Disney Ponderings

So we are still planning our next Disney trip in 2015 which I assumed would be spring break again but now I am starting to ponder the week after the kids get out of school.  The resort rates are a little less but airfare is often cheaper in June vs. April too.  I also figured, we had some HOT days in April so the weather in June isn't going to be any hotter than Baltimore can be, so what's the difference, right?  Then I was talking to my neighbor last night and they've been twice (fairly recently) the middle of June and said that the crowds weren't bad at all.  I know summer is high season but not nearly as bad as spring break.  Hmmmmm.....debating.  If the rates were a little lower we might even be able to stay an extra day too.  I already promised Caroline we'd do one of the water parks next time so we'd need to allot a day for that.

Disney Fever

Aside from all this house excitement, Jason and I have a full on case of Disney World Fever.  We cannot wait to plan our next trip.  It doesn't help that exactly a year ago we were in Disney added to the fact that we have a few friends that are there right now as well.  It just makes us want to go back...NOW!

Obviously we're not going back this year so we are sticking to our plan of going back in spring 2015.  Caroline will be 11, Bryce 9, and Piper 6 1/2. 

Who else is ready to plan their next Disney trip?!?!?  I'm already waiting for BCPS to post their 2014-15 academic calendar so we know when their spring break will be.   Jason already spends too much time on the Disney website figuring out things he wants to make sure we do the next time.  The exciting part about going in 2015 is there are still a lot of changes that will happen.  The 7 Dwarves Minetrain will be opening in 2014 so the newly expanded Fantasyland which we only saw from afar in 2012 will be completely finished.  

We're tentatively planning to stay in Port Orleans, Riverside again because they accommodate families of 5 without making it a bigger (more expensive) room and we loved staying there last year.   We hope to perhaps go for one extra day next time and make sure our arrival flight gets there early and our departure flight leaves late!  

No strollers next time either!  

I cannot wait to start planning again!!    I really want to eat at the new Be Our Guest restaurant along with ride the new Little Mermaid ride.  We'll skip Fantasmic (I didn't think it was that great) and Bryce and I can ride all of the roller coasters together.  Maybe Piper too.  :)    Bryce and Piper are already talking about going again but Caroline is on the fence depending on her mood.  I think in her heart she wants to go but she's trying to be a weirdo sometimes and says she doesn't like Disney.  Yeah, a weirdo.

Disney Thoughts Part II

So I think this will be my last Disney post...until we start planning our next trip.  It's hard coming back from such a wonderful trip and I find myself wanting to look at the pictures frequently.  My dad has uploaded many of his now so I get to look at those too.  It really was a wonderful time and I'm already anticipating starting the planning again, but even that won't be for a while yet.  The plan right now is spring 2015 which means official planning starting sometime in summer 2014....so only 2 years away.  And yes, time does go fast so I'm sure it will be here again before I know it.  But with that, here are a few more topics I wanted to jot down:

Sleep Deprivation - I was severely sleep deprived the entire trip.  Not because our room wasn't quiet, the beds weren't comfortable, or any other reason.  I just couldn't sleep.  I would have a hard time getting to sleep and then some nights I would wake multiple times and then I would wake up way earlier than I planned.  I think a lot of it was excitement but I also know myself and I think a good bit of it was my anxiety thinking about all that I had planned for the following day.  I just wanted everything to work out perfectly and it was like I didn't let my brain turn off.  Thankfully, adrenaline took over and once I was up and started moving, I was fine.  I think I was running on fumes by the end of the trip and when we got back, my body felt tired for days.  It's no wonder I got sick.  Jason and the kids seemed to sleep just fine though so clearly it was just me.  I really expected to sleep great while we were there because of all the activity.   Maybe next time when I won't be as hell bent on getting certain things done.  Or maybe not, I do know myself well.

Sore and Blistered Feet - One thing I can say for Jason and I is that I'm glad we were in half decent shape to start this trip.  While we were tired at the end of the day we weren't achy or in pain as a result of all the walking because our bodies were used to the physical activity.  However the one thing that did plague Caroline and I was the skin on our feet.  Both of our tennis shoes got a little wet on the first day we were there and I think that set us up for irritated feet for a day or two.  My feet were burning most of the time on the second and third day but I powered through.  Caroline complained a LOT but I told her I had the same problem.  I think our skin was just irritated from being in sweaty shoes.  Thankfully by Tuesday that had mostly gone away but I really wish now that I had an alternative pair of walking shoes.  My mom had 2 pair of tennis shoes in addition to athletic type sandals, something I would definitely get for next time.  I only had one pair of tennis shoes and a pair of sandals that weren't really made for extreme amounts of walking.  I guess I figured one pair of tennis shoes would be enough.  The other thing that started plaguing me by day two was blisters on my toes.  They were pressure blisters as opposed to rubbing blisters and each day that went by they got a little worse.  I've never had that problem before, but again I powered through - I wasn't going to let something like that spoil my trip.  My brother and Kelly had similar problems so I was kind of glad it wasn't just me.  I'm sure having alternate shoes would have helped in this scenario too.

Things I'd Do Differently - While I say that there are things I would do differently, it's not to say we didn't do our trip well.  All of this is a result of hindsight and will prepare us for next time but it was still a fantastic trip:

- not giving into complaining kids
- getting to the parks early most mornings
- stay one extra day (if possible)
- plan for an even later flight to return home (our flight was at 5:30 which meant leaving at 2:30pm)
- plan for an earlier flight to arrive (we arrived at noon but it would have been great to arrive even earlier)
- bring extra walking shoes!
- have the kids carry their own backpack with their own stuff inside - Caroline could have done it this time but next time they will be older and Caroline and Bryce could definitely carry a small one
- spend a lot more time in Animal Kingdom! I feel like we (Jason, Caroline, Piper and I) didn't get get to see much of it since that was the day we gave into Caroline's complaining and left early.
- spend a little more time in the Magic Kingdom and really explore some of the little seen "highlights" that I've been reading about since we got back
- spend a late night riding rides in the Magic Kingdom (something that the ages of the kids kind of prevented this time around)
- not worry as much about making sure everything is perfect.  Once you're in The World, things have a way of working out if you've done all your planning ahead of time.

Things We Did Right - Even though there are some things we'll do differently, there are a lot of things we got very right!

- packing a first aid kit in my backpack!  If you have kids, especially kids that are a little accident prone, you must carry one with you.  Do you know how many times I would have had to go to get band aids in the parks if I hadn't had them with me?  Piper fell leaving our building the first day we were there and skinned both knees.  (You'll notice matching knee band aids in many of her photos.)  Then as we were literally getting onto the bus to go to the airport she fell again and re-skinned them.  She fell once in line for Triceratops Spin too and skinned on under where the band aid was from the day before too.  Bryce fell once while walking through Epcot and really boogered up his knee too.  I was also equipped with antibiotic ointment, antiseptic wipes, and blister band aids.  (Can you tell my mom's a nurse?)  Do not go to a theme park without one!
- stroller for Piper - at 3 1/2, she really still needed the stroller and I'm glad we had it because she wouldn't have been able to handle all the walking.  I wish I'd already had an umbrella stroller that leaned back so she could have snoozed easier but I didn't want to spend the money on one that we'd virtually never use again.  So we made do with what we had and walked with it tilted back when she was asleep.
- having breakfast food in the room
- connected room with my parents
- traveling with my parents and Kevin/Kelly - this was helpful and just so special.  I can't say enough about how much sweeter this made our trip.  I truly love my parents and Kevin/Kelly and having this opportunity to spend such a special vacation with them was wonderful.  I even commented to my mom one night as we were walking into the Magic Kingdom how much it meant to me that we were all together and that we were sharing these memories.  Not that Jason, the kids and I wouldn't have had a good trip by ourselves, but going with my family was truly great.  I loved how much attention each of the kids got because there were so many attentive adults around enjoying the experience with them.  It also helped when someone was tired or grumpy too.  So a big thanks to my parents and Kevin and Kelly for experiencing the magic with us!
- Staying at Port Orleans, Riverside - This place was awesome.  We know that the resort was at nearly 100% capacity while we were there but you couldn't tell based on the "crowds" at our resort or the noise level.  It was sooooo quiet and we felt like we barely saw other people except at the pool or dining area.  The place was impeccably clean and well taken care of.  The room suited our needs perfectly.  I'm so glad we spent the extra money to book a moderate resort - I can pretty much guarantee that we'll be staying there the next time we go.  Some people in the guide books complain that it's too spread out or that the bus service was bad but we couldn't disagree more.  Maybe because we like walking too and fro and we liked that because it was spread out you weren't on top of anyone - but we also walk pretty fast and didn't think it was all that spread out.  We didn't really have any issues with buses and felt like Disney does an amazing job of getting all of their guests to the right places in a reasonable time.  Does that mean you need to plan accordingly?  Yes, but that's not a problem for us.  We were lucky enough to be in one of the newly renovated rooms though and I know that made our experience even better.  I faxed the resort our room request a few days before arrival and it must have worked because we got everything we wanted.  (We had noted our request on our initial reservation but I read that it doesn't hurt to do this because it's fresh in their minds when they assign rooms and if you ask very nicely and give reasons why you want certain things, they will try to help - e.g. connected rooms that were renovated - queen beds as opposed to double.)
- lunch sit down reservations
- allowing time for swimming
- getting Bryce into Jedi Training and Piper to see Snow White multiple times (We kept asking Caroline what she really wanted to do and all she could usually come up with was swimming - maybe we should just book a few days at a Holiday Inn with a pool and she would be happy?)

The Disney Spoil - After we got back, the kids and I drove by one of those traveling, parking lot carnivals.  I pointed it out to them and joked, "Hey look, it's Disney World!"  Of course they were not amused but it made me realize that, even though we have never patronized one of those fairs, Disney really does spoil all other amusement parks.  Even the good ones.  Once you experience Disney, you know what amusement parks are supposed to be like!   Disney has costumes for their cast members specific to certain rides or areas of the park.  The theming and attention to detail at every turn is truly amazing and you will not find a cleaner park.  Not places like Busch Gardens are bad, they just aren't Disney.

So with that, I think I'll close my Disney blog entries until the next trip.  Well, unless I think of something else or my dad or Kevin sends me a random photo worth posting.  :)

Disney - Day 7 (Last Day)

And so it was the last day!  Cry!  While the week felt like it didn't go too terribly fast, because it was the last day it was hard to believe that we'd been there a whole week.  We'd packed so much in but there was still so much we didn't get to see/do.  But the last day it was and we made the most of it.  Our flight wasn't until 5:30pm but because of the way Magical Express works, they pick up you 3 hours before your flight which meant we had to be ready to go at the resort at 2pm.  That doesn't leave much time in the park and we wanted to max it out, so we were ready to go at 7:15am when the bell desk came a knockin'.  I was so proud of us.  We loaded up, got on the luggage cart, and sped over to the bell desk.  We checked our checked luggage right there at the resort so we could bypass the luggage check line at the airport (this is such an awesome way to travel!).  Then we checked our remaining carry on bags with the bell desk and scooted right over to the bus stop and boarded a bus for Hollywood Studios.  We were literally on the bus just after 7:30am.  (My parents and Kevin/Kelly had a 7:30am pickup from bell services scheduled but it didn't work out as seamlessly as it did for us and they didn't arrive at the park until almost 8:30.)  

We arrived at Hollywood Studios at about 7:50 - the park had Extra Magic Hours from 7am-8am which meant that all the non-resort guests were lined up waiting for 8am to get in.  But not us, we zoomed in and ran up the main street headed for Toy Story Mania.  Even before the big crowds got there at 8am, the line was already nearly an hour long AND fast pass was for 10:30am.  This was one of the main reasons we had wanted to get there early because we knew that if we didn't the earlier fast passes we would have to wait in a long line for that ride.  (My parents and Kevin/Kelly ended up waiting in line for an hour because they couldn't use the later fast passes and didn't want to miss the ride.)

So with fast passes in hand for later, we had time to do things and no lines to deal with.  All three kids wanted to ride Star Tours (Caroline and Piper for the first time), but Jason said no to that.  So while we braved a pod race, Jason went into Tattooine Traders and built himself a light saber.  When we came out of the ride, he surprised Bryce with his creation with promises of battles when they got home.  But because we no longer had access to our checked bags and because light sabers are considered a weapon on a plane (yes, plastic light sabers), we knew we wouldn't be able to carry it on so Jason had it sent home.  (It arrived the Thursday after we got home.)

Next, Jason said that Caroline really wanted to do the Backlot Tour since she didn't get to go on Tuesday, so he took her on that ride while Bryce, Piper and I saw the Muppets 3D show.  Bryce and I hadn't seen it before because of the Jedi Training.  But before we split up, we got this picture.  I can't tell you the amount of hollering we had to do to get this photo.  All they wanted to do was run around the fountain and splash water everywhere.  Sigh.

When Bryce, Piper and I came out of the Muppets show, there was a super short line to meet Phineas and Ferb!  Piper wanted NOTHING to do with them but Bryce was excited.  They were funny guys - totally messed with Bryce.  After that he had the chance to go and see life sized Mater and McQueen but he had no interest, so we met up with Jason and Caroline.

From there we went and finally participated in the Magic of Animation drawing class.  I really need to scan/photograph what we drew.  Caroline kind of messed up her first attempt at Pluto and then was in a funk and wanted to do it again. (Photo is a little blurry because they didn't allow flash photography and I didn't have my settings right.)  So Bryce, Piper and I went over to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid while Jason and Caroline went through the class again - they drew Jimmeny Cricket.

The funny thing about the Little Mermaid is that Bryce didn't quite understand what was going on and we asked him if he wanted to do the class again or go and see the mermaid show.  For some reason he walked with me and by the time we were getting in line he realized what he committed to and was NOT happy.  I wasn't comfortable letting him walk back to Animation on his own since I didn't know if Jason was still outside and I couldn't walk him back because we'd lose our place in line and the show was getting ready to let people in.  So he pouted and said grumpy things the entire time. Piper was looking forward to it though so I ignored him.  When we got inside the theater and sat down, he said he wasn't going to watch, but he did.  He made me laugh when he said, "THIS IS THE WORST!" and covered his face, but I caught him watching.  I wonder if they'll stop doing this show once they open the new mermaid ride in the Magic Kingdom next year?

We finished Little Mermaid and met up with Jason and Caroline and headed to Toy Story Mania.  Fun!!!  Although a little tough for a family of five since everyone wants to join target practice!  I loved how lively and fun the waiting area was inside and while the ride was fun, I was kind of surprised how much the ride was like the Buzz Lightyear ride in the Magic Kingdom - target practice.  I'm glad we didn't have to wait in the super long line for it.

We decided to have an early lunch together nearby (our first meal out of pocket!) at one of the quick service places and decide what we wanted to do.  Jason and Bryce wanted to see the Extreme Car Stunt Show but the girls did not.  (I kind of wanted to as well.)  The girls just wanted to play on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.  So the boys went and did their thing and we did ours.  I sat down in the playground and watched.

Piper was easy to keep track of and at one point hurt her leg and came over to sit with me.  It was at that point, I realized I hadn't seen Caroline in a little while.  She was wearing a bright yellow shirt, so she should be easy to find, right?  I walked all over that playground looking for her and started to get a little worried after my second lap without seeing her.  Plus it was starting to rain.  I asked a cast member for help, showed him a photo of her on my camera from that morning, and he started looking too.  A few minutes later, he found her.  There are some "caves" that I didn't know about where she had been hiding out with another girl - they were keeping people from coming in.  I was appreciative to find her though and told her I had been looking for her.  I asked her if she wanted to go and see the "Disney Channel Rocks" concert and she excitedly agreed. At this point, it started raining kind of hard but in the time it took me to get the ponchos out and on all of us, it stopped raining.  So we took them back off and strolled toward the Mickey hat.  Caroline had to stop for a photo in "New York."

We got to the concert spot and ran into my parents who had also just had lunch.  We had a good spot for the concert and out it came.  They were singing lots of familiar Disney Channel show/movie songs.

Caroline stood and watched for about 1 minute and then went over under a tree with Piper and played in the dirt.  Guess she wasn't that interested.  So rather than stand there and listen to something we weren't that interested in, we ran over and got into the next showing of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.

Jason and Bryce's show was just letting out around then and they were hoping to join us but they arrived just as they closed the doors.  Boo.  So they sat outside and had some ice cream and waited for us.  Caroline really liked the stunt show.  I saw it twice in 1992 and they haven't changed it at all.  Not a line, so I was kind of bored.  (Plus, my dad had it on video so I think I watched it a few times after we came back too.)  We came out of the show, finally managed to find Jason and Bryce and realized we needed to leave right away.  Boo.

We made it back to the resort in plenty of time and the kids had some time to pick up a few little parting gifts at the resort store before leaving.  I used our last few snack credits up too and we sat and waited for the Not-So-Magical Express (what I'm calling the bus to the airport when you leave - there's nothing that magical about leaving Disney).  I took a few last pictures and then put the camera back in the big camera bag for the plane. (Told you Bryce wore that hat like a CHAMP all week!)

The lobby was just so pretty and Piper, just so wild!

The ride to the airport was uneventful and we arrived with enough time that we could get settled and get a quick bite to eat before boarding.  We started boarding just after 5pm and were up in the air just as scheduled.  Piper fell asleep before we took off and slept for an hour - thank goodness - she was crabby!  I tried to doze off but Caroline kept talking to me but that was okay since I rarely get time to just talk to her.  We sat and talked about the trip and remembered all the little things we had done.  We touched down in Baltimore a little ahead of time and had to sit and wait for the plane that was at our gate to leave.  Even so, we managed to get our luggage and get back to the long term parking lot before 8pm.  Brrr, it was chilly after being in the heat of Orlando for a week.  That was one of the saddest parts of all!

We said good bye to my parents and Kevin/Kelly and promised we would do this again.  It really was a truly wonderful, magical trip.  Even Jason is ready to go back.  We initially said maybe in 5-7 years but now I don't think we want to wait that long.  Who knows?  The only thing I know is that I would prefer the next time we go not to have a stroller and have all children carry their own back pack.  But that's for another blog entry....my thoughts on Disney.

Disney - Day 6

On Thursday, we returned to Epcot and with Epcot not opening until 9am that day (late for us!) it gave us a little more time that morning.  The main reason we wanted to get there early was to get on Soarin' because of how quickly that ride fills up and Fast Passes are gone.  We got there just before 9am but with the ridiculously small amount of bag checkers, it took forever to get in.  We got to The Land as quickly as we possibly could, but we still ended up with noon fast passes (or wait in a line over an hour - NO!).  I like Epcot, but they really need some more banner rides - Test Track and Soarin' are not enough.  I love the World Showcase as well, but that doesn't open until 11am.  I think the Future World part of Epcot could really use some new life breathed into it, personally.  Anyhow, we had some time to kill, so we went and saw Captain EO.  Yeah, I know, Michael Jackson from 1986 but it was actually pretty good.  Michael Jackson at his peak and the music/dancing still resonated.  I'd forgotten that the theater actually rumbles and moves.  The kids liked it.  Then, we split from my parents and said we'd meet them at Soarin' at noon.  The girls were hungry so we stopped for cinnamon sugar pretzels under a shady tree.  The boys decided to go and check out Innovations and we were going to go and see Bambi's Butterfly Garden which is a only there during the Flower Garden Show.

The girls loved it!  So many pretty flowers and a lot of butterflies!

Cute little Bambi, Flower, and Thumper topiaries:

Once we caught up with the boys, we went over to check out Club Cool which is a Coca-Cola shop that has all you can drink samples of Coke products from around the world.  Most of them were tasty, but NOT the Beverly.  Think bitter tonic water.  Here are the kids trying it out.  It was disgusting, but a good laugh!

We then headed back to The Land to ride Soarin'.  Now, I will preface this to say that Soarin' is a cool ride.    I loved the way it really makes you feel like you're flying - the wind, the dips, the smells, the ocean mist - awesome.  BUT, I don't know if it's worth the wait.  Fast pass for this ride should be called "Sorta Fast Pass" because it is NOT that fast.  I wish I'd known that before we got in line.  All the other fast past lanes are just that - you breeze past the line and just wait a minute or two to get into the ride.  We figured the same when we got our fast passes for noon since we had 12:30 lunch reservations.  Well, when we were still standing in the Soarin' FP line at 12:20 we started to panic.  I quickly called the Disney reservations line and found out we had about a 20 minute leeway before we lost our reservations.  We asked a cast member walking buy how much longer and he replied "about 5 minutes." (Apparently my mom said something else to him like "I thought this was supposed to be fast pass" and his reply was "Better than waiting 2 hours." Not very magical - she really should have taken his name and reported him - that was our only negative cast member interaction the whole week.)

We quickly found out why the line for Soarin' is so long - the ride loads ridiculously slow.  I was so anxious about making our princess lunch reservations, I don't think I was able to enjoy the ride to it's fullest either.  But I was cool and by mid-ride I was already planning our attack of running through Epcot.  I put Piper in the stroller and RAN.  Everyone else kind of ran/walked, but I took off.  I was NOT going to lose that reservation!  I was so sweaty by the time I pulled up at Akershus that I must have looked a mess.  Kelly, my mom and Caroline walked up a minute or so later and we walked right in.  They quickly ushered us into our "meet Belle" photo.  I was prepared for it to be a mess considering the running we'd done in the hot sun, but it turned out surprisingly okay although my mom does kind of look like she jumped in the photo.  The girls went back later to get Belle's autograph because they didn't know to ask for it then.

It appeared we were some of the last people to be seated during our seating time and we had this awesome table in a back alcove where we could spread out (and cool off) and had a great view of the restaurant.  Caroline had just gone up to the appetizer buffet when Mary Poppins came around.  Thank goodness Caroline had met her in the Magic Kingdom the day before!  You'll notice Piper had just put on her Snow White attire.  She wore it the entire meal - wig and all!  I liked when she asked Piper if she "tidied her room."  Ha ha ha.  Yeah right.

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was next - Piper swears she doesn't remember this.  I hold close to my opinion that Disney needs to rework the Aurora dress - Caroline has a more realistic (and pretty) Aurora dress than this atrocity.  The sleeves should be a see through material and the shoulder shouldn't be so severe.  The crown is too big and her hair looks too fake.  Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite Disney movies and I hate that they got her wrong in real life when the got the other ones so perfect.

And here comes Snow White!  This is her expression upon seeing her little clone (Piper) in front of her.

Piper was thrilled to see her again and I guess Snow White knew what a super fan she had because she kissed her!

Here's Piper modeling her new kiss mark - she said she would never wash her head again.  In fact, we really didn't wash it - it wore off in the next few days.  (Yes, days - my kids were kind of dirty in Disney.)

Last, but certainly not least was Cinderella.  Caroline was totally enchanted by Cinderella.  She kept asking if we had noticed how blue her eyes were. She was very sweet and engaging with the girls.

After the princesses were done visiting, whew, we were free to enjoy our lunch which was delicious!  I forgot to add that the appetizer buffet was wonderful too.  My mom couldn't get over it.  I especially liked the kids' fare - mini-PBJs and gummy bears - it was those two foods that kept Piper from having a meltdown.

And while the girls did the princess thing in Norway, the boys had a grand time at the Biergarten in Germany.  Back when they made the reservations in October, they couldn't decide between there and England, but I think they were very pleased with their choice.  Great food and they said the beer was delicious.  They each drank like 1.5 liters each!  (Bryce drank root beer.)  Jason said that they enjoyed the German entertainment too and my dad got a video of Bryce dancing around to the music.

The girls arrived in Germany and since the boys weren't done yet, my mom bought the big girls a flight of German wine.  Nice!

Then we split up again - my parents and Kevin/Kelly were going to continue to explore Epcot through the afternoon and evening and we were going to head back to the resort so we could start to pack (cry) and then come back for Illuminations that night.  We slowly made our way through the world showcase though stopping to see topiaries of Mater and Lightning McQueen in Japan.

A quick picturesque shot somewhere near Morocco.

A quick stop in France to see Marie!

And of course, the UK for Alice!  Alice was delightful!  I was just thrilled with how wonderful she was to the girls and how adorable.  She really talked to them and listened - just like the real Alice would have.

And, she gave Piper a kiss!  I guess after she saw Snow White's she knew she needed another one!

This is one of my favorite photos from the whole week.  Piper was so thrilled with her two kisses - she was almost delirious!

 On our way to the gate, we stopped at a bathroom and while the boys were inside, the girls entertained me (and a few other people around).

We got back to the resort and started packing.  Orginally, I had figured we'd go to the Magic Kingdom on he last day but we decided to leave it up to the kids.  Of course, we got 3 different votes - Piper wanted Magic Kingdom, Caroline wanted Hollywood Studios, and Bryce wanted Animal Kingdom.  Because we had gone to such great lengths to do things for Piper and Bryce earlier in the week, we decided to go with HS for Caroline.  Plus, the girls really hadn't had a lot of time in HS on the day we were there.  But knowing that we needed to be back at the resort by 2pm the next day to catch the Magical Express to the airport we would need to start the day early in the parks (which was kind of our thing).  So we arranged that bell services would pick us and our luggage up at 7:15 am and we'd just take the bus from there.  A tall order at an early hour which meant we'd have to be mostly packed before we went to bed that night.  I'm so glad we did this!

Although there was some minor drama when Caroline realized she had lost her tooth from the night before.  She literally threw herself on the floor crying when she couldn't find it telling some story about it being her lucky tooth.  She cried for a good half hour.  Here we are going to dinner at the food court and I was trying to get a nice picture in front of the main area of the resort - she wouldn't even look at the camera:  

But, she somehow got over it and by the time we got back to Epcot, she was in better spirits.  Even enough to pose for me with her siblings.

I call this one their "villain" pose:

My parents got an awesome spot to watch Illuminations and after meeting up with them, Caroline, Bryce, Jason and I went to Mexico nearby to ride the ride because the line was so short.  (Gotta love the Disney line apps on your phone!).  Here's Bryce by one of my favorite places in the park - I love how they bring he outside inside.

And outside was a beautiful sunset:

The felt like posing again, so I took advantage:

And the glow bracelets made their final appearance during Illuminations -which we loved!  Who doesn't love a giant fireball?   I found myself wondering all week how much Disney budgets for pyrotechnics every year.

It was a great end to a great day but a little bittersweet knowing it was our last night in Disney.  We got back to the resort, put the kids to bed and finished packing - we were going to have a very early and busy morning.

Disney - Day 5

After our success the day before of arriving early, we decided to do it again for the Magic Kingdom.  Although arriving at opening was a tall order since extra magic hours started at 7am!  Good grief.  We didn't make it that early but we did make it by 8am.  The park is so much quieter and cool at that point, it quickly made everyone see that it was worth the effort to get everyone out of the room by 7:15am. 

We scooted quickly to Tomorrowland so we could ride Space Mountain.  Jason and the girls decided to ride Buzz Lightyear again and then the Peoplemover.  Bryce LOVED it!  I had forgotten how much you have no clue where you're going, but I remembered how much I liked it.  We could have ridden it again but I didn't want to make the girls and Jason have to find something else to do so we kept on moving.

At this point, we employed the TouringPlans.com method.  My mom and I took the kids to ride Dumbo and the Barnstormer while my dad and Jason went to snag fast passes for Splash Mountain for later.  This worked perfectly and just as we finished up the Barnstormer, the men were back. Dumbo was great - they really have made an old ride new again - it looked so festive!  I will look forward to seeing the dueling Dumbos the next time we go back.

I was proud of Caroline for riding the Barnstormer next.  It is a rollercoaster, but a kid coaster and while it's pretty short, it's an actual coaster.  She said she liked it but didn't want to ride it again.  This was also where Bryce left his Goofy hat - but we didn't realize it until later.

Next we worked our way through Fantasyland where we saw Mickey's Philharmagic (love!) and It's a Small World.  The kids really liked both.  We wanted to do Peter Pan but the line was too long and FastPass was for much later.  (I just don't get that ride - I hear they are going to be revamping it after the new Fantasyland opens.)

It was in the waiting area for Mickey's Philharmagic that Bryce suddenly realized his Goofy hat was missing. I was pretty sure that he had left it in the pocket on the Barnstormer because he had ridden on that ride alone (I was with Piper and Caroline with my mom).  So after we got out of the show he and I ran back to the Barnstormer (I think it added at least 1,000 more steps to my count that day!) and talked to the cast member at the gate.  On the run over, Bryce kept insisting that it wouldn't be there but I reminded him that this was Disney World and things are different here.  The cast member was so friendly and went right up to check.  There it was and I told Bryce that this was an example of "Disney Magic."  We ran back to Fantasyland to meet the rest of the group and Bryce had this big smile on his face the whole time.

Then we rode Splash Moutain and the kids LOVED it.  So much that we immediately grabbed another set of fast passes for after lunch.  They loved getting wet and all the dips.  My dad took some pics and a video, I think - but I haven't seen them yet.  Since we were now cooled off, we decided to go and check out Tom Sawyer's Island for a bit.  The kids really liked it and ran all over the place.  I made sure they got to fire the guns since it was a distant memory I had from when I went to Disney in 1981 (I don't remember going in 87 or 92.).

We made our way through Adventureland and found the wait for Pirates was too long for kids ready for lunch.  This is one of the only rides I'm kind of sad about not riding.  (Bryce got to on Sunday though.)  But since we did have time before we were ready to eat, we went to the Tiki Room and the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.  Not even thinking about it, the five of us went up and Jason told me later he was pretty freaked out.  I forget how intense his fear of heights is and even in a sturdy, safe climb like that, he gets very unnerved.  But he ended up doing okay and the kids liked seeing everything from the movies.  Of course Piper kept asking, "Where's Roberta's room?" the whole time since she has watched the movie a few more times than the other kids.

We had a quick lunch at Tortuga's Tavern (a quick, counter service) where Bryce mistakenly dipped his Goofy hat's teeth in some salsa.  Those teeth were gross - not white anymore. We kept telling him that he needed to take it to the dentist for a whitening.  A few days later I used soap and got them cleaner just after Caroline picked it up and said, "Ew, Bryce, your hat smells like salsa and sweat!"

Lunch was done so we rode Splash Mountain again with our fast passes!  (My dad LOVED fast pass!)  At this point, I could have gone for another ride or two, but the kids were done.  So we caught the Disney Railroad back to the main gate which was a nice rest for everyone's feet.

One of the great things about the railroad is that it lets you off at the main gate so you can bypass a crowded Main Street.  We came out of the station and saw a perfect opportunity to get a family photo.  Nevermind the fact that I look like a semi-drowned rat thanks to two Splash Mountain rides.  It makes me laugh that the instant the random person taking our photo took the picture, fireworks came up from the castle.

We made it back to the resort in good time and headed over to the pool for some more swimming.  Piper made good use of the pool bathroom (again!) and they all did he slides a few time.  Jason and I were appreciative of the poolside bar and had a few drinks.  After swimming in the main pool for a bit, we went to the "quiet" pool closer to our room for a short bit and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner - Chef Mickey's!  We caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then rode the Monorail to the Contemporary.  Why does the Monorail still smell like that?  Seriously, it has smelled like that since I was a kid - what gives it that hippo house smell?  But the kids liked the ride and I liked the nostalgia of it all.

Look, Jason, something is taller than you!

Kelly and I in our dueling Minnie ears - yes, I wore them most of the week!

Waiting to be seated, Piper did some posing for me.  Notice the Rapunzel dress that she just had to wear - she felt so beautiful!

Our official Chef Mickey's group shot:

We sat down for dinner and Caroline starts complaining that her loose tooth is bothering her.  I told her she should just pull it and be done with it and well, she did!  2nd lost tooth in Disney!

 We didn't have much time to get food because the characters started coming quickly!  I'll be honest, it kind of stressed me out and the kids weren't 100% sure of what to do.  We tried to do some videoing and taking pictures so we were both focused and on guard for when a character came to our area.  One of the funniest parts of the experience is that I had to remind the kids to STOP eating each time a character was at our table.  Any other time I have to tell my kids to eat and in this case, they sat there and kept shoveling food into their mouths when Minnie was right there.  I guess they're not used to cartoon characters coming by while they're at dinner.  But all in all, it was great.  I'm so glad we had this on the schedule so we didn't have to wait in any lines in the parks to see them.  Minnie was as sweet as can be:

Goofy took Bryce's hat off and put it on Jason and kind of messed with him a little bit.  Goofy also kept putting Piper's hat over her face which was pretty funny too - I liked that he pulled up a chair and just sat down with us.

Pluto was interesting because in order to sign autographs he had to put the pen and book up on his snout to see it.  So when it was Piper's turn to get his autograph, she placed the book and pen right on his nose for him. It was pretty cute.

Mickey was super happy and fun!

And so was Donald although Bryce pulled his tail and Donald and Bryce got into a stare down that had Bryce in giggles.  Of course the girls had to give him a kiss on his beak.

We ended up being seated seperately from my parents and Kevin/Kelly so the kids kept running over to their table on the other side of the restaurant and seeing the characters again.  Apparently, Piper was dancing with Goofy and my dad has it on video.  I need to see that.

After a delicious meal, we rode the monorail around the Seven Seas Lagoon back to the Magic Kingdom to get a good spot for the Electric Light Parade.  We headed in the direction of Liberty Square and there, right before my eyes was something that I've always wanted to do - silhouettes!  I remember sitting near them for the same parade when I was 10 and hoping my mom would want to do them for us.  And then my friend Katie and her family visited a few weeks before and had them done for her girls and reminded me about them.  I'm so glad she did because I was kind of looking for them.  It's truly amazing - they sit and look at the side of your face and cut it out freehand from some black paper and then paste it on white paper.  Piper didn't even have to wake up from her nap!  She was done in less than 20 minutes - I already posted the result here.

Caroline had been begging me to ride the tea cups again so Bryce, Caroline, Bertie and I hurried over to Fantasyland for a quick ride.

We were really pushing it on time though because we had to take a detour to get back to our spot before the parade started.  But we arrived in time and it started.  Caroline, who kept saying she didn't want to see "that dumb old parade again" was sitting right in front and once it started I asked her if she thought it was better seeing it up close.  She turned around with this excited look on her face and said, "OH YEAH!!!"  Disney magic!  A little blurry because I didn't want to use a flash, but you get the idea:

This has always been on my favorite parts of the Electric Light parade - the dancing royals that go along with Cinderella's carriage.  I love that they have illuminated dresses and are able to dance down the street under an illuminated canopy without missing a step.

This photo makes me smile because it is just how Bryce was the whole week - he waved.  He sat and watched that parade go by and waved to everyone (even though I'm sure most people couldn't see him).  It was so endearing.  Also any time there was music playing or a passing parade, he would start clapping and stomping his feet - the magic just filled him up and he had to move!

After the parade was over, we had a great view of the castle and thought we could watch the fireworks from there.  The pre-fireworks show on the castle was truly amazing and I couldn't believe how they could transform the castle right before your eyes into different facades and colors.  I loved it!   But then the fireworks started and we quickly figured out we were in a BAD spot.  So we started walking toward the castle to try for a better view, but because they had already started and the park was packed, we could only keep walking toward the gate or get yelled at by a cast member to keep moving.  There was just no place to stop and watch.  We kept turning our heads back to watch so we did see some of it.  I was a little disappointed but one advantage was that we reached the gate just as the fireworks ended so we didn't have to wait long for a bus back to the resort.  Plus, we had already seen Fantasmic and would be seeing Illuminations the next evening.  We were all tired but it was a terrific day.