***We’re about halfway through our trip and I have a surprise planned! Everyone knew that we were changing hotels halfway through but I never told them where….only that we had never stayed there before…which really doesn’t help much because we’ve only stayed at the Contemporary before. Rich knew but the kids didn’t and Jeremy and Kyle insisted on being surprised also. So as we were heading onto property they were all yelling out their guesses…nope, no, nada, keep guessing….then we turned into the Allstars area and they’re yelling SPORTS!!!..nope…so the very next one down the line is MUSIC!!!..let’s see if the truck turns there…YEP!! So I get us all checked in, it’s 9am, so of course our room isn’t ready so we head over to Epcot.
I think Epcot is secretly my favorite park simply because there is SO much to do there. I could take a trip and only go to Epcot and be perfectly happy there. We decide today to focus only on Future World. Our first stop was Leave a Legacy…only there are characters all over so of course we have to do that first. We posed with Meeko…only the kids don’t really know who he is...I think at this point they will pose with anything large and furry.
Next we spy Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, only the CM with them informs the line that at the end of this song it is time for them to go. So I inform my kids that we’ll only take a picture instead of getting autographs so that other people might get to meet them also…I was hoping that the parents in front of me heard me and would offer the same kindness but no. They each got an autograph and then took quite a few pictures. Meanwhile, my mind is spinning, knowing that if we don’t meet Captain Hook my little Zachary Zebra may go into meltdown mode. We quickly line up, snap two pictures, and are done right as the song ends…Zachary did go a little bonkers about not getting their autographs but a wonderful CM at Leave a Legacy brought him a map, circled the spot, and wrote down the exact time that Zachary could meet up with Captain Hook again. Thanks to her…I wish I had written down her name.
Rich and I celebrated our 10th anniversary earlier in the year and this trip was the culmination of that celebration so we decided to make a Leave a Legacy tile as a gift to each other. With our AP’s we got 2 for $25 so we have one with our picture on it and the one right next to it reads, “The Hulls—10 years to Eternity and beyond…”. We just got the cards in the mail and we can’t wait to go back and see the actual tiles. The picture came out really cute. Does anyone know what Disney will do with the tiles when the time is up for them to change all that out? I hope they will give them to us…
During all of this, Kyle and Jeremy had gone ahead to get FP to Mission:Space, the ride with which we were all obsessed about going on. I think they went to meet up with the characters after that. Rich then went to get FP for Test Track and SURPRISE he came back with surprise FP for HISTA also. Nice surprise because we were pretty bummed that our TT time was not until 6:50!!!! The parks were really picking up for the Thanksgiving week I believe. We all met up again in front of M:S. Jeremy, Kyle, Katelyn, Nicholas, and I rode first, with Rich getting a baby swap pass. I have to admit I was pretty nervous. I don’t usually get sick but after the warnings they give you, you begin to feel like not a single person gets out of there without puking at least once. We were teamed up with these two little boys whom I could not believe were going on this bad boy alone. I promise you that the little guy was no more than 4-5. Nicholas was doing well talking to them and they got us organized according to which parts they wanted to do. Then he started getting more and more nervous the closer we got…he almost started crying and I gave him the option to leave but he really wanted to try it. As soon as we got in I took his hand, showed him the bags, told him to listen to what was being said, to only look at his screen, and if he just couldn’t push his buttons we’d still make it to Mars. I continued talking to Nicholas as the ride began…then all of a sudden he lets out with a “WHOO-HOO, THIS IS GREAT, I CAN’T FEEL MY CHEEKS!!!” Well, turns out he loved the ride and was reminding me to push MY buttons. I think we all really liked it…the landing part started to make me feel a little queasy…just seeing that land coming towards me did it. And one ride was all we needed…except for Danger Girl that is….she went on again with her dad. I’m telling you she is rock hard. Even Jeremy and Kyle passed up that second ride to go collect a badge (I have failed to mention that they are now collecting badges from every ride where they are offered. Jeremy, let us know which ones you have.) Jennifer, Zachary, and Samantha were not totally left out during our ride…they got to meet Mickey and Goofy in their space attire while waiting…pretty neat.
We all needed a good walk on solid ground, so we headed over to HISTA. Nicholas spooked the girls and Zachary so much that Zachary had to be taken out. Apparently, Nicholas “remembered” that the dog comes out and licks you and gets you all wet. There comes Zachary’s concern about getting wet again. So the rest of us go in and before the show even starts Nicholas has talked the girls into ducking down between their seat and the seat in front of them to “hide”…I didn’t bother to mention the mice and they got a great surprise being down there like that. When the show was over we spent a little time playing with the fountains. I got a great picture with everyone in a line trying to catch the bouncing drops of water.
Rich had wandered into the JIYI play area so we followed and played music conductor, artist, sound jumping, and slow motion fight scenes for awhile. We were getting pretty hungry about now, so we left for the Land pavilion…then noticed that Nicholas was not with us. I turned around to find him and looked for quite a few minutes. Just as I was going to find a CM to help me (and as the panic set in) I noticed a booth way over in the corner with a pair of shoes that looked quite familiar. He stopped to doctor another picture of himself to send to his Great Grandpa. Finally we meet up with the rest of the group and enjoy a nice lunch. We had pulled FP to Living with the Land because the wait was almost an hour. I always enjoy this ride…it’s so relaxing and I am in awe of all the clever ways of growing food. (I CAN’T FEEL MY CHEEKS!) Zachary found quite a few hidden Mickey’s here!! He’s so proud of himself!
After lunch we couldn’t quite decide what to do next, so I called, found our rooms were ready and we left to go check them out. We were in Rock Inn on the 2nd floor facing the parking lot and looking on towards AS Sports. It was so far away from the front that we rarely took the buses. We just walked down the sidewalk to our car and it was so much easier.
Once in our rooms some of us, read Dad and Samantha, fell asleep, while the rest of us relaxed a bit. Finally everyone was up and we decided to split up for the evening. Rich kept all kids but Danger Girl to go swimming and get some pizza, while my brothers, D.G., and I went back to Epcot to use those TT FP that were burning holes in our pockets. Jeremy hadn’t been on Spaceship Earth this trip yet, so we walked right on that, then literally ran to Ellen’s Energy Adventure because Katelyn and I had never been on that before. It was pretty interesting. Now we could get on TT so off we went amid cries of “I can’t feel my cheeks!”. We only had enough FP for me to go once, so we enjoyed the first ride all together, then they went right back around for a second ride…I think this time for the picture they all faked sleeping. Pretty funny!
Jeremy also hadn’t been with us for Illuminations Wed., so we sat down to wait for that. Katelyn and I got up to visit the ladies room and grab some ice cream. Kyle called us to let us know that they had changed locations but by the time we got there that section had been closed off. Now, I had walked around to find Kyle and he was in the corner to the far left of the section with no one within 5 feet of him…but apparently there is a body limit to that area that they cannot exceed, so we were not allowed in. There must have been about 20 of us separated from our parties like this…we were all standing outside of the ropes calling to our groups…I honestly felt like a prisoner yelling outside the barbed wire fence to their loved ones. It was terrible. A minute later I realized that I still had their ice creams so I called the CM over who was denying us access and said, “If you can’t let us in, would you please deliver this to my brother before it melts completely?” She was shocked I even asked her I think. But she did it. Then when the fireworks began 3 mothers left with their children in tow…but would the CM even let us in then? No way. I was a little disappointed but I understood. After just a minute or two Katelyn asked if we could just start walking back to the front of the park. So we slowly meandered our way to the front. It was a nice walk with hardly anyone around. We bought little pink mouse-ears for Samantha since this was her first trip. Then at the pause in the fireworks a ton of people began leaving…do they not realize that that is not the end? They must be the same people who leave football games early too….that’s a pet peeve of mine. We called Kyle and let him know where we were, they found us, we made it back to the hotel, and fell fast asleep.
Those are some packing skills you have there! And what model car is it? The automobile ad execs would love to know their car can haul eight people and luggage. 
I have a hard enough time getting seven people plus luggage in a 2004 Pontiac Montana mini-van, and that's leaving the golf clubs behind. Years ago when I included the clubs (mine and my wife's), not even my old 1984 Chevy extended custom van could do it unless I strapped on the car top carrier. 
Help me pack!
