I am tired. I am exhausted. And I didn't get to a Disney anything today. There goes my streak.
I spent 6 very good, very long, very tiring days with my family. I yelled at my housemate on behalf of another housemate. I cried just from the sheer exhaustion. I miss home. So I stayed in bed, literally all day. I've gotten up for the bathroom and for poptarts and for gatorade. I spent all day watching Doctor Who, playing Minecraft, talking to Tanya, listening to thunder, watching silly YouTube videos, and waiting for the "we're home safe" text from my Dad.
And I'm still tired. Mom would say that's because I didn't do anything all day, and Mom? You're definitely right. But over the last two days my mental awareness and awake-ness and interest and etc and etc have just plummeted. Maybe that's because my family left. Maybe that's because I'm tired.
Or maybe, that's because I'm tired of being here. I'm tired of being cast-member-friendly. I'm tired of Disney-hopping. I miss spending all day not talking to a single person and not having any human contact at all. I miss it a lot.
And that probably sounds insane to every single person who read this (yes, Dad, even you. I know you miss Mom when she's not there). But I've had four years where I didn't have to interact with any other living soul if I didn't want to. And four years where most weeks I had at least one day that I didn't leave the house at all. And I value my alone time.
Don't get me wrong, I love Emily to pieces. But we share a room. And it's her room too. And I can't tell her to stay away.
Eight weeks of making sure you get out of the house to be social every day is very hard for the extremely introverted. I wanted to make it ten, and today I failed. I was going to go to fireworks at MK tonight, but the rain made it even less appealing than getting out of bed already was.
I am dreading work tomorrow. But you know? It's almost done. And I know I'll cry when I have to go home because I won't want to go back to an anti-social life. I like having the option of doing something every single night with different people. I like being with people who want to do things and I like being okay with going with large groups or small groups or by myself. And dammit, I'm proud of myself! I've come so far in eight short weeks. So, so far.
This is confusing. Do I want to park hop with fellow Disney-crazies, or stay in my room all day? Do I want to go out to eat with Canadian friends, or not talk to anyone for 18 hours? Do I want to come home, or stay here? Do I miss being antisocial? Or will I miss the social when it's gone?
I don't know. What I do know, is that an all day Doctor Who marathon has left me internally narrating in a British accent and saying "What? What?! WOT?!" in a voice like David Tennant to everything even remotely exciting or astonishing.
And I think it's time for bed. And maybe another DW episode.
July 15, 2013
July 14, 2013
Family's Last Day
Let me tell you - 6 days FLIES by when your family is visiting you in Disney World. That's how the saying goes, right?
Today we were up early again - this time off to Animal Kingdom for their opening. We got in and to the rope with minimal waiting, and as the rope went down we followed the Kilimanjaro Safari guide as he walked us to the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. We were ahead of the pack and were able to essentially able to walk onto one of the trucks without much of a wait at all. Highlights included the giraffes walking right next to the truck, the huge elephant, and a baby rhino chasing some zebras until its momma came after it. Too cool!
After the safari we got some fast passes for Kali River Rapids and then headed to Expedition Everest to hop in the single rider line. When we got there however, the stand-by line was only 15 minutes, and Becca had never been on it before. So, as a family we hopped into the stand-by line and rode the coaster! Becca did not enjoy it at all, but Dad and Dano and I jumped in the single rider line to ride it a second time :)
When we finished, Mom and Dano rode a second time and by the time they were finished, we were ready to head to Kali River Rapids! Our fast passes were good, but we instead waited in the 20 minute stand-by line so that we'd be able to go twice. It was a good thing we chose standby first because the line became an hour's wait when we were finished. We got soaked on the big hill, Dad and I managed to get hit twice. But that's why we brought a change of clothes with us!
We got changed and then walked the two forest trails that DAK has - Asia and Africa. The tigers were snoozing, but the hippo was swimming around a bit again so that was cool :) We didn't spend long because the day was hot and all the vegetation makes it very muggy.
We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe, a jungle-themed restaurant on Animal Kingdom property. The food was good, although has seemed to disagree with Becca's and Mom's bellies a bit so we are not doing a fireworks park this evening. It's okay though, because I think it's going to start to rain anyway, and it's been a long few days for all of us.
Dad and I took a quick trip to the grocery store and to drop off most of my stuff back at the apartment. I asked him before we left if he had his driver's license with him to be able to be signed in to my apartment complex and he said yes, but he'd left in in the safe at the hotel (oops). A very very very nice security guard let him through the gate anyway when I told him we were just dropping off groceries and that it was my dad. When we pulled up to my building though, I realized I'd also forgotten something... my key, sitting right next to Dad's license in the safe (double oops). Luckily, one of my roommates was home and, after lots of knocking, she let us in.
I gathered up some things for Mom to take home (an extra sweater, my jeans, a pair of shoes) so that it's less for me to take in just two and a half short weeks. And for the rest of the evening I think we're just sitting and relaxing in the hotel :)
Some interesting Disney facts and some snuggling later, and I'm on my way home :( I miss you guys already! Drive/fly safe, and I'll talk to you tomorrow night!!
Today we were up early again - this time off to Animal Kingdom for their opening. We got in and to the rope with minimal waiting, and as the rope went down we followed the Kilimanjaro Safari guide as he walked us to the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. We were ahead of the pack and were able to essentially able to walk onto one of the trucks without much of a wait at all. Highlights included the giraffes walking right next to the truck, the huge elephant, and a baby rhino chasing some zebras until its momma came after it. Too cool!
After the safari we got some fast passes for Kali River Rapids and then headed to Expedition Everest to hop in the single rider line. When we got there however, the stand-by line was only 15 minutes, and Becca had never been on it before. So, as a family we hopped into the stand-by line and rode the coaster! Becca did not enjoy it at all, but Dad and Dano and I jumped in the single rider line to ride it a second time :)
When we finished, Mom and Dano rode a second time and by the time they were finished, we were ready to head to Kali River Rapids! Our fast passes were good, but we instead waited in the 20 minute stand-by line so that we'd be able to go twice. It was a good thing we chose standby first because the line became an hour's wait when we were finished. We got soaked on the big hill, Dad and I managed to get hit twice. But that's why we brought a change of clothes with us!
We got changed and then walked the two forest trails that DAK has - Asia and Africa. The tigers were snoozing, but the hippo was swimming around a bit again so that was cool :) We didn't spend long because the day was hot and all the vegetation makes it very muggy.
We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe, a jungle-themed restaurant on Animal Kingdom property. The food was good, although has seemed to disagree with Becca's and Mom's bellies a bit so we are not doing a fireworks park this evening. It's okay though, because I think it's going to start to rain anyway, and it's been a long few days for all of us.
Dad and I took a quick trip to the grocery store and to drop off most of my stuff back at the apartment. I asked him before we left if he had his driver's license with him to be able to be signed in to my apartment complex and he said yes, but he'd left in in the safe at the hotel (oops). A very very very nice security guard let him through the gate anyway when I told him we were just dropping off groceries and that it was my dad. When we pulled up to my building though, I realized I'd also forgotten something... my key, sitting right next to Dad's license in the safe (double oops). Luckily, one of my roommates was home and, after lots of knocking, she let us in.
I gathered up some things for Mom to take home (an extra sweater, my jeans, a pair of shoes) so that it's less for me to take in just two and a half short weeks. And for the rest of the evening I think we're just sitting and relaxing in the hotel :)
Some interesting Disney facts and some snuggling later, and I'm on my way home :( I miss you guys already! Drive/fly safe, and I'll talk to you tomorrow night!!
July 13, 2013
fammmmjammmmm.
Today did not start off early. :)
We slept in this morning! Yay! At 10am we headed out for a buffet breakfast at the Wood Grill Buffet; it was delicious!! I had oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon apples, and vanilla yogurt with granola and chocolate chips, and scrambled eggs and sausage with maple syrup, and tater tots, and ice cream, and some of Daniel's gummy bears. A perfect breakfast, if you ask me ;)
After breakfast we headed for Cast Connection to pick up some more pins for pin trading ... because the 100 Dad brought aren't enough. Yeah, you read that right. There's so many cool pins here! And I'm trying to collect an alphabet set! Unfortunately, when we got there there weren't the inexpensive pins I'd seen last time. So we left without them, we'll just have to pick and choose which pins we like instead!
We headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom after that - the only park we'd yet to visit. It was afternoon and so our VIP parking lot was all filled up... but the parking tram basically felt like the first ride of the day! If it hadn't have been so hot, it would have been downright enjoyable! :)
We wandered up through the shops on Discovery Island waiting for the next showing of the Festival of the Lion King. Pin trading our way through air conditioned spaces is a good way to keep busy :) We made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the show - none of my family have ever seen it, and it is quite excellent! Lots of acrobatics, music and general Disney fabulousness.
After that, we actually went home. Because of the way DAK is organized, Camp MM is wayyyy out of the way from everything else. So why not do only Camp MM on one day, and do everything else you want to do the next? So that's what we're doing. The rest of DAK comes tomorrow :) While everyone else relaxed, I blogged last night's post. It took me all afternoon to remember everything we did and write it down (and get the internet working!!) When that was done and everyone was feeling refreshed from the cool air and comfy beds we headed out again, this time to a family favorite - the Golden Corral. It's a buffet restaurant that's only in the US, and we love it! For supper I had steak and potatoes and fries and corn on the cob and chocolate-dipped strawberries and brownies and rice krispie squares. There was even cotton candy!
When we were stuffed to the brim, we headed for Epcot. We didn't really get to sit and watch Illuminations on Thursday night, so we planned to get a really good spot tonight and watch the whole thing. We entered the park and Mom and Becca wanted to see France and Morocco - the two pavilions we didn't really get to on Thursday. Dad, Dano and I pin traded our way up to our meeting place at prom; we hit Mousegear and the Traders and all the shops and stands in between. I found one more letter and a couple of nice ones, even venturing up through Canada to see what they had. We then found the best spot along the lagoon (right in front of Prom) and claimed our spot. Mom and Becca showed up shortly thereafter and we all sat at the fence. We waited for an hour to make sure we had this good spot, and by 8:50 other people started crowding in to try and see.
We met a lovely British family of three who were there for two weeks. They left their two oldest at home!! I told Mom that if she ever did that to me I would be very unhappy with her!! We chatted some more and I'll likely see them again as I work and they visit Epcot :)
At 9pm, the fireworks began. I've never seen them from right along the fence - nothing and no one was blocking our view and I had my favorite people around me. It was wonderful! The show was beautiful and I'm so glad we staked out an early spot for perfect viewing :)
We made it home in record time (again) and I'm so impressed with my family (again) for booking it to the car and getting out of the parking lot asap. It's so nice to be home and relaxing by 20 minutes after the show ends. Yeah. Like I said, record time.
Tomorrow is another (but the last) early day! This week has flown by!
We slept in this morning! Yay! At 10am we headed out for a buffet breakfast at the Wood Grill Buffet; it was delicious!! I had oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon apples, and vanilla yogurt with granola and chocolate chips, and scrambled eggs and sausage with maple syrup, and tater tots, and ice cream, and some of Daniel's gummy bears. A perfect breakfast, if you ask me ;)
After breakfast we headed for Cast Connection to pick up some more pins for pin trading ... because the 100 Dad brought aren't enough. Yeah, you read that right. There's so many cool pins here! And I'm trying to collect an alphabet set! Unfortunately, when we got there there weren't the inexpensive pins I'd seen last time. So we left without them, we'll just have to pick and choose which pins we like instead!
We headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom after that - the only park we'd yet to visit. It was afternoon and so our VIP parking lot was all filled up... but the parking tram basically felt like the first ride of the day! If it hadn't have been so hot, it would have been downright enjoyable! :)
We wandered up through the shops on Discovery Island waiting for the next showing of the Festival of the Lion King. Pin trading our way through air conditioned spaces is a good way to keep busy :) We made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the show - none of my family have ever seen it, and it is quite excellent! Lots of acrobatics, music and general Disney fabulousness.
After that, we actually went home. Because of the way DAK is organized, Camp MM is wayyyy out of the way from everything else. So why not do only Camp MM on one day, and do everything else you want to do the next? So that's what we're doing. The rest of DAK comes tomorrow :) While everyone else relaxed, I blogged last night's post. It took me all afternoon to remember everything we did and write it down (and get the internet working!!) When that was done and everyone was feeling refreshed from the cool air and comfy beds we headed out again, this time to a family favorite - the Golden Corral. It's a buffet restaurant that's only in the US, and we love it! For supper I had steak and potatoes and fries and corn on the cob and chocolate-dipped strawberries and brownies and rice krispie squares. There was even cotton candy!
When we were stuffed to the brim, we headed for Epcot. We didn't really get to sit and watch Illuminations on Thursday night, so we planned to get a really good spot tonight and watch the whole thing. We entered the park and Mom and Becca wanted to see France and Morocco - the two pavilions we didn't really get to on Thursday. Dad, Dano and I pin traded our way up to our meeting place at prom; we hit Mousegear and the Traders and all the shops and stands in between. I found one more letter and a couple of nice ones, even venturing up through Canada to see what they had. We then found the best spot along the lagoon (right in front of Prom) and claimed our spot. Mom and Becca showed up shortly thereafter and we all sat at the fence. We waited for an hour to make sure we had this good spot, and by 8:50 other people started crowding in to try and see.
We met a lovely British family of three who were there for two weeks. They left their two oldest at home!! I told Mom that if she ever did that to me I would be very unhappy with her!! We chatted some more and I'll likely see them again as I work and they visit Epcot :)
At 9pm, the fireworks began. I've never seen them from right along the fence - nothing and no one was blocking our view and I had my favorite people around me. It was wonderful! The show was beautiful and I'm so glad we staked out an early spot for perfect viewing :)
We made it home in record time (again) and I'm so impressed with my family (again) for booking it to the car and getting out of the parking lot asap. It's so nice to be home and relaxing by 20 minutes after the show ends. Yeah. Like I said, record time.
Tomorrow is another (but the last) early day! This week has flown by!
July 12, 2013
Magic Kingdom!
(Internet issues and late nights prevented me from posting last night. But again, for consistency, I will change the timestamp to yesterday!)
Magic Kingdom with my family day! I’ve been looking forward
to this day since I got here!
We were up mighty early and leaving the house by 7:55am. Because we planned to stay at MK all day, and because I know from experience just how long waits can be to get out of the park at the end of the night, I came up with a plan. Every night when I leave MK after Wishes, I witness the hordes of people clamoring for a spot in line for the boat, monorail, and buses to try and get to their resort or car. And every night, I walk right by them on the nearly empty pathway to the Contemporary. To sit at the nearly empty bus stop and wait for my nearly empty bus. Now, of course, we couldn't take the cast bus I normally get on. And there is no Disney bus that goes to our hotel. However, I see buses headed from the Contemporary to Downtown Disney every night. So, we planned to park at DTD and get a taxi to the Contemporary and walk to MK from there.
It worked perfectly! Just as we got out of our car a cab was pulling up. The cab driver even let us fit all five of us into his car so we wouldn't have to wait for a van. It was a little squished in the back seat, but manageable, and 20 minutes later we were walking towards MK! We got there around 8:30, just as we planned and waited for the opening show. It was brilliant - and really the first time I've seen it this trip. I spent most of my opening day at MK up against the rope to be the first into the park instead of back a ways to see the characters. But today, Mom and Becca and I watched it wide-eyed! :)
As soon as we were through the entrance, we split up. Mom headed to get FPs for Peter Pan's Flight while the other three and I went straight to Tomorrowland to get on Space Mountain (Mom didn't want to ride it!). Looking at the crowds of people ahead of us though, we decided instead to sit and wait for Mom... but we realized she'd take her time, thinking we were on Space. So, we hopped in line for Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin while we waited. Becca managed to get the maximum number of points; 999,999 makes you a Galactic Hero for saving the world from Emperor Zurg ;) We all teased her that it was clearly a glitch or a fluke... Becca nearly always gets the lowest points in this family in shooting games!
When we got out, Mom was no where to be found, and Space Mountain's wait was only 15 minutes! How could we resist?! We hopped in line, and it was even less of a wait than that - 5 minutes later we were in our seats and discussing the best faces to make for the photo. When we finished, we rushed back up to meet Mom - we weren't going to tell her we went on Buzz without her, until Becca got the million points. But, as it turns out, Mom went on Peter Pan and Buzz without us! So we hopped into Buzz line again to do it as a family! Just as we were about to reach the area with targets, the ride stopped. I found out my laser had started working anyway, so I started firing into the next room at the targets to hopefully get a few hundred points before we even started. I picked a good one apparently and my hand-eye coordination was right on the money, because instead of a few hundred, I got a few hundred thousand. I managed to get to 999,999 points before the ride even started!!!!! Clearly Becca's million was not a fluke and we're just legitimate Galactic Heroes! :)
After that, we went up to Peter Pan to use our fast passes - I have yet to see this ride less than an 85 minute wait, and our FP got us in in under 5! It's not all that exciting, but still fun to do and I'm glad I've done it :) After that, we headed into new Fantasyland - my family's first time there :) We went straight into the Little Mermaid ride to escape the heat and because Mom and Becca really wanted to see it. It's so cute that I enjoy it every time! :) After that, we went to line up for lunch at Be Our Guest!! When it opens at 10:30am, it fills up right away, so folks start lining up around 10:15 to be sure that they can get in and that that their food is served quickly!I know that Beauty and the Beast is my thing, but I think my family enjoyed it there as well. I had french onion soup for the first time in my life - and it was so good that I'm a little bit scared to try it anywhere else now for fear that it wont be as amazing! The other guys had sandwiches and fries and all the food was delicious :) We even got cupcakes for dessert and Mom had the chocolate mousse cream puff... and just... yummmmm.
As we were getting ready to leave, the heavens opened up and it started to pour! I was glad I'd insisted on bringing our new ponchos with us, or else we would have been soaked the second we walked outside. instead, we walked through empty streets to Gaston's Tavern and Belle's Village Shop and onwards to Storybook Circus so that everyone could see it for the first time. We spent a few minutes in the circus tent out of the rain and then headed to Thunder Mountain. On the way, we stopped for Mickey's PhilharMagic; one of my favorite things since I've been here. My family loved it, and it was excellent as always!
By the time we left the theater, the rain had let up quite a bit, so we stopped at the Liberty Belle - a huge steam boat that takes guests around Tom Sawyer's island. Daniel and I ran ahead to get fast passes for Thunder Mountain before the boat left, but when we were back and boarded, we had to get off due to 'technical difficulties'. So instead we went up to Thunder and sat and waited for our FP time at 1pm. It was only about a 10-15 minute wait, and because of the rain, new FPs would let us go back on again at 1:30. So, right before we got in line, we grabbed a second FP. We used the first one (love that ride!) and then went into the nearby store to wait for the next one to be valid. We hopped in line again and rode it for the second time :) When we got off, the rain had stopped and we hopped on the train and rode it all the way back to Main Street Station; where we got off and actually exited the park and got on a monorail to the Polynesian resort.
The heat and the walking meant we needed a break! So we found a lovely lounge area upstairs in the Polynesian lobby and claimed it as our own space for about an hour. We got snacks at the Disney-fied convenience store nearby and just recharged for the second stretch of the day to come.
When we felt good to go again, we got back on the monorail to MK, entered the park and did some shopping along Main Street! We went up one side and down the other; pin trading and strolling and laughing and being a family :) On the way back down the other side we saw the Main Street Dapper Dans playing and singing and being silly. They were fantastic. We went into the hat shop and Becca bought a Peter Pan hat and had them put 'Becca' on the back. The even gave her a feather for it.
We grabbed fast passes to meet Mickey, Cinderella, Aurora and Rapunzel and then went to Tomrorrowland to ride the PeopleMover; usually something we do when we first arrive. On long days its great to find rides that allow you to just sit and enjoy the ambiance of your surroundings (one of the reasons why PeopleMover is my favorite)! When we were done, we get in line to meet the characters - Mickey was adorable as usual, making fun of how tall Daniel was! Cinderella and Aurora were lovely, but it was Rapunzel who made our day, telling us that she was easily the best princess because she was the most down to earth. "I like to run in circles and be silly and go barefoot. They made me wear shoes today. Sighhhhhhhhhh."
We walked up Main St and through the castle to get to the next attraction; the tea cups! Mom and Dad didn't want to ride it but Daniel and Becca and I enjoyed it :) When we were done I went to get FPs for the Little Mermaid while my family went to Gatson's Tavern to look around and take some pictures. I met them there and we sat for a few minute at one of the tables before heading up to see what the line was like for Small World and to see if Peter and Wendy were around for Becca to meet. Unfortunately, they were not, so we went to the Little Mermaid to use our FPs instead.
After we were done, we went to Starlight Cafe to have supper and then we got FPs for Buzz to do that one more time before we were done for the day. We went on the PeopleMover again and then Becca and I split form everyone else to grab the rest of our stuff form the locker so that we wouldn't have to get it in the rush out of the park after fireworks. We met the other three back at Buzz, sorted the locker stuff into bags that were easy to carry and hopped onto the ride for one last attraction before we left. No one got a million points that time though!
We go to our fireworks location at about 9pm, exhausted from the day but ready to claim space for five. We got the perfect place - not only did we have a perfect view of of the castle, but the electrical parade went right by us as well and we could see the larger floats just fine :)
Finally, it was time for Celebrate the Magic; the light show I've been waiting to show my family for the last seven weeks. I can finally post the YouTube version - I didn't want my family to watch it before hand. But now that they've seen it; here it is!
It was beautiful, and the looks on my family's faces were priceless - Daniel when Phineas and Ferb showed up, and Becca for Ariel's part. Dad when the rocket goes up, and Mom just for the whole thing! :) :)
Five minutes after Celebrate, Wishes begins! And it was perfect - I thought maybe the lightning in the distance would keep Tinkerbell from flying. But sure enough, there she was! A real person zip-lining from the top tower of the castle. The entire show was beautiful!
When it was finished we weaved our way to the front of the park where Mom and I went up to the train station to take pictures from the balcony. A stunning view of Main St and the castle! We didn't want to leave!
But we had to eventually. And as we left, my plan for getting us home with minimal hassle was set in motion. As the entire population of earth headed for boats, buses or the monorail (okay, so maybe not 7 billion people, but it felt like it) we took the left path to the Contemporary! A grand total of 20 people were walking down the path, and as we got to the bus stop, the DTD bus pulled up!! I couldn't have done it more perfectly myself.
A (relatively) short bus ride later had us to the DTD parking lot and our van and we were home by 11:15pm! A miracle, for getting out of MK after Wishes in July! ;)
Tomorrow, sleeping in (yay!) and some Animal Kingdom and some relaxing. But it's been a long day and it's time for some much needed sleep!
July 11, 2013
Epcot day with Famjam.
Today was a veryyyyy long day. 12 hours at Epcot!
We were up and out of the door by 8am and headed on our way! As soon as we got to Epcot and through the gates, Daniel and I headed stright for Soarin' to get fast passes for all but Becca who didn't want to ride it - then we met the rest of the family at MouseGear. Mom had put all of our extra stuff in an Epcot locker and met as there as well. We jumped right in the single rider lane for Test Track; which said it had a 10 minute wait wait, but we basically walked onto the ride. The other guys liked it so much, when we got off we got right back on - this time convincing Becca to come with us! It was nice to start of the day with something we all enjoyed. Daniel and I sat in the Camaro in the showroom at the end... too cool!
We made our way over to Soarin', which was just as good as I remembered; we even got the top row and very close to the middle; the best seats in the house! Becca waited for us in the Land building and went on Living with the Land while she waited.
We went over to the Finding Nemo ride afterwards - to cool off and spend some time in the aquarium. The dolphins were out for a few minutes and the manatees were in the viewing tank as well. It was a good place to be out of the sun and still have something to do!
We got lunch at the Electric Umbrella - we shared a burger, a salad and chicken nuggets. It was good food for hungry bellies :) I filled my water bottle with ice and water and harassed everyone all day to stay hydrated. Better than having them not feeling good, I guess. We went towards the World Showcase after that, starting this time with Mexico ... it felt very backwards to me. Becca got churros and we went on the ride there - a silly, 3 Caballeros ride featuring Donald Duck. The pavilions were beautiful, as always. Norway, China, lemonade slushies at Cool Post, Germany, Italy (!), America and Japan. By the time we were done Japan, we were too tired and hot to keep going through the last four; so we skipped Morocco and France and took the International Gateway (between France and the UK) to the Beach Club for a spot to sit and cool down.
At the Beach Club is a very cute 50's style restaurant called Beaches and Cream - and they serve a dessert called the Kitchen Sink. And it is a massive ice cream dish served with all of the toppings the place has and a whole can of whipped cream and served in a bowl shaped like a sink... and we've always wanted to try it. So, today we did.
The five of us couldn't finish it! (And that includes Daniel - the bottomless pit.)
We found a spot at the air conditioned resort to sit for a while and let all the ice cream digest. When we decided to get going again, it looked like it was going to rain so we went quickly back to Epcot and to the UK pavilion to look around and finish up our tour of the Showcase. A quick walk through Canada and we were finished.
Back into Future World West we went into "Imagination with Figment", a ride I hadn't yet been on - and neither had my family. It was actually really adorable (and indoors!). It let out right beside the jumping fountains that we visit every year! Dad and I sat in the shade while Daniel, Becca and Mom tried to catch the water, or stand under it with out getting wet. It eventually ended with Daniel standing right in its path... and getting soaked. So that started our trek back to the lockers for changes of clothes!
We got changed for dinner in Italy for Mom and Dad's anniversary, putting on nicer clothes and fresh shoes. It felt nice to be able to have something else to wear. We still had a few hours so our first stop was Spaceship Earth - the ride inside the Epcot ball. A slow ride that had me falling asleep... the heat of the day and the length of the day and the cool air and gentle motion was all a perfect set up for a snooze. Next, all five of us went on living with the land... same problem. Gentle boat ride in cool air had me drifting so easily! But, supper was to come!
We hopped on the boat from Promenade to Morocco and spent a few minutes there in the cool air of the museum (yes, the majority of our day was air-conditioning-hopping.) and then we went to Italy!
Via Napoli is the main restaurant in the pavilion, and I'd made reservations over a month ago for tonight - Mom and Dad's anniversary. And where better than going back to Italy for dinner? It was absolutely excellent food and service! We had pizza, of course.
What my parents didn't know was that two weeks ago, I'd also ordered a cake! A strawberry shortcake with 'Happy Anniversary' just for them. Daniel, pretending to take a photo as the cake came up behind them, managed to catch their entire reaction on video - a perfect maneuver!
The cake was delicious and we finished with perfect timing - about 15 minutes to spare before fireworks. We're planning on going back in the next few nights for a better view, because even our view from Mexico wasn't all that great and we knew we wanted to get home quickly so started to leave before the end.
We were in the van and out of the parking lot in perfect time (good job again, family!). Tomorrow the true Disney begins! Magic Kingdom!
We were up and out of the door by 8am and headed on our way! As soon as we got to Epcot and through the gates, Daniel and I headed stright for Soarin' to get fast passes for all but Becca who didn't want to ride it - then we met the rest of the family at MouseGear. Mom had put all of our extra stuff in an Epcot locker and met as there as well. We jumped right in the single rider lane for Test Track; which said it had a 10 minute wait wait, but we basically walked onto the ride. The other guys liked it so much, when we got off we got right back on - this time convincing Becca to come with us! It was nice to start of the day with something we all enjoyed. Daniel and I sat in the Camaro in the showroom at the end... too cool!
We made our way over to Soarin', which was just as good as I remembered; we even got the top row and very close to the middle; the best seats in the house! Becca waited for us in the Land building and went on Living with the Land while she waited.
We went over to the Finding Nemo ride afterwards - to cool off and spend some time in the aquarium. The dolphins were out for a few minutes and the manatees were in the viewing tank as well. It was a good place to be out of the sun and still have something to do!
We got lunch at the Electric Umbrella - we shared a burger, a salad and chicken nuggets. It was good food for hungry bellies :) I filled my water bottle with ice and water and harassed everyone all day to stay hydrated. Better than having them not feeling good, I guess. We went towards the World Showcase after that, starting this time with Mexico ... it felt very backwards to me. Becca got churros and we went on the ride there - a silly, 3 Caballeros ride featuring Donald Duck. The pavilions were beautiful, as always. Norway, China, lemonade slushies at Cool Post, Germany, Italy (!), America and Japan. By the time we were done Japan, we were too tired and hot to keep going through the last four; so we skipped Morocco and France and took the International Gateway (between France and the UK) to the Beach Club for a spot to sit and cool down.
At the Beach Club is a very cute 50's style restaurant called Beaches and Cream - and they serve a dessert called the Kitchen Sink. And it is a massive ice cream dish served with all of the toppings the place has and a whole can of whipped cream and served in a bowl shaped like a sink... and we've always wanted to try it. So, today we did.
The five of us couldn't finish it! (And that includes Daniel - the bottomless pit.)
We found a spot at the air conditioned resort to sit for a while and let all the ice cream digest. When we decided to get going again, it looked like it was going to rain so we went quickly back to Epcot and to the UK pavilion to look around and finish up our tour of the Showcase. A quick walk through Canada and we were finished.
Back into Future World West we went into "Imagination with Figment", a ride I hadn't yet been on - and neither had my family. It was actually really adorable (and indoors!). It let out right beside the jumping fountains that we visit every year! Dad and I sat in the shade while Daniel, Becca and Mom tried to catch the water, or stand under it with out getting wet. It eventually ended with Daniel standing right in its path... and getting soaked. So that started our trek back to the lockers for changes of clothes!
We got changed for dinner in Italy for Mom and Dad's anniversary, putting on nicer clothes and fresh shoes. It felt nice to be able to have something else to wear. We still had a few hours so our first stop was Spaceship Earth - the ride inside the Epcot ball. A slow ride that had me falling asleep... the heat of the day and the length of the day and the cool air and gentle motion was all a perfect set up for a snooze. Next, all five of us went on living with the land... same problem. Gentle boat ride in cool air had me drifting so easily! But, supper was to come!
We hopped on the boat from Promenade to Morocco and spent a few minutes there in the cool air of the museum (yes, the majority of our day was air-conditioning-hopping.) and then we went to Italy!
Via Napoli is the main restaurant in the pavilion, and I'd made reservations over a month ago for tonight - Mom and Dad's anniversary. And where better than going back to Italy for dinner? It was absolutely excellent food and service! We had pizza, of course.
What my parents didn't know was that two weeks ago, I'd also ordered a cake! A strawberry shortcake with 'Happy Anniversary' just for them. Daniel, pretending to take a photo as the cake came up behind them, managed to catch their entire reaction on video - a perfect maneuver!
The cake was delicious and we finished with perfect timing - about 15 minutes to spare before fireworks. We're planning on going back in the next few nights for a better view, because even our view from Mexico wasn't all that great and we knew we wanted to get home quickly so started to leave before the end.
We were in the van and out of the parking lot in perfect time (good job again, family!). Tomorrow the true Disney begins! Magic Kingdom!
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