Day 5 - Magic Kingdom

 On Friday, we went back to Magic Kingdom to enjoy a day full of sunshine! We started a little later this day since we were able to ride so many rides in this park on Tuesday. We did use Genie + for this day and our first ride was scheduled for 10:15; we decided since everyone loved Haunted Mansion, and because Splash Mountain was still not open, this would be our first ride on our last day at Disney World. It was still a fan favorite!

We headed over to check out the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and to also ride Magic Carpets again. 

Next up was Dumbo followed by Barnstormer. Liam and Evan checked out the Speedway where Liam was able to drive his own car and Evan was the passenger while the girls and I checked out Gaston's Tavern and rode the Carousel. While we waited for the boys we also checked out the Sword in the Stone. 

We all got in line for Winnie the Pooh and then moved to the front of the castle for a lovely Princess Calvacade. 

We had late lunch reservations for Be Our Guest at the Beast's castle. This was one of our favorite meals of the week. The Beast walked around numerous times during our meal and we were able to explore the castle's different rooms. We all had steak and our desserts were amazing. We even got to try the gray stuff-it's delicious!

Liam wanted to check out some gift shops with Evan so the girls and I rode the carousel again. We then all went to meet Mickey Mouse and checked out his special 50th anniversary suit. While checking out a couple other shops on the Main Street we heard another parade was about to start. We got to see so many of our favorite characters like The Incredibles, Zootopia, Mary Poppins, all of the Princesses, Jesse, Woody, Buzz and more. 

We all headed over to the Little Mermaid ride and then while Liam and I went on Big Thunder Railroad the girls and Evan went to meet Cinderella. 

We all checked out Pirates of the Caribbean and then headed over to see the Fireworks. We decided to stay further back and to the side of the castle to avoid the crowds and we still were able to hear the music and see the giant fireworks. 

This way we were able to run to Haunted Mansion when the fireworks were about done (yes, really again) and had enough time at the end of the night to ride Peter's Pan Flight one more time before calling it a night. 

We all had the most magical, wonderful vacation at Disney World. Many of us continue to ask when we can return, some of us like to pretend that we are still on The Haunted Mansion ride at home, the kids still use their light sabers to have battles and several of us are already talking about our next trip and the rides we didn't get to experience that we will for sure want to do next time. 

While we don't know when the next time will be, I think it's safe to say whenever that time comes this family will be more than ready to go back!

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.