The "We have one whole year to wait" Now a Trip Report

[cjackearl]

Hi Laura! Great update. Fall can get a bit crazy busy, I know. I got a slightly different email pin-kids eat and play(tickets) free w/ package purchase. However THAT deal didn't hold a candle to the buy 4 get 3 free deal I snagged. It saved us so much money that for the same price as 5 nights POR and 3 nights BC with DDP on the first 5 nights, we now get to stay for all 8 nights at BC AND get the DDP for all 8 nights!!! I was so excited to see anything for June, so Yea! I'll be anxious to see what Nathaniel thinks about Dinosaur. We didn't do it last time and I'm on the fence for this trip. Although my oldest loves rollercoasters, she caught a glimpse of Jurassic Park at a sleep over (the girls dad was watching it and my DD walked by w/her friend) and I ended up with a frantic phone call at midnight to come pick her up because she was terrified. My kids loved the Boneyard also. We all really liked AK, except for the fact that it was hotter than the surface of the sun. How are your Christmas preparations coming this year? We have a Christmas Club account that we usually suplement with a little extra, but this year we're sticking to only what is in the account. I'm trying to keep your story firmly in mind so that I don't get sucked into the retail machine. Only 5 more weeks until we leave for Sanibel! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Laura.bora]

I cannot tell you how many years we have tried to have a Chirstmas account, or money set aside for Christmas, or buying presents over the course of the year - it never ever works! So far I have bought Nathaniel a leapfrog Stanley book - of course the Leapfrog thing broke, so we need to go out and buy another one! We're probally not getting Ephraim anything other than maybe a Christmas ornament. He doesn't need anything - and he's not even one, so it's not like he even wants anything..... except maybe Ainsley's and Nathaniel's empty boxes and wrapping paper!

I go Black Friday shopping with my mother and sisters every year (although my sisters have ditched us this year so it will just be me and my mom and Ephraim shopping ), and I almost always wind up with great deals. I do so much better on that one day than I could possibly do with any other sale! And this year with the economy the way it is, I'm sure there will be GREAT deals! One year, I had $100 per person to work with (Ken's work has a Paid Time Off sell back every year right before Thanksgiving - what a wonderful idea!) and Ken was in need of winter clothes at that time - especially a coat. I thought I'd be able to get him a coat and that would be about it - I hit the jackpot of all black Friday sales and got him a mid thigh black wool coat for $30 - and then of course JC Penneys had shirts on sale left and right and I had enough money left over to surprise him with season one of This Old House - which he was unaware was even on DVD (One of his favorite shows) and a Fernando Ortega (sp?) Hymns CD.
We have a tradition in our house that if you guess/accidentally (or on purpose as it goes with me) find out your gift, then you do not get that gift. We were going to get him a new bible that year, and I had the kids help me search, we found the perfect bible, and I told the kids DO NOT tell Papa what we are getting him. We are sitting down eating dinner, and Ken asked NAthaniel what he did today and Nathaniel answers "Well.....I can't tell you that we are bought you a bible, but I can tell you that we did watch some TV." Ken was so upset because he now wasn't getting his bible that year - but I secretly sent his father on a mission for the bible and my mother on the mission for the John Courson Application commentary - I knew he expected me to get it, so I sent my mother on the mission for it instead because he NEVER would have guessed my mom and dad would get him that. It was a great Christmas. I'll update you on my Black Friday shopping when I get back! Hopefully I'll get good deals this year. Off to finish my trip report!

In case I don't get a chance before I leave - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok - are we ready for a lot of pictures?? Here's the rest of the report!

OK, so I went on Dinosaur and loved it and then ….

Off we skip to see the Kilimanjaro Safari! Nathaniel was very excited to see this. He is a big animal lover. The line – even with a Fast Pass – was one of the longest lines we stood on. Maybe 15 minutes? It was long. But we kept ourselves occupied by looking for hidden Mickeys and snapping pictures!

It wasn’t long before our jeep had arrived!

Now, I had heard about how bumpy it was – I was really excited to be really tossed around – but I must say, I was disappointed because it was rather tame. That may have been our driver, but our ride was not too bumpy. I had no fear of the children falling out, or me accidentally loosing Ephraim. In fact, I was more scared on the Astro Orbiter. So we rode, but the animals weren’t too out and about when we went. But we did see a majority of the animals. We saw some birds, we saw the hippos, lions (from a distance), we did see the baby giraffe up close. Saw the rhinos. It was an African Lion Safari. It was fun, but for me, just wasn’t WOW! You know? However, Nathaniel LOVED it. Absolutely loved it. But if you have a ‘fraidy cat kid, like Nathaniel, you might want to explain before hand that although the animals are not caged, they cannot get you because of the ravine. You also might want to fully explain that if the animal jumps into the ravine, that they can’t get out. Nathaniel was scared because “lions can swim”. But he was not so scared that he didn’t love every second of it. I think he became scared after the ride, when he started to think “…wait a minute….what was stopping the lions from coming and eating us?.....NOTHING!”

 

[Laura.bora]

Ohh, yes, and the crocodiles – Nathaniel thought the bridge was REALLY in danger of collapsing. He nearly wet himself. Might want to warn the kiddos on this part too….. or tell them if they misbehave, you’ll ask the driver to leave them behind….

The view here was cool. It was like “Hey…we’re in Africa!” (well, I think anyway – never been to Africa!)

Oh, and I forgot – we saw a cute baby elephant. He was adorable!

Flamingos – reminded me of the Lazy Flamingo in Sanibel….Can we say Dead Parrot wings?

And the biggest bird eggs around – the Ostrich

 

[Laura.bora]

All in all, we enjoyed this ride, but wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be. If you ever have the chance to go to African Lion Safari up in Canada, I personally think they did a better job. (on the actually safari part anyway – they don’t have the cool rides and Mickey and Minnie of course!)

After the Safari, we went to Pangani Forest Trail. And what is the first thing we see??
BUFFALO TRACKS!!!


Nathaniel was very into the tracks in the cement. They had them all over the wilderness lodge, and here in Animal Kingdom it was the same thing. But he just assumed that they were REAL animal tracks. He would get a bit nervous everytime we came across bear tracks at the Wilderness Lodge, or worse, Lion tracks at Animal kingdom.
The Pangani forest trail was really neat and what a totally cool educational exhibit they had going on! We decided that next time we go back, we need to spend a little more time in here. It was great.

The Aviary was also great. Thanks to Mike, I knew ahead of time to look for the bird maps. We had a great time finding and identifying the birds in the aviary.

One of the cast members came over and spent a lot of time with my kids on their hunt, and telling bits of facts about each of the birds we discovered.

 

[Laura.bora]

We stopped to look for the gorillas, but alas, they were not out.

I love Disney’s eye for detail!

No gorillas, but there were MEERKATS!!!

There was also this tiny deer looking thing. Yes. That is the official scientific name. Tiny deer looking thing.

And then Nathaniel spotted the gorilla – see that black blob? That’s a sleeping gorilla. Nothing really exciting going on here.

As we made our way further along the trail, we finally found some gorillas, but by this point, I was getting hungry, so I so much did not care. Nathaniel and Ken however did.

It was getting to be later in the day and we made the final decision to head over towards Yak and Yetti and cancel our 1:30 lunch. We had been afraid that we’d be too hungry before, and then not hungry enough afterwards for our Artist point dinner. So we passed by Everest a little before noon.

Suddenly I saw a crowd, and I tried to figure out what was going on when…

 

[Laura.bora]

DEVINE!

I had really wanted to see her, so I was happy that we just stumbled upon her!

As the crowd started to disappear, I saw a couple come out from a hidden trail that I had not even seen before, and would have missed if it had not been for Devine. We decided to wander down it since it would lead us towards Yak and Yetti. We are so glad we decided to do that. It was this hidden little trail right off the path, and what is on that path but a pair of tables and chairs!! No one was there, so we decided that we’d come back and eat lunch here. We got to Yak and Yetti and canceled our reservation, and then went to the counter service place. Of course, it was prime eating time now – so the line was long. We all decided what we wanted and Ken stayed and ordered and we decided we’d meet up on the secret trail.
Ok, so while this is not the most flattering picture of Nathaniel, I just had to show you how in the middle of nowhere we seemed to be. It was such a nice relaxing break.

Lunch at the Counter Service for Yak and Yetti was GOOD! It was way above average counter service food that you find throughout Disney. I can’t imagine how good the actual restaurant is! While we were eating I told Nathaniel about Dinosaur and how I thought he would enjoy it. He was insistent that he did not want to go on it, so I said fine and did not push it further. After a few minutes, I hear “will the dinosaur REALLY try and eat my head?” So I said no, he doesn’t even come near your head. OHHHHH – I thought he REALLY touched your head. Yeah, I’ll go! I explained the whole ride and what to expect, how many times you’ll see the carnataurasaurus – or what ever that thing was called. Sharp tooth – I’ll refer to him as a sharp tooth. Ok? (if Nathaniel was reading this, he’d be upset with me. He knows what type of dinosaur it is, how to pronounce the name and all sorts of random dinosaur facts.) I explained that we’ll see a few Dinosaurs and then the sharp tooth would be on our left the 1st time, on our left a second time and then the third time he would be on our right and it would be LOUD, ear piercing loud. We would just cover our ears and all would be fine. We went on and as we went through the queue, he was just in awe, pouring over all the fossils, and the exhibits they had, the signs to read. I knew he’d love the queue! We then got to the room where the skeleton was. He was just studying it mouth agape. The Cast member told us if we wanted to catch this movie, we’d have to come in now. I gave Nathaniel the option and in we went! When we finally went on the ride, we got to sit in the middle seat. I sat in the back seat last time. Nathaniel is pointing and shouting out the Dinosaurs. “Look there is brachiosaurus. And a triceratops. And a brontosaurus! And a pterosaur.” We got to the third showing of sharp tooth and covered our ears. It really is LOUD. And then from up above SHARP TOOTH!!!!! How in the world did I miss that????? There were 4 sharp tooth appearances! I wished I bought the photopass picture. There is Nathaniel with his eyes big and excited, finger pointing and HUGE smile on his face, with me next to him covering my head and burying my head in his shoulder. Way to go brave Mama. Needless to say, he LOVED it, and was his favorite ride in Animal Kingdom. With that being said, it WAS very scary, so if you are not into Jurassic Park, than you probably should skip this one. We spent some time together meandering through the gift shop. Nathaniel was on the hunt for the perfect present for Jameson. And then the Cast Member showed it to him. A dinosaur head on a stick that when you press the button the mouth opens and it roars. I am sure Janelle will be eternally grateful to this cast member for showing Nathaniel the perfect gift. Nathaniel was so excited because he knew Jameson would “love to chase Mimmi around the house and scare her.” Nathaniel also picked up a dinosaur towel which he fell in love with.

I loved being able to have it shipped to the resort. It was nice not to have walk around with our packages all day long. By the time we were finished shopping it was 1:15. Ainsley was getting tired, so we decided we would take a break and watch the Finding Nemo show at 1:45.

 

[Laura.bora]

Ainsley and Ephraim promptly fell asleep, but Nathaniel LOVED it. So did Ken and I. We loved the song, and Nathaniel will still break out into “Big Blue World”. I wish we had picked up the soundtrack. It was quiet good. The show started late, so it didn’t let out until 2:45. We went with the crowd of people to find our stroller and we found it, started packing up the stroller, asked Nathaniel if he wanted a turn in the stroller and….Nathaniel? Where IS Nathaniel???? We look around us and Nathaniel is not there. We look in the throng of people heading down the path and all we can see are a large mass of people who have just exited but no Nathaniel. Ken tells me to stay put with the other kids and he makes a run for it through the crowds looking for Nathaniel. A few minutes later Ken comes back with Nathaniel. He didn’t even know he was lost. He was following another family thinking it was us. So after a gentle scolding of you need to pay attention and a huge hug of Thank goodness we found you we tried to figure out what we wanted to do. Ken had wanted to ride Everest, but we were all hot and tired, so I gave the options – did we want to go home and swim in the pool, or grab some ice cream and sit down and wait for the parade and Papa could ride Everest. Everyone voted for a swim. We tried to hand out our fastpasses (we had 3 of them) but no one wanted them. It was empty that day – the longest line I saw for Everest throughout the day was 15 minutes. IT was 5 minute wait as we left. We ended up throwing our Fast Passes out. As we left, I told them I DID want to find the Discovery Island Trails and grab a few pictures. As hot and tired as we were, I was glad we did.

We had lost Ainsley and Ephraim to the heat and exhaustion of the day

so we grabbed a picture of Nathaniel at the tree of life.
This would be his “I’m strong because I rode Dinosaur” pose

We found the rainforest café and walked through and enjoyed the ambience and the gift shop. It was a cute place.

They had a salt water aquarium – one of Nathaniel’s favorite things

It was 10 to 4 when we left the park and the bus was CROWDED. Everyone must have thought the same thing as us and called it a day right before the parade! We got back to the hotel, and of course, what was waiting for us but another letter!

After that we jumped into our bathing suits and headed over to the quiet pool to check it out . It was really nice…and …well – quiet! It was us and 2 other families there, one older couple that Nathaniel befriended, and then another family with a little girl Ainsley’s age. So of course they were instant friends! We found out that we could “rent” the yellow swim jackets for free, so long as we had our Keys to the Kingdom. We had a nice relaxing swim and then we went upstairs to change for our dinner at Artist Point. Now I don’t know what was wrong with me, but I didn’t take one single picture of us at our dinner! We had such a great time too! I had been eyeing the crispy venison spring rolls on the menu from the dis for a while, so I knew I wanted to try those. So Ken and I ordered that and split it. Oh – my – goodness. They were SOOOOOOO good! And the sauce to dip them in – DELICIOUS! (if you wait a minute or two, you’ll sense a theme to this dinner). I had the grilled buffalo and it was delicious – although I didn’t think it tasted much different than beef. It was melt in your mouth delicious. The sweet potato gratin I thought I wouldn’t like. Gratin made me think of cheese – I thought it would be like Au Gratin Potatoes, only with sweet Potatoes - but it wasn’t. It was whipped sweet potatoes with a hint of something….cinnamon maybe? With crushed hazelnuts ontop of it. It was soooooo good. And the sweet potatoes complimented the buffalo perfectly. And the onion jam was delicious too. It added just a hint of sweetness to offset all the savory. Man – this was some very good dinner! Ken had Cedar plank salmon. It was good. It was really good (this was the best Ken could come up with). It wasn’t too fishy, but it also wasn’t too flavorful because it was salmon. One of the best prepared salmon he has had (and I even tasted it and it was good – and I detest fish of any kind, unless it’s catfish or grouper…or a goldfish. We had a bubble eyed goldfish named Dennis – he was cool.) For dessert, Ken had Peach Almond Compote (we think – it was a special) and it was “fwahaha” – I’m not too sure what that means…..It was peach upside down cake with a peach compote (a peach sauce with diced peaces) and almond ice cream. The almond Ice cream was really good. It was a nice end to a meal. It wasn’t too heavy. Ken left feeling full, but not stuffed. He was really satisfied with everything. I had a Hazelnut Chocolate torte – and that was chocolaty deliciousness! The lavender ice cream was interesting and really good. So was the blood orange sauce. I’ve never had anything like it before. The kids had a bowl of watermelon to start off with (their favorite fruit) followed by Penne pasta with cheese sauce (glorified Mac and cheese). This was all good – but their favorite thing by far was the puzzles. White chocolate puzzle pieces with white chocolate “paint” to paint their puzzle. I don’t think that it was so much yummy as it was the fact that it was the coolest dessert they had ever encountered. We loved Artist Point – in fact, it was the best meal we had while we were down in Disney. This will CERTAINLY be on our visit again list when we head back! We finished up around 9 and headed back to our room to head to bed. We had to be up again early tomorrow because it’s NATHANIEL’S Birthday in the morning!

 

[Laura.bora]

double post - sorry!

 

[cjackearl]

So Lara, I'm not sure I understand, did you like Artist Point? The pictures from the AK trails are awesome! We totally skipped all wildlife that didn't show itself on the Safari. We won't make that mistake this time! My kids would love all those critters, especially the Meercats. Awesome seeing DeVine. Is she there every day? I wonder if she's ever been knocked down by an over excited kid? Would you yell "timber"? Your kids look extra cute in their zebra mickey head shirts. I would totally make those if I thought my kiddos would wear them. Maybe bribery would work. One question though: Did Ainsley's red bow bleed on her shirt? Just wondering how that could be avoided. I'm not exactly what you would call crafty. Your day sounds like it was great. Good planning mama!

 

[Laura.bora]

So Lara, I'm not sure I understand, did you like Artist Point? The pictures from the AK trails are awesome! We totally skipped all wildlife that didn't show itself on the Safari. We won't make that mistake this time! My kids would love all those critters, especially the Meercats. Awesome seeing DeVine. Is she there every day? I wonder if she's ever been knocked down by an over excited kid? Would you yell "timber"? Your kids look extra cute in their zebra mickey head shirts. I would totally make those if I thought my kiddos would wear them. Maybe bribery would work. One question though: Did Ainsley's red bow bleed on her shirt? Just wondering how that could be avoided. I'm not exactly what you would call crafty. Your day sounds like it was great. Good planning mama!

We unfortunatly missed the maharajah trail - I really wanted to see that too. That one has the tigers and the bats that are as large as Ainsley(not too upset about missing those.) We've decided that next time, this needs to be a 2 day park. There aren't a lot of rides, but we are into the educational exhibits and like to take our time through those. I had heard that it usually takes about 20 minutes to walk through each one - we easily took over an hour!

I never thought of someone knocking over Devine! I would be mortified if I was that mother! I know there are handlers, but I'm sure it must have happened before.

The red you see on Ainsley's shirt isn't from the bow, it's actually from the iron on transfer itself. Remember how rushed we were to finish them and get out the door? We decided to skip the last step - washing the shirts. I had read on the Dis that you can skip that so the colors stay brighter, but you run the risk of the color bleeding if you get the shirt wet. Guess what Ainsley did? Got her shirt wet! It came right out in the wash, no problem at all. She just had a blueberry colored stain on her shirt for the last half of the day. Oh well - it happens, you live you learn! I'm not what one would call crafty either. Doing the shirts were easy. Honest! Getting your kids to wear them might be another thing though!

 

[cjackearl]

Hi Lara! Just checking in. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. I thought about you this year as I chanced Black Friday with my step sister this year. I found some decent deals and it was actually pretty fun and not nearly as scary as I'd feared. Hope you were successful! Can't wait to hear more. I have 2 more weeks until my ADR window opens, so I need your take on some more restaraunts!

 

[Laura.bora]

Hey Christine! Since you aregoing to need to make your ADR's soon, if you wanted my opinions before I gotto them in my trip report, just let me know the restaurant. I hit a great blackfriday deal in the Disney store! They had PJ's on sale for 50%off plus another 20% off if you werethere before 10 - whichI was! 3 pairs of PJ's plus a winter hat that matches Ainsley's coat - just under $30! Woo hoo! Hope to be starting Day 5 of the trip report soon. My family is bugging me to start up again too!

 

[cjackearl]

Hi Laura! I'm all up in knots about ADRs because of the system update which means no June park hours. I also will only be able to reserve one of my ADR choices 180 days out, Chef Mickeys. The new system "supposedly" will be available December 22. We'll be in Sanibel then, so not all that convenient. These are our tentative restaraunt choices: Hoop-de-dee Review, Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace, Cape May Cafe, Chef de France or Le Celier, California Grill, Sci Fi or Mama Melrose, depending on whether we can figure out if the Fantasmic package is worth it, Ohana and I think Boma. We've eaten at Sci Fi, Chef Mickey and Ohana before and so in the kids eyes they are "tradition" and must be experienced again. I'm really on the fence re:Boma. I know my husband and I would like it, but just unsure about the kiddos. Any thoughts on any of my picks?

 

[cjackearl]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hey, since ADRs are now back to 90 days, you have plenty of time to get back to this report and give me all of your knowledge. Hope all is well at your house.

 

[Laura.bora]

Hi Laura! I'm all up in knots about ADRs because of the system update which means no June park hours. I also will only be able to reserve one of my ADR choices 180 days out, Chef Mickeys. The new system "supposedly" will be available December 22. We'll be in Sanibel then, so not all that convenient. These are our tentative restaraunt choices: Hoop-de-dee Review, Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace, Cape May Cafe, Chef de France or Le Celier, California Grill, Sci Fi or Mama Melrose, depending on whether we can figure out if the Fantasmic package is worth it, Ohana and I think Boma. We've eaten at Sci Fi, Chef Mickey and Ohana before and so in the kids eyes they are "tradition" and must be experienced again. I'm really on the fence re:Boma. I know my husband and I would like it, but just unsure about the kiddos. Any thoughts on any of my picks?

Merry Christmas and HAppy New Year to you too!! How was Sanibel? Did you go to McT's for me? With every bite of mud pie and seafood bisque I hope you were thinking of me!

Most of your choices I didn't go to. Hoop de doo I looked at some footage of the show on youtube and decided it just wasn't for our family. Chef Mickey's we LOVED. We went on our day off, it was our first meal with the characters. The characters were great, and so was the food. They had ice cream sundae bar, so I was sold. I haven't eaten at Crystal Palace before, but my friend said that the food was one of the better choices for buffet (she had lunch) - and of course - you get to see Pooh and the gang and it's the only place to see Piglet. My sister in law went to Chef De France during her honeymoon and she LOVED it, and said it had the creme brulee on property. Le cellier for dinner is called a must by everyone - if you can mannage to get it! If you are doing at 2TS counter service - you know I'm going to recommend Artist Point over CG - I didn't try California Grill, but Artist Point was so amazing, and you need to go and check out the Wilderness Lodge. It's really fun to do the hidden Mickey hunt there. I haven't been to Scifi or Mama's, but my friend has been to both, and loves SciFi and can't stand Mama's. Sci Fi is good food (burgers and such - nothing fancy) but they are apparently really good burgers and shakes (think Cheeseburger Cheeseburger) and Mama's is mediocre Italian food (we come from Long Island, so we are used to GREAT Italian food!). We missed Ohana's, but hit Kona 3 times. IT was really good food. I can't remember if you are trying for the character breakfast there or not. And Boma is one of the ones I was on the fence on, and regret not going. It's something you don't get everywhere. And now that they've changed the ADR system, you can keep reading my reviews and change your mind a million times like I did! I was changing it while I was in Disney!

 

[Laura.bora]

That's right! IT's time to explore EPCOT's Future World! Nathaniel had been looking forward to this for a long time! And so had I! I remembered this being my favorite park. I was excited to be here!! So bright and early in the morning, Mickey called to drag our butts out of bed. Even thought this was day 5, we were still feeling good and woke up easily. I'm glad I found Tour Guide Mike and followed his recommendations, because if I followed my original plans - we would have been dead!

We gave NAthaniel his Birthday Button and we were off to the boat stop. We decided it was so much nicer to take the boat in the morning and then take the monorail to Epcot instead of the bus. A little bit longer, but oh so much nicer. IT was a beautiful morning, with the fog still burning off the lake, cool, sun just coming up. No one was around, so it made it all the more magical - we're walking around and no one is here!

It wasn't long before we had arrived at the Contemporary! We're half way there!

Good morning! We are ready to start our day!

We catch our first glimpse of the famous Epcot ball through the trees and the excitement is running high!

Do you see how blue the sky is?? This was going to be a beautiful day!

After our monorail tour around Epcot, we arrive, take a quick bathroom break before hitting rope drop!

 

[Laura.bora]

So thanks to Tour Guide Mike, we made it to the front of rope drop. Epcot was my 2nd favorite rope drop. There really isn't a show like there is at the other parks, but Nathaniel was the birthday boy at the front of the ropes, so we had LOTS of character interaction! I think that is what made it for me!
Minnie Mouse was the first one to notice that it was Nathaniel's birthday. She came over and made a big deal over him, asking how old he is, giving him kisses - the works.

Minnie called over Chip (notice the black nose Lauren and Robbin) and pointed out Nathaniel to him. The birthday boy was HAPPY!

Chip of course then informed Dale (note the red nose). NAthaniel and Chip started to banter back and forth on how old Nathaniel was today. He had Nathaniel help him hold out the correct number of fingers. I thought Nathaniel's face was going to crack down the middle he was smiling so hard.

Then of course, the beloved Mickey came over and wished Nathaniel a happy birthday! It just wouldn't be a happy birthday without Mickey!

and for once, Ephraim was screaming and terrified of Mickey Mouse, so like any good loving father, Ken let Ephraim kiss Mickey's nose (aka - suck on it).

The lady from Soarin' came over to Nathaniel to ask him about his birthday, how old he was and to see if he would be coming on Soarin'. And of course - we were! The plan of attack was that I was going to ride Soarin' first with Nathaniel while Ken rode Living with the Land with Ainsley and Ephriam, and then we'd switch. Nathaniel gets to ride twice yet again! The advantages of being the kid!

"The 1% of you that are not going to soarin' follow them. The rest of you, come with us"

And then we went with the CRAZY CROWD of people that went to Soarin'. I was a little nervous about what the Toy Story Mania crowd was going to be like when I saw this crowd. As we walked toward The Land, people left and right were calling out "hey Nathaniel Happy Birthday!!" and Nathaniel kept saying Thank you back. After about the 10th person to say something, he looked at me and asked "How did Mickey tell ALL these people??" He didn't realize that the button was what was tipping everyone off. We finally made it to Soarin. It wasn't too hard to find. You just followed the massive crowd. They were all going to the same place.

Nathaniel and I rode Soarin'. Nathaniel loved it. I liked it. It was fun - but it just did not live up to all the hype I had heard about it. Now, granted, I am missing one key aspect of the ride. I can't smell. So I don't get to smell the oranges as you ride over the grove or anything. That must be cool. But still, not so impressed. However, I did catch the hidden Mickey in Michael Eisner's golf ball. I told my hidden Mickey obsessed son before it happened so he was able to catch it.

After the ride, Ken and I switched and I took the little kids over to The Land Kidcot station. Big hit. Of course - when are crayons not a big hit with kids? Once we finished with this, we ran over to The Seas with Nemo and friends.

 

[cjackearl]

I LOVE Epcot and your pics are so awesome! Nathaniel looks over the moon. I'm sorry you didn't love soarin. It's my favorite ride in all of WDW, but when we rode in '05 it was a new addition so not too much hype yet. What kind of camera did you take? I was planning on taking my pocket Samsung camera so I didn't have to haul around the SLR, but your pictures make me reconsider. Thanks for your restaraunt recommendations. I have a lot to consider and now 3 more months to drive myself crazy trying to get it perfect!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Lol - my camera was my plain old Kodak easy share. The nice camera I bought isn't a digital, and we have yet to remember to bring the film to get it developed!