So after a nice relaxing nap for Joaquin, it was time for us to head out so we could get to Le Cellier for our dinner ressie. We were on the monorail and to the park in no time. Jason wanted a good picture of Joaquin and himself walking through the entrance of Epcot.
Trying to take a picture of the food and wine festival display
Joaquin didn't want to walk anymore and wanted to be lazy, but he didn't want to get in the stroller
Oh yeah, he knows he's cute
More display
Before heading over to Le Cellier, we headed into Innoventions. We spent a lot more time in there then we had anticipated we would. Joaquin loved the fire truck.
Well, because we spent a lot more time in Innoventions then anticipated, we had to head over to our 7:25pm ressie for Le Cellier. We got there and checked in and waited. And waited. And waited. I know that ressies only guarantee that you will get a table when one becomes available for your party size, but holy cow! We didn't get seated until 8:30pm. We waited over an hour! Now, I love Le Cellier, but an hour? Joaquin was really good during this time, but he was hungry and he could smell the food in there, so he was more then ready to go in.
We make it in and were seated. We had a really nice server. I can't remember what area they seated us in, I was too distracted by the pretzel bread. So we order. We all got the Cheddar soup for an appetizer. That was good as always. Jason and Dad ordered the New York Strip with mashed potatoes, mom order the Roasted Chicken with mashed potatoes, I ordered the Filet Mignon with the mushroom risotto, and we got Joaquin the child's steak and mashed potatoes.
So we're waiting for our food and I wanted to make sure I had my camera out to take pictures of dessert and to check the pictures that I had taken throughout the day. Jason had the camera last when he was taking pictures of the fire truck, so I ask him for my camera out of his bag. He looks and goes, "I don't have it". I said "what?!" You were the last person with the camera. So my thought is, okay, Jason put it in the stroller. So he goes out to the stroller to retrieve it, comes back in, and no camera. Now I'm officially freaking out. I don't care about the camera, I care about the pictures. My mom had double checked the diaper bag and didn't see it. At this point I empty out my bag and it's not in there. So, I go outside one more time to the stroller to see if Jason missed it. Nope, he didn't miss it.
Now I'm in full on panic mode and not too happy with Jason. I love my brother, but he is forgetful and loses things often, so it doesn't surprise me that my camera is gone. I head back into the restaurant to ask them at the host station if they had a camera turned in. They didn't have anything and advised me to check the main lost and found area at the Magic Kingdom for it the following day. As I get back to the table, Jason is holding up the camera. Now I think I've lost my mind. Nope, I didn't lose my mind. Apparently Jason and my mom didn't look in the diaper bag thoroughly enough, because it was there the whole time. Crisis averted. My mom says to me when I get to the table "I was so happy we found it because you were trying so hard to stay calm, but I could tell you were not happy". I told her, no I wasn't too happy, but that I was trying really hard not to panic. Jason then tells me that he's not allowed to keep the camera anymore and I agreed with him completely. I'll lose the camera myself, thank you very much.
Once this episode was over, we enjoyed our dinner in peace. It was all very good. I love this Filet. Joaquin didn't like his steak very much (it had no seasoning at all and was overall very bland), but boy did he love mine! Jason, Mom and myself got the chocolate "moose" for dessert.
And Dad got the S'Mores. That dessert was awesome!
When we were finished, Illuminations had ended and everyone was heading out of the park. We went to the monorail station, which was packed. However, they were very quick and we only waited for about 15 minutes tops. Once back in the room, our food coma took over! I had considered going in the pool, but man, I couldn't move after all this! Jason called Joaquin's mom so he could have his nightly chat and say nite nite to her.
After this, it was bedtime for all.
The next day: Typhoon Lagoon and where the title of my trip report comes from.
We interrupt this Trip Report with a special announcement.....I just made plans to go to the World from 12/31-1/6/10!!!! OMG I'm so excited! This is completely last minute for me, but I really wanted to go somewhere over New Years and I have an annual. Well, I mentioned this to my Dad and he wanted to come along. So there you have it. I'll be in the World for New Years, something I've never done before. We'll be staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, because we were unable to get any DVC resorts. That's fine with me though. Now, I'm off to attempt to make dining reservations. Hopefully I'll be able to get something. Woo hoo!
Good for you! We stayed at POFQ during that same time frame in 2005 and had a fabulous time. Its a very peaceful resort. What a great last minute thing for you and your dad!
Hope you got your dining reservations!
I would have flipped out had my camera gone MIA. Like you say, its the pictures not the camera. So glad it all worked out!
Alrighty then! We left off last time where each one of us suffered from a food coma the day before from eating at Le Cellier. I say to that, what better place to go after a food coma then Typhoon Lagoon. Right? Right?
So on this day the plan was Typhoon Lagoon. As I've mentioned before, the weather was obnoxiously hot, so what better place to go. Since Typhoon Lagoon doesn't open until 10am, that gave me the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. As I mentioned, my mom and I are typically up and going, and Jason sleeps and sleeps....until someone either throws water on him or he "accidentally" falls out of bed.
We were up and out of the room by around 9:15am. We wanted to try to get to Typhoon Lagoon early, because I wanted to score some chairs, which we normally don't do. The other thing I love about it is that I don't have to worry about how I look, because I'll only be getting wet shortly anyway, so no need to do hair or makeup.
We headed down to Gasparilla Grill (seriously, was this like our new hangout?!) for breakfast. We all got the bounty breakfasts, which is like eggs, bacon, sausage, side of cow, pancakes, waffles, the kitchen sink....the list goes on. We all enjoyed our breakfast and were on our way. We headed out of the Grand Floridian to the valet to have them get our car.
Joaquin is ready to go
I saw Characters in Flight up in the air so I snapped some pics
Then we arrived
I love this water park
This is my favorite water park by far. I enjoy Blizzard Beach, but there's something about Typhoon Lagoon that I just can't get enough of. Maybe I'm a little deprived, because we never used to go to the water parks.
We headed in and got two lockers because we had an ungodly amount of stuff. After we got our stuff put away, we were able to find a seat right by the wave pool, so we snagged those just in case. I left my camera in the locker, so I don't have very many pictures. Jason bought a waterproof disposable, but knowing him I'll probably have the pictures by the end of next year.
So here is where Joaquin's one and only tiny (and I mean tiny) meltdown happened. He was having a good old time already playing in the area where on an adult the water comes up to our ankles. We got him all ready with his life vest and floaties and proceeded to try to take him in the wavepool. He didn't understand. He was like "YO! You're trying to take me away!" So, he fell down, sat, and cried. So I picked him up and took him to the wavepool lickity split. Once he was in the water again, he was fine.
He loved that wavepool! The wave would start coming (we were in the shallow, shallow, shallow end. We're not those people, I promise) and he would point and start saying "here it comes! Here it comes!" Then we would bend down while holding him and let him get hit by the water. He loved this game and we played at this for about 45 minutes. During this time, we would switch places with each other and go into the wavepool ourselves. Well, because he wasn't paying attention when he was in the deeper end, my Dad got completely plowed by the wave and washed up to shore!
After this, we decided to take Joaquin to the lazy river. That kid in the lazy river was priceless. Here he was, lounging on a little kids tube, sleeping! I kind you not, he fell asleep. I guess it really was lazy!
After our one trip around the lazy river, Jason and Dad decided that they wanted to go to Shark Reef. I opted out. I am not a pansy by any means, but something about Shark Reef was not appealing to me. So, mom and I took Joaquin up there to watch Daddy and Poppy swim.
So, if you haven't done Shark Reef before, the one thing that they tell you is that you can't kick your legs, that you need to float on your stomach and simply move your arms. Well, apparently Jason doesn't listen too well. As soon as he was in the water, he was kicking away. The lifeguard kept tapping his leg and saying "sir, don't kick your legs". It was pretty funny, because she'd tap him, say "sir, don't kick your legs", and Jason would continue to kick. I was thinking, oh man, only my brother would get kicked out of Shark Reef. Again, this also solidified why I didn't go in Shark Reef. Why don't they want you to kick your legs? BECAUSE A SHARK MIGHT NOT LIKE IT! J/K.
After this, Joaquin was losing energy quickly, so we decided to take one last dip in the wave pool and head out. But not before we got these pictures!
We got our car and drove back to the Grand Floridian. Remember how I said Joaquin was tired? Not so much anymore. We had an early dinner reservation, but it was around 12:30pm, and we decided to get two counter service meals and share them so we could be held over. Mom and I got nuggets and fries and shared with Joaquin and the boys shared a bacon double cheeseburger from Gasparilla Grill. Eventually though, Joaquin got tired again and fell asleep.
We woke him up at around 2pm to start getting ready to head out. We had a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Taverns at 4:30pm, so we wanted to give ourselves enough time. Plus, my mom wanted to stop at the Contemporary and see if she could swing a look at Bay Lake Tower.
We got Joaquin ready. He has some obsession with my glasses
And we were off. We headed to the monorail and it came very quickly. In no time, we were off to the Contemporary.
Next installment: Would they let us in Bay Lake Tower?
Sounds like a relaxing day at Typhoon Lagoon. We did Blizzard Beach and everyone except me also did Typhoon Lagoon. They all agreed that TL was better.
So we left off heading out of the Grand Floridian on our way to the Magic Kingdom. My mom decided that she really wanted to try to get a look at Bay Lake Tower on the way, so we figured we would bypass the Magic Kingdom briefly on the Monorail and head over to the Contemporary.
The trip was quick and once we arrived at the Contemporary we headed down one floor. Once there, we noticed the DVC booth, so my mom headed over to chat them up. She wanted to know if it was possible for us to get a peek at Bay Lake Tower. He said that it is possible, but that it's a very generic look and that he would give us something a little better. He also asked if all of us were members. Jason and I mentioned that we weren't, so he asked if we wanted to set up a time to tour the models. I wanted to, because I wanted to get the current information on the pricing, because I am interested in buying into the DVC in the future. They set up a time for us to be picked up at 8am on Friday the 16th, and we would be able to see the models for BLT.
He then led us over to the entrance to the tower on the 4th floor. He opened the door with his key and told us to go ahead and look around. He made a joke to make sure we weren't acting like we didn't belong there. He also advised us that we wouldn't be able to get into the pool area without a key, so he let us know what our boundaries were. So off we went down the walkway that connects the two buildings.
I have to say before I post the rest of the pictures that I really like this building. I know that some of the concern with people was going to be that it wouldn't be warm because of the modern feel, but i thought it was beautiful and I felt that the ambience was very warm. I would definitely love to stay there in the future!
After spending a few minutes snapping pictures, we decided that it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom so we could make our dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. We opted not to go back in the main building and wait for the Monorail, instead we walked the 10 minute walk down the path from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom.
We were there in no time flat, so we decided to go over the Buzz Lightyear for one more ride. Remember, Jason is competitive and always wants to make sure he can beat me. Well....he didn't this time! Ha ha Jason! However, we ended up getting a little bit delayed because right before we got on the ride it stopped briefly. We didn't want to leave, because we were steps away from getting on, so we figured they would hold our reservation for the 5 minutes we were going to be late.
After we got off the ride we hustled over the Liberty Tree Tavern. My mom was panicking a little bit because we were going to be late, but I assured her that people being 5 minutes late is very likely the norm in Disney World, and that I was sure they were going to let us in. We got there, and they did. We were seated right away. I still love this restaurant, but I really miss the character interaction, and I had hoped that it would be there for Joaquin. The food was still good though. While we were biding our time, Jason gave Joaquin a lemon. Now, let me explain. My mom's side of the family loves lemons. All of the members of that side eat them, and have eaten them since they were young. Jason can eat them. I can't, so I personally don't understand it. Joaquin is the same way. You can see in the pictures that even though he's making the funny face, he keeps on going back for more. Go figure.
What a strange child! Dinner was very good. My favorite part about this meal is always the dessert. I love the warm apple cobbler and the ice cream. It's sssooooooo good!
After this, my mom mentioned to me that my dad's knee was hurting. She explained to me that when we were at Typhoon Lagoon and the wave knocked him over that it knocked his knee as well. Remember that my dad has a fake knee, so things like this can hurt him. Well, he was being stubborn at this point and was going to continue to press on, which was something that my mom didn't want him to do. I talked some sense into him, and eventually he backed down and said that he would go back to the room. Jason and I decided that it was still early, so we would stay with Joaquin.
This part I don't have many pictures of, so I apologize.
We decided that we would attempt to take Joaquin on the Haunted Mansion. We figured that he's too young to understand at this point that it could be scary, and Jason kept on with his motto of "if he doesn't like it, he'll let me know after he tries it". There was no line, so we were in the building in no time. This is my favorite attraction, hands down and has always been my favorite. Joaquin was very take with the ambience and kept on saying "whoa!"
We were in our doom buggies in no time and Joaquin handled this like the pro that he is. I don't think anything really fazes him. After that, Jason decided that instead of hang around the park that he wanted to do some shopping for a while. I told him that was fine with me and that we could do whatever. Our first stop was Tinkerbell's Treasures. He wanted to get something for Joaquin's mom since her favorite character is Tinkerbell. There were a lot of cute things, but I mentioned to him that he would find something at Downtown Disney too if he wanted to go there.
We decided to head out of the park then and go over to Downtown Disney. We hopped on the resort monorail line and got off at the Contemporary. After departing the monorail, we went downstairs to the bus area to wait for a bus to Downtown Disney. It was during this time that I thought Joaquin had left a pretty big present. We got to the stop to wait, and he surely did! I though, oh man, I'm not getting on the bus with Joaquin in a stinky diaper! How horrible would that be for the rest of the passengers? Jason took matters into his own hands. He ran in, changed him literally in 1 minute flat, came out, and the bus was pulling up. Woooeeee! That takes talent!
We were on the bus, but our trip took some time because we had some other stops along the way. Joaquin was pretty entertained by the bus (this was his first ride so far). We got off at the Marketplace and headed in for some shopping. Let me preface this by saying, Jason is the worst shopper I've seen. He takes longer then any woman I know! Our first stop was Once Upon a Toy. We spent a good 45 minutes in this store. It was during this time I taught Joaquin something I didn't intend to do. To keep him entertained, I would stick my head around his stroller and say "BOO!". He liked this, but instead what he decided to do was take boo and say "BBBBOOOOOOOOOO!!!" while he was being pushed around the store! He was doing this so earnestly that he had everyone, and I mean everyone, laughing.
Jason bought Gavin, Joaquin's older 1/2 brother some things and he bought some pirate toys to decorate his room. After this our next stop was World of Disney. We bought Joaquin some more pirate things for his room, and I bought a few gifts for some people at home. It was getting late by now, so we decided to head back to the hotel to we could have some pool time. This is where the title of my trip report comes from. Jason gave Joaquin's mom, Jeni, a call. He was recounting the days events, and told her how my dad got his knee hurt in the wave pool, which is why he wasn't with us at that moment . So she proceeds to ask him, "is it a nice wave pool?" To this Jason said "No, it's not a nice wave pool.....it's called Typhoon Lagoon....no, like TYPHOON!" I guess you had to be there, but it was so funny how he explained it to her.
I figured at this time Joaquin would be losing steam, but he sure wasn't. Once we were back on the bus waiting to go to the Grand Floridian, he was happy as a clam, having a good old time. The trip back to the hotel seemed to take forever though. This is why normally I don't like taking the bus to Downtown Disney, because for some reason it takes forever. Once we were back to the room we decided to head into the pool for a dip and relax for a while in the spa. My dad's knee was a little bit swollen, but my mom said it was better then it was earlier. Hopefully he was going to be okay for the following day. I told him that relaxing in the spa would have been a good idea, but he didn't feel like it.
Up Next: Breakfast at Ohana, the Animal Kingdom, and a whole lot of German food!
No, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. I started out really good at the beginning of the trip, and then I slacked in my duties! I remember what I bought though, LOL! I bought my best friend the Minnie Mouse bride ears, since she's getting married in May, my niece a Minnie Mouse cutie necklace with her initial, and Joaquin a shirt. The shirt you'll see him wearing in the next days pictures. Oh, and I bought Joaquin's 1/2 brother Gavin two cars.
So this was the day that we had to "check out" and "check back in". Because we weren't able to get one full reservation at the hotel, we had to get our new KTTW cards this morning. Fortunately, we didn't have to move rooms, which was very nice. So, mom and I were up early to get this taken care of. We're such nice people letting the boys sleep in!
When we were heading down I tried to see if we could make some changes to our ADR's that day. The original plan was to go to the 50's Primetime, but the time wasn't very good, it was a 2:55pm ADR. Also, the ADR we had the following day was for Yak and Yeti at 3pm, but we wanted to spend most of our time at Hollywood Studios tomorrow, and Animal Kingdom today (well, that's what the boys wanted). So, we got our new KTTW cards at the check-in desk, paid for our new dining plan and were off to concierge to see if they could help with some dining options. We were also hard pressed today to use the rest of our counter service credits that were on our old cards since they expired today.
I headed over to concierge to see if maybe we could switch our 50's Prime Time ADR for later. I knew it might be difficult, but we would see what we could get. He did have something open, but it was for 9pm! That would have been fine, had we not had a 2 year old along. Joaquin would not have lasted that long, and we didn't want him eating that late. We asked what other options they had. Really, the only thing he said he had was the Biergarten at 7:15pm. Well, that time was much more reasonable. I didn't love the idea of being back in Epcot again for dinner, but what could we do? We took it, because I also knew that Jason loves this restaurant. I then asked about the next day. Since we were no longer planning on the Animal Kingdom, we asked to see if there was anything in Hollywood Studios. I was really hoping for the 50's Prime Time, but they didn't have anything. What they did have was Hollywood and Vine Play 'N' Dine at 12pm. I booked that and cancelled Yak and Yeti. That ended up being and awesome decision, something you'll see soon.
So, we were ready to go so we went back up to the room to collect the boys. We had a breakfast ADR at Ohana at 8:30am, so we headed out to the Valet at the GF and got the car in no time. We opted for the car because we liked this option for getting to and from the Animal Kingdom since it's such a long trip there on the bus. We made it to Ohana in the nick of time, and we were seated very quickly. We had a nice seat right by the window, which was a pleasant surprise. Our "cousin" brought us our bread and fruit right away and boy was Joaquin ready to dig in!
Joaquin is wearing the shirt that I bought him the day before at DTD. Right away, we were visited by a friend!
Here's the trend...pound it!
Then it was time for Lilo!
Awww, she loved Joaquin!
Then the big cheese himself. I asked myself many times, what kind of face am I making in this picture!? I don't know what my deal was!
Joaquin was super excited!
This is by far my favorite! So adorable!
Breakfast came after this. It was very yummy. The food at Ohana for breakfast is nothing earth shattering, but it's always very satisfying. Plus, if you mention anything about all you can eat to my family, well, that's enough for them! Then it was time for the kids to party around the restaurant. Our server was kind enough to bring a maraca for Joaquin.
He's like.....what?
I have to mention that I didn't get a picture of Stitch at this breakfast. Oh, he totally came to our table, that wasn't the problem. The problem was my camera kept telling me "memory card locked". Well, I had never seen this before, so I had NO idea what the problem was. It was kind of funny because Stitch kept looking at me like, "lady, don't you know how to use your camera"? Yes Stitch, I know how to use my camera. However, I made the poor decision of buying a cheaper memory card, because I could get more space for less money. Well, I'm never doing that again! I have had nothing by problems with this memory card since I bought it! Jason was able to figure it out though, which is why I have pictures of all the other characters. We were done with breakfast, so now it was time for us to head to Animal Kingdom. Not before I bought my friend some Kona coffee though. Oh, and remember how in my last update, Joaquin was going through DTD yelling "BBBBOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"? Yeah, he kept that up. I just happened to get pictures of his face when he did it this time....
Up Next: Why I always said I would never go on Kali River Rapids again!
This report is wonderful. It is great how you go with your family and how close you are to your mom. I am in love with Joaquin, he is gorgeous and such a sweet soul! I have really enjoyed reading this. I can't wait to read more.
This report is wonderful. It is great how you go with your family and how close you are to your mom. I am in love with Joaquin, he is gorgeous and such a sweet soul! I have really enjoyed reading this. I can't wait to read more.
Thank you so much! Joaquin has been a welcome addition to the family and I would not trade him for anything. I am blessed to have a family like I do and I'm thankful for them everyday.
So it's been a little while since my last update, so I apologize. But here we go!
We left off having just had breakfast at Ohana, and were going to be on our way to the Animal Kingdom. I don't have any pictures for the Animal Kingdom part, and I'll tell you why. I have a massive amount of pictures of the AK. I mean, it's crazy how many I have. Most times I spend most of my time in that park taking pictures, rather then simply enjoying the scenery. This time around, I figured I would just enjoy the time there.
We hopped in the car and were on our way. We ended up getting there around 10am, which wasn't bad considering we had taken the morning eating at Ohana. WE were in the park in no time, and figured that the best thing to do would be to go to get fast passes at Expedition Everest. We got our fastpasses and had some time to spare. We started to walk around and made it to Finding Nemo the musical right before they were closing the door. We parked the stroller and were in the door. The show had just started, but we got some okay seats. The one nice thing was that we were right by the door, so we would get out of the theater faster that way. Joaquin was in love with the show. I was worried about him being able to last, since the show is a little on the long side, but he didn't get antsy until right at the end. He was very caught up with all of the bright colors.
I have to say that I love this show. I know that some people don't, but I love the music and the whole show. I always find myself humming the music when I leave, and yes, I have the soundtrack!
We headed out and it was about time for our fastpasses for Expedition Everest. My mom opted to wait this one out. She loves EE, but this time around she had a headache and neckache. She has problems with her neck from a car accident many years ago, so she always know when it's best not to push it. She stayed with Joaquin and Jason, Dad, and I went on the ride. We got on in no time, and of course the ride was fun! The Yeti was in mode 2 this time around, so he wasn't actually moving. Oh well.
After that, I putzed around the shop and found a really cute shirt. I bought that, and then decided to walk around. The next ride we decided to do was Kali River Rapids. The last time I rode this was I think 5 years ago, and I said I wasn't going to ride it again. Well, it was hot as all get out at this time, so we decided to go on it. My mom stayed with Joaquin again and sat in the seating area for the Yak and Yeti counter service restaurant. She sat in the shade with Joaquin and had a drink.
We were on the ride in about 20 minutes....and again it solidified why I don't ride this ride. I was soaked! I'm talking there was not a dry spot on my body. Not one. We headed over to Yak and Yeti to find mom and she was pretty shocked when she saw me. We were hungry at this time, so we figured since she had a table already, we would eat at Yak and Yeti. Mom and I got everyone's order and headed over there. Here is where another frustration occurred during the trip. It always seems that the boys find the table and mom and I go and get the food. It never seems to end. This particular time I was very frustrated, because the trays were so heavy because of everything they piled on there. Of course, I get all the way to the table and Jason goes "oh, did you need help?" Ummm, little late now, I've got it.
We sat down and at. Dad had Kung Pao beef, I had Shrimp Lo Mein, Mom had Honey Chicken, and Jason had Sweet and Sour Pork. Joaquin basically ate from us. I was a little bit underwhelmed by this food. I was by no mean bad, it just wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be. However, I also contribute this to the fact that I was still pretty crabby from Kali River Rapids. You see, I was so wet, that I created a puddle under my chair! It was actually kind of funny in the long run, that I was thinking that people would think I couldn't contain myself!
At this point, we decided it was time to head out of the park. I had made the executive decision on my own that I would head back alone and change my clothes, and that everyone else could stay if they want to. I didn't want my crabbiness with how wet I was to affect everyone else. However, when I mentioned the option of changing, my dad and Jason were up for it as well. Plus, Joaquin was getting pretty tired at this point, and we figured it would be a good time to get him in for a nap. Animal Kingdom was pretty crowded at this point, and I think we ended up leaving the park around 2pm.
We got back to the room and put Joaquin down for a nap. He went down right away, and we had the chance to change out of our wet clothes and get refreshed. Before we knew it, it was time for us to head out for our reservation at the Biergarten. It took us longer to get to Epcot then we anticipated. I had wanted to get a margarita from the tequila bar, and I wasn't going to let time stop me! On our way into World Showcase, mom and dad stayed with Joaquin, while Jason and I ran into Mexico. We got our margaritas, and were out in about 5 minutes. Score! I got the Durazno, which was so good! This was the best one I had on the trip. However, we were approaching our reservation time, so Jason and I had to finish our drinks before we got to the restauarant. Yup, that wasn't hard to do. . Finally, we were at the Biergarten. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip, because Joaquin had such a good time.
We were seated very quickly and had good seats. Here was our view from the table.
Joaquin was ready!
We ordered our drinks and headed in to the buffet. Here was my beer. Oh dark beer, how I love thee. See how much was gone already?
Then the band came out
Joaquin was enamored with them
This is why this dinner was the best. Joaquin was having such a good time!
Pudding time!
After a very tasty dinner, we headed out and Illuminations had just started. I didn't get any pictures, or at least any pictures that turned out good. You see, the fireworks setting on my camera requires that you hold very still, because the pictures hold the exposure a little longer. Well, remember, I just drank a strong margarita and a VERY LARGE beer. You can probably figure out why I couldn't hold the camera still! Because of this, my mom was basically laughing at me the rest of the night. I admit freely that I can't hold my liquor. It doesn't take much. Now, I wasn't stumbing drunk, I was just having a little bit of a hard time....and I was very happy.
We headed out of the park and waited for the monorail. We actually didn't wait for too long and were back to the Grand Floridian in no time. Joaquin was tuckered out, so he went down right away. I was ready for a dip, so I changed into my swimsuit and headed into the pool. My mom came along and Jason followed soon too. Dad stayed in the room, which is par for the course with him. He's not a pool guy. We swam for a while, then hung out in the spa. Then off to bed. We had an early day the next day, because we were heading over to the DVC preview center.
Up next: Oh Joaquin, how many times can you poop in one day!
J/K.
That would have been fine, had we not had a 2 year old along. Joaquin would not have lasted that long, and we didn't want him eating that late. We asked what other options they had. Really, the only thing he said he had was the Biergarten at 7:15pm. Well, that time was much more reasonable. I didn't love the idea of being back in Epcot again for dinner, but what could we do? We took it, because I also knew that Jason loves this restaurant. I then asked about the next day. Since we were no longer planning on the Animal Kingdom, we asked to see if there was anything in Hollywood Studios. I was really hoping for the 50's Prime Time, but they didn't have anything. What they did have was Hollywood and Vine Play 'N' Dine at 12pm. I booked that and cancelled Yak and Yeti. That ended up being and awesome decision, something you'll see soon.
with Joaquin, he is gorgeous and such a sweet soul! I have really enjoyed reading this. I can't wait to read more.
. Finally, we were at the Biergarten. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip, because Joaquin had such a good time. 
