Our 2nd Shot at the Dream Team -TONS OF PICS. 10/28 New PTR LINK

[dddisrunner]

Day 1 continued...


So we were 1 of 2 families on the bus to Epcot and we arrived at 8:15! We were the first ones at the turnstiles . It was so nice having our own stroller this year. No more waiting in line to pay,get your name card, etc. It was a great decision for us to bring it! Now we just had to wait to be let in! I was so anxious to see if Eric would make the height requirement. We had gone to the boardwalk the day before we left and he had his crocs on and missed the height by I swear 1/4 of an inch So I was a little nervous!

here is Eric going over the map of Epcot

Finally we are let into the park and our game plan was for Bryan to go fastpass Soarin and meet us at Test Track! Bryan had the camera with him and took these opening the park pictures!

So the park opens and that wonderful music is playing and THANK GOD I have my sunglasses on because I am crying streams of tears I was so emotional on this trip, Disney just gets me right at the core and was beyond thrilled just to finally be here! So the boys and I rush over to Test Track,park the stroller and no sooner do we walk over to get in line and here comes Bryan! He was first in line to the Soarin fastpass machines SWEET! We make our way inside Test Track.

The ride was GREAT! I loved hearing the boys laugh and scream on the loop outside! Priceless! We exited and took the obligatory car picture...

We then headed over to Mission Space! I had never been on because I get motion sickness on simulator rides but now that Eric might be able to ride I took one for the team and decided to try it GREEN SIDE ONLY. We make our way over and the CM says "Can I please measure him?" My heart starts racing and it seemed like 10 minutes went by but Eric walks over and stands all slouchy and he isn't making it So I flipped out and told him "STAND UP STRAIGHT, PUT YOUR FEET TOGETHER and for GOD SAKES GET CLOSER TO THE MEASURING POST!" Well guess what .......

IT WORKED! He was plenty tall enough, and it was at this moment i knew this trip was going to be AWESOME! Here are a few pics. of our journey to Mars...

The take off...

Eric completing his duties as pilot!

Matthew not paying attention to his flight plan

the instrument panel

YEAH, we made it to Mars!

We had a blast!(no pun intended!) I was so happy for Eric and he was sooo proud!



Coming up next the rest of our morning and Will we meet the Dream Team?

 

[addicted2dizney]

Oh my gosh I am loving this! Love the pictures and they way you tell your story! I feel the same way about being at Disney, very emotional and you said it all. It gets me to the core as well. Can't wait for the next part!
Dana

 

[Tanya90210]

Whooo hoo... He's tall enough!!!


I love the room pictures... AKL looks SOOO COOL!!!! I am hoping when we do DVC eventually we do AKV...

 

[NMAmy]

Day 1 continued...
We make our way over and the CM says "Can I please measure him?" My heart starts racing and it seemed like 10 minutes went by but Eric walks over and stands all slouchy and he isn't making it So I flipped out and told him "STAND UP STRAIGHT, PUT YOUR FEET TOGETHER and for GOD SAKES GET CLOSER TO THE MEASURING POST!" Well guess what .......

IT WORKED! He was plenty tall enough, and it was at this moment i knew this trip was going to be AWESOME!

For heaven's sake kid, straighten up if you want to ride this thing! I'm so glad he made it!

Here are a few pics. of our journey to Mars...

Okay, how in the world did you manage to take pictures when you were riding this thing? Really, it feels like my knees are up against my chest--how did you even hold the camera up, pal?

Coming up next the rest of our morning and Will we meet the Dream Team?

I'm thinking.....YES!!!

AKL looks wonderful. I've never stepped foot in there, I'm going to have to make a trip over.

Great installments, my friend!

 

[carissanboys]

Ok. Finally got a chance to read.

With the exception of the dryer dying on you (eek!!), sounds like you had a very smooth trip to the resort. Very cool start to the trip. And I love the picture of the floor mat!

Your pictures of all the details in your room were awesome!

Transportation Mojo - woohoo!

Sounds like your start at Epcot was great. Did you enjoy Mission Space? Part of me wants to try it (green side) and part of me doesn't. So I'm curious to know if it bothered you at all (remember that even Star Tours was a bit much for me - kind of felt motion sick on it, but not real bad).

Can't wait for more!

 

[SunnieRN]

Woo Hoo!! Congratulations on the whole family being able to ride the rides together this time!! That rocks!!
Was the green side ok as far as not giving you any motion sickness problems?

Adorable pictures!! You are a great photographer!!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Your boys are so adorable!

I am in a bit late, but I am catching up now.

 

[dddisrunner]

Oh my gosh I am loving this! Love the pictures and they way you tell your story! I feel the same way about being at Disney, very emotional and you said it all. It gets me to the core as well. Can't wait for the next part!
Dana

Thanks Dana! You are so sweet! I love feeling like a kid again at Disney!

Whooo hoo... He's tall enough!!!


I love the room pictures... AKL looks SOOO COOL!!!! I am hoping when we do DVC eventually we do AKV...

Thanks Tanya, I really cannot say enough wonderful things about AKL it was so AWESOME!

For heaven's sake kid, straighten up if you want to ride this thing! I'm so glad he made it!



Okay, how in the world did you manage to take pictures when you were riding this thing? Really, it feels like my knees are up against my chest--how did you even hold the camera up, pal?



I'm thinking.....YES!!!

AKL looks wonderful. I've never stepped foot in there, I'm going to have to make a trip over.

Great installments, my friend!

Thanks Amy! I felt so bad yelling like that but I knew he would be devestated if he couldn't ride!

Ok. Finally got a chance to read.

With the exception of the dryer dying on you (eek!!), sounds like you had a very smooth trip to the resort. Very cool start to the trip. And I love the picture of the floor mat!

Your pictures of all the details in your room were awesome!

Transportation Mojo - woohoo!

Sounds like your start at Epcot was great. Did you enjoy Mission Space? Part of me wants to try it (green side) and part of me doesn't. So I'm curious to know if it bothered you at all (remember that even Star Tours was a bit much for me - kind of felt motion sick on it, but not real bad).

Can't wait for more!

Hi Carissa! I LOVED Mission Space, I really didn't feel the slightest bit sick! It was tame in my opinion compared to Star Tours

 

[dddisrunner]

Woo Hoo!! Congratulations on the whole family being able to ride the rides together this time!! That rocks!!
Was the green side ok as far as not giving you any motion sickness problems?

Adorable pictures!! You are a great photographer!!

Thanks so much Sunnie! I loved the green side, it was GREAT!

Your boys are so adorable!

I am in a bit late, but I am catching up now.

WELCOME! Thanks so much for joining us and your sweet comments!

 

[Trentmom]

I loved the theming at AK.....looks so awesome..

Those marble counter tops were gorgeous

Wow...first at the park, what is that like, I don't do mornings


YAY for Eric Being talk enough

I go on almost everything, pretty fearless, but Mission Space scares me. I am so afraid to get on and have it ruin my day and be nauseau all day.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great report! The CM in the pic with Pluto was there when we were there in January/February when we were at Epcot getting pics with all the characters. She had just been kicked in the shins by some little not-so-well behaving boy and I felt so bad for her - she looked so tired but still had a smile on her face!!

We had so many blessings on our trip too - first seat in most rides, top row in Soarin, beautiful view from our room with huge balcony, front row seating at Luau (even tho we were 15 min late). It was amazing - seems you are having the same luck!

 

[kaysmommie]

Great update! Loved the ride pics and so glad you were able to ride everything together. Glad the stroller worked out for you.

 

[dddisrunner]

I loved the theming at AK.....looks so awesome..

Those marble counter tops were gorgeous

Wow...first at the park, what is that like, I don't do mornings


YAY for Eric Being talk enough

I go on almost everything, pretty fearless, but Mission Space scares me. I am so afraid to get on and have it ruin my day and be nauseau all day.

Thanks Kelly, the AKL really is so unique and beautiful! I hate motion simulator rides but I loved Mission Space. The thing that makes it better is there is constantly a cool breeze blowing right on you and I think that helps, but overall I really think it's pretty tame!(on the green side!)

Great report! The CM in the pic with Pluto was there when we were there in January/February when we were at Epcot getting pics with all the characters. She had just been kicked in the shins by some little not-so-well behaving boy and I felt so bad for her - she looked so tired but still had a smile on her face!!

We had so many blessings on our trip too - first seat in most rides, top row in Soarin, beautiful view from our room with huge balcony, front row seating at Luau (even tho we were 15 min late). It was amazing - seems you are having the same luck!

I think the CM's are amazing! The patience and restraint they show is incredible! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip too! Thanks so much for posting!

Great update! Loved the ride pics and so glad you were able to ride everything together. Glad the stroller worked out for you.

Thanks Nichole!

 

[dddisrunner]

Day 1 ending

So we left off with our ride on Mission Space. We then headed to the Land pavilion and fastpassed Test Track on our way over! On the way to the Land pavilion there was a CM with Disney decorated soccer balls and they threw them to the boys and asked them to take a shot and shoot them in the garbage cans they had out. So they did and then the CM gave them each a certificate that said the were Official Recycling Masters at Epcot! The boys were thrilled and it was our 1st official Magical Moment of the trip! We rode the Land ride and the boys were bored by it Bryan and I enjoyed it though! Sorry I don't have pictures of this. This trip was frustrating in a way because we brought a video camera with us for the first time so it was really hard to try and balance out taking still shots with videotaping! After the Land ride we went over to Soarin to use our fastpasses. We were praying for top row but got middle row Bryan had a great idea he said if we pull our hats down really close to our eyes we won't see the feet dangling above us...well it worked FOR HIM he was the only one with a hat! The ride was just as awesome as we remembered though! I love the part where you feel like your feet are going to drag through the ocean! Next we went back to Test Track to use our fastpass from there too! This time we let Eric and Matthew sit up front by themselves and they LOVED it! We then headed over to Club Cool...

Now Bryan had tried the infamous "Beverly" last year.......

but decided he would try it again

then Eric wanted to try something that made daddy make that face...

Matthew and I were to smart to try the feet smelling soda! I laugh everytime I look at Bryan's face in that picture!

We then headed to the Electric Umbrella for lunch, Bryan and I had the vegetable wraps which were good and the boys both had chicken nuggets! I was pleasantly surprised with our meals as last year I wasn't a big fan of this place!

After lunch we wanted to check out the refurbed Spaceship Earth. Eric had a complete meltdown saying how it was so boring and it was slower then a pig (whatever the heck that means) and so I stayed behind with him and Bryan and Matthew went to get on line and ride. It was at this moment that I saw them.............THE DREAM TEAM and they were in their white vests so I knew they were getting ready to give SOMETHING out! Well about 5 minutes later I see mobs of people walking out with dream ears! Guess what...Bryan and Matthew DID NOT WIN THEM! I took it with a grain of salt and figured we still had 9 more days! Bryan and Matthew liked the updated ride, here are a few pictures, apparently it is more interactive now and you get to plug in some personal information geared towards your own future!

Aren't they funny!

After that we fastpassed Test Track AGAIN and then rode Mission Space again! The boys are such thrill seekers! We then headed into Mexico and the boys sat down to do the KidCot masks

Then we rode the boat ride in there...

continued in next post.....

 

[dddisrunner]

After Mexico we headed into Norway

We then stopped in China to watch the chinese acrobats...they were so AWESOME! No pictures here only video, sorry! Then we made our way overto the African outpost and refreshment station! The boys LOVED playing those drums...

then we saw the coolest thing, the bridge opened up

and then the globe for Illuminations passed through so close to us!

After that excitement, we decided to have a seat,people watch and grab some ice cream!

I forgot to mention how gorgeous the weather was, it was PERFECT 83 degrees and a slight breeze! Great park touring weather We were amazed at the number of women in high heels and people in jeans and sweatshirts It was not cool by ANY stretch of the imagination! To each his own I guess!

We then made our way around the world showcase and saw Snow White and her Dwarfs...

Then the boys ran into this guy...

We continued our way around and snapped these beautiful topiaries, I LOVE the flower and garden festival!

Peter Pan

Captain Hook

We then went back to Future World to use our Soarin fastpasses and once again we got the middle row!

We then headed back into the World Showcase for our dinner in Morocco at...

we checked in and were seated immediately! I LOVE the atmosphere in this restaurant. It really is so authentic and just beautifully themed! I took pictures of evry meal except this one! Our waiter was great and showed the boys how to write their names in Arabic...

they thought that was really neat! Bryan ordered the lamb and I had the chicken kabobs we both LOVED our meals! Here is Matthew waiting for his dessert...

here is a picture of my dessert, it was the Bastilla and it was awesome! It was like fried thin layers of dough with like a custard, cinnamon and almonds!

After dinner we went on one last ride on Test Track

and then it was back to the AKL! One thing I noticed in comparison to the Pop Century is that the AKL bus stops were soooooooo much closer to the exits then Pops were! We were on the bus in about 5 minutes! We made it back to the AKL and the boys swam for about 1/2 hour and then we all took showers and drifted off to sleep rather quickly, just dreaming about what kind of magic tomorrow would bring!

up next our DHS morning.........

 

[IluvXU]

Is there anything more exciting than the first park day! So glad that you all could ride together... I have a long time until that happens. Love all the AKL details in the pictures!

 

[stagemomx3]

Love the update. Your boys are so stinkin cute!

 

[jwwi]

Great start to your trip, AKL is so beautiful. Did you love staying there? Would you go back?

 

[addicted2dizney]

Ok, maybe a silly question but is the green side the full ride or the mild side? I plan on going mild so I want to be sure I go the right way! lol!

 

[bcbmom]

Really enjoying your trip report. We are going for the first time in September to the POR. The AKL looks absolutely beautiful! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.