"I need a vacation from my vacation!" Our 9night August Trip Report! **UPDATED 9/24**

[Blessedwithboys]

<3 the pictures of BBB are so adorable!! Maddie looks so sweet

 

[TeresaG]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom AGAIN!

This day started out very much like our first Magic Kingdom day. It was not early EMH though, so we were able to sleep in a little later. The alarm went off at 7am (a whole hour later! Yay!) and we got up and got ready. I set the kids up with breakfast in the room (fruit, granola bars and chocolate milk again) while I went to grab coffee.

The kids eating breakfast

"Look at mommy!"

We were out of our room and on our way by 8:15am. Bus was standing room only. Maddie had to stand in front of me (which made me really nervous) but she did great.

We got to the park and into the turnstiles JUST as the opening show was about to start. Whew! The show made me tear up AGAIN, even though we had just seen it the day before. Ah, Disney. LOL.

After we all herded into the park we walked straight to Tomorrowland. Todays agenda was to hit Tomorrowland first before making our way into Adventureland. But first, a photopass picture! Love how empty it looks..

"But mommy, we haven't even been on ONE ride yet!"

"Just look at the camera and smile."

OK, now we can go to Astro Orbiter... Oh wait! Another PP!

"Mo-om, come ON! Enough pictures"
"Shut up and smile" (I didn't really say that, but don't you wish you could sometimes? It took 3 seconds to take the picture. OK, maybe more like 30, but seriously, they acted like I was torturing them)

We went right to the Astro Orbiter, which I am almost ashamed to admit we had never rode before. And waiting in the line (we were the 3rd ride of the day) I could understand why. This wait does seem to take forever. Or maybe thats because it wasnt walk-on? Either way, it seemed to take a while. We all enjoyed our ride though. I had told the kids it was just like Dumbo just higher up because I honestly thought it was. And it was, up until the end! LOL! How come no one mentions they really zip you around at the end? We were sorta shocked after we got off, but it was fun!

From there we went to Buzz Lightyear. I enjoy Buzz, but once is enough for me. I do love the pic they take though, we always have a "what the heck...?" look on our faces. hahahaha

Then we were off to Tomorrowland Speedway to use our FP+. The kids love this ride, but Im strictly meh about it. It used to be a daddy and Alex ride when Maddie was too little, but now shes big enough to want to ride so Im stuck going on it.

See that yellow car way back there with no driver? That's me and the princess

Wait, that's a little better

Meanwhile, in Kenny's car with Alex..

It all starts innocently enough. "Hey daddy, I love being able to drive! I can't WAIT until I can drive a REAL car! Then I can turn the car THIS way..."

"...and THAT way"

"and this way AGAIN.."

{insert evil 7yr old laughter}

And yet, my husband puts up with it. Not only does he put up with it and ride with him, but he takes PICTURES during it. I tell you, I rode this ONCE with him and NEVER again. I do not enjoy whiplash.

Then we decided to go for a spin on one of our faves, the People Mover!

After the PM we went into New Fantasyland and rode JOTLM; we definitely loved this ride and insisted on riding it every day (and by 'we' I mean 'Maddie' lol) and then went on the Barnstormer and Dumbo again. We looped back around to Peter Pan and grabbed a FP to ride later. It was still early, probably around 11:30am, but the kids were hungry so we went to our favorite counter service in the MK, Columbia Harbour House. They give you so much food at this place! The kids each got mac and cheese, which they devoured, and then they each had some of my nuggets. We are always thoroughly full after eating here.

 

[TeresaG]

<3 the pictures of BBB are so adorable!! Maddie looks so sweet

Thank you!

 

[TeresaG]

After lunch we split up. I had an issue with PP+ pictures from Maddie’s BBB appointment not showing up in my account. I wanted to figure out what was going on (they were, of COURSE, the pics from her big reveal –the only part of the appointment I DIDN’T photograph myself), so it was a necessary trip for me. Kenny took the kids to POTC and we would meet by the Jungle Cruise for our FP+ time.

This is where I ran into problems. Not only was the line long, but when it was my turn we went through every pic from the BBB looking for my images. Which were not there. The CM just looked at me and said “Well, that stinks.” Here, call this number and maybe they can find it. Um, thanks? That’s it? I was a little angry because the most exciting part of BBB is the reveal! And I (stupidly) depended on the PP photographer to take those pics. And the worst part was I SAW her doing it. I KNEW she took the pics, so where were they? And the CM was so unhelpful and brushed me off to get to the next person in line. I went to City Hall to speak with someone there about finding my pictures. The CM I had was super nice and helped me track down them down through PhotoPass. It took a while, but I was patient waiting because those images were important to me. I guess the CM felt bad about the situation and all the waiting because she gave me 2 FP to use for my family –which was unnecessary but appreciated. Honestly I was just happy they were able to find my pictures. That was reward enough.

I met back up with Kenny and the kids right in front of Jungle Cruise and we got in line using FP+.

The 2 new FP’s were throwing a monkey wrench in our day (but in a good way! LOL) because we had already ridden most of the rides we had wanted. We thought, maybe we can change our FP+ for BTM that evening to a FP+ for the electrical parade, and then use the 2 FP’s we were given for BTM and another go on Splash. So while we were in line I was trying to move things around but it wouldn’t go through for some reason. Of course. We had ADR’s for Ohana so we figured we’d pop into the Town Hall area for MDE help before dinner.

After Jungle Cruise we went off for our BTM FP+

The face of a little girl very excited for BTM

But no matter how much she loves this ride, mommy had to hold her SUPER tight AND cover her ears in the caves. Go ahead, ask how much mommy enjoys this ride with her.

It's too bright to smile. lol

rl

We also used one of the bonus FP for Splash while we were right there. Maddie said she was going to hold her hands up on the drop. My husband wouldn't even put his hands up on the drop. LOL

This is what he saw at the top of the hill, so not to be outdone by a 4yr old, my husband put his hands up too.

After we rode BTM and Splash we walked to the help center for the magic bands. Stopping at every PP photog we saw. Naturally.

I was so happy to find someone doing magic shots!

I had to get in on this one. LOL. Alex chose not to so I jumped in

The CM’s were all just standing around waiting (I never saw them very busy the whole time we were there). I tried to use one of the computers in there, figuring they would be more stable than the wifi on my phone, but the EP wasn’t showing up! Bummer! A CM came over to ask if I needed any help and I told what we were trying to do. He said it was possible the Electrical Parade was full, but he was going to try to override it. I told him it wasn’t necessary, esp since we had one FP+ still to use as well as the gifted FP, but I got the feeling they were TRYING to learn how to do certain things, so we figured it was just more pixie dust. He moved our Splash FP+ to a different time to try and get the EP to show up, but it wasn’t working. I’m pretty sure we lost our FP+ for Splash as he tried to juggle things around. I wasn’t worried since we had the other FP, so when he apologized to me I told him it wasn’t a problem at all, and we just set us up for another JOTLM fp. It was a confusing and a little bizarre, but we were not really desperate for anything since we had that extra FP. So long as he didn’t touch my Wishes FP+ I was fine with letting them try to practice through scenarios.


After all this was settled I snapped one last pic before we left the park for our favorite dinner ever: Ohana!

We rode the monorail to the Poly, which we all loved.

Maddie being silly

We were a little early for our ADR so we ended up having to wait about 15mins for them to open. Sometimes those 15mins can seem like an eternity. I pulled out toys for the kids to keep them entertained and Kenny and I settled in for a dinner full of gluttony. And boy did we stuff ourselves silly. We were in some pain after this dinner. LOL.

We rolled ourselves out of O’hana and made our way back to the MK. We decided we would just walk everywhere we needed to go to help digest a little because we were REALLY full from our awesome dinner. We walked over to JOTLM for our new FP+ and then walked down to Frontier Land to ride Splash.

Alex and Daddy thought they'd have some fun this time around. LOL (I'm pretty sure this pose was Alex's idea)

After Splash we met up with a couple of Kenny’s friends and decided to watch the Electrical Parade together. Here’s where our day starts to go downill… Not the meeting his friends part. That was great. BUT, we had found a place to watch the parade in Frontier Land since it’s less crowded then the hub or main street. Seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a great spot with great viewing. I broke out all the glow sticks I brought for the kids and we made bracelets and necklaces. They even handed some out to the kids surrounding us, which was very sweet. The parade was great and we had great company. One of Kenny’s friends, who now works for Disney, told us about how they check all the lights on all the MSEP floats for dead bulbs every day and replace entire strands every time they find one. You think you have it tough at Christmas?!

As soon as the parade was over we realized we had to SOMEHOW fight this massive crowd and get over to the Rose Garden for our FP+ viewing of Wishes! DOH! We were barely moving. Ugh, it was just a mess. I didn’t plan that out very well, which still irks me because I planned SO much else out, but not this. When I say it was a mess I mean it. They had closed off the bridge from frontierland and we would have had to go all the way around to get to the hub. I told a CM we had FP+ for Wishes and asked for the best advice for how to get there. Thankfully they were kind enough to let us cross the bridge. Then I was asking every CM I saw (it was dark and I really wasn’t even sure I knew where the Rose Garden WAS (see, poor planning on my part), and one CM led us the right way, only for another to turn us around. Finally we found a CM who was surprised we were being let towards the tomorrowland terrace, turned us around, and walked us back the way we came. Thank goodness too, because the CM who had turned us away tried to turn us away AGAIN but the CM who was showing us the way put him in his place. I got the feeling not all CM’s were up to date with the FP+ stuff, but I also know I was to blame for not being more prepared. Either way, we got there with about a minute to spare (so just picture walking through the massive crowd waiting for Wishes in the dark. Ugh. It was a mess.)

As we were tapping our Magic Bands to get inside I realized Maddie had finally had it, and was knocked out cold in the stroller. I guess all the fast walking and the darkness just called to her. I couldn’t blame her. The CM saw her wrist band and when all of us turned green he told us to just leave her and go through. We found a nice open spot on the grass and sat down. I woke Maddie up (didn’t have much of a choice) and held her on my lap right as Wishes was starting up. The Rose Garden is a nice viewing location. It’s not center, but it’s also not much different than the dessert party viewing. I absolutely loved being able to sit down to enjoy the show rather than being packed with other people. It was very, very relaxing.

Our view from where we were sitting. This picture makes it look crowded, but it wasn't.

About halfway through the show we started feeling rain drops. First bad sign. We thought it was just a sprinkling, so aside from a quick “Ruh-roh” look we didn’t think much of it. I did put my camera away though, not wanting to risk it getting wet, so that's why we're lacking in pics for the rest of this day.

We spent some time chatting with a CM after Wishes talking about how relaxing it is to watch it from this location. He agreed saying he LOVED having this ‘gig’ as a CM. As we were chatting the rain started to pick up a little and we started seeing some more lightening in the sky. This was adding a small layer of worry on my plans of waiting about 30mins for the major exodus to leave the park and then to head out ourselves. I didn’t want to be stuck in the rain, but I knew most people would decide to leave now since they were probably thinking the same thing. Our decision was made for us when a HUGE bolt of lightening and clap of thunder sounded right over our heads –we were getting out of there. So we start trudging down Main Street with the rest of the crowd. Slowly. The rain is a steady drizzle but the thunder and lightening were starting to worry me. Another burst of lightening and thunder happened right over us and some kids in the crowd started crying because they were scared (didn’t blame them one bit! I was too a little!). We took a minute to put the rain guard over the stroller (see, we can be taught!) and I gave Alex the backpack with my camera in it in hopes of keeping it dry when the downpour came.

About 2mins later the heavens opened. Holy rain! We were fortunate to be right near the train overpass on the right side of the park entrance so we huddled there with a bunch of other people and hoped the rain would die down. The thunder and lightening were intense! I knew getting to the bus stop and getting back to Pop was going to be a mess so we were definitely not happy about this. Not to mention I had scheduled us for a super early breakfast at Akershus the next morning (sleep? There’s no sleeping at Disney).

We waited about 10mins hoping the rain would die down, but since it didn’t we figured we may as well just get soaked running to the bus stop and hopefully the line wouldn’t be TERRIBLE. I made sure the kids weren’t too scared about this idea and then we took off. I was super happy those ponchos I brought from home were staying nice and dry in the hotel room. Sigh.

The bus stop was a mad house (expected). But looking back, I guess it wasn’t THAT terrible. We waited about 3 buses before getting on one (which sucks, but if you had seen the lines for AoA or All Stars you would realize 3 buses was NOTHING).

Thankfully we snagged 2 seats so the kids and I were able to share. They were out cold about 2seconds after we sat down (as was just about every other kid on the bus lol). I wish I had a picture of how we looked; Me looking like a drowned rat with two kids hanging off her snoring peacefully while I tried to hold their heads up and keep them from falling or hurting themselves during the drive. We got back to the room around midnight, changed into pj’s and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your report so far, your DD looked so cute after BBB and wow what a downpour!!!!

 

[TeresaG]

Day 4: EPCOT

This was the morning we were starting to feel that we were going too hard. LOL. We had just gone to bed and the alarm went off telling us it was time to get up. What was I thinking making an 8:35am ADR at Akershus?!? Where’s the smart planning there? We were definitely dragging. I woke the kids at the last possible minute since all they had to do was get dressed (no room breakfast this morning!) and they were a little tough to get out of bed. Finally we were all up and ready to go. I skipped the coffee run this morning since sleeping was more important and we would be getting coffee at breakfast. It made sense at the time, but boy was I hating life. LOL.

Bus trip there was uneventful; there was no one waiting at this ungodly hour for Epcot (ungodly because I only got 5hrs of sleep and had no coffee in my system). There were not many people at Epcot when we arrived. I know park opening was at 9am, but I guess there is no need to arrive for rope drop or anything? It was a ghost town. We went over to the early breakfast reservation area to get checked off, but then had to be walked back over to a turnstile for our magic bands because they didn’t have any on the reservation side. When we got to the turnstile they had a small problem getting them ready because they were apparently not activated so we had to wait for all that. I offered to just use our KTTW cards, but because we had the bands on they were insistent on figuring out the problem. I understood; that was the purpose of us wearing the bands after all right?

Finally they got it all figured out and we started our journey to Norway. We have never eaten at Akershus so we didn’t really know where we were going, but we followed all the other people who were walking the same way. We are not a big Epcot family unfortunately. The kids are not big fans of Epcot so we never have time to explore and enjoy. We do the major rides for them but nothing much else. I didn’t think this day was going to be much different.

We made it to Akershus EARLY (10mins! We could have slept an extra 10mins!) and waited to be called. We explored Norway while we waited. The kids were too tired to care much about ‘exploring’ but they were in good spirits.

We were called in after about 5mins and went to get our picture with Belle.

Her interaction with the kids was very nice. Maddie loves Belle and was pretty much star struck and mute. Which, as I've mentioned, happens to her when she gets super excited; instead of talking a mile a minute like you’d think she would given her personality, she clams up. LOL. But it was still cute. After our picture she whispered to me “I met Belle!” which was adorable.

We were brought to a table way in the back against the wall. Far from the food and pretty squished in. I knew taking pictures would be tough. Our waiter came right over to introduce himself and I croaked, “Coffee. “ He must have known my dire need because he reappeared minutes later with a carafe.

After I had a sip of liquid life I got up to quickly go grab the kids some food to nibble. We knew the princesses would be around ASAP, so there was that definite rushed feeling so common with character breakfasts. As soon as I came back and put their food down Cinderella showed up.

Maddie was in heaven. She was chatting and smiling and just loving life. By this time Alex was a princess pro and was flirting and hand holding right along with Maddie. Cinderella spent a nice amount of time with us and then posed for pictures.

After Cinderella everything is a haze. We rushed to try to grab our own food in between character meets. The family style breakfast was brought out but it was a lot smaller than I was expecting.

The favorite princesses were Cinderella (who could do no wrong anyway) and Ariel. Aurora was fantastic as well, but Snow White left a lot to be desired. She barely stopped to take pics before walking away. Oh well, she’s not a favorite right now anyway, but if that had been Cindy or Ariel Maddie would have been heartbroken.

The kids each got cupcakes and a card from all the princesses

Akershus was nice, especially for the princess meets, but the food was minimal and it was very RUSHED! I definitely felt like they were trying to move us along, which is odd since by the time we were finished the restaurant was pretty dead (and it was only 9:30am!). We would probably go back here, but only for the princesses. I did enough research to know breakfast was probably the only meal the kids would eat here, so I did know what we were getting into before going. For the most part the food was good. I just hate when you have to ask for more food and wait 10mins for it to show up.

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow you are having lots of early mornings, it looked like you had a great breakfast though especially once you'd had some coffee

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Love Alex in the Belle picture! What a little dude!

We missed Snow White in March and Emma talks about the disappointment every few days...still, lol.

Sorry about the heat and the rain.

 

[TeresaG]

After we finished we were ready to hit the park! It was around 9:30am and all our FP+ were for late morning so we thought we’d walk over to Soarin and see if we could pull some fp- for later. This was the first year Maddie was tall enough to ride and I was very excited for her because I knew she would love it.

As we walked we stopped at every Photopass photog we saw. At first the family was all {sigh} “again?” but they quickly learned I was not joking around about being in some pictures.

We pulled FP for Soarin and then went over to Nemo. This is THE reason we come to Epcot in my kids’ minds. We snapped some pics in the front, giggled while watching the “Mine! Mine!” seagulls, and walked the immensely long queue to enjoy our first ride on Nemo.

Clearly the fish face does not come easily to my family. LOL

After our ride we went directly into Turtle Time with Crush. Man, I love this!! My husband and I were laughing so hard the whole time. Crush is pretty much right in line with our sense of humor. We loved it and had a great show.

After spending lots of time in the Nemo area exploring, we headed over to Soarin again to wait for our first FP window. Our FP+ times were first so the first time through we tapped our bands. The kids absolutely loved tapping their bands –they found it to be lots of fun. We waited about 10-15mins for our first ride and Maddie kept asking me questions about what to expect. When we got in and sat down she was looking around very confused…this didn’t LOOK like a normal ride, so what is it? I buckled her in and she immediately brought her legs up and crossed them. I told her it’s more fun to let them dangle, but she was having none of that. Both kids were a little concerned about having to take their shoes off. They really thought someone was going to come steal them. I promised them their flip-flops would be in the EXACT same spot when we were done –they both gave me a “Sure mom” look. We’ll see kidlets.

So when the ride started Maddie was a little worried because it was dark and we were moving up, but as soon as the projector turned on she was staring wide eyed. She really enjoyed her ride. She kept telling me to pull my feet up before the hit the trees/water/etc, but she was just mesmerized. It was very sweet. Alex has been on Soarin a bunch of times but he still loves it. I enjoy it, but to me once is enough really. BUT, since I knew how much Alex loved it and I assumed Maddie was going to love it, I was happy to ride it again when it was time for the next FP.

Since we had just finished the first ride we went over to Sunshine Seasons for some ice water. It was SO hot at Epcot this day so keeping the kids (and ourselves) hydrated was super important.

After we had some water we went on Living with the Lands. The kids always enjoy this ride, and it’s almost always a walk-on, so no complaints from us. After Living with the Lands we went over to Soarin for our second flight.
After our second flight on soarin we headed over to Test Track. This was our first time riding since the new refurb, and it was also Maddie’s first time being able to ride at all. After they measured her (girl because a pro at being measured as the trip went on lol), we went in to design our car. Kenny and Alex designed one and Maddie and I designed out own. Basically Maddie designed a hot pink Barbie car on steroids. It was awesomely horrid. She was in love. Kenny glanced over, did a double take, and then burst out laughing. It was very obvious who designed the car. But she enjoyed it so who cared. I think our car came in second. Not that it mattered.

I kinda think the camera should be in a better spot no? Unless everyone enjoys the "Too bright! Too bight! I'm blind!" look.

 

[TeresaG]

Great pics!

Thank you!!

Wow you are having lots of early mornings, it looked like you had a great breakfast though especially once you'd had some coffee

Yea, I guess I really wasn't considering exactly how exhausted we would all be while I was brilliantly planning all these early mornings. LOL. But it was still worth it. I guess..

Love Alex in the Belle picture! What a little dude!

We missed Snow White in March and Emma talks about the disappointment every few days...still, lol.

Sorry about the heat and the rain.

Aww. Emma and Maddie would get along so well. We weren't too upset about Snow White, since that's the princess she knows the least about right now, but she seriously stayed at our table long enough to sign their books and let me take 2 pics. That was it. No talking or anything. Whatever Snow. I see how it is.

And let's not talk about the heat. I enjoy heat. I much prefer to be hot over freezing, but I'm pretty sure I compared out day at DHS as beyond just hot...I'm pretty sure it was surface-of-the-sun...

 

[TeresaG]

After Test Track we let the kids play with those simulation things as we decided the next plan of attack. Kenny wanted to ride Mission: Space but no one was going to ride with him. He had pulled a FP for it with hopes of being able to ride, so we decided to split up. I would take the kids to the Character Spot for our FP+ and he could go on Mission Space. Then we would meet back up and head into the worlds to make our way towards lunch at Via Napoli. To say we were all exhausted is an understatement. We were dragging. At least, Kenny and I were. We figured we’d cut our Epcot day short (as in, not stay for Illuminations) and go back to our room for a semi early bedtime (again, we had an 8:40 ADR at Tusker House the next morning… WHAT was WRONG with me?!? Ugh).

So we split up. We had FP+ for the character spot and barely waited in line at all. We met Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. I very clearly remember doing this once before and having ALL the characters there… so they must have changed it? It didn’t matter really, I was just surprised.

They always missed Maddie hugging the characters

I love how Pluto signs...

This was me telling Maddie to put her other hand down. Poor Minnie was looking a little pregnant because of the way Maddie was holding her. LOL

The beauty of having PhotoPass+ was not having to worry about taking any pictures. I just let the photogs do it while I stood back and enjoyed the interactions. I even got in on the pictures. The photogs took a decent amount of pictures too, which was very nice.

After the character meet we had time to kill before Kenny got done with his ride. I wasn’t sure what to do with the kids and I wasn’t going to wander around outside in the sweltering heat, so I needed to come up with something. I decided to go into Club Cool. We had never been in there, so it was something new. Off we went. This was my first time in there and I was excited to try all the sodas I’ve heard so much about. I tried all of them (except the Beverly, I felt no need LOL) and enjoyed them all. I gave a couple to the kids, but my kids hate soda so even though they THOUGHT they wanted to try some of what I had, they ended up not drinking it anyway (so here’s where we all say “I told you sooooo” –sigh). They did thoroughly enjoy the non-carbonated drinks however, which I believe were from China and Japan. I could be wrong though.

"Don't tell daddy we had soda mommy!" LOL

After sipping and trying drinks Kenny texted that he was done so we met back up and began our walk into the worlds. We had a 3:45 ADR in Italy to get to.

More Photopass along the way!

Then we turned around and had the PP take pics facing the other way. His suggestion -lol

It was REALLY hot this day (I believe I mentioned that already) and we were passing a friendship boat dock just as one was pulling in. We thought, eh, why not? We were already tired and we had made an agreement to do things we had never done before on this trip, so a Friendship Boat met that criteria.

As soon as I snapped the above picture Maddie decided she needed to sit by me.

Enjoying the view

We were about 30mins early for our ADR at Via Napoli but figured we’d check in anyway. We were hot and hungry. Took about 5mins to be called back and before we knew it we were seated. We go to Via Napoli every trip –it’s one of our favorite restaurants. I am 100% Italian and most of my family is still in Italy, so Kenny has come with me to Italy to see my family multiple time (usually for 3-4wks) and the pizza here is super traditional and similar to the pizza we get in Italy. We always look forward to eating here. The waiters can usually tell I’m Italian so we usually chat about where we’re from etc. I always just get a homey vibe here, which is funny since we’re at Disney. LOL.

Our meal here was nice and relaxed because I had packed little toys for the kids to keep them busy. Alex had started collecting the mini Star Wars figurines he found at DTD so I packed them, and for Maddie I gave her Little Mermaid Squinkies (Target clearance $3 –score!). Our children entertained themselves and we were able to enjoy a nice meal with no fighting, whining, etc. We basically stuffed ourselves to the brim. Mmm Via Napoli…

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm loving all your photos and how fantastic you had a wonderful meal. Via Napoli is on our list for next time along with many others, I may need to start editing the list

 

[TeresaG]

When we rolled ourselves out of Italy we went to sign Alex up for the Agent Perry missions. Alex LOVED this. It was probably the highlight of his day at Epcot. We chose Germany for the mission (we were planning on leaving the park soon and Germany was right there…) and we were off for this mission. I think what he loved best was the fact that he could do it 100% by himself. And we let him. He led and we followed. He got a kick out of making things happen. Very fun.

As he did his mission Kenny got himself a beer

And I ran in to the caramel shop to get 2 salted chocolate caramels. I may have been full, but nothing would stop me from eating my caramel.

After Alex’s mission he begged us to do another but the clouds were rolling in and we were just done. We knew we had another early day ahead of us and were not excited about possibly getting stuck in another Disney downpour. I told him it was getting late and we had another early day ahead of us. I promised him we would go back to the room and swim before showers and bed tonight, so that made him happy. We began the long trek out of the park. Is it me or does Epcot seem enormous when you’re hot and tired? I kept looking up at the clouds hoping any huge downpour waited long enough for us to get on the bus. Of course on our way out we stopped for pictures.

I kinda love this one...

It started raining when we were on the bus back to Pop. Take THAT Mother Nature.

We finally made it back to Pop around 7:30pm. We went back to the room, changed the kids into their bathing suits and went to the pool. The kids jumped right in and Kenny and I wiped off a couple lounge chairs to sit in and watch them. This was the moment I had the bright idea to send Kenny to get us some sundaes as snack credits. Off he went while I sat and watched the kids.

Then it did something REALLY annoying. It started raining. And not full-on raining –no, no, no- just huge cold raindrops plopping down slowly. The kids didn’t notice because they were in the pool, but sitting there watching them all I could focus on was the plop of these raindrops. It was driving me insane. Finally I covered myself with the towel, even though it was still REALLY warm out, just to avoid feeling them fall on me.

Through all this, Kenny STILL wasn’t back with our ice cream. I think I texted him “Are they churning the milk?” because it was taking so long. In fact, by the time he got back to me I wasn’t even in the mood for ice cream any more! He said there were so many people in front of him it just took forever. Ugh. I ate what I could and then called the kids out of the pool to dry off and help me finish my sundae.

We went back to the room, showered and were in bed by 10pm late, but not terrible. I figured we’d be in good shape for Animal Kingdom the next day.

 

[Blessedwithboys]

Love the updates!! The photos of your kids at Epcot are priceless Maybe one day I will cave an PP+ just so I can relax during the character interactions! I hear you on feeling the effects of going to hard, we felt the same on our trip. Can't wait to see how your Animal Kingdom day goes!

 

[geckodani]

Enjoying your TR! I love the face Maddie makes when she gets overwhelmed - so sweet! The bun + tiara combo is genius too. Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[MataHari22]

This was the morning we were starting to feel that we were going too hard. LOL. We had just gone to bed and the alarm went off telling us it was time to get up. What was I thinking making an 8:35am ADR at Akershus?!? Where’s the smart planning there? We were definitely dragging. I woke the kids at the last possible minute since all they had to do was get dressed (no room breakfast this morning!) and they were a little tough to get out of bed. Finally we were all up and ready to go. I skipped the coffee run this morning since sleeping was more important and we would be getting coffee at breakfast. It made sense at the time, but boy was I hating life. LOL.

Bus trip there was uneventful; there was no one waiting at this ungodly hour for Epcot (ungodly because I only got 5hrs of sleep and had no coffee in my system). There were not many people at Epcot when we arrived. I know park opening was at 9am, but I guess there is no need to arrive for rope drop or anything? It was a ghost town. We went over to the early breakfast reservation area to get checked off, but then had to be walked back over to a turnstile for our magic bands because they didn’t have any on the reservation side. When we got to the turnstile they had a small problem getting them ready because they were apparently not activated so we had to wait for all that. I offered to just use our KTTW cards, but because we had the bands on they were insistent on figuring out the problem. I understood; that was the purpose of us wearing the bands after all right?

Finally they got it all figured out and we started our journey to Norway. We have never eaten at Akershus so we didn’t really know where we were going, but we followed all the other people who were walking the same way. We are not a big Epcot family unfortunately. The kids are not big fans of Epcot so we never have time to explore and enjoy. We do the major rides for them but nothing much else. I didn’t think this day was going to be much different.

We made it to Akershus EARLY (10mins! We could have slept an extra 10mins!) and waited to be called. We explored Norway while we waited. The kids were too tired to care much about ‘exploring’ but they were in good spirits.

I had to laugh, I am not a morning person at all and I want to be at rope drops 4 out of the 6 days I'm there. This is going to kill me. hopefully I
will make it the week, and I can come home and be comatose for a week. Great pix. Enjoying your report.