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03-28-2011, 03:07 PM
Day 5 Wednesday March 2: :mickey: Today the Reed family was selected as Flag Family for the WL. We were very excited to be finally chosen, after 4 unsuccessful tries, as the Flag Family and we met Ranger Joe at 8am in the lobby. Ranger Joe presented us with a certificate recognizing us as the WL Flag Family of the day. RJ explained the tradition and importance of our job and by laser pointer showed us how we would be accessing the roof and also pointed out some important features and characteristics of the lodge. RJ told us that the WL flies 5 flags just like the lodge located in Yellowstone National Park. The WL flies the US flag, FL state flag, Walt Disney Icon logo flag, and 2 WL flags as their 5 flags. Before raising the flags we took photos of the surrounding area noting the locations of the 4 parks and their icons. Next DD & DS helped RJ raise the US flag and we recited the pledge of allegiance before raising the final 4 flags. We were able to take family pictures with each flag before raising it and also posed for several pictures with the Magic Kingdom in the background. Leaving the roof RJ informed us that we were invited to have breakfast in the concierge lounge. The breakfast was a nice way to end our amazing experience and we all agreed that it was certainly a major highlight of our trip. Soon we were off to Epcot and the first day of the flower and garden festival. Being the first day it seemed that a lot of other people had the same idea because as we got off the monorail you could see the mass of people trying to pass through the turn styles. We hit all the major Future World rides before it got crowded and grabbed FP for Soaring. Next we watched Captain Eo for the first time and were amazed at some of the special effects even 28 years later. In Innovations we tried the Piggy Bank Adventure and both kids enjoyed carrying the pig around and playing the various games to grow their money. From here we walked through Pixie Hollow and Bambi’s Butterfly Area, we also took lots of pictures of the various topiaries of the Disney characters spread throughout Epcot. Getting hungry we decided to do a CS at the Electric Umbrella, good fast food but very long lines to place an order and then more waiting to get the food. Heading to the World Showcase we wandered through the various shops of each country starting with Canada and we moved counter clockwise around the world. At the American pavilion we got to see and hear the Fife Core Marching band followed by the Voices of Liberty. These both were excellent performances and instilled a deep sense of pride in everyone. The show was very good and no matter how many times you see it you still come away inspired or notice something new that you didn’t know or remember from past shows. We finished our tour of World Showcase by visiting Germany, China, Mexico and Norway before finding a bench along the lake to watch Illuminations. We had an hour wait before the start of the show so we got CS take out from Mexico to eat on the bench and help pass the time until it was show time. Illuminations is another Disney show you just can’t seem to get enough of no matter how many times you see it. The music, message, torches around the lake, video globe, and fireworks all come together perfectly. Following the show there was the normal mass exodus of everyone from the park but we were able to get to the buses fairly quickly without too much congestion and by 10pm we were back at the WL for our final night sleep before checking out in the morning for our first ever Disney cruise on the Dream.:captain: