OUR almost PERFECT VACAY! Day 4

[disneykid@hrt]

The Cast:
Me- Jackie, 27.
DH- Big Brandon, 25.
DD- Brielle, 2. This trip was to celebrate her second birthday!
DSS- Little Brandon, 6 going on 13.

Wednesday morning we slept in and took our time getting ready. I woke the kids up with toys at the end of the bed I had finally decided to splurge on from the Resort Gift Store. (Fulton’s?) I also went down and did some laundry. I’m not sure if it was a fluke- but I put my 2 dollars in for what I believed to be a 30 minute dryer cycle, but after an hour I stopped the thing myself. I don’t know if a nice person added some money while I was gone? Or if it just went on for longer than the posted time? I’m not complaining… nice to get a freebie after paying way too much for some things. We had 11:50 AM ADR’s for Liberty Tree Tavern to meet Pooh. (Or so I believed and had been told by the CM I made the ressie with…) We decided to take the bus because we were only going to MK to have lunch and didn’t feel like transferring from car to tram, to monorail, to MK, to monorail, to tram, to car…And the bus lets you off right at the gate. We waited a good 15 minutes at the bus stop. I remember I was starting to get worried and said “If one’s not here in 7 minutes, we’ll drive.” But obviously one came before the seven minutes were up. Okay so as I alluded to before there was no Pooh Bear. The ONLY reason I made this reservation was because I thought Brie would enjoy meeting Pooh and Tigger more than the Princesses at the age she is now. Crystal Palace was down for refurb and so when I called I said is Pooh going to be at the Liberty Tree Tavern? She said that of course they can’t guarantee that any character will be anywhere on any specific day, but that Pooh would be there. Ah Poo, no Pooh. Oh well. The food was really good. I usually don’t like sweet salad dressings and their strawberry vinaigrette was really good. Little Brandon loved the Mac n Cheese. Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale were there. Even though Pooh wasn’t there I’m really glad we did this. We all enjoyed it and I don’t think you can go wrong with young kids and a character meal! It’s a hit! After lunch I think the boys went and rode BTMRR while Brie played in the little play area by Splash Mountain and then we explored the Briar Patch (the gift shop of Splash). I got a really cool Candyland Disney Park edition there. I can’t wait until Brie is old enough to play with me! I think I said before, if not I’ll say again, Splash Mountain was closed down for refurb while we were there. I believe for the whole month of January. (The castle was also being refurbed. Thankfully Little Brandon and I made an unplanned visit to MK on our first night and so I got to see it sans crane and with Xmas Lights! But the biggest bummer of the trip was that Test Track was closed. I just know Little Brandon would have loved it, and I don’t know when the next time will be he’ll get to come. ) Then on our way out we went to visit Capt Jack and those other crazy Pirates. We waited for our bus and before too long we were off to POR. We went back in the room for potty breaks and a diaper change and headed right back out to Animal Kingdom! Everest was yet to be scaled and I knew that Pooh and Tigger and Eeyore were down the path at the entrance of Dinoland USA the other day when we were there. I was gonna find that Pooh for Brie if we had to look everywhere in Disney. Luckily… it was easy. Pooh was there!! The line wasn’t too bad. Once Brie saw Pooh she was really a mess. She could hardly keep it together. Thankfully, he was first. And whatdyaknow? Pooh and Brie were just like old pals too. He sat down on the ground with her, they stared longingly into each others eyes. It was cool. Little Brandon was too cool for Pooh, incase you were wondering. But Eeyore and Tigger were still acceptable. LOL. KIDS?! I thought that stuff didn’t happen until they were teenagers!

The Brandons went to ride on Everest and Brie and I went SHOPPING! (I know I have a problem! But hey, I saved the money to spend it at Disney, so that’s what I did. )
Plus my mom really liked the “Is that you, Tigger?” shirts from the AK when we were there in October, but didn’t buy one- so I got her one that is an elephant and says is that you Eeyore? I don’t understand the elephant/Eeyore thing - except that they are the same color- but my mom collects elephant trinkets and absolutely loves them, and her fave character is Eeyore! So she loved the shirt. I was really happy I found it. Then Brie and I went to Flame Tree BBQ. I got the BBQ Chicken Salad to share with Brie. It was not tasty AT ALL. I was really mad that I got it, trying to be a bit healthier… Oh well. The Brandons got hot dogs when they met up with us. We sat in this beautiful seating area- all by ourselves- by a water fountain without a fountain kind of thing… It was like straight out of Thailand or something. It was beautiful. Brie chased around the birds and it was really relaxing. We then went back to the room for a really short break so Brie could get atleast a tiny nap. I hate for her to be unhappy. It really makes it no fun for anyone. But she did sleep in that morning so I think that helped us out. We then went to check out DHS. I’m so glad we did! Although Little Brandon had a big homesick meltdown on the way in. (It was so sad- a CM said to him “I like your sweatshirt, buddy.” And out of nowhere here come the waterworks.) We stopped and let him call his mom while I noticed ToT had a 5 minute wait and I hadn’t been on it this trip yet! So Big Brandon and mom at home worked on the meltdown and by the time I got back it was like it never happened. I love how that works!! I wish I was as resilient as a 6 year old. But I was all smiles too. I love ToT. It is my absolute favorite. It is great. The effects are really awe-inspiring. And the drop… well you know what the drop is. I was glad I got to get on and off so quickly. The picture was great- I had a HUGE grin- but I can’t see myself buying a picture of me and 12 other strangers. Maybe if the whole fam was on it. One day… So the Brandons went down Sunset to see what adventures they could find of their own and Brie and I headed to the Great Movie ride. While we were on our way there a little girl, no more than 4, came up to Brie and I and gave Brie a balloon. I started looking around for her mom instantly because I didn’t want it to be an issue… we bought 3 balloons on Brie’s B-day for $10 each, so I didn’t want a PO’d mom chasing after the balloon. LOL. But mom was there, all smiles, “she said she wanted to give her balloon to a baby- and she picked yours…” Awwwww! How sweet! So I reached in our goodie bag and gave her a Big Mickey sucker and she was equally happy. So after that Magical moment- yeah I was 4 for 4, (more than) one for each day- I got some cool pictures of Brie putting her hands in the handprints outside The Chinese Theater. We walked right through and got on. I let Brie walk herself the whole way so she felt like a Big Girl. Our guides were better than last time- but it just doesn’t have the “umph” it used to. Can’t describe that one, either.

So after our journey through the movies, we met up with the Brandons. It was 6:15 and the park was closing at 7. Perfect time to ride TSM!! And so we did. Fun queue, fun ride. I’m glad we only waited 40 minutes though. When we got off, we had an awesome surprise waiting for us: Buzz and Woody! And no wait to see them! We had bypassed Woody and his Girlfriend earlier at MK by BTMRR because there was a long line, and I felt bad because L.Brandon wanted to see him. But here he was with Buzz, which I think is cooler. Brie had been hugging all of the other characters we’d met, but Buzz isn’t really a “huggable” guy. But it was cute, in the picture she is holding his hand.
The park was now closing and so we made our way to the front. I was saying I still wanted to go to a park, and I wished stuff was open later. Of course Epcot was open. Well whatdyaknow both of the kids fell asleep. Both! And so Brandon said I should go to Epcot by myself and try and get on Soarin’ and do my wander thing. I almost jumped out of my skin. Epcot? By myself?!? Are you serious?!! Pinch me. So I helped him carry the sleepyheads into the room and made my way to Epcot solo!! I called my BFF back home on the way and gave her the trip update. She thinks I’m a little crazy about this Disney stuff. I might be.

Well I walked right over to Soarin’ and waited in line for 25 minutes. It is such a great ride. When I got off it was about 8:45 and Illuminations was at 9. So I started down the Imagination side of the World Showcase. I kinda just wandered around the World. I stopped in France for one of the Grey Goose Slushies that I’ve heard so much about. And boy did it live up to the hype! Illuminations started right as I got it, so I was in France. I didn’t stop for the show, I just kept walking around while it was going on. And I think I want to try to get a seat at the Japanese restaurant during Illuminations during our next trip. It looked like an amazing view. On our last trip I fell in love with the view from the UK. I was over by the Odyssey bathroom by the end of Illuminations- I took my time obviously. It looked like there had been some type of corporate party in that building and a bunch of drunk people in “dressy” clothing were standing out there being a little obnoxious. I heard one guy talking about throwing up. Nice. It was a mass amount of people exitting, all heading in the same direction. Epcot was way colder than any of the other parks. Even on days when we didn’t need a jacket at other parks, we’d need one at Epcot. I blame the Seven Seas Lagoon. That being said: I Love Epcot!! I’m so glad I got to spend some time there by myself.

After that, I was beat. I went back to the room and fell asleep instantly. Another Perfect Day!! And all four parks for me!

[faline]

What fun you and your family are having! How nice you got a little alone time to spend in Epcot! Very fun reports!

[KylesMom]

While I'm sorry that you missed Pooh at LTT, I'm so glad you got to visit with him at AK! Funny, this just came up in a post in the dining forum today . . . thank goodness that it didn't have too much of an affect on your lunch!

I'm glad Little Brandon's homesickness passed & you were able to make the most out of your afternoon/evening. 4 parks? That's impressive, especially with your late start today. So many things done and seen - very cool! Thanks for sharing yet another great day!

[mouseketeer mom]

Epcot by yourself! How much fun is that?? Thanks for sharing!

[PinKy]

What a wonderful trip!!! Yay for time at Epcot!

[passholderryan]

Lovin the reports so far. I gotta say, there is something really nice about doing a lap around world showcase by yourself, especially at night. I got to do that a couple of weeks ago while my wife went back to the hotel!!

[yjgirl32]

I had the same thing happen with the dryers- a little magic. I also would like to conquer all 4 parks in one day. That's my goal for our trip in Oct. Thanks for sharing.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!