My family's 1st trip to WDW. Update 11/28 So Sad It Is Our Last Day Pg 10 Final Post

[mkluvsmickey]

Great update! Liberty Tree Tavern looks great - can't believe we've never tried there before. Your kids are all adorable too! Looking forward to more.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I am subbing to your TR. I love reading reports, but especially love the ones about families of 5 because that is what we are. I'm loving your TR so far.

I know that I always liked reading the TR with families that I could relate to as well. How old are your kids?

 

[Nancy for Disney]

On my PP I was concerned if we would make it to EPCOT by opening on an AM EMH day. I had read other’s posts about how awful and unreliable all the buses are at POR, especially the EPCOT buses. There had been posts about waiting 45 minutes for a bus and people missing AM EMH because of the lack of an EPCOT bus. I had a plan though. If a MK bus came first we were hopping on that one and then taking the monorail to EPCOT even though we would have to change monorails. That certainly would be quicker, right? Well amazingly enough, we did all get up on time and we went to the bus stop and we waited probably less than 5 minutes and the very first bus that came by was going to EPCOT. Yeah, baby!! We got to EPCOT right at 8 am. My plan was to head straight to Test Track. It says 15 min wait time so we do standby which was my plan anyway. Here is a picture of us in line:

Our next stop was Mission Space. The scary side (orange?) has a wait time of 50 minutes. That is ok because I wasn’t going to do that side my first time although Goofy really wanted to. I promised him we would do it when we came back on Tuesday even though I know better to make promises I can’t keep. Mulan and Mickey can’t handle the spinning so them doing it was out of the question. Mulan has a medical condition that prevents her from doing that kind of spinning and Mickey just doesn’t care for it. I did like this ride but have developed claustrophobia in my old age. I was glad that it wasn’t any longer than it was. I was most certainly willing to do the more intense side.

After MS it is off to The Land for Sorin’ FP. By this time it is right at park opening and the FP machines have a little bit of a line. We get our FP with a return time of about 11:45 if my memory is correct. It is off the Living w/ the Land boat ride with no wait. Here are some pictures from our ride:

Next we decide to go see Honey I Shrunk the Audience but they don’t have a show until 10 am. We decide to kill some time at the Kodak store I think it is called ImageWorks. We do the thing where we take our picture and add funny hats to e-mail to your friends and family. I can’t figure out how to post them though. We also talk to the Kodak employees to view the pictures we had taken so far. Someone from our family and I am not really sure who had dropped our camera and the preview screen had broken (I am sure there is a more technical name for it but I don’t know what it is). We need to make sure we were still taking pictures. Finally it is time for HISTA. Here we are with our 3-D glasses.

I liked this movie. It was fun and had some nice surprises. I love how Disney does that with their movies. I won’t be a spoiler and tell what the surprises were.

We are hungry by now so it is back The Land Pavilion for lunch at Sunshine Season. We all kind of go our separate ways to get our meals and meet at the bakery counter for our obligatory DDP dessert. OMG those desserts look good. We each choose something. This is looking like it is going to be the best meal we have yet. I can’t help myself any longer.
I say “Mickey, these desserts look so good I want to take a picture.”
He says “You have got to be kidding.”
I say “Just pass me the camera”.

This time I take a moment and arrange everything so it looks a little organized. Here is the picture:

I got the Ham and Salami Grinder. The strawberry shortcake on the left is mine too. Mickey got the fruit tart, Goofy got the key lime pie and in the far left corner is Ariel’s choc chip cookie. Mulan had gotten a pretzel at the food cart outside the pavilion as that is all she wanted. One thing to remember if you are in the DDP is that kid’s meals do not come with the extra dessert. I got confused on that and ended up using a snack credit but that was ok since we hadn’t used any the day before. I really liked this place to eat. Lot’s of choices and amazing desserts just slightly confusing having to go to all the different stations. I am pretty certain my strawberry shortcake had REAL whipped cream in it. Sunshine Seasons gets a YUMMO!

It still isn’t time to use our FP for Sorin’ so we leave The Land and go to the nearest interesting attraction which is Figment. There is maybe a 5 minute wait. We get lucky because the only tour group we see the entire trip gets in line directly behind us. Cute attraction but that is all there really is to say about that.

Finally we use of FP for Sorin’. Since I don’t like heights that will be the closet I ever get parasailing over the ocean. What an amazing experience. I can see why they run out of FP’s so quickly. It had a bout a 40 min wait when we used our FP.

We knew that we would either get another FP for either Sorin’ or TT based on what we liked best. The kids overrule me and decide on TT. We walk across Future World and Mickey goes to get a FP. We watch the end of the Jammitor’s performance while Mickey does this. For those of you of you that aren’t familiar with them they play garbage cans. I liked them but all of a sudden Goofy and Ariel get a little hot and whiney so they sit in the tree by the shade. Ariel keeps saying she wants to ride the monorail next.

Next we see that they are starting the next show of Ellen’s Energy Adventure so we do that. I forget that it is a 45 min show and there is no getting out of your seat but we could use the rest. Believe it or not my kids really like this. Ariel is still saying she wants to do it again and thought it was funny. It is entertaining but not so entertaining you that want to do it twice in the same trip.

After this we head over to World Showcase via ferry boat with the plan we will work our way back around starting in Germany. A picture from the ferry:

Once there Goofy and Ariel get their face painted in Africa. While Mickey stays with them Mulan and I walk around and discover the $37,500 castle for sale in the glass story in Germany.

When we come out we see that Snow White is singing autographs. We had a neat experience with her. It was so neat that I will do a separate post when I get the photopass pictures back.

One of Ariel’s priorities had been to see the Chinese Acrobats. We rest and wait for them for about 15 minutes. It is out in the sun and it is 3:00. I think this is the hottest part of our Aug trip in Florida. Here are some pictures:

Then it is off to Norway. We decide to go on the boat ride since the wait is 20 minutes. Ariel gets to fight like a Viking while were are waiting in line for their boat ride.

Here is a picture of the viking ship outside the Norway Pavilion:

To be continued very soon.......

 

[Nancy for Disney]

It is now time for our ADR at Coral Reef which is 4:20. They seat us almost right away. This is where my confession comes out. We get our food. I make Mickey hand me the camera. I start to go crazy taking pictures of everyone’s meals because this is the best food we have had so far. Mickey has had it.

Mickey says “Why do you keep taking all these pictures of food. You have got to be kidding me!”

The kids all chime in and say “Come on Dad. Don’t you know that all Mom has done all summer is look at pictures of Disney food on the internet?”

Mickey: “Is this true?”

Me: “Yes”.

So, I have finally told my husband that I am addicted to porn……. FOOD PORN.

Unfortunately something happened to our camera. None of my food porn pictures turned out. We only get one good shot and it is of course dessert:

Here my brief review of the meal. I had the Mahi Mahi. Very good. DH and Mulan had a wonderful steak. Definitely the best beef of the trip. Goofy gets bold and tries the Seafood Linguini. Immediately after taking one bite of shrimp he says his lips are swelling and they do turn a very bright red. We think he may have an allergic reaction so he ends up sharing the steak with Mickey. I think Ariel has the Kid’s Mac and Cheese which wasn’t that great but we went into it knowing that the steak eaters would have to share with her. The steak was quite large so there was plenty to go around. Nobody else was impressed with the dessert except for me. I had the Bailey’s and Jack Mousse. OMG, this was so good. By far my favorite food of the entire trip. It would be worth it to eat here just for that. I ended up eating everything and ate so much that if felt a little afterwards but I would do it again. Coral Reef also get a YUMMO!

We tour the The Seas Pavilion after dinner which include the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk w/ Crush. All very cute. We call each other “Dude” for the rest of night but who can’t after spending 20 minutes with Crush?

We use our TT FP next. Wee, that is fun going around the track! We take some time and play in the cars that the sponsor is trying to sell us. Mulan wants this truck:

We decide it is time to leave since it is about 6:30 and we had been going since 8 am but wait, there is no line at Spaceship Earth. . I had read somewhere that it was better to do this attraction when you leave vs. when you arrive and whoever wrote that was correct. This is such a rough attraction with all the high speeds, turns and bumps that this is where Ariel looses a body part. Ok, does a tooth count as a body part? Ariel had a loose tooth for quite some time and in the middle of the attraction I hear a scream “Mom, I lost my tooth!” Ariel was in the cart nest to me and Goofy. And by the way, for those that do not know, Spaceship Earth is one of the tamest most restful attractions in WDW.

We did have fun with the interactive game where they take your picture of you in the future. Goofy and I picked swimming.

We take a lot of time playing with video/virtual games they have set up inside Spaceship Earth.

Finally we head home but Ariel had been asking all day to ride the monorail so I suggest we take the Monorail to TCC and then to MK and then hop on a bus back to POR. This takes a lot of extra time but we sure do like riding the monorail. I don’t recall what time it was but I know it was after 7 pm and EPCOT seemed pretty dead. We are pretty tired so the relaxing ride on the monorail is nice but I think we spent an extra 45 minutes traveling with the transfer.

When we get back to our room the TV is on. That is a little odd because we know we didn’t have it on this morning. Then we noticed this:

Our Mousekeeper had set it up so Mrs. Flabidee could watch TV with remote control and everything.

Mickey takes Ariel and Goofy for a quick swim in the quiet pool. Then finally it is off to bed because we want to try and make the opening ceremony at Animal Kingdom. I hear they have a good one too.

Coming Next: The Coolest Mom Ever Hits Animal Kingdom.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hi there, just checking in to let you know I am subbing to your report. I am really enjoying it so far and I can't wait to read more.

 

[Paparazzimama]

Great update! You guys were able to get so much accomplished on your Epcot Day - and in the August heat! You're my new hero! Love the pictures of your beautiful family - so sorry they leaked your secret though. I'm sure an intervention was called once you returned home, right.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

Great update! You guys were able to get so much accomplished on your Epcot Day - and in the August heat! You're my new hero! Love the pictures of your beautiful family - so sorry they leaked your secret though. I'm sure an intervention was called once you returned home, right.

I actually didn't find the heat too bad maybe it had something to do with there was a day the week before we left that our heat index was 114 degrees. There were really only a couple of times I felt a strong need to find some AC, one of which was waiting for the acrobats. They really need to put something up to provide some shade at least for the acrobats. They had to be hot!

I finally showed Mickey the Food Porn thread the other night when he couldn't understand why I had posted a picture of him at LTT serving himself food. He came out of the office announcing to the kids that their mother was in need of some psychological help.

 

[kryptonqueen]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Can't wait to read more

 

[Bama mom to 3]

I know that I always liked reading the TR with families that I could relate to as well. How old are your kids?

I have a DS that will be 13 in October, a DD that will be 11 next week and a 7 year old DS.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Another great update! Love the face painting pics...they came out so nice!!! I actually laughed outloud when you had to admit your addiction to food porn....my DH was sitting next to me and when I started cracking up he asked what was so funny and I had to explain to him about food porn..he enjoyed, too! Can't wait for the next installment!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Wow! Nancy your trip report is amazing! Great Job! I am very much enjoying reading about your family's disney adventures! Great pictures! Can't wait for more!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I have a DS that will be 13 in October, a DD that will be 11 next week and a 7 year old DS.

Yep, your kids are around the same ages as mine, just slightly younger so I am sure you will be able to relate.

 

[ilovedisney1]

Your trip report is so intresting!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

This was my birthday AND our anniversary.

It will also be our first experience with evening EMHs.

I once again am the first one up with no problem. Ariel wakes up to find that since everything costs five times as much in WDW the tooth fairy leaves five times as much. She gets a 5 dollar bill under her pillow.

Mulan and I decide that since she didn’t use her CS credit the day before we would walk up to the food court and get breakfast but we had to do it in a half hour. Some how I think we manage it although I still haven’t figured out the trick where in need to go right even though the food court feels like it is to the left of our room. The paths or more direct if we go right. I swear POR is like a massive maze.

After we get back to our room I get my card which is musical one. Everyone performs the duck dance for me. It is funny. I am glad that they listened to me and didn’t buy me anything big for my birthday. I am WDW, what more do I need?

We get to the bus stop at probably 8:20. A bus comes along quickly enough. We get through the gates just after the opening show at 9 am. Here is a very poor quality picture of us at the entrance:

(Our camera still isn't working right on this day. I promise the pictures will improve)

A picture of the crowds as they walk towards The Tree of Life:

It is straight to Expedition Everest for a FP. The plan had been to get a FP then head over to Kilimanjaro Safaris but the wait time for EE is only 15 minutes. Everyone says that they want to ride. I so no, we stick with the plan. We walk for about five minutes and they convince me to change my mind so we turn around and head back to EE. I am glad we did. This is an amazing ride. Even Mulan is all of a sudden the happiest she has been yet.

I had ridden by myself since one of us had to do it. A person who is about 20 yrs old gets on with me. She tells me that she is a CM and on her way to work. She had some extra time and thought she would take a quick ride on EE before she went. What a life! Turns out she is a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I wish I would have known about the college program when I was 20. As it turns out this is just the beginning of my fun experiences as a single rider.

Finally it is off to KS. The wait is 45 minutes. We decide to buck up and wait because it isn’t going to be any shorter and we can’t get a FP. Turns out the wait was just under a half hour. We had gotten some snacks outside the queue so it went pretty fast.

Mickey takes a zillion pictures while on the safari. I will show just two.

It is about 10:30 when we get done. We know that our only opportunity to see the Nemo show is at 11:30 and everyone says to get there 45 minutes early. I think this is crazy so we go ahead and do a very quick walk through the Pangani Forest Trail. These are pictures of creatures seen on that trail:

We really rush through the trail. It would have been nice to go at a slower pace. We stop by Kali River Rapids on our way to the Nemo show. The park is starting to get really congested. We get to the Nemo show at about 11:15. We have no problems getting a seat. Here we are waiting for the show to begin:

I really liked the show. I even got a little teary eyed at the end. I felt better when I look at the mother that is closest to me and see that she is teary eyed as well. For the rest of my family they weren’t impressed. They say that they just aren’t into puppets. I will admit that it is really hard to put a 2 hour non musical movie into a half hour musical play w/ puppets. By the way this isn’t your typical puppet show. It is more like actors with elaborate costumes with large fish attached their hands. I am sure that there is a better way to describe it but that is the best I can do.

We are hungry so it is off to Pizzafari for lunch. I liked this lunch. I know I got the Italian sandwich. I think Mickey did to. Goofy gets the cheese pizza. Mulan and Ariel split an order of bread sticks using a snack credit. Sorry, after the previous night’s confession I am not bold enough to take any pictures. I would certainly eat here again. There were lots of indoor tables which is a plus for August.

After this we use of FP for EE. This is trip #2 but who’s counting?

We then use of Kali River Rapids FP. We get wet but not as wet as we thought we would. The girls wore their swim suits just for the occasion but it probably wasn’t necessary. It is an ok ride but I think our Six Flags river ride like this is better.

After the rapid ride Goofy and Ariel have fun playing in this Fountain:

It is about 1:30 and time for a break. We are doing EMH and we also have a 4:55 ADR at Boma. The park is really crowded. We stop by EE on our way out for another round of FP for when we come back. I can’t remember what the return time was but they were at least still available. (It is also possible we got another FP just after we got off at around 12:30, I can’t remember) Boy we love this ride! Here is our redneck photo of us on EE:

We have a goal of returning in time to see the 7 pm show of Lion King.

We return to our room to see that our Mousekeeper, Evangelina, has left Mrs. Flabidee listening to Mulan’s IPOD.

Mulan and Mickey take a really good nap while I take Goofy and Ariel for a quick swim at the quiet pool. Yes, the quiet pool once again.

We decide to take a cab to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner at Boma since we are kind of short on time and it would take us over an hour to get there with the bus system. It cost just over $20 plus tip. It is the kids first cab ride so here is their picture in the cab.

We walk around Animal Kingdom Lodge while we wait to be seating. It is a beautiful resort. They have someone outside to tell about the animals on the property. For some reason we didn’t get any pictures of the outside but here are some of us on the inside.

On to Boma…… First let me start that I had read several places that this was a prime location to eat. This was the first ADR I made which was in late February or early March. When I made the ADR I was told we could have either 4:55 or 8:30. I couldn’t believe they were that booked that much already. I was hoping for a 5:00 ADR so 4:55 worked perfectly for us. The restaurant was very full. The line to the meat carving station is huge.

We sit down. The hostess brings me these for our celebrations:

The employees all write Happy Birthday/ Anniversary in their African Dialect. I think it is pretty neat.

I then head straight to the carbohydrates and soup since the line was so long for the meats.

I take all the food pictures I want since it is my birthday/anniversary dinner

My two favorite things in the picture was the soup which I think was a seafood gumbo or stew and the sweet potatoes. Nobody in our family likes sweet potatoes. I love them! I think the seafood gumbo was my favorite food of the entire meal.
Next it is the meats. I apologize for the poor quality of pictures. I get prime rib which was better then Chef Mickey’s but still nothing to get excited about, salmon and some spice chicken. All good. I also get more soup.

The best part about the meal is that I think the kids even liked it. For some reason both Ariel and Goofy love the meatballs. Goofy sets his up like a Mickey head for his picture. Mulan likes the fruit. She is a big fruit eater.

I had seen other people post special birthday dessert plates that their server made for them on the Food Porn thread. I wait and wait and don’t get one. As a matter of fact our server never even acknowledged our celebrations. If I had been the one responsible for tipping I would have deducted at least a couple of dollars from the tip for that. So I go and make my own dessert plate and this is what it looks like:

Starting at the top are a couple of fruit tarts, I can’t remember what comes next, then there is apple crisp, I think the next item is banana bread pudding, beside that is coconut tiramisu, then chocolate mousse and another item I can’t recall. Of course in the center was the Zebra Dome. I wasn’t all that impressed with the Zebra Dome. It was ok. Maybe my expectations were too high. My favorite was the coconut tiramisu. Tiramisu is one of may all time favorite desserts anyway. Boma does get a “YUMMO” from me but everyone else just thought it was ok. They don’t get as excited about food as I do.

To be Continued....

 

[Nancy for Disney]

We get done eating at about 6:15. We go straight to the bus stop because we really want to make that 7:00 Lion King show but know that there is another show at 9:00 during EMH if we are late. I think that we should be able to get one pretty quickly because Animal Kingdom is just a mile away. I am pretty certain that this was the longest wait we had all week for a bus.

We get to Animal Kingdom at 6:40. For some reason despite the fact that we are in a hurry we stop for this picture:

We decide to try to still make the 7:00 show. Would you believe we walked in at 6:50 with no problems getting a seat? With the way the theater is set up there are no bad seats so getting here at the last minute isn’t a big deal unless they fill to capacity.

This is by far the best show we have seen yet. Mickey says “WOW” again. I think we would all see this show again. Mickey even took some pictures.

We then use our EE FP. Ariel decides that she doesn’t like the way it makes her stomach feel when we go backwards so we get a child swap. I go first. Once again I do single rider. I get on with a girl who is in her late teens. Here is how our conversation went:

Girl: You aren’t here by yourself are you?
Minnie: No my kids are over there.
We get in the car. The girl gets a nervous look on her face.
Minnie: Is this your first time riding?
Girl: Yes.
Minnie: Oh, it is tons of fun. You’re going to love it. This is my third time today.
Girl: This is your third time? OMG, YOU HAVE GOT TO ME THE COOLEST MOM EVER!


It is off we go. Have I mentioned how much we like this ride? Having someone acknowledge the fact that I am the “COOLEST MOM EVER” made it all the more fun. We get don and it is Mickey’s turn to go. It is right at 8 pm which was the beginning of EMH. I notice that they have reopened the FP machines so of course I go get yet another round of FPs. I think our return time was at 10:15 but can’t be certain.

We then go to see It’s Tough to be a Bug with a five min wait. We do the Dinosaur ride with a half hour wait and it was indeed a half hour. This wasn’t as scary or jerky as I had expected. It is about 9 pm so Mickey, Goofy and Mulan do Primeval Whirl getting a child swap. Ariel and I play a game. I think it was $2 each so I wasn’t going to play anymore at that price. Ariel isn’t allowed to spend any more of her money until she gets her dress because I know I will cave and make up any difference of the cost. We do TriceraTop Spin with no wait. We look all around and finally find The Boneyard which had been a priority for Ariel since she saw my WDW Guide book. Mickey takes Ariel to do the Boneyard while I use the Child Swap for Primeval Whirl. After this it is off to EE for ride #4. Mickey stays with Ariel at the Boneyard. I notice on our way there that Lilo and Stitch are out with a very short line. I call Mickey on his cell so he can let Ariel know because they are her favorites. She decides she prefers The Boneyard. I think I get child swap ticket for EE. I ride with my hands up in the air and scream as loud as I can because I know this will be my last ride on EE for who knows how long. I call Mickey when we are done and tell him that he must ride EE when it is dark. It is very cool. So he comes up and rides using the child swap. This will make Mulan and Goofy’s 5th trip. They may have used the extra FP but I don’t remember for sure. By this time it is about 10:40 and the park closes at 11. We decide to call it a night when we see that the wait on EE is only 20 minutes. So it is only like a half hour before “the coolest mom ever” rides EE for her 5th time. This would make the 7th or 8th time that Mulan and Goofy road EE in one day. There is a little bit of a debate regarding how many times they actually road. I doubt that is a record number of rides in one day but that still has got to be pretty good for busy August.

It is 11:00. The park closes so it is time to go home. Animal Kingdome Extra Magic Hours get a from me. It was a little more crowded during the day but there would have been no way we would have gotten everything done with out EMH. We decide that we want to come back on Thursday which is our open day to ride EE some more. I also want to go at a slower pace and see some of the trails. Will we make it?

Next: Downtown Disney and the Orient Express (NOT!) @ EPCOT

 

[curlz2tite]

Great tripp report so far! looking forward to the rest

 

[vassar36]

Nancy

Love your TR, I'm hooked!!!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

This was our sleep in morning. Well for everyone but me. I got up early and did laundry. I think I was in the laundry room by 7:30 am. After everyone got up and going we took the ferry to DTD. We got the first ferry running at 11 am. It was a nice relaxing ride with pretty views.

It is lunch time and I had heard wonderful reviews of Wolfgang Puck Express so that is the first place we go. WPE didn’t disappoint. Mickey was also impressed and said it was the best meal so far. He didn’t even object to taking food pictures.

I can’t remember what he got but it had chicken and it was served on the pita bread. The closest thing that describes it on All Ears is Chicken Aioli Pocket.

I got the BBQ chicken quesadilla.

Mulan got the Mac and Cheese which she didn’t care for. She did love Ariel’s cheese pizza. Goofy got the chicken fingers and fries which he enjoyed. Sorry no pictures.

The desserts here were very good. The brownie was wonderful and the crème brulee was fantastic. It is another of my favorite desserts.

I had really hoped to make it back to WPE for one more meal since it counts as CS meal and it was good but it was not to me. I do recall that if we had paid for the meal it would have been over $80.00. Of course I don’t think we would have gotten as much had we been paying cash. The portions are huge and certainly enough for two to share.

We then walk around some of the shops and Ariel finally gets her wish and buys her costume. $64.00. I was expecting $50 and did have to help her out a bit. I must say that is expensive for something they aren’t going to wear too much and ruin very quickly. On the other hand the Disney costumes are way more elaborate that the ones you can get at Wal-Mart.

We did some more shopping. While Goofy and Mickey worked on making a light saber Ariel and I played with the make your own crown area at one of the stores. I think it was Once Upon a Toy.

Of course we had to stop by Goofy’s Candy Company. We each used a snack credit for something special. Mickey, Mulan and I did the custom made treats. I can’t remember the name for them right now. I got the marshmallows while Mulan and Mickey did pretzels. For some reason we only got pictures of the pretzels.

When we had gone into Goofy’s it just started to rain. It rained quite hard but it had stopped by the time we left. However the ferries were still not running so we had to take a bus. All I can say is that is one long bus ride from DTD back to POR. I think the 20 min ferry ride is way quicker.

Finally we are back to our room to see that Mrs. Flabidee had found a new friend while we were gone.

Mrs. Flabidee and our DTD purchases:

So we get to EPCOT. All the FP’s are gone except for Mission Space. Mickey, Mulan and Goofy head over there to get the FP. Ariel and I are the only soda drinkers so we go to Club Cool. This was fun as Ariel knew there was a bad tasting soda but didn’t know which one. She tried them all and finally found the bad tasting Beverly. Mickey showed up and also tried Beverly. I have a picture on my cell phone but I can’t figure out how to get moved to my photobucket account.


It turns out that they just ran out of Mission Space FP right when Mickey went to get ours. Oh, well. It is EMH we can still go later, right???

So it is off to China to meet Mulan. It is about 4:40. We head over there and Mulan is out signing autographs. But when we walk up the handler tells us that she and Mushu are getting ready for a break and won’t return until 5:25. The same time as the Japanese Drummers. We discuss our options and decide that if we stay in line and wait we will be first to meet Mulan. We can then rush and hopefully make the end of the drumming show. Will we make it?

Here is Mulan and Mulan:

Some More Mulan pictures:

Mulan gave Ariel a kiss.

We then rush over to the drumming show. Ariel decides that she has to go to the bathroom. By the time we catch up to the rest of the group we discover that they walked up just as it finished. There are two more shows at 6:35 and 7:15. I decide to talk to Teppan Edo to see if we can eat earlier or a little later. They say they are running behind and if we want we can check in now but they would be running behind. I say that is fine since we want to see the 6:35 drumming show. We go ahead and get our pager. This gives us about 30 minutes that we are just walking around Japan. We have lots of time to take pictures.

We also get to se Miyuki the candy artist.

Ariel gets picked to get some candy.

It is almost time for the drummers. I go check to make sure that we aren’t going to be paged soon for dinner. They say we are next. I request that the put the next group ahead of us so we can see drumming. The hostess nods. I think she understands.

Finally we reach goal #2.

Goofy and I were a little disappointed in the drumming. The St. Louis group that we saw was far more entertaining. Fortunately the drumming is set up so we can see it from the balcony of the restaurant.

We decide it is time we go inside to wait for ADR. We end up waiting inside for about 10 minutes before our pager goes off. I estimate we go to our table at around 7 pm.


To be continued....

 

[Nancy for Disney]

This ends up being my kid’s favorite meal. They enjoyed watching the chef and using chop sticks. They really enjoyed the steak. Since the food is part of the entertainment Mickey is more than happy to take some pictures.

I liked sharing a table more than I expected. We sat with a couple celebrating their anniversary and the wife brought her sister as well who was celebrating her birthday. The couple had been to WDW 3 times in the past 1-2 years. This was their first time using the DDP and they had just decided to make the trip three weeks ago. The staff did come and sing them Happy Birthday/Anniversary which was nice.

By the time we are done eating it is around 8:20. As we leave the hostess apologizes for the delay in seating. This is odd because I requested the delay. To show their appreciation of our patience they give the kids origami animals. I told the hostess that we really didn’t mind since we got to see the drumming that way. So I don’t know if they ever let someone go ahead of us or if we really did have to wait 45 minutes after our ADR to sit.

We head next door to the Morocco area. Mo’ Rockin starts to perform and I have heard good things about them so I want to watch.

While I am watching Mickey notices that there is a woman that is doing henna tattoos. Mickey suggested I get one. I have always wanted to get one and decide that this would be a good birthday present so I go for it. Unfortunately there are no pictures. It cost $20 but the prices ranged from $15-$25. I got the symbol of the Goddess. I thought about getting the symbol for energy since by this point I am not feeling too energetic. I had after all gotten up at 7:30 to do laundry on our sleep in morning. I think between the excitement of getting ready for the trip and all the activity since we arrived I had been averaging 6 hours of sleep a night for 2 weeks. I am one of those people that really need 8 hours of sleep. It was starting to catch up with me.

We then find a spot for Illuminations at about 10 minutes before start time. No sitting around and waiting for us. It was just outside the France Pavilion near where you get on the ferry. This was a great show. I loved all the fire and how we could feel the heat of it. Sorry none of our pictures turned out.

Now it is time for EMH to start. First Ariel has to go to the bathroom. It takes us forever to find one. I think we end up in France. I had hoped to get a crepe in France but decide I am too full. I then think I will go look at the pastries at the French bakery. I contemplate getting something for the next morning as they all looked very good but I keep thinking of how much we have been eating and decide I really don’t need a pastry. We then figure out that it is too late to get any more FP for the larger attractions but we do want to ride something. Goofy gets over his disappointment of not getting to ride the other side of Mission Space reasonable time frame for a 12 yr old. We still haven’t ridden the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico but wait we still don’t have wrist bands. We have yet to see one CM giving them out. We saw them everywhere the night before at Animal Kingdom. We walk towards Mexico and I stop someone to ask where they got theirs. They said that they got their wristbands at International Gateway which is the opposite way we were going. It is after 10:00 at this point and EMH started at 9:00. I figure that the only way we were going to get wristbands would be to walk to the entrance. The park is really crowded still too. This would not be worth the Gran Fiesta Tour. We decide to call it a night and leave EMH without doing anything.

At some point this picture is taken. I am not sure if it is a flower at EPCOT or POR. I am guessing that it is Mulan that took the picture. She likes taking pictures of flowers.

Just for those who are planning your trips. EPCOT was way more crowded on the evening EMH day vs. the morning EMH day. I highly recommend avoiding EPCOT evening EMH. We were at EPCOT for 6 hours here is what we were able to accomplish:

Meet Mulan
See Miyuki make candy
See Japanese Drumming
Eat dinner
Watch Illuminations
Get a henna tattoo
Gawk at pastries

Considering all that we had been doing during previous visits I didn’t feel like this was much. I guess because we didn’t do any rides. Regardless I think we all still had fun.


Coming Next: Ariel goes to Hollywood and gets a starring role in High School Musical

 

[MeLaNie9]

I am really enjoying your trippie! You have a beautiful family.
I think we had Raymond at LTT lunch - at least I think that was our server's name and the picture really looks like the same guy...he was awesome! I also loved Sunshine Seasons - we have it in our plan for our next trip. I love what your mousekeeper has done with Ariel's bunny - so cute!
BTW, not only does our DS4 think the monorail is a ride - it is his favorite ride in all of WDW!