buzznwoodysmom
03-17-2011, 03:20 PM
This was a special trip for my turning 9 year old son. He's the only one in our family that hadn't yet been able to have a birthday in WDW.
Cast:
Me-Denise
DH-Kevin
DS-Collin 11
DS-Landon (birthday boy) turning 9
DM-Sheila
Resorts:
Wilderness Lodge 7 nights
Animal Kingdom Lodge 2 nights
Friday, March 4
Today we headed to Epcot. We were looking forward to the Flower and Garden Festival and Landon was looking forward to meeting Duffy. We headed out a bit later than planned, which would be a pattern for the rest of the week. We arrived at Epcot after 9:30 and the wait for Soarin was 30 minutes. My kids, who know how to work these lines at WDW, immediately said “FASTPASSES”. So we grabbed fastpasses and headed to Innoventions. Collin loves this area of the park. I always feel like it’s such a waste of time, but he thoroughly enjoys himself in there so we always do it for him. We rode Spaceship Earth, and then headed for Mission Space. Kevin, Landon, and I did Orange Team, while Collin and my mom did Green Team. Landon loved the more intense version of the ride. We grabbed fastpasses for Test Track, and headed toward Soarin. On the way to Soarin we stopped for popcorn and a few cokes. Landon and I stopped in MouseGears to look around. Boy have they rearranged everything in there. I kind of liked it better the other way. Then we met up with the rest of them at Club Cool. Collin collects coke bottles and when I walked up he was purchasing two bottles, one was teeny tiny and $7! Wow, I tried to talk him out of it, but he really wanted it to add to his collection so I gave in and let him waste, I mean spend, his money on it. While in CC Landon spilt his full cup of coke. He made a huge mess, and was clearly upset about it, but the CMs were all so kind. They assured him that it was OK and it would be cleaned up by them. As a matter of fact they asked what he was drinking and grabbed a 20 oz. coke out of the cooler and told him it was “on the house” and to go on and enjoy our vacation and not to worry at all about the mess. We rode Soarin and that would be all anyone wanted to do in FW. Let me just say that on this trip I noticed all of us, the kids included, weren’t at all concerned with riding everything. There were so many attractions no one really cared if they did or not. A lot of time was spent just wandering or taking it all in. My mom was going crazy with pictures of all the flowers. Landon loved the Toy Story characters and my mom got some great pics of him with those topiaries. I, of course, didn’t bother to use my camera since my mom was snapping away like crazy. While exiting Soarin Collin opened his mini bottle of coke and took a gulp. He then told me that it was not coke and it was disgusting. I take the bottle from him and notice a small sticker on the bottom of the bottle that states “Not for human consumption”. Oh great! He had asked the cashier if it was real coke inside and she had told him yes. The logical side of me was thinking no way could the contents be harmful. I can’t imagine the Coca Cola Company making a poisonous product to be sold in a bottle that looked like something you could drink. And I wouldn’t think Disney would sell something like that. But the parent in me came out and I decided that just to be safe we needed to go back and ask what exactly was in the bottle. Kevin and my mom took Landon to meet Duffy while Collin and I headed back to Club Cool. The CMs were all great, they were really concerned, and got a manager in right away. She assured me that the contents were not poisonous. It’s actually the coke syrup, water, and food coloring, but no carbonation. With that out of our way we were on our way to WS. Just as we were walking up Landon was leaving the Duffy meet and greet area. We stopped in the shop that sold almost all Duffy stuff and since we were headed to Mexico he bought the Mexican outfit for Duffy. I have to say the Mexican outfit is super cute. We decided that instead of eating a traditional lunch we’d snack around WS. We got nachos, churros, and a passion fruit margarita for the adults. The boys had drinks left over from our snack earlier. The nachos were great, the boys ate the churros before anyone else could get a taste and the passion fruit margarita was out of this world! I am not a big margarita fan, but this was one of my favorite drinks. My husband and I aren’t big drinkers, but I would love to be able to make these at home for weekend BBQs. Next we headed to the kidcot station and Landon began his journey around the “world” collecting his stamps. He loved when his name was written in different languages, and many CMs also wrote Happy Birthday in their native language, which Landon enjoyed! In the end he collected all the countries stamps, and he got the American (baseball) outfit for Duffy, as well as the outfits in Canada and France. He also bought a Birthday Duffy, and I know I’m forgetting something. He went crazy with this little bear. We met up with my SIL and her family so rode the Mexico ride with them. In Norway the wait for the snack shop was too long, as was the ride, so we were in and out of Norway in no time. We got egg rolls, plum wine and water in China, which were all good. We got a pretzel and beer in Germany, and the boys each got a Kaki Gori in Japan. We’ve never tried those, but they were so good. I loved the melon and tangerine flavors. In America we got a funnel cake, and at about that time we knew we were done with snacking and drinking. My SIL and her family were chosen to be the first family in America. We weren’t there to see it, but they were thrilled about it. In the UK Collin tried and tried to make a phone call from the red phone booths. I had a dumb moment that we laughed about for a good while. He asked for 50 cents to call my phone. And my reply to him was “Collin surely you don’t think you can call me with just 50 cents from the UK”. And the sad thing was I was dead serious. Hahaha. He never was able to make the phone call, and he kept getting an answer from someone who would ask if he was in Epcot in a phone booth. I don’t know what was going on, but he thought it was creepy, like a ghost or something. LOL. We made our way through all the countries then made our way to Test Track to use our fastpasses. After test track we took a boat across the water and back to Japan for our dinner. We had dinner at Teppan Edo with my SIL and her crew. This was one of our favorite places in Epcot, but the food wasn’t nearly as good on this trip. I can’t pinpoint why, but we just didn’t enjoy it like we have in the past. Landon got a birthday dessert and a chef’s hat from our server and we were on our way. We exited the building while Illuminations was going on and we had a wonderful view from the stairs leading up to the restaurant. We went into the shop downstairs and purchased a sushi plate set. We have sushi often at home and Kevin’s been wanting to get a set, but I waited to get it in Epcot. I forgot to mention that we had been dodging the rain all day, but had managed to stay dry. Just as we were getting to the bus stop the rain started again and this time it was coming down more than just the light drizzle we’d experienced all day. Of course with the temporary bus stops at WL we got wet running up to the lodge when dropped off. Back in the room we were all quick to bed after our first full park day!
Up next – Day off and date night!
Cast:
Me-Denise
DH-Kevin
DS-Collin 11
DS-Landon (birthday boy) turning 9
DM-Sheila
Resorts:
Wilderness Lodge 7 nights
Animal Kingdom Lodge 2 nights
Friday, March 4
Today we headed to Epcot. We were looking forward to the Flower and Garden Festival and Landon was looking forward to meeting Duffy. We headed out a bit later than planned, which would be a pattern for the rest of the week. We arrived at Epcot after 9:30 and the wait for Soarin was 30 minutes. My kids, who know how to work these lines at WDW, immediately said “FASTPASSES”. So we grabbed fastpasses and headed to Innoventions. Collin loves this area of the park. I always feel like it’s such a waste of time, but he thoroughly enjoys himself in there so we always do it for him. We rode Spaceship Earth, and then headed for Mission Space. Kevin, Landon, and I did Orange Team, while Collin and my mom did Green Team. Landon loved the more intense version of the ride. We grabbed fastpasses for Test Track, and headed toward Soarin. On the way to Soarin we stopped for popcorn and a few cokes. Landon and I stopped in MouseGears to look around. Boy have they rearranged everything in there. I kind of liked it better the other way. Then we met up with the rest of them at Club Cool. Collin collects coke bottles and when I walked up he was purchasing two bottles, one was teeny tiny and $7! Wow, I tried to talk him out of it, but he really wanted it to add to his collection so I gave in and let him waste, I mean spend, his money on it. While in CC Landon spilt his full cup of coke. He made a huge mess, and was clearly upset about it, but the CMs were all so kind. They assured him that it was OK and it would be cleaned up by them. As a matter of fact they asked what he was drinking and grabbed a 20 oz. coke out of the cooler and told him it was “on the house” and to go on and enjoy our vacation and not to worry at all about the mess. We rode Soarin and that would be all anyone wanted to do in FW. Let me just say that on this trip I noticed all of us, the kids included, weren’t at all concerned with riding everything. There were so many attractions no one really cared if they did or not. A lot of time was spent just wandering or taking it all in. My mom was going crazy with pictures of all the flowers. Landon loved the Toy Story characters and my mom got some great pics of him with those topiaries. I, of course, didn’t bother to use my camera since my mom was snapping away like crazy. While exiting Soarin Collin opened his mini bottle of coke and took a gulp. He then told me that it was not coke and it was disgusting. I take the bottle from him and notice a small sticker on the bottom of the bottle that states “Not for human consumption”. Oh great! He had asked the cashier if it was real coke inside and she had told him yes. The logical side of me was thinking no way could the contents be harmful. I can’t imagine the Coca Cola Company making a poisonous product to be sold in a bottle that looked like something you could drink. And I wouldn’t think Disney would sell something like that. But the parent in me came out and I decided that just to be safe we needed to go back and ask what exactly was in the bottle. Kevin and my mom took Landon to meet Duffy while Collin and I headed back to Club Cool. The CMs were all great, they were really concerned, and got a manager in right away. She assured me that the contents were not poisonous. It’s actually the coke syrup, water, and food coloring, but no carbonation. With that out of our way we were on our way to WS. Just as we were walking up Landon was leaving the Duffy meet and greet area. We stopped in the shop that sold almost all Duffy stuff and since we were headed to Mexico he bought the Mexican outfit for Duffy. I have to say the Mexican outfit is super cute. We decided that instead of eating a traditional lunch we’d snack around WS. We got nachos, churros, and a passion fruit margarita for the adults. The boys had drinks left over from our snack earlier. The nachos were great, the boys ate the churros before anyone else could get a taste and the passion fruit margarita was out of this world! I am not a big margarita fan, but this was one of my favorite drinks. My husband and I aren’t big drinkers, but I would love to be able to make these at home for weekend BBQs. Next we headed to the kidcot station and Landon began his journey around the “world” collecting his stamps. He loved when his name was written in different languages, and many CMs also wrote Happy Birthday in their native language, which Landon enjoyed! In the end he collected all the countries stamps, and he got the American (baseball) outfit for Duffy, as well as the outfits in Canada and France. He also bought a Birthday Duffy, and I know I’m forgetting something. He went crazy with this little bear. We met up with my SIL and her family so rode the Mexico ride with them. In Norway the wait for the snack shop was too long, as was the ride, so we were in and out of Norway in no time. We got egg rolls, plum wine and water in China, which were all good. We got a pretzel and beer in Germany, and the boys each got a Kaki Gori in Japan. We’ve never tried those, but they were so good. I loved the melon and tangerine flavors. In America we got a funnel cake, and at about that time we knew we were done with snacking and drinking. My SIL and her family were chosen to be the first family in America. We weren’t there to see it, but they were thrilled about it. In the UK Collin tried and tried to make a phone call from the red phone booths. I had a dumb moment that we laughed about for a good while. He asked for 50 cents to call my phone. And my reply to him was “Collin surely you don’t think you can call me with just 50 cents from the UK”. And the sad thing was I was dead serious. Hahaha. He never was able to make the phone call, and he kept getting an answer from someone who would ask if he was in Epcot in a phone booth. I don’t know what was going on, but he thought it was creepy, like a ghost or something. LOL. We made our way through all the countries then made our way to Test Track to use our fastpasses. After test track we took a boat across the water and back to Japan for our dinner. We had dinner at Teppan Edo with my SIL and her crew. This was one of our favorite places in Epcot, but the food wasn’t nearly as good on this trip. I can’t pinpoint why, but we just didn’t enjoy it like we have in the past. Landon got a birthday dessert and a chef’s hat from our server and we were on our way. We exited the building while Illuminations was going on and we had a wonderful view from the stairs leading up to the restaurant. We went into the shop downstairs and purchased a sushi plate set. We have sushi often at home and Kevin’s been wanting to get a set, but I waited to get it in Epcot. I forgot to mention that we had been dodging the rain all day, but had managed to stay dry. Just as we were getting to the bus stop the rain started again and this time it was coming down more than just the light drizzle we’d experienced all day. Of course with the temporary bus stops at WL we got wet running up to the lodge when dropped off. Back in the room we were all quick to bed after our first full park day!
Up next – Day off and date night!