back and forth PMs, a text and a call from Lyz, it was confirmed that I had won a 4-night cruise on the Disney Wonder! I am still in shock.
After that news, it was really hard to focus on getting the kids fed and ready for a day at the parks. But we managed. We all froze while waiting for the boat to the Studios. But really, once there, we were fine.
We got there right at 9am and headed straight for Toy Story Mania to get our fastpasses. We did and we also noticed that the regular line only had a 20 minute wait. So did it once and then knew we could do it again during our fp time. BTW, at 9:10 the return time was 1pm. And by 11:30 all fastpasses for the day were gone. Yeah, it is THAT good. We all decided that it was our favorite attraction of the whole day.
Next up was Star Tours
.a walk-on. And then Muppet-Vision 3d
also a walk-on (walk-in). Also during this first hour, we saw Daisy and Minnie (together, which is an unusual find) plus most of the other classic characters. So, in the first hour we did 3 rides/attractions and saw some of our favorite characters.
At 10am we hit the new High School Musical 3 Pep Rally. VERY high energy. And fairly long
maybe 15 minutes? Anyone who loves HSM will love this. Our kids did. It is done right in front of the hat, so as soon as it was over, we did the Great Movie Ride
another walk-on. Then off to the Magic of Animation and more character time.
Lunch was at the Brown Derby
a first for us. And OMG was it good. Definitely enjoyed it. The portions, though, were pretty small. Even the kids meals were too small for them to really feel full.
After lunch, it was back to TSM. SUCH a great ride. This is definitely Imagineering at its best. I cant tell you how much we all loved it. They really have a hit with this one. And the Studios SO needed another major attraction.
Checking the Times Guide, we noticed that it was perfect for the Indiana Jones show, so there we went. They seem to have changed it up a bit (maybe because of the newest edition of the movie?) so it was nice to see it.
We headed down to the new Luigis Garage area where the Cars characters now have a permanent place for photos. We also hit Sorcerer Mickey for a photo op.
The next big thing for us was the new Pixar Block Party Bash (which is now the parade
but more of a show as opposed to a parade). OMG, I loved it. Loved it! Talk about high energy and tons of fun! A major highlight of the day. There are 4 major floats
.one with the Toy Story Characters, one with the Incredibles, one with Monsters Inc., and one with A Bugs Life. And it starts as a parade, but then the whole thing just stops
and whatever float is in front of you, then that is what show you see. It is about 20 minutes. And again
super high energy and fun.
We had the Monsters, Inc. float which was great. It was even more fun because the woman next to usher husband was ON the float and was the main performer (one of the green army men from Toy Story
and he did all of the talking, etc.). So it was SO fun to have her telling us about what was going on and then to see him interacting with his two little girls, etc.
My kids loved it and got chosen to be in it. They did the Macarena with Sully, which was a riot. They also did the YMCA song/dance. Too cute!
By this time, it was almost 4pm. We had choices to make
we could hit Lights, Motor Action, Little Mermaid, or Beauty and the Beast. We have seen them all. So instead, we decided for one more pass at characters, found the Incredibles and pics taken with them. And then slowly worked our way out of the park and back to the Boardwalk.
We never do R-n-R coaster or ToT because our kids are not big enough. Well, the two older ones can do ToT, but dont want to. So that is a non-issue at this point.
This is normally the point where we would hit the pool for an hour or two before dinner. But it was too cold to swim. About 70. And we had been chilly for a good part of the day, so we just hung out, pin traded around the resort (the kids are WAY into it), relaxed, had a beer, etc.
Dinner was at Cape May Cafe at Beach Club. We had to wait about half an hour for our table. It was decent, though not spectacular. We basically chose it because it was close to our resort and we knew that there would be plenty for us to eat (as vegetarians, the options are often limiting
thank God we eat fish, or it would be near impossible to eat while here). However, it was standard buffet fare
luke warm and decent, though nothing spectacular and no stand-outs.
Full-bellied, we meandered down the Boardwalk, taking in the sights and performers before heading in.
TomorrowEPCOT and Food & Wine!
We checked in quickly and went to our room in Casitas Building 1 which is a great location next to the main building. This was pure luck, I made no special room requests. 
Most rooms at CSR that had double beds have been converted to queens which was nice. We headed over to EPCOT for F&W festival and proceeded to eat and 
our way around the world. It was super super humid and there were some rain showers, but being floridians, this was nothing new to us. F&W is a bit pricey, but is so much fun. 
cloud9: )We headed over to AK and got lunch at the Yak and Yeti counter service place. (no sit down ADR's this trip!!). It was yummy, super fresh and a large portion. We got fast passes for the safari and looked at some animals while we were waiting. Below are DD faces while waiting in the short fast pass line...
) Just a *touch* of stretch to the denim - really comfy. But, because they are a tad too big, I've spent a good share of the day hoisting them back up again! 
I'm definitely going to try and find them in my more appropriate size!
Hope Erika is pickin' up my slack for me! 
nice kids, huh? 
Her hair is real dark in TSM, well, all the pictures where it's pulled back. Then in the tub, it's blond.
