Day 4 - Epcot

 We woke up on Thursday to another relaxing morning due to Epcot not opening until later. We took the Skyliner to the park and got there around 9:40 for early entry. Unfortunately the line for security was already pretty big and even though we asked if there was a separate line for early entry the security guard told me everyone had to wait. Ten minutes later we walked into the park and headed straight for Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. After an hour wait we finally got into our rat car to experience the 3D magic of being in the kitchen at Gasteau's. The kids really loved this ride. Evan closed his eyes through most of it and I had to close my eyes twice. 

On our walk to Morocco we ran into Aurora and got a few pictures with one of Lucy's favorite princesses. 

We were hoping to run into Princess Jasmine in Morocco but instead enjoyed the beautiful scenery. 

We walked to Japan next and were able to see the koi fish and hear a drum concert. This is also where we stopped to have our sandwiches in a quiet Japanese garden. 

Since we were at Epcot during the Art Festival we were able to enjoy a drawing class put on by a Disney artist on how to draw Mickey Mouse. 

Italy may have been our favorite country. Posing with sculptures and paintings, Liam was able to be the jugglers assistant and we all split some gelato. 

Germany, China, Norway and Mexico were next on the loop. We stopped in the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in Norway for a quick snack of Lefse and a Troll Horn. The wait time to meet Princess Anna and Queen Elsa was a little long so we decided to come back later for that. 

We checked out some amazing chalk art by artists: 

and then made our way up to the front of the park to check out some rides. We had received an alert that Test Track was going to close early that day which then caused the wait time to be pretty extensive for the rest of the day. We were able to check out The Seas with Nemo and Friends and the girls and Evan saw Turtle Talk with Crush while Liam and I headed over to Soarin'. We waited for around 30 minutes before we saw the warning sign that discouraged anyone who was afraid of heights and motion sick to turn back now and Liam got nervous and decided he didn't want to check it out. Honestly, I was still a bit funky after the Remy's ride so I was ok with his decision. 

We had reservations for dinner back in Germany at the Biergarten Restaurant so headed back that way next. This restaurant was buffet style so we were able to get our food right away. I had already explained to the kids that this restaurant was Dad's choice and I didn't want to hear them complain about the food; if they needed to eat 4 pretzel rolls because that was all that sounded good to them then they were welcome to do that. Each kid had only 2 pretzel rolls, a brat and some pork loin with potatoes and a cookie. Evan and I were a bit more adventurous and really enjoyed our meal. The German polka band was a great treat as well!

Once dinner was done we headed back to check out the rest of the countries and finish our Kidcot Fun Stop Postcard. We checked out the boat ride in Mexico and ran over to Canada and the United Kingdom. We then decided to get in line for the Frozen Ever After ride. Since the fireworks were about to start we were able to walk right onto this ride and really enjoyed the exciting boat ride. 

We decided to head out while the fireworks show was going on to avoid the potentially long lines at the Skyliner. We carried the girls so they could still watch the fireworks as we were leaving. 

We had a very full day at Epcot and look forward to experiencing it even more the next time we go back!

Day 3- Rest Day

We had many people telling us that if we were going to Disney World for a week we would need a rest day. We are so glad that we listened. 

We all slept in a little, enjoyed breakfast while watching cartoons and then decided to go swimming. Unfortunately, I let the girls pack their swimsuits for the trip and Lucy did not have the right size of tankini bottoms to go. We nudged Caroline to allow Lucy to wear her swimsuit so that Caroline would then wear the tankini. It didn't really go over very well. Caroline threw a fit and refused to swim for the entire day. Evan stayed back with her while I took Liam and Lucy to the pool. The main pool wasn't open yet but the pool right by our building was so the kids got to enjoy a full size pool all to themselves. 

Caroline came down to see what kind of fun she was missing out on and then decided she too wanted to swim with her siblings. Unfortunately, we had brunch reservations and needed to get changed to make our bus to The Contemporary to eat with Chef Mickey. (lesson learned?)

We took the bus back to Magic Kingdom and were able to just walk to The Contemporary hotel for our reservation at 12:15 pm. 

Chef Mickeys was so fun! We all thoroughly enjoyed seeing Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Pluto, Donald Duck and Goofy dance around the dining area. We were seated right by their entrance and we loved how they took time to let us take pictures (at a distance). And the food was great too; all you can eat pancakes, waffles, chocolate banana bread French toast, bacon, sausage, ham and hash brown casserole (which was soooo good). 

 

After brunch we saw the beautiful mural designed by Mary Blair, a famous Disney artist. 

Caroline and I decided to extend our fun and check out the monorail which leaves from inside The Contemporary and loops around to the other Deluxe resorts. I was hoping to get off and check out the inside of The Grand Floridian and The Polynesian but Caroline was content just riding the monorail so that's what we did. Evan, Liam and Lucy walked back to Magic Kingdom to catch their bus back to our resort. 

We didn't have anything else scheduled this day except for lots of pool time. The kids made sure to take advantage of that for sure!

We enjoyed a game of Connect 4 while we were walking back to our room and of course these kids had to play in the sand and make s'mores by the fire. They were perfectly content in having PBJ sandwiches in the room while watching cartoons but at the last minute Lucy decided she wanted to check out the Movies under the Stars put on by our resort. We sat for about 45 minutes watching Brave and enjoying the beautiful Florida evening weather before heading back to the room to sleep. 

It was another great vacation day; one where we could actually relax and catch our breath. 

Day 2-Magic Kingdom

 We started our Tuesday by catching the bus that left from our resort at 8:15 am to head to Magic Kingdom. We arrived around 8:40 to take advantage of our early entry however headed towards Adventureland which doesn't open until 9 am. 

Once they let us through that rope we headed straight for Haunted Mansion. We all loved this ride! 

The rest of our morning went a little like this: 

Pirates of the Caribbean

Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Nutella, Fruit and Waffle Snack

Met the Stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine

After this we decided to head over to Fantasyland to check out Goofy's Barnstormer. We knew Lucy did not enjoy Slinky Dog the previous day but I was sure that Barnstormer was much tamer and that she would love it. Evan was more hesitant but Lucy was willing to try it. Lucy did not love it. She kept yelling, "This is just like Slinky Dog!" After this we decided that Evan and Lucy would bow out of any future roller coaster adventures. 

Dumbo the Flying Elephant was next up and was another one loved by all! This was also where it started sprinkling and raining down on us. After the ride we decided to head into The Carnival store to eat our PBJ lunches and wait out the rain for a bit. 

The rain continued so we got our ponchos out and decided to just keep going. We headed over to Tomorrowland next where we checked out Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which was very similar to the Toy Story Mania ride from the day prior but not as fun. We also decided to see what Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor was all about. This was more of a comedy show and Evan was picked out of the crowd to be "that" guy, who the Monsters kept making fun of. It was a great break from the rain. 

Afterwards we rode on Under the Sea-Little mermaid ride, we met Rapunzel and Tiana and checked out It's a Small World. At this point, due to a staff appreciation event, we had about 2 1/2 hours left in the park since they would be closing at 4:30 pm. It had also been steadily sprinkling/raining since 11:30 so the park was near empty. 

We decided to split up; Evan and Lucy went to Haunted Mansion two more times and Pirates of the Caribbean. Liam, Caroline and I wanted to do the roller coasters. We walked onto Big Thunder Mountain Railway (so much fun!Liam's favorite roller coaster), waited for 45 minutes to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train and then met back up with Evan and Lucy to check out Peter Pan (walked on) and had 20 minutes left before closing to get in line for Jungle Cruise. Jungle Cruise was a nice way to close out the day, our guide was very funny and it was nice and relaxing. 

As we were leaving the park the kids kept asking if we were going to go back to Hollywood Studios to use our pass for The Rise of the Resistance Ride that broke down on us the day prior. We decided to head back to our resort first since we would have needed to take the Skyliner anyway to HS but after getting to the room we decided we had probably seen most of the ride anyway and didn't really feel like going back in the cold rain. 

Our dinner that night was at the Wilderness Lodge. We would be dining with Snow White, the evil Queen, Dopey and Grumpy. The best time we could get for our reservation was 8:30 pm and Liam was really feeling tired. He slightly rallied but after dinner while waiting for our Uber to pick us up he fell asleep in one of the lobby chairs. Our dinner was very good and the characters were fantastic. The girls had a conversation with the Queen and Snow White and we saw many fun dances put on by Dopey and Grumpy.

 We had another wonderful day!