Me (trip planner and WDW-lover)
DH (would rather be golfing)
Brittany (11 years old and loves thrill rides and coasters - the faster and wilder, the better!)
Cassidy (5 years old - this trip will be her first time on the 'big rides')
Ashleigh (just turned 2 but loves Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bear already!)
Dina (my sister and much loved aunt to my DDs)
Saturday, June 30 DH and Brittany were happy to hear that it was not an early entry day and we didnt have to be at MK until 9:00 for our PS at the Crystal Palace, so we all had an opportunity to sleep in a bit. We stopped at the gift shop for autograph books and pens for the girls. Ashleigh didnt understand the purpose of the book she thought it was just something for her to scribble in she caught on fast later, though!
When we got to the MK, we were able to go into the park prior to opening because we had a PS (it was so cool to walk down a deserted Main Street!) We had eaten at the Crystal Palace on our previous trip and really enjoyed it its a beautiful restaurant, the food is good, and my girls love the Pooh characters. Before we got our food, I took DDs up to see Pooh since there was no one in line. This was one of the best moments of the entire trip. Once Ashleigh saw him she ran up to him, threw her arms around him, and gave him a huge hug with the biggest smile on her face. It was so cute! And the funny thing was, she would not let go .it was like she was hanging on to him for dear life. Pooh was great with her he got down on her level and loved her right back. I had tears in my eyes heck, I have tears in my eyes as Im typing this! When we finally were able to pry Ashleigh away, it was Cassidys turn to get an autograph. Well, as soon as Ashleigh saw Pooh autograph Cassidys book, you could see the comprehension dawn on her face (so THATS what that book is for!) All of a sudden she flew back to the table, grabbed her own book and pen, and with a smile a mile wide she ran back to Pooh for an autograph and yet another hug. I took lots of pictures, I only hope I was able to capture her expressions. Im really lousy when it comes to photography. Brittany, of course was more laid back, but I know she loved it too she loves Pooh and his friends.
We then went to eat our breakfast and wait for the other characters. One by one we saw, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet and I was able to get pictures off all. It seemed kind of rushed this time, there wasnt much character interaction like they had with pooh. Just autographs, snap a picture, and thats it. It seemed like last time they interacted with all of us a lot more. I think it might have had something to with where our table was in the rotation and the fact that Piglet had to come back because the first time we were with Pooh. But it was a very enjoyable meal worth every penny!
After breakfast we stopped for a bathroom break and while Cassidy was in the stall I heard her say Oh, No, and then kind of giggle. I wondered what was going on and when she came out she had kind of a funny look on her face and said Mommy, I have to tell you a secret! I couldnt imagine what it was and just about burst out laughing when she whispered to me that she still had her pull-up on from the night before. (yes, she still wears pull-ups at 5. She is a VERY sound sleeper and does not always wake up when she needs to go). In her rush to get dressed she had forgotten to change into underwear (at least they were still clean!) But she made me swear not to tell a soul. (Good thing she cant read yet!).
We decided to start off in Tomorrowland because Cassidy had not yet had a chance to do Buzz Lightyear and Brittany wanted to ride Space Mountain a few more times. After Buzz, while DH, Brittany, Dina, and Cassidy were riding SM, I took Ashleigh on the TTA. It was a nice relaxing ride I especially like it when it goes through SM. Then I decided to take Ashleigh back to Fantasy Land to ride some of her favorites and to try to find Mickey. As soon as Ashleigh saw the teacups she pointed to them and said I want to ride that! So we did the teacups (twice!), then went in search of MM. We meandered back to toontown, but my goodness, was it packed! I checked my watch and realized it was almost time to get back to meet up with the rest of the gang and we wouldnt have time for any autographs.
I found DH on the way to our designated meeting spot and he told me that they were in line to ride SM the 2nd time when he realized they wouldnt be back by our meeting time. So he had gotten out of line to find me so I wouldnt wonder what happened to them. We were surprised when we got back to SM only to find the three of them standing there, Brittany with a POd look on her face. Turns out about 20 minutes into the wait, Cassidy decided she had to go to the bathroom, so they had to leave the line. Brittany had wanted to stay in line and ride it herself, but Dina wouldnt let her (wise choice!). Luckily, though, we had Fastpasses since Brittany had wanted to do this ride several times in a row, so we used those. Brittany was still ticked about missing an opportunity to ride, though, (she keeps a count each trip of how many times she rides SM and wanted to break her last years record of 10).
We had plans to go to MGM that day, but Cassidy wanted to ride the teacups once more since this was our last day at MK, so on the way out we did the teacups one last time. Afterwards, we decided to get a snack before heading out to MGM. While we were eating Cassidy got one of her looks .that little twinkle in her eyes and mischeivous smile that is totally Cassidy. She coyly told everyone that she had a secret (of course, I knew what she was talking about). So one by one, she whispered her secret into everyones ear. I guess she was too embarrassed to say it out loud. Everyone was kind of chuckling and after Cassidy told Brittany, she (Brittany) rolled her eyes and then all of a sudden got this indignant look on her face and said HEY! we didnt have to get out of line at Space Mountain!!. Figures she would think of that.
After our snack and a few good laughs at Cassidys (good-natured) expense, we decided to go back to the hotel and drive to MGM since it would be another late night and DH wanted to be able to drive back rather than have to rely on the bus. For some reason we decided to take the monorail back instead of the boat. I guess we were feeling oh, what is the word? Narcissistic? no, thats not it you know, when you want to cause yourself much pain. Anyway, that must have been what prompted us to take the monorail. Honestly, I dont remember the monorail trip being that bad from the MK to the GF. Seems like we did that quite a few times on our last trip and it was a reasonably efficient way to go. On E-night it wasnt that bad. But this time it was like a slow boat to China. It mustve taken at least 40 minutes! Not only did the train stop between stops, it remained at every stop for at least 5 to 10 minutes, maybe even longer at the TTC... with NOBODY boarding just sitting there. I swear, we couldve walked (or swam) back faster than that. I dont know if its always like that these days or if it was just that one time, but from then on whenever we went anywhere (even later on in the trip when we were at Universal), Cassidy would say Dont take the monorail!.
I didnt mention this on previous reports (believe it or not, as long as they were I suppose Ive left quite a lot out), but throughout the entire trip Cassidy had been talking nonstop about the TOT. She kept insisting she couldnt wait to ride it, that it was her favorite ride (even though shes never ridden it before). Brittany kept telling her how scary it was, how it would freak her out, etc. etc Cassidy still kept insisting she wanted to ride. Well, I think the Dinosaur experience somewhat tempered her courage, because by the time we got to MGM she was backing down quickly. I wasnt sure how I felt about it on the one hand, I hate for her to miss out on something she would enjoy; but on the other hand, I really did not want a repeat of the Dinosaur incident. So I told her we would go on it first and I would tell her what the ride was like. (Id been on it before but it had been 3 years).
Truthfully, this ride freaks ME (and my sister) out! I dont like heights and I dont like that dropping feeling (but I do like this ride even tough it freaks me out go figure). Anyway, DH stayed with the two little ones, and the rest of us went on the ride. I know theyve changed the drop sequences, but I dont really remember it being any different from before we mustve gotten the old one. Actually, it seemed LESS scary to me, maybe because of the seatbelts, I dont know. I love this ride, although I still didnt really know how Cassidy would react. I decided to simply tell her what happened and let her decide. So we met up with DH and the girls and I described the ride the best I could. DH was trying to encourage her while Brittany kept telling her how scared she would be. I tried to be as neutral as possible. In the end she decided that no, she wouldnt ride. I was somewhat disappointed because it could have been one of her favorites but I figure she can ride it next time it will be something new for her to try. Brittany still wanted to ride again, so this time I stayed with Ashleigh and Cassidy while they rode. When we rode the first time, we practically walked right on, but this time, the wait was about 40 minutes. I didnt even look at the wait time, I just assumed theyd be on and off like before. So we waited and waited and waited had I known it was going to take that long I would have taken the girls and done something else. But we just sat around and Ashleigh entertained herself by soaking me with the mister fan.
Next we rode my (and Brittanys) favorite ride Rock N Rollercoaster. I LOVE this ride. The wait wasnt too long, so we got in line while DH got fastpasses so he could ride it again with Brittany and Dina. But this time, for some reason, there was no music playing when we rode. It really took away from the experience. I didnt know if they changed the ride or if there was just something wrong with the speaker system. Then DH rode it with Brittany and he said the same thing no music. We are HUGE Aerosmith fans, so that was kind of a bummer. Afterwards, since Cassidy hadnt ridden anything yet, I decided to take her over to ride Star Tours. I had a feeling she would love it (and she did). She declared that it was her favorite ride (replacing Space Mountain!). She loved it so much she wanted to do it again, so Dina watched Ashleigh while DH went on it with us. It seems as though DH and I rarely get to ride anything together because one of us is usually watching Ashleigh. Or, if we all go together, it seems we still wind up in separate cars, so it was fun to get to ride something with DH for once.
Up to this point Ashleigh hadnt had a chance to do anything and I really wanted her to see Playhouse Disney. We also had fastpasses for Rock-N-Rollercoaster that were about to expire so DH said he would take her and Cassidy to Playhouse Disney while we went to ride RNR. We were going to try to meet them at the show if there was time, but I knew we were cutting it close. Even with FP, we still had to wait a while at RNR, but it was worth it this time there was music YEAH!! This ride really is much better with the music, it adds so much to the experience. We rushed back to PD but, as I expected, we were too late. When they came out DH said the girls enjoyed it I dont think he was too impressed.
At this point, we still hadnt seen Mickey for an autograph and picture actually we hadnt seen many characters at all outside of shows, at least not the ones the girls were really interested in, so I finally came to the conclusion that we were going to have to search them out. On our last trip, we just ran into them as we were going about our business. I guess its not like that anymore. Or maybe it was the same and we just happened to be lucky last time, but it seems like now they are more sequestered in corners where you normally would not run into them unless you are looking for them (the more popular ones, anyway). I guess it was just getting to be too much of a mob scene. Well, we finally found Mickey (YEAH! I was not about to leave without Ashleigh getting a hug and autograph from Mickey). Ashleigh was so excited waiting in line, she couldnt wait to go up to him. When it was our turn, she ran right up to him and, just like with Pooh, and gave him a big hug! She was so excited to finally meet Mickey Mouse! Pooh and Mickey were the main guys I wanted Ashleigh to see, so I was happy!. She doesnt really recognize anyone else since she isnt into the Disney videos yet...I tried and tried before we left to get her to watch Lion Kin, Alladin, etc., but all shed say is I want to watch the Wiggles! (sigh).
By this time, it was close to our PS (at 6:20) at Brown Derby, so we went to check in and get our name down. We had gotten the Fantasmic dinner package because we tend to underestimate travel time and always seem to be running late for things. On the last trip we wound up having to stand in the back because we were running late, so I figured the Dinner Package seemed like a good idea.
I had heard mixed things about the Brown Derby, but Im glad I went ahead and tried it anyway. This was the best meal of our trip both the service and the food were outstanding. I wish I could remember our waiters name (Brian, maybe?), he was fantastic. He really catered to the girls. I ordered some kind of drink with a glowing ice cube (plastic) inside. The girls were intrigued, so he brought them all out one of their own to keep! I had read reports of people feeling their children were not welcome there, but I didnt get that feeling at all. We had a table right in the middle of the dinning room and the waiter was very attentive to all of us.
For appetizers, my sister, DH, and I had salads and DH and we also ordered a crab cake to share. (DD ordered from the adults menu so was entitled to an appetizer, but didnt want it) Im not a huge fan of crab cakes because most of the time there is too much bread and too little crab but this one was perfect very flavorful! For the main course DH and my sister ordered Filet Mignon while Brittany and I ordered the grouper - which she wound up not liking, so DH split his Filet with her and he ate her meal. I mentioned in a previous post that Im not much of a meat eater, but I usually have a taste of whatever DH has. I had a bite of his filet and it was delicious it was one of the best steaks Ive ever tasted. My sister said it was the 2nd best steak shed ever had. She was sitting next to me and I wound up sneaking a bite or two off her plate as well! My grouper was fantastic. Youd think after that wed have no room left for dessert, but it was already paid for per the Package so we figured it was a good excuse to try a variety of the desserts they all sounded so good.. We got the grapefruit cake, cheesecake, a chocolate torte-type thing and something else I cant remember. Im embarrassed to admit we ate almost everything! There were maybe 2 desserts that were only half eaten, but we scarffed down the rest it was all so yummy!
By then it was almost a full hour before Fantasmic, and we somehow managed to drag ourselves over there. Even though wed gotten the package, I knew the regular seats were better, so we decided to first see what was available for general seating and if it was better than dinner package seating, wed go ahead and take it. I was somewhat surprised that excellent seats were still available. As it turned out, the show didnt even fill up! Maybe it was because MK was open late that night with fireworks and spectromagic and everyone was over there I just thought it was unheard of to not have a full house for Fantasmic. We were apprehensive about Ashleighs reaction to this show. It is quite loud and thus far, she had not liked anything loud. So when the show started, I held her on my lap and held her ears .and she absolutely LOVED it. She was entranced through the whole thing, she loved Mickey and all the other characters and she thought the snake was hysterical! The show itself did not scare her at all as long as I was able to hold her ears. This is my 2nd favorite show at WDW (1st is Illuminations).
After the show, they had free strollers available. We already had a stroller for Ashleigh but took advantage of the offer for the two older girls since it was late and we had quite a trek back to the car. This was the first time wed used a stroller for Cassidy I was really surprised at how well she was holding up! We went back to the resort, everyone got baths and showers and then crashed.
Next Day: EPCOT
DH (would rather be golfing)
Brittany (11 years old and loves thrill rides and coasters - the faster and wilder, the better!)
Cassidy (5 years old - this trip will be her first time on the 'big rides')
Ashleigh (just turned 2 but loves Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bear already!)
Dina (my sister and much loved aunt to my DDs)
Saturday, June 30 DH and Brittany were happy to hear that it was not an early entry day and we didnt have to be at MK until 9:00 for our PS at the Crystal Palace, so we all had an opportunity to sleep in a bit. We stopped at the gift shop for autograph books and pens for the girls. Ashleigh didnt understand the purpose of the book she thought it was just something for her to scribble in she caught on fast later, though!
When we got to the MK, we were able to go into the park prior to opening because we had a PS (it was so cool to walk down a deserted Main Street!) We had eaten at the Crystal Palace on our previous trip and really enjoyed it its a beautiful restaurant, the food is good, and my girls love the Pooh characters. Before we got our food, I took DDs up to see Pooh since there was no one in line. This was one of the best moments of the entire trip. Once Ashleigh saw him she ran up to him, threw her arms around him, and gave him a huge hug with the biggest smile on her face. It was so cute! And the funny thing was, she would not let go .it was like she was hanging on to him for dear life. Pooh was great with her he got down on her level and loved her right back. I had tears in my eyes heck, I have tears in my eyes as Im typing this! When we finally were able to pry Ashleigh away, it was Cassidys turn to get an autograph. Well, as soon as Ashleigh saw Pooh autograph Cassidys book, you could see the comprehension dawn on her face (so THATS what that book is for!) All of a sudden she flew back to the table, grabbed her own book and pen, and with a smile a mile wide she ran back to Pooh for an autograph and yet another hug. I took lots of pictures, I only hope I was able to capture her expressions. Im really lousy when it comes to photography. Brittany, of course was more laid back, but I know she loved it too she loves Pooh and his friends.
We then went to eat our breakfast and wait for the other characters. One by one we saw, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet and I was able to get pictures off all. It seemed kind of rushed this time, there wasnt much character interaction like they had with pooh. Just autographs, snap a picture, and thats it. It seemed like last time they interacted with all of us a lot more. I think it might have had something to with where our table was in the rotation and the fact that Piglet had to come back because the first time we were with Pooh. But it was a very enjoyable meal worth every penny!
After breakfast we stopped for a bathroom break and while Cassidy was in the stall I heard her say Oh, No, and then kind of giggle. I wondered what was going on and when she came out she had kind of a funny look on her face and said Mommy, I have to tell you a secret! I couldnt imagine what it was and just about burst out laughing when she whispered to me that she still had her pull-up on from the night before. (yes, she still wears pull-ups at 5. She is a VERY sound sleeper and does not always wake up when she needs to go). In her rush to get dressed she had forgotten to change into underwear (at least they were still clean!) But she made me swear not to tell a soul. (Good thing she cant read yet!).
We decided to start off in Tomorrowland because Cassidy had not yet had a chance to do Buzz Lightyear and Brittany wanted to ride Space Mountain a few more times. After Buzz, while DH, Brittany, Dina, and Cassidy were riding SM, I took Ashleigh on the TTA. It was a nice relaxing ride I especially like it when it goes through SM. Then I decided to take Ashleigh back to Fantasy Land to ride some of her favorites and to try to find Mickey. As soon as Ashleigh saw the teacups she pointed to them and said I want to ride that! So we did the teacups (twice!), then went in search of MM. We meandered back to toontown, but my goodness, was it packed! I checked my watch and realized it was almost time to get back to meet up with the rest of the gang and we wouldnt have time for any autographs.
I found DH on the way to our designated meeting spot and he told me that they were in line to ride SM the 2nd time when he realized they wouldnt be back by our meeting time. So he had gotten out of line to find me so I wouldnt wonder what happened to them. We were surprised when we got back to SM only to find the three of them standing there, Brittany with a POd look on her face. Turns out about 20 minutes into the wait, Cassidy decided she had to go to the bathroom, so they had to leave the line. Brittany had wanted to stay in line and ride it herself, but Dina wouldnt let her (wise choice!). Luckily, though, we had Fastpasses since Brittany had wanted to do this ride several times in a row, so we used those. Brittany was still ticked about missing an opportunity to ride, though, (she keeps a count each trip of how many times she rides SM and wanted to break her last years record of 10).
We had plans to go to MGM that day, but Cassidy wanted to ride the teacups once more since this was our last day at MK, so on the way out we did the teacups one last time. Afterwards, we decided to get a snack before heading out to MGM. While we were eating Cassidy got one of her looks .that little twinkle in her eyes and mischeivous smile that is totally Cassidy. She coyly told everyone that she had a secret (of course, I knew what she was talking about). So one by one, she whispered her secret into everyones ear. I guess she was too embarrassed to say it out loud. Everyone was kind of chuckling and after Cassidy told Brittany, she (Brittany) rolled her eyes and then all of a sudden got this indignant look on her face and said HEY! we didnt have to get out of line at Space Mountain!!. Figures she would think of that.
After our snack and a few good laughs at Cassidys (good-natured) expense, we decided to go back to the hotel and drive to MGM since it would be another late night and DH wanted to be able to drive back rather than have to rely on the bus. For some reason we decided to take the monorail back instead of the boat. I guess we were feeling oh, what is the word? Narcissistic? no, thats not it you know, when you want to cause yourself much pain. Anyway, that must have been what prompted us to take the monorail. Honestly, I dont remember the monorail trip being that bad from the MK to the GF. Seems like we did that quite a few times on our last trip and it was a reasonably efficient way to go. On E-night it wasnt that bad. But this time it was like a slow boat to China. It mustve taken at least 40 minutes! Not only did the train stop between stops, it remained at every stop for at least 5 to 10 minutes, maybe even longer at the TTC... with NOBODY boarding just sitting there. I swear, we couldve walked (or swam) back faster than that. I dont know if its always like that these days or if it was just that one time, but from then on whenever we went anywhere (even later on in the trip when we were at Universal), Cassidy would say Dont take the monorail!.
I didnt mention this on previous reports (believe it or not, as long as they were I suppose Ive left quite a lot out), but throughout the entire trip Cassidy had been talking nonstop about the TOT. She kept insisting she couldnt wait to ride it, that it was her favorite ride (even though shes never ridden it before). Brittany kept telling her how scary it was, how it would freak her out, etc. etc Cassidy still kept insisting she wanted to ride. Well, I think the Dinosaur experience somewhat tempered her courage, because by the time we got to MGM she was backing down quickly. I wasnt sure how I felt about it on the one hand, I hate for her to miss out on something she would enjoy; but on the other hand, I really did not want a repeat of the Dinosaur incident. So I told her we would go on it first and I would tell her what the ride was like. (Id been on it before but it had been 3 years).
Truthfully, this ride freaks ME (and my sister) out! I dont like heights and I dont like that dropping feeling (but I do like this ride even tough it freaks me out go figure). Anyway, DH stayed with the two little ones, and the rest of us went on the ride. I know theyve changed the drop sequences, but I dont really remember it being any different from before we mustve gotten the old one. Actually, it seemed LESS scary to me, maybe because of the seatbelts, I dont know. I love this ride, although I still didnt really know how Cassidy would react. I decided to simply tell her what happened and let her decide. So we met up with DH and the girls and I described the ride the best I could. DH was trying to encourage her while Brittany kept telling her how scared she would be. I tried to be as neutral as possible. In the end she decided that no, she wouldnt ride. I was somewhat disappointed because it could have been one of her favorites but I figure she can ride it next time it will be something new for her to try. Brittany still wanted to ride again, so this time I stayed with Ashleigh and Cassidy while they rode. When we rode the first time, we practically walked right on, but this time, the wait was about 40 minutes. I didnt even look at the wait time, I just assumed theyd be on and off like before. So we waited and waited and waited had I known it was going to take that long I would have taken the girls and done something else. But we just sat around and Ashleigh entertained herself by soaking me with the mister fan.
Next we rode my (and Brittanys) favorite ride Rock N Rollercoaster. I LOVE this ride. The wait wasnt too long, so we got in line while DH got fastpasses so he could ride it again with Brittany and Dina. But this time, for some reason, there was no music playing when we rode. It really took away from the experience. I didnt know if they changed the ride or if there was just something wrong with the speaker system. Then DH rode it with Brittany and he said the same thing no music. We are HUGE Aerosmith fans, so that was kind of a bummer. Afterwards, since Cassidy hadnt ridden anything yet, I decided to take her over to ride Star Tours. I had a feeling she would love it (and she did). She declared that it was her favorite ride (replacing Space Mountain!). She loved it so much she wanted to do it again, so Dina watched Ashleigh while DH went on it with us. It seems as though DH and I rarely get to ride anything together because one of us is usually watching Ashleigh. Or, if we all go together, it seems we still wind up in separate cars, so it was fun to get to ride something with DH for once.
Up to this point Ashleigh hadnt had a chance to do anything and I really wanted her to see Playhouse Disney. We also had fastpasses for Rock-N-Rollercoaster that were about to expire so DH said he would take her and Cassidy to Playhouse Disney while we went to ride RNR. We were going to try to meet them at the show if there was time, but I knew we were cutting it close. Even with FP, we still had to wait a while at RNR, but it was worth it this time there was music YEAH!! This ride really is much better with the music, it adds so much to the experience. We rushed back to PD but, as I expected, we were too late. When they came out DH said the girls enjoyed it I dont think he was too impressed.
At this point, we still hadnt seen Mickey for an autograph and picture actually we hadnt seen many characters at all outside of shows, at least not the ones the girls were really interested in, so I finally came to the conclusion that we were going to have to search them out. On our last trip, we just ran into them as we were going about our business. I guess its not like that anymore. Or maybe it was the same and we just happened to be lucky last time, but it seems like now they are more sequestered in corners where you normally would not run into them unless you are looking for them (the more popular ones, anyway). I guess it was just getting to be too much of a mob scene. Well, we finally found Mickey (YEAH! I was not about to leave without Ashleigh getting a hug and autograph from Mickey). Ashleigh was so excited waiting in line, she couldnt wait to go up to him. When it was our turn, she ran right up to him and, just like with Pooh, and gave him a big hug! She was so excited to finally meet Mickey Mouse! Pooh and Mickey were the main guys I wanted Ashleigh to see, so I was happy!. She doesnt really recognize anyone else since she isnt into the Disney videos yet...I tried and tried before we left to get her to watch Lion Kin, Alladin, etc., but all shed say is I want to watch the Wiggles! (sigh).
By this time, it was close to our PS (at 6:20) at Brown Derby, so we went to check in and get our name down. We had gotten the Fantasmic dinner package because we tend to underestimate travel time and always seem to be running late for things. On the last trip we wound up having to stand in the back because we were running late, so I figured the Dinner Package seemed like a good idea.
I had heard mixed things about the Brown Derby, but Im glad I went ahead and tried it anyway. This was the best meal of our trip both the service and the food were outstanding. I wish I could remember our waiters name (Brian, maybe?), he was fantastic. He really catered to the girls. I ordered some kind of drink with a glowing ice cube (plastic) inside. The girls were intrigued, so he brought them all out one of their own to keep! I had read reports of people feeling their children were not welcome there, but I didnt get that feeling at all. We had a table right in the middle of the dinning room and the waiter was very attentive to all of us.
For appetizers, my sister, DH, and I had salads and DH and we also ordered a crab cake to share. (DD ordered from the adults menu so was entitled to an appetizer, but didnt want it) Im not a huge fan of crab cakes because most of the time there is too much bread and too little crab but this one was perfect very flavorful! For the main course DH and my sister ordered Filet Mignon while Brittany and I ordered the grouper - which she wound up not liking, so DH split his Filet with her and he ate her meal. I mentioned in a previous post that Im not much of a meat eater, but I usually have a taste of whatever DH has. I had a bite of his filet and it was delicious it was one of the best steaks Ive ever tasted. My sister said it was the 2nd best steak shed ever had. She was sitting next to me and I wound up sneaking a bite or two off her plate as well! My grouper was fantastic. Youd think after that wed have no room left for dessert, but it was already paid for per the Package so we figured it was a good excuse to try a variety of the desserts they all sounded so good.. We got the grapefruit cake, cheesecake, a chocolate torte-type thing and something else I cant remember. Im embarrassed to admit we ate almost everything! There were maybe 2 desserts that were only half eaten, but we scarffed down the rest it was all so yummy!
By then it was almost a full hour before Fantasmic, and we somehow managed to drag ourselves over there. Even though wed gotten the package, I knew the regular seats were better, so we decided to first see what was available for general seating and if it was better than dinner package seating, wed go ahead and take it. I was somewhat surprised that excellent seats were still available. As it turned out, the show didnt even fill up! Maybe it was because MK was open late that night with fireworks and spectromagic and everyone was over there I just thought it was unheard of to not have a full house for Fantasmic. We were apprehensive about Ashleighs reaction to this show. It is quite loud and thus far, she had not liked anything loud. So when the show started, I held her on my lap and held her ears .and she absolutely LOVED it. She was entranced through the whole thing, she loved Mickey and all the other characters and she thought the snake was hysterical! The show itself did not scare her at all as long as I was able to hold her ears. This is my 2nd favorite show at WDW (1st is Illuminations).
After the show, they had free strollers available. We already had a stroller for Ashleigh but took advantage of the offer for the two older girls since it was late and we had quite a trek back to the car. This was the first time wed used a stroller for Cassidy I was really surprised at how well she was holding up! We went back to the resort, everyone got baths and showers and then crashed.
Next Day: EPCOT
