Jan 3-8 2013 Two Year Anniversary Trip

Day1 01/02/13
Cast Members:
Me (Rose) age 30 something, Profession, event planner
Jack (my husband) age 40, Profession: College professor, musician
Liam (my son) age 12

Bags are packed, and the cat goes to Mum’s house. Final goodbyes are said to parents, sister, niece and nephew. Waiting for Jack to come home from work. He arrives around 3:30pm. We pack up the car and our on our way around 4:00pm. Leave our neighborhood and immediately turn around and head home. Jack has forgotten his sneakers. After a quick sidetrack we are on the road again. We stop at a Chinese buffet for dinner in Houston and then fight our way in rush hour traffic to the hotel near Hobby airport. Check in is easy and we get a King Suite. Liam gets the sofa bed while Jack and I get the King bed. It’s 7pm and what can we do? We head to a corner store for drinks, back to hotel and try to find something to watch on TV. We settle down around 10pm and try to sleep. I don’t do well in strange places so I think I got maybe three hours total.

 

[acrab3t]

Day 2 01/03/13 Travel day, arrive at Beach Club, Magic Kingdom and dinner at Citricos

We are up at 5am, shower and then gather our stuff. We eat the free breakfast in the hotel lobby and are out in our car at 6:15am. We find the parking lot, hop on the shuttle and are in the airport with in 5 minutes. Check in takes 10 minutes and security another 10 minutes. We get to our gate just as they begin boarding. If you fly South West you do not get pre-assigned seating, just a section to stand in. We had the A section so we were able to sit together as a family. After a short 2 hour 10 minute flight, we arrive in Orlando. We sit for 30 minutes on the runway waiting for our gate to be cleared.

Finally we pull into the gate and we are off to find the Magical Express!
We find it and our bus is already there. We board and are off to the Beach Club Resort! When we arrive at BC a CM is waiting for us with our packet. Our room wasn’t ready yet (it is around 12 pm) but after some moving around, she finds us a King room with a day bed. The only problem is it is above the Valet and lobby area so noise could be an issue. The location is perfect, just a few stairs up from the lobby. It is a short walk to the Market place, Cape May and the main lobby. It is a very short walk to the bus stop and the walkway to Epcot and Storm a Long Bay. This is my first time at the BC so I was excited. The smell in the lobby was amazing! I was hoping to see the Gingerbread carousel but it was already gone. The Christmas tree was still there but they removed it the second night we were there. I didn’t have a chance to take a photo of it.

Here are some photos of our room. It was very open and roomy. Liam was still small enough to sleep on the day bed. Last year for this I think. He is almost taller than me!

Here is our King sized bed! We have one at home so Jack insists on it. The key to a good night's sleep is personal space!

Cute butterfly on the tub.

After we settle into our room we go on the hunt for food. By this time it is 1pm but dinner is at 5:30 so we just want a snack. We head to the Market Place and look around. We grab our resort mugs, Liam ate a ham and swiss sandwich, Jack ate the tomato bisque and I ate the kid’s margarita pizza. It came with carrots and a drink too. Not too bad, it hit the spot anyway. We headed out to the bus stop to go to Magic Kingdom.

There was a very tame squirrel hanging out. People must feed it because it came right up to us to check us out.

Here is the view at the bus stop. Very relaxing.

After a short wait the bus arrived and we were on out way. The Mickey Mouse song came on cue just as we rounded the corner to the bus stop. I snapped a few quick photos as we entered the park and we made a beeline to the new Fantasyland.

Here is the must do family shot on Main Street USA.

 

[acrab3t]

Day 2 Continued....

The first thing I noticed is the crowds. So many people! We must be spoiled because we typically go during off- season. It was very hard to navigate because of the number of people and strollers. The second thing I notice is how small the New Fantasy Land is, cute and quaint. We grab fast passes for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (7pm – 8pm). We then take in the sights of Story Book Circus. Liam wanted to ride the Barnstormer but the wait time was something like 120 minutes! We waited for 20 minutes just to get on the train. We rode it all the way to Frontier land. We were hoping to ride Big Thunder Mountain but the wait time for that was ridiculous too. Out of desperation of something to do, I convince the boys to try the Enchanted Tikki room. I enjoyed it, the boys, not so much. Jack put it on the same level as Country Bears. Next we go to Tomorrow land and go to Monsters Inc. By this time we could grab another fast pass so we got one for Space Ranger Spin for 7:45-8:45. Now it is time to head over to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Citricos. We took one of the small boats and were there very quickly. We arrive exactly on time for our 5:30 pm reservation. We are seated in front of the open kitchen so we can watch the chefs work. The menu looks so good it is hard to decide. The waiter brings us lamb meatballs to wet our appetites in honor of our wedding anniversary. I ordered the Panadas starter, Veal shank entrée and Berry Au Gratin dessert. DS ordered the Aranchi starter, Berkshire Pork two ways entrée and Tiramisu dessert. DH ordered the Charcuterie starter, Veal shank entrée and Tiramisu dessert. We ate every bite. Our waiter was very attentive and the food was delicious. What a nice dinner!

Here is my Starter, Panadas

and here is Liam's Aranchi

Jack's Charcuterie

Jack and I both had the Veal Shank. Falling off the bone goodness!

Liam's Berkshire Pork 2-ways

Jack and Liam had the Tiramisu, to die for

I had the Berry Gratin, Berrylicious!

After dinner we take the monorail back to MK. We use our fast passes for Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I notice the woman in front of us is using a flash to take pictures as we wait. I purposely let a car go empty so we don’t have to be right next to her but I still see her flash going off. This is my first time on this ride and I don’t want it to be ruined. What do I do? I yell at her, “No Flash Photography! You are ruining the ride for everyone!”. She actually heard me and turned her flash off! I don’t have any photos of this ride because I wanted to enjoy it. I loved it! Very cute. DH and DS enjoyed it too.
We made our way over to Tomorrow land and use our fast passes for Space Ranger Spin. This ride seems lame compared to Toy Story. DS still loves it so that makes it worth it. Now we go back to Fantasy land to wait for the fire works. There was no wait for the Prince Charming’s Carasol so we hop on.

This trip became the trip where we tried new things we had never done. We enjoyed this old fashioned ride. Then we found a good spot to view the fireworks right at the entrance to the new Fantasyland. This spot was good but you have to keep turning from left to right because the fireworks come from both sides. The best part was there were not many people. The folks we stood next to said the hub was packed.
By this time it had started to drizzle. We busted out the ponchos and made our way to the hub to wait for the 10pm Electric Light Parade, my fovorite. My DH started to complain about the rain but I said this is the best time to catch it because everyone is leaving. He stuck it out for me and we watched it in the rain. By this time the bottoms of my jeans legs are soaked and we are cold. Right after the ELP we leave to catch the bus back to BC. We get home around 11pm, shower and fall into bed. I wake up a few times but not for long. We have and early reservation at Akersus.

EDIT Warning! My pictures are saved out of order so here are some that are missing for this day. We got to see the flag lowering ceremony. Something I have always wanted to see. It was beautiful. The tourists from other countries stuck around to watch too! They were very respectful of this touching ceremony.

 

[acrab3t]

Day 3 01/04/13 Epcot and Le Cellier for dinner

We are up early for breakfast reservations at Akersus. Yes, this is a Princess breakfast and we don't have a little girl. This was my choice and we are going to like it.

One of the perks of staying at the Beach club is it's closeness to EPCOT. This is the short walk to the park. Not too shabby.

Here is a view you can't miss after you enter the park. I love it!

As the boys hurried to Norway, I had to snap pictures of the empty World Showcase. How often do you get to see it this empty?

More photos of UK

And Canada

The lagoon

Mexico!

Finaly we make it to Norway slightly out of breath.

 

[Bethany M]

Following! And everyone should go visit the Princesses!

 

[PineapplePrincess]

That Pork Two Ways looks a lot like the pork tenderloin at California Grill (which will be closed on our July trip)! I might have to try that! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[acrab3t]

That Pork Two Ways looks a lot like the pork tenderloin at California Grill (which will be closed on our July trip)! I might have to try that! Looking forward to reading more!

My son ate every bite! He was very hungry after a long first day.

 

[acrab3t]

Day 3 Continued...

More photos of Norway while we waited to be called to our table.

Here is our odd family photo with Belle. Here dress was so big we didn't know where to stand.

As soon as we were seated the Princesses started to visit. First up Sleeping Beauty

Next was Cinderella. She told me to tell Snow White to stop eating red apples.

Next my favorite Snow White. She was very sweet.

Last to visit was Ariel. She was DS's favorite. He thought she was pretty.

The food here was very good. They brought out an extra hot plate of bacon, eggs and potatoes since the boys cleared the plate. The only thing missing was some honey for the plaine yougurt. I enjoyed the buffet very much. After breakfast we headed over to Future World. It was starting to sprinkle a bit. It was a wet cold day. We took some photos of Space Ship Earth. Here is Liam dancing Gangnam Style.

Jack holding up the sphere!

Mouse Gears!

We headed over to Fast Track to grab fast passes. Alas, Test Track was down! Oh no! Back up plan, Jack headed over to Soarin to get fast passes while Liam and I went on Mission Space. Jack hates the Orange ride so Liam and I too advantage of it.

 

[acrab3t]

After Mission Space, we met Jack at Mouse Gears and went to Club Cool for some refreshment. Tasty! Loved watching people try the Beverly for the first time. Next up, Ice Cream! Great value for a snack credit. I had a hot fudge brownie sundae, so did Liam. Jack had a mango smoothie. Next up, Figmant! Somehow I got Jack to agree. He told me we were NEVER going to ride this because it was lame. He had ridden it about 9 years a go but Liam and I had never been on it. It was cute! Jack admited it wasn't as bad as he remembered but he still thought it sucked. Here is his thumbs down.

Reverse Waterfall!

We headed back to World Showcase. Jack had never riddedn Maelstrom so we hopped on. The wait was about 20 minutes. After the ride, we popped into the giftshop and met this funny troll.

It pretty much rained the rest of the days and we got to look cool in our ponchos. Jack was hungry again and grabbed a turkey leg in America

By now it was time for Soarin. Jack had never ridden so he was excited. As we are waiting, hot fast passes in hand, he asked me if it was one of those rides you hang from and go high up. Uh, yes. Opps, he is afraid of heights. I forgot this small detail. He sucked it up and went on anyway. He loved it! He got over the fact we were high and kinda hanging and he had a good time. I was proud and relieved. Dinner was at Le Cellier. I forgot to take photos because I was so tired and hungry. Dinner was yummy of course. We took dessert to go and walked back to the beach club to rest before Iluminations. This guy was waiting on our bed.

 

[acrab3t]

Day 4 01/05/2013 Magic Kingdom, Crystal Palace breakfast and Narcosse's for dinner.

We had 8:05 am reservations atone of our favorite breakfast buffets, Crystal Palace. We love the Potato Casserole and the Puffy French Toast here. The staff are always super friendly too. One of the cool thing about early breakfast reservations is you get into the park before the crowds. Great photo ops.
Here is the main entrance of course.

Here we are on Main Street. Look how empty it is!!!

Main street

Piano at Casey's Corner. You can see me in the mirror, lol.

Here is Casey's Corner

We had a few minutes before they would let us in so we took some photos with the castle in the back. Jack likes to take this one of me every time we go. I posed in this spot for our Honeymoon two years ago.

We were some of the first guests in the restaurant so we got to see all of the characters straight away. Liam still gets a kick out of Winnie the Pooh, Tiger and Eyeore.
Up first was Piglett

 

[acrab3t]

Day 4 Continued...
More Piglett

Tigger too!

Pooh!

and of course Eeyore

After breakfast we made our way to the new Fantasy Land. Our plan was to be first in line for the Barnstormer since it was so busy the first day. You can get as far as just behind the castle. The CM's have a rope and make you wait. I snapped some pretty photos of the castle on the way.

These beautiful mosaics are inside the walkway as you go through the castle. I love how they tell the story of Cinderella.

 

[acrab3t]

Side view of the castle

Cinderella's fountain. I believe I have taken a photo of this everytime I have been.

This is as far as we could get into Fantasy Land. We had Arthur's sword just with in our grasp.

Sir Mickey's

Back view of the castle.

So as we are waiting for the cast members to drop the rope, they joke around with us. There is a handfull of other early breakfasters waiting with us. The CM's were saying how we had to wait for the cue. I look behind us as a wave of people are running up Main Street. Yes, running. I am starting to panic because I realize that we are going to have to compete with this huge crowd that is fast approaching. I was thinking they would give us a head start so we would have first dibs. No! As the crowd approaches, I see a particular family getting ready for what looks like a race start. A mom, a grandma and a little girl. The CM's had warned us not to run, so much like a well behaved kid at the pool, I obeyed. The race family, not so much. When the CM's gave us the OK, the family took off at high speed! So call me evil, I was hoping one of them would trip and bust a knee.

Our plan was to get on the Barnstormer and then go back to the New Fantasy Land. We passed Enchanted Tales with Belle and I had the feeling we should just get in line since this was the shortest it would be all day. I tried to persuade Jack but he insisted we stick to our plan. We walked briskly to Story Book Circus, past Dumbo only to find the Barnstormer is not working. Booooo! We turned back around and headed back to Enchanted Tales with Belle. The wait time says 30 mintues so we figure we would give it a shot. The line crawled! There was not much to do as we waited and all of the younger kids around us were getting restless. I took the time to take a few shots of the atmoshphere.

Maurice's Cottage

An interesting lanturn and Be Our Guest entrance in the background

Beast's Castle

Prince Eric's Castle, look at the guys holding the lamp posts.

 

[acrab3t]

It looks like Maurice used anything he could find to make the fence. The details here are nice.

It was about an hour before we finaly got into Maurice'c cottage. The CM's rush you through here so there is not much time to catch a photo. I love the painting of Belle and her mother.

I was being pushed out the door as I snapped this one. The chandelier is made out of gears.

The next room is where you look into the magic mirror. I didn't get any decent shots.They all came out blurry.

Next we entered the room where the kids get picked to play parts. Liam hid behind me so he couldn't get picked. He is at the too cool for this stage.I cant remember the bureau's name. I think Madame Bureau? She was pretty cool.

Once all of the kids (and adults) who wanted parts got them, we went to the library. Luminaire was pretty cool. He is one of my favorite characters from Beauty and the Beast. He was hard to capture because he kept moving. It was neat watching the interaction between him and Belle.

At the end of the encounter I thought it was cute how Bell told us that Beast was waiting for her in the dining room for dinner and how she didn't want to keep him waiting. After we left Belle, we decided to try our luck with the Barnstormer. The boys both had to take a potty break so I headed over with the plan of getting fast passes. When I got there the line was short and moving fast. I just waited for the boys and we got in line. I love how there is a First Aid and a Second Aid box.

I took the time to check out the Casey's splash area. No kids playing in it today. It was a wee bit chilly but the sun was out. It was a very nice day.

 

[acrab3t]

Next on the agenda was to check out the line for Space Mountain. Now I can do without riding this one but Liam loves it so we had to go on it. This was my first rollercoaster ride when I was 4 years old. Somehow my older brother convinced my parents that it was not a roller coaster and they believed him. Somehow I still ended up on it. I swear I remember sitting in my dad's lap. I know they don't allow this now but were they more relaxed about safety in the 80's? I have memories of having my eyes screwed shut for the whole ride. I was terrified and tramatized. I felt like I was slipping out of my dad's lap the whole ride. After we got off, I remember my dad and mom snapping at my brother for making his baby sister cry.

The wait time for space mountain was already at 90 minutes so we grabbed a fast pass for a 2pm return time. We decided to hop onto the People Mover since it was a walk on. Day 1 of our trip there was seriously a line for the people mover. Jack and I call this ride the take off your shoes and relax ride.

After the people mover we were getting thirsty. Liam wanted a coke so he wasted a snack credit on that. Jack and I had bigger plans. Dole Whip baby! My absolute favorite frozen Disney treat. I like mine swirled with pineapple and vanilla floated in pineapple juice. Whomever came up with this deserves a prize. Sorry I didn't get a photo. I forgot in my craze of Dole Whip heaven. I did get a snap of this tiki looking thing in Adventure Land. I thought the skul was kind of freaky.

After we devoured our Dole Whips we went on one of my favorite rides Pirates of the Carribian. I looked for the mermaids and saw them swimming. If you look to your left there is a boat on the shore with a skeleton in it. I swear it has a fishtail.

 

[acrab3t]

Now onto my other favorite the Haunted Mansion. My first memory of this ride is standing outside the gates (4 years old) crying because I didn't want to go in. I was terrified of all things dead. My poor mother had to wait with me while my dad, brother and sister went in. I have to admit I am still a bit scared of the graveyard part. I hate when those ghosts suddenly pop out from behind the grave stones.

I love the interactive que. We alway take this route in so we can play.

I find it funny how most people never notice her eyes open. They just walk past her.

Liam loves the stocks.

We made our eay back to Frontier land to ride Thunder Mountain but the wait time was too long for us. We are spoiled and won't wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride. We decided to try it later that evening while the fireworks were on. What to do? Swiss Famliy Robinson. I had to drag the boys on because they didn't want to do it. I told them they had to try it at least once. Most of the photos I took were terrible because to where the sun was.

After we finished our stroll through the tree house. I decided it was too sunny and I need to buy a hat. I found a cute straw one. We were right by Aloha Isle and it was just too tempting. We had to get another Dole Whip. Yes, two in one day. We are on vacation, why not? It was time to ride Space Mountain so we walked on with our fast passes. The stand-by line was still at least 90 minutes. I got the very back car. Talk bout a rough ride. I seriously felt nausious after this and had to sit down for a bit to get situated. We decided it was time to take a break so we headed back to Main Stree to go back to the Beach Club. This was the perfect oppurtunity to get something I have always wanted, a Mickey balloon! I have wanted one since I was a kid and my dad would never splurge on it. What is a girl to do? Ask her husband for one of course!

We hop on the bus after a short wait ahd head back to the Beach Club. It was warm enough now to check out Stormalong Bay. Only guests from BC and YC are allowed entance to this pool. We each had to show the gate keeper our room keys to get wrist bands. We found spots near the exit to the water slide and parked. The pool bar was closed but Jack and I had brought our own adult beverages. We watched Liam exit the slide a few times and we decided to take a spin. The problem was I realy didn't want to get my hair wet. Too bad, can't avoid it. We loved the slide. It is actually very long.

I also enjoyed the sand bottom pool. Pretty cool feeling under your tired feet. Jack and I explored the pool and found the hot tub. We were sitting up there with a few other adults for a while when a tiny tot wonders up. He couldn't have been more than 3. He looked at us and said, my parents are coming, and he hopped right in. Huh? The hot tub is hidden and not visable from the main part of the pool. It took is parents a little while but eventualy they came up. He was well behaved but I always get nervous with little kids and pools. When Liam was that tiny I never let him out of my sight near water. After a swim and short rest, we got ready for dinner. Narcosse's was on the agenda. We loved it the last time we went there.

 

[acrab3t]

Narcosse's was one of our favorite meals when we dined here in 2001. We arrived on time for our 5:30 reservation. We still had to wait to be seated. Once seated it took a while for our server to greet us. The host had given us menus with Happy Anniversay printed on them. This was a very nice touch. We already knew what we wanted so we ordered. Liam enjoyed the calamari last time so he decided to have it again. It is a huge amount of food for a starter. It is enought to share. Sorry the photo is so blurry.

I had the cheese plate. So Good! Another blurry photo, sorry!

Jack had the crabcakes.

Our appetizers had been devoured and now we waited for the entree's. We watched everyone around us who were seated after us get their entree's. And we waited and waited. Jack was getting annoyed because he was past hungry. After what seemed like forever we finally got our main course.
Liam had the Ahi Tuna. I told him it would be served rare and he said he knew and that is what he wanted. Of course he did not eat the whole thing. He said it was too salty. I think it was more because it is raw. Jack helped him finish it.

Jack had the lobster. He loved it. I am not a seafood fan so I did not try to steal any.

I went vegetarian this evening. I love butternut squash and the butternut squash ravioli was on the menu. It was tasty. Very rich butter cream sauce. It had fresh figs on top which I am not a fan of. They taste earthy. I still managed to clean my plate besides the figs.

Our plates were cleaned and we waited some more. Folks that had been seated after us were now leaving having already had thier desserts. We waited some more. Uggh. Jack commented on how our server seemed more interested in socializing with the guests than serving. I thought he was nice but the service was very slow. I was not in a hurry so it didn't bother me too much. Jack prefers to have quicker service and less chit chat. Here is my dessert. Chocolate goodness with a bourbon sauce.

Jack had the cheese cake. I love the presentation. Too pretty to eat.

Liam had a vanilla smoothie instead of dessert. He also had one with his dinner. He said he was too full for a whole dessert. After a long dinner, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to try our luck with Thunder Mountain. We still hadn't made it on yet so we thought we would try our luck. Since we had already seen the ELP and Wishes, we planned on just riding the rides.

 

[acrab3t]

After dinner we took the boat back to MK. As we entered the park it was around 8pm. We wanted to avoid the ELP since we had already seen it. There was a second parade at 9pm. We were right by the theater where you can get either a shot with Mickey or the princesses. Liam chose Mickey of course. The line was very short, around 10 minutes. On our last trip we had Mickey and Minnie. This time it was only Mickey. I guess since Minnie is now at Pete's Silly Sideshow she is no longer on Main street. It was still fun meeting Mickey.

After our photo session we made our way to Frontier Land and grabbed a fast pass for Thunder Mountain because the line was too long. We wanted to avoid ELP. Wishes was starting and the crowds were crazy. Trying to get through to hub at this time is almost impossible. Most people ignore the pathways the CM's try to keep clear. They just stand there in a daze until a CM moves them along. I would hate to manuver this with a stroller. We decided the Haunted Mansion would be fun at night. This was a walk on. Next we hit Mickey's Philharmagic. This is Jack's favorite at MK. I love the Be Our Guest Scene with the Apple Pie. Love the scent. I wanted to try Peter Pan but the line was too long. Still a favorite of mine. Maybe next time. Jack decided it would be funny to ride It's a Small World. The last time we rode this together I had promised him we never had to do it again. He wanted to do it so why not? The line was about 20 minutes, not too bad. We decided it isn't all that bad. True, the song will be stuck in your head all night but it is a classic. After we exited the ride it was time for our fast passes for Thunder Mountain. By this time ELP had started. Trying to make our way past it was impossible. We got stuck in Liberty Square. There is no way through near the river side. We ended up being realy naughty by climbing on a small brick wall. The wall get's higher on the end and I was starting to freak out a little. I don't do well in crowds (I am ony 5'1). I was screaming at my boys to stop and that I wanted to get off. Jack and Liam jumped off into the crowd and helped me down. Not my finest moment. We somehow got through the crowd and made it to Thunder Mountain only to find it broken down. Oh rats! This was our last night in MK and we hadn't ridden it yet. Oh well, maybe next time. At this point we are a little frustrated and very tired. Time to go back to Beach Club and go to bed. Slight problem, there is no way to get out because the road is blocked by the ELP and there is no way around it. Oh well, may as well watch it again. It was actually a longer version than the one we saw the other night. I think this was because of the rain. It was not raining tonight so I guess that makes a differece. When the paraed passed, we made our way out of the park, on the bus and to our Beach Club home.

Here are some night photos of MK. Here is Cinderella's Castle

A random photo of Jack being silly

Gaston's fountain.

 

[Bama14]

I'm 5 ft nothing and I'm with you about getting trapped in crowds! I get shoved and trampled and blocked. It can get scary sometimes. Love your trip report!

 

[acrab3t]

Day 5, 01/06/13 Chef Mickey's, Epcot and Yachtsman

After some much needed sleep, we got up and got ready to go. We hopped on the bus to MK and then took the monorail to the Contemporary. We had breakfast reservations at Chef Mickey's. We were excited because we had never had this character breakfast. It seems to be the most popular because the reservations seem to fill up fast. I also wanted to check out the hotel because I am interested in staying here in the future. When we arrived we were told to wait in line for a family photo. Since it was not with a character, we opted out. Once we were sat we checked out the buffet. The thing that struck me was the numerous dessert selections. Brownies, cookies, rice crispie treats, doughnuts. Wow! Way to get the kids going with an early sugar rush. There was a large selection of different breakfast items too so I chose some quiche, strawberries and a hash brown. I ordered coffee and noticed there was lipstick on my cup. Ewe! One of my pet peeves. I had not taken a sip yet so I knew it wasn't mine. The waitress quickly brought me another cup. The food here was not all that good. My hash brown was hard as a rock so I didn't eat it. Liam was being picky and barely touched his. This is annoying since we have to pay an adult price for his package. Overall, the food was not that great. We were not impressed by anything we ate. The service is good and the staff is friendly. Jack asked for a glass of water and almost choked because it was so bad tasting. He askedour waitress what kind of water, she joked with us and said it was Florida water.

Here are our character shots. Happy looking Liam with Donald

Goofy and Goofier

 

[acrab3t]

Day 5 continued....

Our waitress brought us an Anniversary cupcake. We didn't eat it but it was a nice touch. We explored the gift shops (best I have seen in any resort) and added some pressed pennies to our collection. We checked out the registration area too. This resort just dosen't have the same magic that the other resorts I have stayed at have. I don't know if it is because it is so dated but I am still undecided if I want to stay here. Since breakfast was not all that great I think I will pass. We hopped on the monorail and got off at MK and then got on the Epcot Monorail. I love the way it takes you through Epcot. It is like a preview of Future World. I made a beeline to Test Track, grabbed fast passes and came across the Jamminators. Jack and Liam were taking photos of Space Ship Earth. Here is one of Liam now

And here is one of Liam on his first visit, age 6. Look how sweet he was.

I texted the boys to come watch and they found me. I love these guys. After they finished the show they handed out stickers. I took one since Liam though he was too cool for one.

We had plenty of time for our Test Track passes so we came accross something I have never tried before.

Jack had been on it and thought I should try. It was a nice break from walking. 45 minutes of Ellen. I like Ellen so I found it amusing. After this ride we decided since we were on a roll of trying new things we would try Captain EO! Oh wow! Liam thought it was cheesey but I liked it. I thought it was neat how the floor shakes when the action gets heated. I am a MJ fan so I enjoyed it. Up next we needed some refreshment so Club Cool hit the spot. We also wanted our free character photo we get with our Disney card so we found the spot and waited in a very short line.

Now it was time to try out the new Test Track. We didn't get to build our own car since we had fast passes so I think we missed part of the experiance. Liam thought the ride was cooler now. To me it was the same only it has more neon. I do like the fact you don't have to watch a movie before. Makes the fast pass worth it.

By this time we were tired and decided to make a quick tour through World Showcase on our way out. I was on a mission to try out the Grand Marnier slushy in France. We ran into a CM near Canada who pulled us aside to tell us Snow White was making a surprise appearance and there was no wait to see her. Sweet!

I had fun calling Liam in one of the phone booths in England. I had programed the numbers in my phone. I passed the numbers on to another family who were amused by it. I was pretending to be Snow White but somehow Liam figured out it was me. We made it to France and I found my treat. Oh my! Where have you been all of my life? This was delicious. Here is me trying to look French.

Liam was jealous of my treat so he dragged us to Japan so he could get his Japanese snow cone.

We exited Epcot through the back entrance which takes us right to Beach Club. Still awesome. Jack and I needed to do laundry so we let Liam go to the pool. He was saying he just wanted to go back to the room and practice Japanese caligraphy. He quickly changed his mind when he realized it would be his last chance to play in Stormalong Bay.