Wait, do we have a Fast Pass for that? Final Update, Final Thoughts and Favs 1/26

[PrncessA]

Happy late Labor Day to everyone! It was a packed weekend in our house and boy am I glad that the summer is OVER and normalcy can sometimes reign, although looking at our family calender and trying to find a day that is empty is like playing Frogger!

This weekend was Lorelai's very first football game to cheer at, and boy were the girls adorable!











To be honest the little flag football players were just as cute as the cheerleaders!

Then we had a full day on Sunday when we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, where it was the 2nd to last day and it was HOT and crowded. It was fun, but Lorelai put it best when I told her she survived worse in WDW. She said "In WDW they have rides inside!!" She was not happy being hot, even after she removed her dress!!





Not sure what Maleficent has to do with the Renaissance, but she was appearing everywhere that day from my shirt to the real thing!



As we were standing waiting for food we also saw Ariel walk by wearing her plain dress. And her wig was better than most Ariel wigs at WDW! Who knew the Renaissance fair had so many Disney ties!



Our friends were going to meet us there, but after waiting for 2 hours in their car to get in, they left! It was that crowded! We left earlier than we anticipated and stopped by Gurnee Mills outlet mall to do two of the kid's favorite things... Rainforest Cafe and Disney Outlet! Of course I wasn't that upset that we had to go to the Disney Outlet!!



That night Ethan had a friend sleep over that night, which made it a very late night, and a early morning. Boys and video games!!

Then we had a long get together at Chick-fil-A with a few families. Boy does Chick-fil-A have it right when it comes to playlands. Put them in a different room with a door so the kids are muted!

We ended up sitting and visiting for 3 hours, so long that the kids (all 7 of them) got bored with playing in the playland, so they played a couple games of UNO.

Then back to work today! I am going to try and bang out as much of my TR as I can, since I have two super involved classes this semester. One of them is Marketing, which is not my forte, so I am going to need to devote a lot of time to it!

 

[PrncessA]

When last we left off Ethan and Lorelai had been transformed into a scary pirate and a beautiful princess and it was just the beginning of our tale!

This day was the day of the trip that I was most excited about; in my mind it was going to be the most magical! It had started off with a rollercoaster ride of wonderful experiences at Jedi Training and Sci-Fi and a not so wonderful meltdown experience, but we were back on top and ready to make the most of our day!

After riding the carousel and getting a mini-photo shoot, we head over to Enchanted Tales with Belle to use our first fast pass of the day. We walked up right as they were opening the door and we walked right in. I had tried to prepare the kids a little for this attraction, but I didn’t want to spoil the “show” so they only knew that they could be in the show if they wanted.

Predictably Ethan did not, and Lorelai did! Ethan stood stoically as we all acted out what the CM wanted us to, he was not getting picked accidentally!

Lorelai was picked to play Chip and she had a smile on her face a mile long! We were ushered into the room and we took our seats. I have to say out of everything in the attraction, Luimere is the best feature. The technology is just amazing! The show was cute and Lorelai was adorable as Chip. But the entire experience from start to finish seems a bit rushed. That isn’t surprising since it is a live action show that holds very few people at a time.









Overall if we had skipped it, we wouldn’t have missed it that much. Although Lorelai had fun, she has never mentioned it again. We wouldn't make a FP for this again, but if we were walking by and saw no wait, we might do it again.

After we collected our photopass card we headed back out into the scorching heat! It was still a little while until we had our next FP+ and we knew exactly where we needed to go. We headed back to Cinderella’s castle and to the left, right through the poorly placed smoking area. There has to be a better place to put that particular smoking area, I’m just saying. You have to walk THROUGH it to get to that area of the park.

We of course were headed to visit Merida, since Lorelai was dressed as her! The line was pretty long and in the sun, when we noticed it wasn’t moving. I went to investigate and Merida was taking a break and would be back fairly quickly. When she was back they would open the area and the queue would hold everyone that was in line… we just had to suffer in the sun until then. We spent the next 5 minutes trying to keep cool in the sun… it wasn’t easy. It was draining us of our energy and good moods fast!

Luckily it was only 5 minutes and we were being let into Merida’s meet and greet area. What a fun and well themed area!





We were out of direct sun so all was good at the moment… except for the pirate, who was still refusing to smile!





After a short wait we were meeting Merida, and what fun she was! Ethan was not interested in meeting her as she was a princess, so we let him have the camera. Merida was having none of that and made a point of meeting Ethan as well. Out of all the characters that we met the entire trip, she was by far the most engaging and fun! I’ll let the pictures tell that story!




















After our meet and greet, the kids both wanted to shoot an arrow… with a marshmallow on the end, or that’s what it looked like.







We headed out in need of some AC! And our next FP+ would give us just that! We headed over to Adventureland, because when you have a pirate with you, you are going to want to ride Pirates of the Caribbean!

Unfortunately when we got there it was closed, and we were in need of a break. We grabbed some cold drinks I think (though I am not sure) and stopped in what I think was a CS restaurant or a snack bar that was closed. For the life of me I don’t know which one! But it was semi-indoor/outdoor and had AC and was almost empty. Maybe someone will know from the photos? We grabbed a table and while Erik and I sat and relaxed a bit the kids watched people play SotMK. This is the moment when Ethan discovered it and HAD to play it. He was mesmerized!







Lorelai kept herself busy by playing with Erik’s phone and after the fact we found out she was making a video. It was ADORABLE!! She was talking to the camera about her hair and her dress and where we were. Unfortunately it was deleted… This was the first time we realized just how popular SotMK was. There was a couple who was seated next to us. They had a few binders with cards in them and randomly people would come in and they would discuss trading cards. I had no idea it was that popular.

After our rest we were getting close to our 7DMT FP+ time, so we decided to walk back that way and check on Pirates as we went. We walked by as they were opening it back up and we walked in! After an enjoyable ride with our favorite pirates… Johnny Depp and Ethan of course, we started toward Fantasyland and of course 7DMT was down!

Now is a section of our trip I don’t really remember too well. My phone was dead, absolutely no battery left. We went to the Rapunzel bathrooms, but for the life of me they hide the charging stations well, because we could not find them. I believe that we took a ride on Small World as well.

As we were about to give up on it, 7DMT opened back up and we headed over to use our FP. While in line we overheard someone talking about the hidden Mickey’s in the mine and we had fun trying to find them. This time Snow White was completely missing, or I am blind. It could have been either, honestly!

We were definitely ready for dinner and luckily it was time to head over to check in for our dinner at CRT!! Next up CRT and the most magical moment of the trip for me!

 

[ashleymrush]

Your weekend looks like it was so much fun. We have a Ren Faire that comes here to Concord also. It doesn't come until Oct/Nov though so luckily we don't have to deal with heat. That would be dreadful, especially if the heat is like it has been the past few days. I can't believe how good that Maleficent looked! Was she as convincing in person? She looks just like Angelina Jolie in the picture.

Your time with Merida looks like it was so much fun. We didn't get to meet her, or any Princess for that matter, while we were there. The boys aren't interested, much like Ethan. Merida looks like a blast though. How was her accent? I've always wondered if they get someone with a good accent to pull her off.

Can't wait to see your CRT meal! I'll make it there myself one day!

 

[PrncessA]

Your weekend looks like it was so much fun. We have a Ren Faire that comes here to Concord also. It doesn't come until Oct/Nov though so luckily we don't have to deal with heat. That would be dreadful, especially if the heat is like it has been the past few days. I can't believe how good that Maleficent looked! Was she as convincing in person? She looks just like Angelina Jolie in the picture.

Your time with Merida looks like it was so much fun. We didn't get to meet her, or any Princess for that matter, while we were there. The boys aren't interested, much like Ethan. Merida looks like a blast though. How was her accent? I've always wondered if they get someone with a good accent to pull her off.

Can't wait to see your CRT meal! I'll make it there myself one day!

I am so behind on TR, I was trying to catch up on yours the other day and I am failing... hopefully this weekend!

She looking amazingly like Angelina Jolie! Lorelai was convinced it was the real Maleficent!

Merida did have a pretty good accent, but even if it was a bad accent she was so engaging I don't think we would have noticed. I love how Lorelai is just looking at her with awe. I think the attention that Ethan got from Merida set the night for him... CRT was a lot of fun for both of the kids, even the one who didn't "care" about princesses. I am going to try and get an update done today!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I think that it was very nice of Meridia to engage Ethan in the conversation/meet too. I am sure that they are trained in how to get semi-shy children to come out of their shell. The meet looks like a lot of fun!

Was the empty counter service place across from Pirates of the Caribbean. From your pictures, it looks like Tortunga Tavern (I think that's till it's name) and it's only open seasonally.

 

[amberg93]

Very cute cheerleading pictures.

Seems like you all had a good time at the Renaissance fair

And aww at Lorelai being Chip, I'm sure she was adorable.

Ugh, that smoking area is my least favorite because it just seems so ill placed. I agree.

Merida's line in the direct sun is one of the worst for me too.

I didn't know SotMK was popular either. I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to play.

Ooh, can't wait to hear about the magic!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Adorable pics!!

Good to know about ETWB. How was 7DMT? Did the kids love it? Is it worth booking more than one FP+ for it?

Did you guys park hop a lot? Did you find it to be too much?? Sorry for all the questions trying to finalize things for out November trip!

 

[PrncessA]

When last we left off we had been having touch and go luck with rides being open, but had successfully completed our second ride on 7DMT! We were all ready to sit down and eat and we were also all very excited for our first dining experience in CRT.

We headed over towards the castle and were met with the area being roped off… for a minute we were worried we were running into another closing, which seemed to be our theme for the night. Luckily when we told the CM we had an ADR at CRT we allowed in and directed over to check in.

Check in was fast, as there was no line… but boy was the waiting area packed! I mean wall to wall people! We stood in line to get our photo with Cinderella:



Then we hovered until we were able to find a place to sit down. The wait seemed to take forever! It could have been that we were really ready for some food or that we were really not feeling the waiting area. We waited a good 20-30 minutes and an extra few minutes because the “name caller” (no idea what the official name is) butchered our name so bad we didn’t even assume it was us!

Finally we were being escorted upstairs and shown to our table. We were in the raised back section, set back and away from most people, which suited us just fine as we were ready for some relaxing! Our waiter arrived fairly quickly and we ordered our much needed caffeine, I mean drinks. The kids were super excited to be eating here and were having a hard time staying in their seats, which contributed to our exciting story of the night.

Erik needed a bio break as did Lorelai, so they headed down the stairs to the bathrooms. Of course after they left Ethan was insistent that he needed to go as well, so I sent him a few minutes later. How hard could it be? Stop at the first landing, use the bathroom, Erik would be there, either in the bathroom or waiting outside them for Lorelai. Turns out nothing is ever that easy in our family.

After a while Erik and Lorelai came back, but no Ethan. Erik had not seen him come in the bathroom. So we waited and waited, then Erik went off to try and find him. Finally they came back and it turns out that when Ethan had left the bathroom he went down instead of up and they met on the landing outside the bathrooms. Who knows how they missed each other in the first place! Only Ethan!

So with that out of our way we moved on to our appetizers! Both Erik and I had the cheese plates and the kids had grapes and cheese, which worked out for them because Ethan doesn’t like grapes and Lorelai doesn’t like cheese! I was a big fan of the cheese plate except for the blue cheese type. I hate blue cheese; I think it tastes like stinky feet! I could have eaten a second cheese plate, just saying it was a little small.

For our meals Erik, Ethan and I all ordered the Beef Tenderloin, with me asking for it to be burnt; I do not like pink meat at all! I will not eat any meat with the slightest hint of pink in it… that is why I normally opt for a veggie option. Lorelai ordered the chicken nuggets.

But let’s be honest, there was no way the majority of the food was going to be eaten on her plate. She was so excited about the princesses she rarely turned around and looked at the table.





And it was worth the wait!

The characters were just wonderful! So here they are!

First up was Snow White who started the ball rolling and made a huge deal about how we had a pirate at our table and we better be sure to lock up our jewels!





Next was Aurora, and although she was lovely, she really didn’t do anything to engage Ethan… which is why he is absent from the photo!








Next was our most anticipated princess, Ariel! Lorelai just lit up! If we thought that Snow White made a fuss over Ethan, it was nothing like Ariel. She was wonderful and ask a lot of questions in character and really had a lot of fun. Ethan was almost blushing through his makeup!











Last but not least was Jasmine, which Lorelai was very very excited about. She was very interactive as well with Ethan; they had a conversation about their gold!







We finished with dessert, where the kids ordered the cone trio, which was gross in my opinion and the kids. YUCK! I believe Erik had the cheesecake and I had the trio of desserts.

Overall the meal was a little bland, that is not judging my steak which came just as I ask, burnt. And it was a pretty long meal! We checked in at 8:05 and we paid our bill at 9:53. That is a long meal! We did stick around to watch a bit of Wishes from the windows, but then we headed down to finish our night!

Would we eat at CRT again? To be honest probably not. Yes it was cool to eat in the castle and see all of the princesses, but you can see the princesses in Norway and the food isn't worth the extra dining credit, or the $200 that we would have had to pay if it had been a cash meal.


Next up: A magical moment when you least expect it!

 

[KatMark]

Lorelai looks adorable in her cheer outfit.

Pirates always seems to be down...just be glad you weren't sitting on it when it went down.

I'm glad you eventually got on it and the Mine Ride (Mark is very excited about this in a couple of weeks).

We have never eaten at CRT and have heard so many pros and so many cons that we've just skipped it over the years. I did try to get it this year, but had no luck. We did do Norway one year but thought the food was awful.

I have to say of the five princesses you saw that Aurora and Jasmine look closest to their characters...the others not so much. But the important thing is Lorelai is eating it up and that's what it is all about.

 

[amberg93]

Oops on the name caller saying your name so badly. Unfortuantely it happens.

Too funny that Ethan and Erik ended up missing each other.

I agree that CRT food isn't the best. Not worth the money for the food in my opinion either but it does sound like you had some very great princess interactions.

Plus, it's an experience that you'll have forever now

 

[PrncessA]

Lorelai looks adorable in her cheer outfit.

Thank you! She is having a blast!

Pirates always seems to be down...just be glad you weren't sitting on it when it went down.

So true!

I'm glad you eventually got on it and the Mine Ride (Mark is very excited about this in a couple of weeks).

We really like the dark ride/rollercoaster combo!


We have never eaten at CRT and have heard so many pros and so many cons that we've just skipped it over the years. I did try to get it this year, but had no luck. We did do Norway one year but thought the food was awful.

We are not fans of the lunch and dinner food in Norway, but the breakfast wasn't bad. It isn't hard to mess up mickey waffles and scrabbled eggs.

I have to say of the five princesses you saw that Aurora and Jasmine look closest to their characters...the others not so much. But the important thing is Lorelai is eating it up and that's what it is all about.

The look on her face says it all!!

Oops on the name caller saying your name so badly. Unfortuantely it happens.

Had a very strong accent, I am glad he didn't butcher my first name or we might still be sitting there

Too funny that Ethan and Erik ended up missing each other.

Only in our family!

I agree that CRT food isn't the best. Not worth the money for the food in my opinion either but it does sound like you had some very great princess interactions.

Plus, it's an experience that you'll have forever now

It was definitely a "have to do once" experience!

*******
I am hoping to finish out the day today, but I been sitting here at work researching the cutest, yet easiest and cheapest cheerleader gift project that I can find for the last hour or so! Homecoming is next week and each parent has to provide a gift for each girl, plus the coaches. I love being crafty, but that takes a backseat to the fact that I am BUSY lately and I just don't have time to do a super time consuming project.

So after searching Pinterest for a while I believe I have settled on making a fleece scarf in the team colors for the girls. It's cute and easy, plus the only thing I have to buy is a yard or two of fleece.

On top of working, school, life and trying to plan a trip to Disney, I have been thinking of getting a part time job for the holiday season at a local store. Maybe bring in some extra money for our trip! Erik thinks I am crazy, and I might be, but it sounds like fun! Nothing like taking non-existent time and adding work! But anything for Disney!

 

[PrncessA]

After a bit of Wishes, we headed down the stairs, with a bit of drama of course. At some point Ethan hit one of the stairs just right with his pirate sword and SNAP the blade snapped off right at the handle. He was inconsolable, we felt bad, but he had been told to not hit anything. I kept the pieces and brought them home. I superglued them and now the sword is hanging on his bedroom wall with his pirate code/name. It isn’t “usable” as play toy, but that suits me just fine to be honest!

We were quarantined with a few other families under the castle for about 15-20 minutes, while CM’s with flashlights searched the area between the castle and the carousel for firework fragments. After the area was deemed safe to cross we made our way over toward Liberty Square without a firm plan. We stopped at the Sleepy Hollow Inn to discuss our options for the rest of the night, since the park was open for another 2 hours or so.

Erik’s vote was for back to the room, he felt like he was getting a blister on his foot and he didn’t want to push it. The kids and I were up for one more ride and I really wanted a dole whip since the next time we would be in the MK we wouldn’t be on the dining plan anymore. Erik decided that he would grab a drink and relax with his feet up and I would take the kids off for one more adventure for the night. I had no idea that at this moment I was making a decision that would produce the most magical moments of the trip for me. My only regret is that since my phone was dead that I was unable to call Erik and have him join us. I also have no photos from this night on my side because I let Erik keep the camera so that I was bag and camera free.

The kids and I headed off to decide what would be our last ride for the night… the kids really wanted Splash Mountain, but that was a hike and I didn’t really feel like getting wet. We stopped in front of the Liberty Belle and the night seemed quiet and kind of eerie, so I suggested that we ride the Haunted Mansion. It was right there, had a short wait, I could ride with both kids together, and it is a favorite. It was a win all around!

We got in line and although the line moved continually, it was slow enough for the kids to have a little time to play in the queue. It was here that the magic started working its way into my heart! I looked at my kids, completely carefree and completely utterly happy and it was magical. We played our way down the queue and before we knew it we were in the stretching room.

We did have a slightly stressed moment when we were leaving the stretching room like a herd of cattle. Normally in an instance like this I will take one of the kids and Erik will take the other so we don’t get separated from them. Since I was alone I had both kids’ hands and a woman was trying to break through my grip with Ethan. She went as far as to put her hands on his arm and try and break our grip! Ethan was being pushed and pulled and started freaking out, he looked back at me panicked. Then the woman says “Don’t worry I have him!” I was in shock. Lady, I don’t need you to “have” him, I need you to back the **** off of him so I can have him! The look I gave her must have said what I was thinking, because she backed up and let Ethan move back toward me. Then she walked on.

Drama over, we made our way to our doom buggies and had a wonderful trip through the haunted mansion. After our ride we made our way through Liberty Square and crossed back over to Adventureland to grab a snack at Aloha Isle. I grabbed a Dole Whip Float and the kids a bottle of Sprite to share. I had noticed that it was almost completely empty in the Liberty Square/Frontierland area for parade viewing, so we headed back over to watch the parade while we shared the Dole Whip. We found an area where we were basically completely alone and sat down and waited.

We didn’t have to wait long before the Main Street Electrical Parade reached us. It was this moment that made the entire trip worth it for me. Float after float I watched my kids wave excitedly to the characters, I watched them jump up and down with excitement when Minnie blew a kiss at them or when Mickey signed I love you, I listened to them run back to me to tell me excitedly that Alice had ask them if they had come from a tea party. It was pure magic! I was kicking myself that we hadn’t gone and got Erik before the parade, so he missed it. I have no photos from this time, but if I had had my camera, would the magic have happened I wonder?

As I sat there and ate my Dole Whip and watched my kids, I knew that this was the moment that made everything worth it. The cost, the planning, the stressful moments, the condescending comments from people who said Disney isn’t worth it… it is worth it for that moment of pure childhood memories and magic! It was right there that I started crying, I’ll admit I am crying right now remembering the moment. Magic like only Disney can make!

After the parade we quickly made our way back to Erik and he had watched the parade from his vantage point as well and took a few photos.








We started back down Main Street, fulfilled and listening to the kids excitedly tell DH about the parade. It was the perfect end to the day!

We made it back to the Yacht Club. Lorelai wanted to wash out her hair, but Ethan refused to wash off his makeup, he wanted to wear it the next day. Funny story, I am STILL washing glitter out of Lorelai’s hair. There is still glitter stuck to her scalp, we laugh about it every time I put her hair up in a ponytail.

The kids watched a bit of the Disney Channel and we were off to dreamland!


Next up: Fish, bears and platypuses oh my!!

 

[amberg93]

Oops with the Ethan's toy. At least you could fix it for decoration.

Okay that lady though. Wow, she was out of line. You can't just touch other people's kids like that.

And sometimes it's more magical without the camera. You just get to soak in the magic. I'm so glad you got to have the moment, though it is a bummer your husband wans't there.

 

[ZehnJahren]

CRT looked fantastic! The look on Lorelai's face says it all, especially with Ariel. Pure childhood magic is right!

The woman at HM was definitely pushing her luck. I don't know how you kept your wits about you when she actually tried to break your grips! I would have been furious!

How wonderful that Erik agreed to just relax and put his feet up knowing his family wanted just a little more time. And then for you to have such a great night after that. I have fond memories of the MSEP myself from childhood; those are the types of things that stick with you in life. So glad you got that magical moment with your kids, and that they got it with you.

 

[PrncessA]

We woke up the next morning later than usual. My plans say that we were going to head to MK for EMH then have a late breakfast at 1900 Park Fare before hitting Epcot. That is not what happened, and I am almost certain this changed before the trip, but after I printed my plans. I think that I had looked at our plans and decided that we would forego trying to fit in EMH at MK and instead sleep-in a bit and head over to Cape May Café for breakfast.

This worked out brilliantly!

We woke up around 9am and took our time getting ready. Ethan’s makeup had rubbed off quite a bit during the night, but he was still refusing to let me wash it off. I figured what was the harm, so all of our photos from that day have a very pale little boy in them! LOL Lorelai wanted to wear her pink hair, so I managed to get it attached to a little ponytail. She also wanted to put on some of her BBB makeup, so she sparkled a little!

After we were all dressed we headed off toward the Beach Club. We did stop in the Club Lounge and ask for a few bottles of water to take with us. It is nice being able to walk to our breakfast ADR! We were given a buzzer, but it went off in less than 5 minutes and we were shown to our table and greeted by Dorothy our waitress. Dorothy was a talker and a lot of fun! She had worked at WDW for over 25 years and was very proud. She told us stories of watching children grow each year they would come and visit her, and now she was serving them with their own families and children. What a wonderful job to have!

No food photos really, but the food here was very good. The kids had cereal, yogurt, etc. But Erik and I pretty much sampled everything they had on the buffet, and it was all good! Dorothy had told us which way to expect the characters and the kids were really excited!

Up first was Minnie in her vacation finest!









Then Donald and Ethan made a point of telling him that he was his favorite character!













Then we goofed around with Goofy for a while!












The restaurant wasn’t crowded, so the characters seemed at ease to spend as much time with the kids as they wanted. The meal didn’t feel rushed at all, but we were in and out, in about an hour. After paying our tip, we headed out and decided to walk over to Epcot, for our first full day there!

I had scheduled a Soarin’ fast pass, but for some reason I had changed it to Test Track instead. But we still had the fast pass from the TT debacle. I had thought we could use the paper fast pass that we had been given for Soarin’ but we couldn’t, Soarin’ was the ONLY attraction it didn’t list. I believe we did still have a FP for Living with the Land, although it wasn’t really needed.
We boarded our boat and off we went!

It was a nice ride and nice and cool as Erik noted. He did ask me why we didn’t ride this ride more often! The kids were fascinated with the fish, although I didn’t take any pictures of them, but Lisa (mickeystoontown) did though, right here. I told you I would link your post Lisa!









After our ride through the land we considered Soarin’ but the wait was way too long, so we decided to try later in the trip.

Of course we had to stop for some photopass photos outside the Land!







Of course our next destination had to be Test Track, since Ethan still hadn’t gotten his ride yet! We headed past the character spot and thought of stopping since there was a 10 minute wait, but we had already saw the Fab 4 and we would see them again the next day.

We did however decide to make a stop at Club Cool for some refreshments and a mean trick! DH had no idea about Beverly and I was so sweet as to tell him he just HAD to try it!





After Erik’s reaction, Ethan really wanted to try it and Lorelai followed right along. We took video instead of photos. I don’t think Lorelai was actually brave enough to drink any though, just a taste. Ethan got a good taste!

http://youtu.be/Rpl8Ob7fJzE


They both really liked the blue soda they found and we spent a while trying different sodas.

continued in next post

 

[PrncessA]

Finally we were headed to Test Track and used our paper fast passes. Ethan was so excited he was shaking!





Lorelai and I were on the #1 so we headed all the way down our row… and scanned our MagicBand. Nothing happened. The screen was frozen, we were tapping the screen nothing. The boys noticed but they were way too involved with their car.

Then the strangest thing happened. Lorelai was very upset, rightly so, and was hugging me. I put my hand down under her chin to pull it up and my hand was really wet.

She pulled away and her nose was bleeding, BADLY! She normally doesn’t have nose bleeds; in fact they are very rare for her, so she started really crying. I was lucky I had a couple tissues in my bag, but she was bleeding though them quickly and there was no way to get out! There is no CM in the room and no “panic button” that I could see.

After what seemed like FOREVER the doors opened and no CM… up the ramp... stand in line… turn the corner and finally a CM! We explained the situation and he let us out the side door at the point where the FP line meets the standby line and told us to come back to that door when we were finished in the bathroom.

The boys continued on to the ride and I took Lorelai way across to the bathroom to stop the bleeding and clean up. It took a while to calm her down and the bleeding to stop, but finally we were able to clean up and head back to TT. After searching and feeling like we were in a forbidden part of the park, we managed to find the door and the CM let us into the line. We weren’t able to design a car, but at that point we were happy to be riding!

It looks like DH and E rode at 12:38:



And Lorelai and I at 12:52:



Not sure why I look like I am going to be sick....

The verdict? Was it worth the hype? Yep, it was a hit all around! We never rode the original ride, so we can’t compare it.

We met up in the dump shop and made our way back around to use our FP+ for a second ride! This time our screen worked and we had no drama!











With Ethan’s #1 wish of the trip fulfilled we headed over to Mission: Space since there was no wait.





Green side of course!











After we all got our jobs figured out… we were off on our mission!





We were about to call our Future World part of the day to an end, but first we needed a ride on a favorite… Spaceship Earth. I had booked a FP+ that morning, so we were good to go!




We spent some time in the drop shop in the nice AC!





While the kids played some of the games and Erik played with the story email computer thing, I headed out to add an additional FP+ for Maelstrom for a little later. We made a pit stop for some bio breaks and headed toward the World Showcase!

Next up: Around the world in an evening!

 

[PrncessA]

Oops with the Ethan's toy. At least you could fix it for decoration.

Okay that lady though. Wow, she was out of line. You can't just touch other people's kids like that.

And sometimes it's more magical without the camera. You just get to soak in the magic. I'm so glad you got to have the moment, though it is a bummer your husband wans't there.

Tell me about it! I am sure that the look on my face said it all!

It was all about the Disney magic!

CRT looked fantastic! The look on Lorelai's face says it all, especially with Ariel. Pure childhood magic is right!

The woman at HM was definitely pushing her luck. I don't know how you kept your wits about you when she actually tried to break your grips! I would have been furious!

How wonderful that Erik agreed to just relax and put his feet up knowing his family wanted just a little more time. And then for you to have such a great night after that. I have fond memories of the MSEP myself from childhood; those are the types of things that stick with you in life. So glad you got that magical moment with your kids, and that they got it with you.

When DH and I worry about whether we should spend less on vacations, we think about the memories that we are making with our kids and how important those memories are!

 

[amberg93]

Cape May seems like a lot of fun

Hey, you've always got to get someone to taste the Beverly.

Eek, how strange about the nose bleed but at least you got everything all squared away. And yeah, TT doesn't have an abundance of CMs around in the designing stages.

Two rides on TT is the way to go. Glad you got to design a car that time around.

Also, looks like you had a lot of luck in getting FP+s set up for later.

 

[KatMark]

Although not our fav, we do enjoy Cape May for breakfast; the character interaction is some of the best.

I'm glad Ethan finally got on Test Track. Sorry about DD's nosebleed though but glad you were able to get back and ride (very nice of the CM).

You are all brave souls to do Mission.

 

[PrncessA]

When last we left off, our Epcot morning had gotten off to a great start. I still can’t believe that we had come here in 2005 and spent only half a day! Epcot was easily becoming one of our favorite parks. I understand the breaking of themes between Future World and World Showcase, but it does feel a bit like a maze in Future World, especially with all the construction walls up. Plus it is HOT in World Showcase! Don’t get me wrong, this does not diminish our love for Epcot at all, just our observations. DH said we should request a moving sidewalk put in…

So after our mission to Mars and back to Earth, (The kids had it all figured out. If we ride Mission: Space we are now on Mars, then we need to ride Spaceship Earth to get back… not scientifically sound, but fun to joke about) we headed toward World Showcase. We didn’t have much of a plan other than we wanted to land in Italy around 7pm for our Via Napoli ADR and it was about 3:15pm.

On our way over we ran into a Photopass photographer and we just had to stop! Epcot was empty that day for sure!








We continued on our way… The kids were ready for a snack and Erik and I were ready for an ice cold beverage… preferably with a little kick! But first things first! Who is that we spy? Duffy!! He was just walking out of the store across from his meet and greet and there were only a few people in line to meet him. Lorelai was so excited… Ethan less so. DH and E grabbed a seat on a bench and Lorelai and I jumped in line.



Duffy was great!







No, no, Duffy, Lorelai's hair isn't cotton candy!!



Woops!





Lorelai fell in love with Duffy and was positive that he would be her toy to take home… we will see if that holds true.

Now across from Duffy’s meet and greet they have a snack cart, but FYI they do not accept DDP snack credits. Note to self: find this out before your child is set on eating a giant pink donut!

Finally, we made our way to Mexico and first stop was La Cantina de San Angel for a cocktail of course! I love me a nice refreshing lime margarita, so that is what I ordered, Erik was intrigued with the Lime Pomegranate Mojito, so he ordered one of those. With our drinks in hand we stopped by an ice cream cart and got Ethan Mickey bar. Lorelai was on the hunt for chips… strange but that is what she wanted.







Continued in next post