Anniversary Trip - Day 4

I think this is our earliest morning of the trip... [Well, other than arriving in Orlando at 5:45AM] and it felt sooooo early.
We had 8:10 am breakfast reservations at Garden Grill in Epcot.

Hot Air Balloons out this morning... we saw 5 total :)

Sun is coming up!

Walking to breakfast

When we got to Epcot they had a whole separate (and surprisingly long) line, just for people who have breakfast reservations before the park opens. I am not positive, but I think 8:10 might have been the earliest time option.
Once at the Garden Grill, we waited a few minutes before being seated in an outside facing booth on the lower level. (the restaurant rotates, so this is the ideal spot).
Breakfast is served family style and was a great selection for our group. We swapped the meats for veggie meat and couldn't be happier with it.
While we ate, Chip, Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey stopped by to say HI.

We were just signing the check when Mickey came... perfect timing.

After breakfast we walked on to the Living with the Land ride and then had a few minute wait before our Soarin' fastpass.
I thoroughly enjoyed the new Soarin' film. Our location on the ride wasn't idea for perspective, but we got the gist of it. I look forward to next time.
Our sweet girl and I watched the Circle of Life Film while hubby and our son went to grab a wheelchair.
Then we all hit Journey Into Imagination.

It was almost time for World Showcase to open so we decided to go wait for the Circlevision in Canada.

After Mr. Short shared "his Canada" with us, we buzzed over to Japan.
Yup, we walked right past England, France and Morocco and went straight to Japan.
I have always wanted to do the Pick-a-Pearl thing in Japan, but never could either work up the nerve or justify it. I don't wear jewelry beyond my wedding ring and didn't know what I would do with a pearl if it wasn't in or on something.
But being our 20th Anniversary, I decided I wanted to pick a pearl and put it in a little ring. I had heard it gets really crazy, but going early is the best bet - So we temporarily skipped a few countries.
The process was soo fun. The cast members in Japan really make it festive. I had read to pick the ugliest oyster you can find... so the kids and I looked  and I settled on one that seemed a bit uglier than the rest. The cast member pulled it out of the water and taught us how to count down in Japanese. Three, two, one.... pearl. She opened it and found a beautiful pearl!
Amazing. How does something so sweet and lovely come out of something soo weird looking... I suppose its a good life lesson.
Anyway. I picked a setting and they would put it all together for me... we just needed to come back later to pick it up.

Ok, now back to France and our World Showcase touring. Our young man and I went to the France film and Hubby and our little lady explored a bit - found an egg from the Epcot egg hunt and started on a ice cream treat.
We found them after the movie and had a little ice cream ourselves - well, maybe more than a little!

Don't you love how they display the ice cream!?!

This is an Ice Cream Sandwich... meaning it's two pieces of Brioche with a scoop of Ice Cream in the middle and some chocolate sauce that was then put in a sandwich press... so the edges are sealed and the bread is toasty.... OH DEAR ME! 

We can't miss the American Adventure when we are here, so that was on our schedule with a light lunch. Hubby and I shared an entree.
Then we buzzed back to Japan to pick up the ring.

By now we were fairly invested in finding all the eggs. So Italy, Germany, the outpost and China... Eggs found!
As well as Norway and Mexico.
While in Mexico we rode the Three Caballeros.
Wrapping up our day, we took a spin on Mission Space (actually we do the green ride.. so no spinning) before returning the chair and heading home.

Tonight, dinner in the room. It was nice to have a quiet meal. During dinner we planned out the rest of our in-room meals for the week and decided to go to the grocery store.
So we all went to the local SuperTarget to stock up on breakfast, bottled water and assorted food.
When we got back, the kids talked hubby into taking them down to the arcade before bedtime.

What a fun day!

Anniversary Trip to WDW - Day 3

It's our first full day in the parks!

We started our day at the Studios. It happened to be Extra Magic Hour at the Studios also, so Hubby went over early to ride Tower of Terror and Rock-n-Roller Coaster.
The kids and I took the resort bus and joined him just after 9 am.

We once again rode Toy Story Mid Way Mania, but this time on the new track (which is the same) and this time I lost. So last night's victory was short lived.
From here Hubby and our adventurous lady hit Star Tours. We all enjoyed MuppetVision before pizza lunch at PizzaRizzos. Which used to be Pizza Planet and I think somehow the pizza is a little better now?

After lunch the kids decided to make droids - we found out this is where the Jawa must have gotten the part he traded me. This was a fun souvenir to make and not too bad of a price for two droids.

Now we have time to kill - Our Indiana Jones FastPasses aren't for another hour.
Again, we went two directions - adventurous ones went to see a short film on the making of the new Star Wars movies and the rest of us toured One Man's Dream.
Then we met up for Indiana and some stunt show fun.

Now, we tried something new: The parks have started offering an express bus between parks. It is an extra cost but the buses run from inside one park to inside another. Meaning we don't have to walk as far.. potentially. And you only have to do your bag check, etc., once.
So we got the pass for the week and tried it out today. Studios to MK was 10 mins - Amazing! We boarded near Rock-n-Roller Coaster and got off in the MK by Buzz Lightyear.
So far, it works great!

Now we have the afternoon in the MK, but we need a snack!
So Ice Cream was calling. We went with some of the messiest soft serve we have ever had. I won't rant on the servings or the presentation - hubby got to hear my astonishment earlier. It may have looked a mess, but it was tasty and the treat we needed.
On to the rides!

Our first MK FastPass was Winnie the Pooh - A family favorite.
At the end of this ride I decided I wanted a wheelchair.
Truth be told, I didn't "want" a wheelchair, I sooo badly didn't want one. But my hip, oh bother the hip again. And at this point it was: call it a day, or give in and roll around.  My desire to be with the family in the parks won.

Hubby ran and got the chair and we met him at Mickey's Philharmagic. We sat in the third row this time - the closest we have ever sat. It was a fun show. We have seen it at least a half dozen times, but this time the crowd was clearly new to it - Lots of fun to hear reactions.

After the show we buzzed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  With a pit stop to see the Muppets' Great Moments in History [but only the American parts...] - What a great addition to Liberty Square.

Watching the Muppets

(Oh, we had a bonus free fast pass - they gave it to us when we got our bus passes. We can use it on anything - great one time perk) So we planned to use it now.
After the runaway train, we crossed back to Buzz Lightyear and then back to Small World.

We dined at Columbia Harbour House - Everyone was pleased with the selection, which doesn't always happen. After dinner we split up again... Adventurous ones back to Studios to see Fantasmic, the rest of us back to the resort for some quiet.

Waiting for Fantasmic

Anniversary Trip to WDW - Day 2, A lazy day

Oh thank goodness for sleep... am I right?
The kids slept at least 12 hours and hubby and I got around 10 hours... Soo blissful.
Let's do that again please :)
We woke up and slowly started on breakfast, which was our fav Pillsbury Orange Rolls etc.
By slowly I mean, I turned on the oven when I made my coffee, but didn't do anything else until my first cup was finished.
We spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the room and counting the animals out our
balcony. Today all meals are in the room.

What might they be thinking? (View from our Room)

Chillin' in the room

Early afternoon we decided to hit the pool for a hour before dinner.

The pool here at Kidani is lovely. Big without feeling massive, lots of foliage, perfect temperature.. you get it.. it's really nice. The only thing I would have liked was less music... or more relaxing music. The driving beat kind of kept me from relaxing.

But fun was had by all. 

After swimming we dined in the room and got ready for our evening activities.

This evening Hubby bought tickets for us to attend a Star Wars Dessert Party which included reserved viewing for the new Star Wars Fireworks at the Studios.

We had scheduled a fast pass for Toy Story Midway Mania just before the party started and this time was the first time EVER that I got a higher score than hubby. I asked him several times if he let me win and he insists he didn't... So for tonight, I have the highest score!!!! 

Now on to the desserts - Ooooo, Ahhhhh. 

We haven't seen this space being used as the Lauch Bay yet, so this was a new experience. The Star Wars theming is well done...... part space port, part star wars memorabilia museum. 

Our party had a few Jawas in attendance as well as the occasional troop of Stormtroopers stomping through.

We were told the Jawas would potentially trade with us and after we'd had a round of dessert I took my purple retractable Google pen over to one of the Jawas and ask if it wanted to trade... without much hesitation it shook its head NO. Ok, so not intersted in a pen - got it. 

We returned to the dessert tables, but I was still thinking about what I might have stashed in my purse to trade a rather particular Jawa. 

After the craziest bread pudding I have ever had (m&ms and pretzels thrown in for fun), I remembered a small led flash light I have on my key ring. Its paint has faded in parts, but it lights up with a small twist of the body and it has a small d clip to hook to a ring. 

So, I tried it again. This time taking the time to show how it lights up. This got some attention. The Jawa took the light and tired it a few times, then placed it in its pouch and presented a droid part as my payment. 

Soooo much fun!

The Jawa, checking out the room. 

Jawa looking very closely at my trade.

What I got in return..... a treasure ;)

After the trade, we wandered around a bit more. Including the store with lots of Star Wars fun.

(Do you see why this is soo cute?) 

Then we decided to go over to the fireworks viewing area. We were told that the stormtroopers come back and the whole party goes over together, but we were welcome to go early if we wanted. We wanted. 

I was able to find a light post to call home and was happy to have something to lean against. 

We were all given a Chewbacca Stein as a souvenir and additional bottles of water. The reserved area also had a kids area, so the little lady could sit with other kiddos and watch the show.

Our young lady in the light up bow, sitting with the other kids. 

Selfie time!

Ooooooooo!

Laser effects! (with light saber sounds)

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Hysterical Chewbacca Steins :)

The show was great. Hands down, fun and impressive. Great projections on the buildings facades, fireworks, lasers and fire. All put together perfectly. We all loved it!

Hip update: A lazy day was sooo great for me. I feel much better today. Not great, but soo much better. 

Tomorrow we have our first full day in the parks. Hopefully things will continue to improve. 

Anniversary Trip to WDW Day 1 (more like 36 hours)

In celebration of our 20th anniversary we are all going to Disney World!

This trip has been a year plus in planning and we are all rather excited. 

We booked a night flight this trip. We have done this once before and it worked out. That time the kids slept on the flight and we managed it fine. This time.... not so much. Despite the best laid plans, including wearing one of the kids out at Taekwando class beforehand, handing out melatonin at boarding time and bringing snuggly blankets - both kids struggled to sleep. Our sweet girl got maybe two hours, on and off, and her silly brother was similar from what hubby said. Our silly young man didn't think he had slept at all. 

I am fairly sure I got over an hour - but somewhere over the last year I got out of the lifetime habit of wearing a watch... so I actually have no idea. And hubby didn't sleep at all. [Editor's note: I don't think I've ever really slept on a plane, including during a 10 hour overnight flight to Paris last fall.]

So, when our flight landed 45 minutes early (EARLY!!!! Have you ever?) we wandered forth into darkness starting to wonder about how our day would play out.

This left us plenty of time for pit stops.. and at 5:45 am in Orlando, Starbucks seemed like a wise idea! 

Note: green nails for Saint Patty's Day.

Early Morning Starbucks - First of the trip. 

Hubby grabbed our bags and we found our car for the week. Then we headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

DISNEYWORLD!!!!!

Interestingly, you have pretty much 12 hours of daylight in Orlando right now... the sun is up at 7:45 and down at 7:40.

We had an 8am breakfast reservation at Boma, so we checked in at Kidani, requested an early room, if at all possible, and then went to Jambo House to see some animals, the sunrise, and have some breakfast.

Sunrise at Jambo House

Breakfast at Boma is always tasty, but the value -- especially for kids who don't eat a ton, but are 10+ years old so Disney charges them as adults -- is questionable. We all found good stuff to eat, and a meal was a good way to reset from our weird night.

Mickey Waffles

Whats for breakfast at Boma?

Breakfast is a serious thing :)

After breakfast, we headed to Epcot. We had made FastPass reservations for two rides in the morning and one ride at the end of the afternoon. 

We tried to head into the park, but first needed a quick stop at Guest Services to play Stump the Cast Member... Apparently our passes we active, but not activated? He didn't understand either - don't feel bad. But he fixed it! That's why he has a name badge and you don't ;)

Our first stop in the park was Ellen's Energy Adventure. We have never been on this ride with so few people. [Editor's note: Because no one in their right mind would enter a Disney park right at opening and head directly to a 37 minute long ride that never has any line. But this wasn't the day for using my awesome park touring skills.] Our  young man suggested this ride to pass the time before our Spaceship Earth fast passes. There were a grand total of 12 people on the whole ride. 

The timing was perfect, from Energy we used our Fast Passes for Spaceship Earth. 

At this point in the day my hip decided it was done. [Editor's note: "This point" meaning 10:30AM] I think it was aggravated by not laying down to sleep overnight and being constantly bent. But sitting down for rides and then standing back up and then walking... nope! Not a happy hip. So hop-along (that's me) decided to stay standing for a while and slowly strolled the Future World area, while hubby and the kids hit The Seas and used another FastPass at the Land. 

Our visit overlaps with the springtime Epcot Flower and Garden Festival - So I enjoyed some great Disney themed topiaries.  And wandered through MouseGears, before remembering the (new to us) DVC Member's lounge in the Imagination Pavilion. So I texted the family to meet me there when they were done with the Land and headed over.

Wonderful Flower and Garden Topiaries

Great ceiling from the DVC Members Lounge in the Imagination Pavilion

Look what you can see from here!

Love the pattern on this seat... Does it remind you of Spaceship Earth?

After checking in at the kiosk I asked if I could take the Elevator, which allowed me to have a fun conversation with a DVC cast member on the way up. 

The lounge is beautiful. It's light and open, plenty of seating and sometimes even more important, tons of charging outlets... tons. Plus three Coke Freestyle machines. 

I found a nice place to lean and relaxed a bit while the family found their way over. 

After something to drink and some time sitting... we headed to find some food. 

The other part of the Flower and Garden Festival is food booths - which Hubby and I have enjoyed at the Epcot Food and Whine (I mean Wine) Festival in previous years, but we discovered it's not a great venue for our kids to eat lunch. 

Being almost 1:00 - all of us (maybe not Hubby) were feeling the grumpys coming on. So we decided to go back to the resort and try to find a quiet place to relax until our room was ready. This wasn't the favorite idea of our Son, but he got through it. 

Hubby and our young lady decided to explore the Kidani lobby and beyond while son and I rested... they found a great library area with plenty of seating and some savanna views too. So we set up camp there for a few hours. Hubby and the kids found the arcade and passed some of the time there.

Arcade Games have come a long way....

This isn't the way we have ever done things in the past, but we all were battling sleepiness and I was still in a fair amount of pain, so sitting in a comfy quiet spot was good. And before to long, we got the text that our room was ready!!! Yay!

Our Room, before it gets lived in.

Our Savanna View!

Once in the room, I took a hot bath and spent a little time laying down. Sadly it didn't fix the problem, but got me to a point that I could venture back out with the family for our last FastPass of the day. 

This time we rented a wheelchair... I rode and hubby pushed, which allowed for a much faster pace to the Norway Pavilion for a ride on Frozen Ever After. 

The standby wait was 100 minutes :( Eeks. So Thankful for FastPasses. 

The ride was great. Nice effects and visually beautiful. After that, the family went on the Three Caballeros Ride and I people watched.

Frozen Ever After

PhotoPass Ride photo from Frozen

When we left the park, our young lady's legs were more or less done - so we swapped.. she rode and I pushed for the last little bit. I found pushing the chair helped with my pain.. the added support, I think. 

So, we decided we may rent a chair again this week. We will see how I recover after a real night's sleep. 

We grabbed a quick dinner at Noodles and Co. and Hubby picked up some groceries to finish up our evening. 

Back in the room the kids got ready for bed and fell asleep fast. 

Hubby and I both took some time soaking in an Epsom salt bath and unpacking. 

We are here for 7 nights... and other than a cruise, we can't remember the last time we stayed 7 nights in one place on a vacation. 

(note: our son recalled that in 2013 we stayed at a rental home with the extended family for 7 nights) 

Sleep!