Epcot and a Birthday Party

On day 3 we slept in a little bit and then headed off to Epcot.  That place was a big fat zoo.  We got there and Soarin' fast passes were already well into the evening hours.  Yikes.  I'm not sure why it was so crowded but it was a beautiful day outside.  So we plowed through the people and soldiered on.  We did finally ride Maelstrom which was cool.


Smiling happy children and one who was so excited he crashed!


Hutch in his super cool sunglasses that became Epcot lost and found property that day.  I spent the rest of the trip saying things like "hmmmm, I just had them" and "did you see that elephant?" every time he mentioned them. 


Climbing on some awesome play structures they had around!


Princess Chloe


One of my favorites of Finn from the trip


J.B. loved the playground too!


Even though we haven't seen the movie, we thought this was the coolest poster ever!


Flower and Garden festival was going on while we there and I loved the Eeyore topiary very much.


Another pic with Alice!


Lil drummer boy




More flower beauty to share!

After we finished up at Epcot, we headed to Chef Mickey's to celebrate Webb's birthday and have a yummy dinner!


Little did the birthday boy know, we had a sweet surprise in store for him!



Group pic with Donald



Ta Da---yet another delicious creation from the bakery at the Contemporary.  We ordered a baseball themed cake and had it somewhat modeled after stuff you can see at Casey's Corner. 



Happy Birthday Webb!!!!!

One more pic with the Goofy crew!

A little bit more from day 2

I didn't include this story in my original day 2 post because I thought it could stand alone. All of the people on our trip minus April, Hutch and J.B. got into Splash Mountain for what we thought would be a super quick ride. Turns out exactly the opposite happened. We got on the ride and moved through until we were supposed to go up the water hill. (Ill try to add a picture later for those who haven't been on the ride and don't know where we were.). The ride stopped. As in we didn't move for 45 minutes or more. And I had to pee. And there was water rushing towards me the whole time. It was disastrous. Finn got very grumpy and whiny and I really wanted to join her in complaining but I just kept saying "I'm sure we will move soon." Finally a coupes of cast members arrived and said we would be evacuated. After a few more minutes, they started releasing us and we wandered through the insides of Splash Mountain as we made our way out. The cast members were very serious about no taking pictures and I saw one family get a hand thrown up in front of their camera as they tried to snap a photo just after their rescue. After we made it out, they had us all stuck behind the scenes still as they went to bring us the super fast passes you see in the picture. There was another man who didn't think that was enough compensation for his time and he caused a bit of a stink. I, on the other hand, was very grateful that the ride stopped before people got hurt and that my kids and I walked off safe and sound. Was it inconvenient and a hassle? Yes. Did my kids survive with no problem? Yes. End of story and no reason to be upset. I felt even better about things after a bathroom trip.

Disney Day #2

For us, there is nothing about Disney that's easy.  Tenacity and hard work pay off though especially in times of monster crowds.  We woke the kids up this day at 5:15 and was at the bus stop by 6am.  We were all grumpy but rope drop is important. 

 

Before 8am we had hit Enchanted Tales with Belle and the new Little Mermaid ride.  I loved loved loved the Little Mermaid ride.  The details, the music, it was simply awesome.  I could have ridden it ten times but we didn't.  There was too much more to see and do like the teacups. 

 Poster children for happy Disney memories!

 This was Hutch's number one requested ride and I was so upset that this was the only ride he got.  We were never able to squeeze it in again and at a few points it had a 2 hour wait.  It lasts about 1 minute.  We don't wait for rides unless we absolutely have to do so and  never more than 30 minutes.  We are not stand-by people, we are fast pass folks. 

Time for the classic must do Dumbo ride....

J.B. loved it!

 

Another poster child moment...could they be any sweeter?

 

Lunch at the Crystal Palace

 

Time for a magic carpet ride to a whole new world

 

After the scariest monsoon ever we did a little dancing in Tomorrowland.

 

We moved our people around......

And we stayed in the most magic of kingdoms until we couldn't take another step but oh what fun we had.

 

Disney Day #1

All loaded up and ready to ride!

Our hotel on Saturday morning!

Decorations awaited you at every turn!

 

 

The first Disney dessert!

 

J.B. and Wynn together again!

Finn's first photo bomb of the trip!

The boys at Hollywood Studios after dinner Saturday night!

Gulf World or Bust!

The day before the grand adventure when I needed to be packing terribly badly, I instead went somewhere else.  You see, this bright adorable second grader had a field trip and I had to go.  It was important to both of us in so many ways.

 

 

Finn and the flapinkos  (one of the girls misspoke one day and from then on they have been flapinkos)

A beautiful bird saying hello!

The reason we went--the shows

The sea lion was one of my favorites!

This guy stole Finley's heart!  Her main wish for her birthday is a puppy.  She wants one more than cake and that is a lot.

Don't sit in the splash zone!

Me and my first one!