So Many Characters..So Little Time! Our April Adventure to the World! Complete:)

[Angies1274]

I had to laugh about ya'll saying "hey that's the guy from Soarin'". I do that all the time when I see Kramer since he makes an appearance in the Universe of Energy film.

I love love love Living with the Land. I could do just like you and snap a picture of every plant in the place. You should look into doing the Behind the Seeds tour. It's really cheap (compared to other other tours) and it's a great way to get a close-up look at the plants and fish.

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to look into the Behind the Seeds tour! I'm hoping to talk my parent's into another trip and I know my mom would absolutely love it!! Unfortunately, she wasn't able to see Living with the Land when we went last August. She loves to garden and I know she would have loved to see all the plants! Hopefully next time!

Fun day at Epcot - I hope you guys made it to WS!

It was such a fun morning at Epcot!!

I can't believe Figment had a line! It must have been busy. LOL that your boys try the Beverly every trip. I can't get my boys to try it at all. I can also relate to the whole butterfly on Simba looking too girly. Boys are funny that way And that walk back to the buses at Epcot is a long one even if you aren't tired. I'll be interested to see what you do for the evening.

I know...I was so surprised that Figment had a line....it never has a line! The funny thing was we didn't find it that busy in the park.

It's probably a good thing your boys refuse to try the Beverly...it really is so bad!

It was such a long walk to the buses! I didn't think we would ever make it!

 

[Angies1274]

Oh yes....I've done that chilly walk back to the room after a dip in the pool! for us it was usually in the evening after a long day at the parks. My boys love the night swim....for me it's a tad cold!

Club Cool is one of our favorites as well....Beverly faces never get old!

I couldn't believe how chilly it got from the time we left Epcot and got to Pop. If I remember right....I think there was a wind advisory that day. We've never done an evening swim before. I'm sure the boys would love that!

Ahhh...we love Club Cool and I agree Beverly pics are the best!!!

haha, great Beverly picture.

Cute souvenirs too. I've heard of Club Penguin but what exactly is it?

I love that picture of Nick! I laugh every time I see it!

Oh and Club Penguin is an online game where kids can create their own penguins and can interact with their friends online. They play games and activities with them, dress them, decorate their houses. But the big thing is to collect the puffles which are the penguins pets. Anyway, the boys love the game especially Nick. It seems like lately all we see is Club Penguin stuff around the house.

Oh no about the blister!!!! I hope you have some good bandaids and some Body Glide so you can head back out to WS!!!


So glad other people think of Kronk too when they watch Soarin

Oh...I know! I was so sad he got a blister and surprised. That was one of the reasons that I had him wear his sneakers around the park because they were already broken in.

That's so funny...I guess I definitely need to watch the Emperor's New Groove now! So many of you think of Kronk when you watch Soarin' and until the other day I didn't even know he was in that movie.

 

[Angies1274]

Oh, I hope the blister didn't bum him out too much and you were able to get WS Angie! Great pics too!! We never got to Club Cool this time, Gabe still doesn't like pop so I don't think he would be that interested yet...I was hoping to "trick" DH into the Beverly though....I have to remember for next time!!! Sunshine Seasons is also one of our favorite places to eat, there is so much there that looks sooooooooo good!!! Glad to know how smoothly the GAD passes worked for you!!!! Excited to hear about your WS evening!!!!!!!

Hi Beth! Thanks! That's probably a good thing that Gabe doesn't like pop. They boys may like it too much. I'm always trying to encourage them to drink juice or water instead. I tricked my brother into the Beverly last trip...I know..it was terrible...but also pretty funny. I'm not sure he has forgiven me yet. Oh well, what are sister's for! Sunshine Seasons is so yummy and they have such great variety! We love it!

Yay, Figment! We've never done this before. On the list!

I'm disappointed we missed Club Cool. Nick's picture is a hoot!

I love buttered popcorn and I LOVE jelly beans... but together? They're yummy? Man, my gotta-do list is getting bigger and bigger! What are the theme park figurines?

Baby Simba! Wonderful choice Noah! (Geez, is that what he's supposed to look like? ) Love the Club Penguin guy rocking out too.

Noah looks so tired lying on the bed. Oh I have a chill now thinking about your walk back from swimming ... brrrrr.

Oh nuts, a blister?

Oh..you definitely need to try Figment! We love it..well most of us do! Then again we like any of the ride through attractions.

I know..the buttered popcorn and jelly beans are a strange combination and honestly I was very hesitant to give them a try. It's so weird, it's like you are eating a chewy kernel of popcorn...but they are really good! Of course you would have to love popcorn!

Here's a pic from the Disney Store of the theme park figurines...plus if you look back in the pictures of the one of Nick on the bed...you should be able to see them on the table.

Noah collects all the figurines. So far he's got the villain one, Toy Story, Peter Pan, Nemo, Aladdin...and others I can't remember. He loves them!

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Great Updates!!

Disney Art and Animation Resort Announced!! I think this is wonderful for those families of 5 or more. It will give them more of a value priced room which is great!



Thanks for the aerial pic of the Land/seating at Sunshine Seasons. We love soarin and Living w/ the land. we took the living with the Land tour on last year and really enjoyed it.

Figment is a classic to us, we also have to ride it every year.

Looking forward to more......

 

[ellajeansmom]

Too funny that the boys want to try Beverly every time, makes for a great picture

You have my sympathies for the chilly swim...I would have been in a lounge chair with several towels wrapped around me

Hope the blister doesn't slow you down.

Oh and yes, we had great fun doing the Joseph production and especially nice that the three of us got to do it together

 

[Angies1274]

Great Updates!!

Disney Art and Animation Resort Announced!! I think this is wonderful for those families of 5 or more. It will give them more of a value priced room which is great!



Thanks for the aerial pic of the Land/seating at Sunshine Seasons. We love soarin and Living w/ the land. we took the living with the Land tour on last year and really enjoyed it.

Figment is a classic to us, we also have to ride it every year.

Looking forward to more......

Thanks!!

I agree..I think the new resort is going to be great for bigger families! I can't wait to see it when it's all done!

Living with the Land was a surprise for us! We never expected to like it as much as we did!

Too funny that the boys want to try Beverly every time, makes for a great picture

You have my sympathies for the chilly swim...I would have been in a lounge chair with several towels wrapped around me

Hope the blister doesn't slow you down.

Oh and yes, we had great fun doing the Joseph production and especially nice that the three of us got to do it together

I'm so happy that you had so much fun doing the Joseph production....and I agree it's so much better when you can do things where your kids can participate too and you get to spend that extra time with them!!

I still don't understand why they must try the Beverly every trip. I think it actually becomes a dare between them...to see which one will actually do it!

Yes...it was a very chilly swim and walk back to the room! Just thinking about it is making me cold!!

 

[Angies1274]

April 13,2010--Epcot

Hi Everyone!

Let's see...when I left off, we had visited our favorite little purple dragon, tried a few yummy and not so yummy drinks, did a little shopping and had a very chilly swim. We had also just discovered that Noah had a blister. Which in all honestly, was a surprise for me. I purposely didn't buy him a new pair of sneakers before the trip because his sneakers were already broken in...I figured that would be the better way to go....apparently not.

So, we bandaged him up, asked him how it felt and he told us it was okay. He was excited to head back to Epcot...there was a secret mission he was anxious to try. We had missed Kim Possible last year and it was on the top of the boys must-do list this year.

If you read my PTR, you know our plan was to head back to Epcot for dinner. But after the chilly swim, and relaxing for awhile. Noah got to play with his theme park figurines and Nick read a little in his Club Penguin book. DH and I watched Stacy. It was starting to get late and we figured grabbing dinner in the food court was a much quicker solution! Plus, it would allow us to just concentrate on all the fun things we wanted to accomplish in the World Showcase. (which never seems like we have enough time to explore)

Hmmm...for some reason I'm having a hard time remembering what everyone got...see that is why you should take food pics. (which I am horrible at doing!) Anyway, lets just say Noah had chicken nuggets as they became a staple for him through out the week. Nick had pizza and DH had a burger...I think? What I do remember is that I had the Greek Salad, which I love and have to have at least once on every trip. No one complained so apparently everyone was satisfied with their meal.

After dinner, we hopped on a Epcot bus that again seemed to be waiting for us when we walked up to the bus stop. We were really lucky that week as far as the buses go! We ended up being the only ones on the bus...which was pretty cool.

YAY! We have arrived!

My attempt at getting a really close shot of Spaceship Earth.....

Now, the first thing on our agenda was to head over and pick up fastpasses for Kim Possible. I had remembered we could pick them up in the Innoventions building. So, we wandered inside. We didn't stop to look at too much because that was what happened last trip. We spent so much time in here that we ended up having very little time for the World Showcase. We did stop and look at the new Sum of all Thrills ride. The boys were definitely interested but there was quite a wait. We continued on our way until we finally found what we were looking for...the recruiting station! We were given a fastpass that directed us to Norway to pick up our Kimmunicator.

Since we had a little time...I stopped and took a few pictures on the way--

Hmm...they don't look like they really wanted their picture taken..huh?

We decided since we were walking right by, we would stop and visit Mexico-

Of course, we had to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. It's one of Noah's favorite rides in Epcot. It really is such a relaxing ride! I didn't take pictures (they never never turn out great without the flash) So, I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the ride. So close your eyes... and imagine following Donald through the River of Time...oh and don't forget to look up at the fireworks overhead!

Another quick picture as we were walking through to Norway. (You'll see that I took a lot of these over the water pictures on this night)

We finally arrived in Norway and I snapped a quick picture...not the best either. I guess I should have backed up!

After glancing quick at our fastpass we realized we may have time to try Maelstrom. Now this was the first time we had ever rode this ride and we were anxious to check it out! After seeing a wait time of around 20 minutes, we decided to use our handy GAD fastpasses. A quick picture I took while waiting for DH to get them--

and another....I think this is so funny that Nick is hanging on to the trolls nose not paying attention...because he was watching DH.

Soon we were aboard our viking ship. The boys enjoyed the ride but I felt so bad for the little girl sitting behind us...she was so scared and her mom was doing her best to console her. The boys liked the little drop but were disappointed when it looked like we were going backwards over the big waterfall and then the boat turned forward. Overall a fun ride...probably not one we will do every trip though. The one thing that we didn't really like was after the ride we had to wait awhile as the doors opened to watch the Norway movie and even if you didn't want to watch the movie there wasn't another exit, you still had to wait...oh well. It probably wouldn't mattered so much to DH and I. But, the boys were really anxious to start their mission!!!

So, did the boys ever make it to their mission? Stay tuned?

 

[Believeinfairytales]

Glad you got to do Maelstrom. Still haven't done that one, but I really want to. Can't wait to hear how the highly anticipated Kim Possible mission goes.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great update! Love the F&GF pictures. I like the Gran Fiesta Tour too...it is a cute ride.

Those park figurines you posted in one of the responses are pretty cool!

Can't wait to hear if you made it to the KP mission.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

LOVE the WS!! We rode Maelstrom for the first time last spring. We ended up watching the movie because we wanted to, but most people moved through the theater and were able to exit on the other side. Hmm...I wonder if we just hit it at the right time when one show was ending and the theater doors were open. Only a VERY few of us stayed for the movie.

I can't wait to hear about your KimPossible mission! I'm sure the boys will have fun!

 

[Cory's Gal]

I am excited to hear about the KP Mission! I saw all the places to get the Kimmunicator but thought Gabe might be a little bit too young yet, so I hope to get to it next time!! Glad you could make it back to WS even with the blister situation! I LOVE WS at night!!!!

 

[dismagiclover]

Great update! We haven't ridden Maelstrom since our very first trip. We may have to try it again next time. I can't wait to find out which country your mission was in.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I love your F&G Festival pics!
So awesome that you had good bus luck
I hate the exit on Maelstrom, we always finish the ride at a terrible time, and have to wait for the Norway movie to finish.
I've never done a Kim Possible Mission and I'm dieing to do it this summer! They seem like so much fun

 

[Angies1274]

Glad you got to do Maelstrom. Still haven't done that one, but I really want to. Can't wait to hear how the highly anticipated Kim Possible mission goes.

You should definitely try Maelstrom! It's short but fun! Kim Possible Mission coming up soon.

Great update! Love the F&GF pictures. I like the Gran Fiesta Tour too...it is a cute ride.

Those park figurines you posted in one of the responses are pretty cool!

Can't wait to hear if you made it to the KP mission.

Thanks Sarah! We love the Gran Fiesta Tour, it's one of those must-do rides for us every trip! Noah loves those park figurines! He also has the villain one with Sorcerer Mickey! It's very cool!

LOVE the WS!! We rode Maelstrom for the first time last spring. We ended up watching the movie because we wanted to, but most people moved through the theater and were able to exit on the other side. Hmm...I wonder if we just hit it at the right time when one show was ending and the theater doors were open. Only a VERY few of us stayed for the movie.

I can't wait to hear about your KimPossible mission! I'm sure the boys will have fun!

Hi Missy!

We enjoyed Maelstrom. It was shorter than I thought but the boys had fun! I actually would have liked to watch the movie myself, but they were too excited for Kim Possible. As far as the doors opening, it must have been just bad timing as the movie must have just started and we had to wait for it to finish.

 

[Angies1274]

I am excited to hear about the KP Mission! I saw all the places to get the Kimmunicator but thought Gabe might be a little bit too young yet, so I hope to get to it next time!! Glad you could make it back to WS even with the blister situation! I LOVE WS at night!!!!

I was really worried about Noah's blister. I didn't want it to ruin his night. But, he did great and actually didn't even mention it until later on. I think he was just so excited to do Kim Possible that's all he could think about.

Great update! We haven't ridden Maelstrom since our very first trip. We may have to try it again next time. I can't wait to find out which country your mission was in.

Thanks! The boys really liked Maelstrom. I was actually surprised because they don't like anything too scary...and I wasn't sure how they would react seeing the trolls in the dark but they were fine!

I love your F&G Festival pics!
So awesome that you had good bus luck
I hate the exit on Maelstrom, we always finish the ride at a terrible time, and have to wait for the Norway movie to finish.
I've never done a Kim Possible Mission and I'm dieing to do it this summer! They seem like so much fun

Thanks! I loved seeing all the flowers from the F&G Festival this year...they were so pretty!

That's exactly what must have happened with us on Maelstrom. We had to wait for the movie to finish...and it must have just started because we waited for quite a while. (or maybe it just felt like it)

 

[DisMomAmy]

All caught up... I'm glad you guys got your second wind and made it back out to Epcot... I wasn't sure.

Sorry the swim was chilly!

Can't wait to hear about your KP mission! We've done a couple missions - Zach really enjoys them.

 

[Angies1274]

All caught up... I'm glad you guys got your second wind and made it back out to Epcot... I wasn't sure.

Sorry the swim was chilly!

Can't wait to hear about your KP mission! We've done a couple missions - Zach really enjoys them.

I'm so happy we were able to go back to Epcot! I love seeing it all lit up at night!

Yes...it was a very chilly swim!!

KP mission coming up soon!!

 

[Angies1274]

April 13, 2010--Epcot~~Our Evening in the World Showcase!

Hi Everyone!!!

Before I begin my next update, I have to rewind a bit. I remembered last night while I was uploading pictures that I had completely forgotten we had rode Test Track again when we arrived back to the park. So, before we grabbed our Kim Possible fastpasses at Innoventions, we made our way over to Test Track. Of course, all fastpasses were gone for the day and the wait time was around 60 minutes...maybe more. Honestly, I can't really remember because for some reason I didn't take my camera out until we were making our way over to the World Showcase. Luckily we had our GAD fastpasses in hand and soon we were climbing inside our car, ready to hold on tight. It was a great ride as usual...but no tour guide for me this time around....darn...after such a great ride earlier, Test Track will never be the same for me again.

Let's see...when we left off last time, we had just headed back to Epcot, rode Test Track that I finally remembered, grabbed fastpasses for Kim Possible, stopped to take a few Flower and Garden pics, explored the Mexico and Norway Pavilion and now it was finally time for our Kim Possible mission. The boys were so excited to try this! When we had picked up our fastpasses at the recruiting center it told us to check in at the Field station in Norway. Of course, we were very anxious to find out what country our mission would be in. We found the station very easily and was handed a Kimmunicator when we checked in. The CM told us that Wade would communicate with us and give us clues for each mission. Our mission was in....drumroll please........

China! Which happened to be the next country over! It actually couldn't have worked out more perfectly as you'll find out why later.

So, off to China we went...ready to start our mission. Here are a few pictures of the boys engrossed in their mission!!

I don't want to spoil anyone's fun so I won't share the details of our mission. But here are a few pics I took while walking around.

We really enjoyed Kim Possible!! The boys especially! They had a great time! It really gave us an opportunity to explore the China Pavilion and see things we probably would have missed. I wish we would have had more time to do more missions..but unfortunately we didn't so the boys dropped off their Kimmunicator in the hidden drop box.

We didn't have to look very far to know what we wanted to do next. In my PTR I had made a list of things we had wanted to do in the World Showcase this year and one of the things on the list was to see the acrobats in China. I had thought since we would be doing Kim Possible we would unfortunately have to miss it again this trip. But as luck would have it our mission as you know ended up in China and just as we finished… a new show was starting....talk about luck! Here are a couple pictures I took while watching-

After the show was over, we headed to Germany and of course I had to take some more pictures along the way--

YAY! It's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-

I love this picture! I think the boys look so relaxed and happy to be there!

We finally made it over to Germany!

We didn't spend too much time exploring though...it was one of our countries to explore last trip. Since we didn't have a lot of time to explore WS last year either we had decided to all pick one country we wanted to explore...DH had picked Germany. There was one thing we did miss from last year's trip that I was anxious to show the boys...which of course they thought was very cool!

After our visit in Germany, it was off to Italy-

(see..I told you that you would be seeing a lot of over the water pictures!!)

At this point, the boys were starting to get a little tired. So we stopped awhile to sit and rest.

Continued in next post........

 

[Angies1274]

Epcot~~ Our Evening in the World Showcase continued.....

After Italy, we decided to get a snack outside of the American Pavilion.

We picked up some popcorn, pretzels and something to drink. The popcorn was supposed to be for during Illuminations but the boys had other ideas. I'm really not sure there was any left by the time Illuminations started..lol

It was starting to get dark and we knew we would have to be finding a spot very soon...

Japan on the way by....it was Nick's country to explore last year so again we didn't really stop but I did grab a quick picture on the way by-

and....some more over the water pics.....

Next up was Morocco!

At this point I knew we were getting close to France. I really had wanted to have more time to explore but it was getting late and I knew if we wanted to find spot for Illuminations we would have to start looking very soon as it was inching closer to 8:00pm. I am happy to report though that I located the kiosk that sold the Grand Marnier Orange Slush that I really wanted to try. I hesitated for only a second before I got in line and got one for myself. Oh my goodness...it was so yummy! Plus the glass it came in was very cute! Now..I had DH take a picture of me drinking it but he hasn't quite mastered our camera yet so needless to say it came out blurry with half of my head chopped off...lol...let's just say it wasn't pretty! But I did want you to see how yummy it looked...so here is a pic I found off photobucket....

It so funny...the boys kept asking..."Mommy, that looks really good..can we try some?...pleeeeeese?" Of course I replied.."No, Sorry guys." They were pretty crushed..their bottled water didn't look quite as tasty anymore.

France on the way by....I'll get there someday.

Next we had to stop and see Peter Pan and Captain Hook battle it out! Ooops it looks like the crocodile wins again! Can't you just hear the music!lol

We finally made it over to the United Kingdom.....

I had to get a quick pic of the boys!!

At this point it was just after 8:00pm and we had finally made it back around to Canada. This was where I had wanted to watch Illuminations from but after a quick assessment of the crowds we decided to move on closer to the pathway between FW and WS. It was still crowded but we managed to find a semi-decent spot and sat down. Honestly, at that point the boys were so tired and Noah had started complaining about his blister so we were just so happy to finally be able to sit down....anywhere! I took a few pictures of the boys while we waited....

I had shut the flash off earlier to get better night time pictures but after a couple attempts to get a picture of DH and myself, I had Nick switch the flash back on-

Ahh...finally it was time for Illuminations to begin! This was our very first time seeing it and we were so excited! Honestly, I didn't take too many pictures because I really wanted to just sit back and take it all in for the first time. Out of probably the handful I took only a few actually came out anyway--

Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good ones of the globe...although I tried. Just before Illuminations started a couple of people decided to stand right in front of us..and of course, they put their child on their shoulders. This was fine when it came to seeing the fireworks..I mean they are up in the sky...but it made it a little tricky to see the globe at times. All and all the boys loved it...we loved it! It really was amazing! It's the best feeling when you can see your child's faces light up because they're just so in awe of what is happening around them but even better when you hear one of them say..."Mommy, these are the best fireworks that I have ever seen!" It makes everything worth it! All the months of planning and saving....you realize at that moment what drives you to want to come back again and again!

After enjoying Illuminations, we picked ourselves up and followed the crowd of people making their way out of the park. In the distance we heard..."It's the time of your life....you don't want to miss out on right here and right now."

A few last shots before we made our way out of the park for the night....

It was another perfect night at Disney! We had been able to accomplish a lot on our must-do list in Epcot. But...the question was...would we be just as lucky in the Magic Kingdom?

Up Next---Welcome...Welcome...Welcome!

 

[dismagiclover]

Great updates! I just love Epcot (especially the World Showcase) in the evenings. It's a great time to just browse around taking in the countries and ending with Illuminations! I'm glad you guys were able to experience it! Can't wait to hear about the Magic Kingdom