Magic Kingdom

Yestarday's late night of fire works and casual wake up this morning made for a slow start today, we miss our first fast pass for Splash Mountain. I didn't feel like getting wet this early today.

Once we made it to Magic Kingdom today we discovered a substitute for missing Splash Mounting, the Dapper Dans, dressed in their pinstriped attire and singing barber shop quartet style songs.

The crowds were starting to form and it was now time for our lunch reservation at Tony's Restaraunt, we really haven't done much today, but we planned for a late day so we could see the fire works later. The last time we were at Magic Kingdom I noticed Tony's (next to Main Street Theater) and thought we should try it. The food was good but I thought it was rather over priced for spaghetti, even for Disney World.

 

After our delicious lunch we started to walk down Main Street as we noticed a line of marching bands heading towards us, what a nice surprise!

We stopped off in Adventure Land so the kids could do the Pirate Adventure, its similar to Epcot's Agent P, you find clues on the provided map, go to the location of the treasure check, wave your magic band over the lock and some secret animate thing happens among the back drop of the park. This took us about thirty-minutes to find all the clues and see all the animations. As we're leaving Adventure Land, we noticed it was parade time, so we found a spot to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

 

 

 

Its time for our Space Mountain fast pass, Amber swears she's going to do it this time, off we go with a few distractions.

 

Mountain ride one done, now its time to dash over to Big Thunder Mountain and hopefully cap off the trifecta with Splash Mountain (our early missed fast pass).

(waiting in line at the haunted mansion)

Around 8:30 we introduced the kids to the Dream Light Dessert party, a reservation only event next to Tomorrowland Terrace which serves a dessert buffet and awesome seating to view the fireworks show, this is the only way to view the fireworks.

After the fireworks were over, most folks were leaving the park, at least the ones with little kids. We were going to stretch the limits and close the park down with our kids and pay for it tomorrow I'm sure.

 

(I guess we kept them out too late tonight)

Travel Note
Mason was relishing his new iPhone a little too much during this trip and eating Brenda's data minutes.

  

Hollywood Studios

Today's strategy was to emphasize a low key no rush schedule and the start of the day was true to that strategy as we left the room at 10:30 for breakfast. The whole late start thing seemed to work well, but it does mean a later start. We had some fast passes that were timed throughout the day and spread out so there's no rushing, otherwise we would take the day as it came.

Our first fast pass was Toy Story Mania, and while we were making our way to the ride, we were greeted by green men, not martians but soldiers.

(Brenda and Mason ready for Toy Story Mania)

A quick trip to Star Tours and we find the villain of the park, Kylo Ren. It seems he was on break from ruling the galaxy, so we snapped a picture with him before he went back plotting against the rebellion.

We managed to ride Tower of Terror, the Great Movie Ride and see the Indiana Jones show before everyone started to wear down. We were able to get Amber to ride Tower of Terror this time, but she swears never again.

No trip to a Disney park is complete without seein fireworks, so we got our dinner and a spot to eat and hunkered down to watch the Star Wars fireworks, a first for Hollywood Studios.

Trip Note:
The kids were both given their own small bag to carry with snacks and pressed  pennies, this seemed to have worked well, it kept Amber snacking which resulted in NO melt downs for the day.

Surprise Disney Trip

Originally our next trip to Disney World wouldn't be until June, and having annual passes, we could go anytime we want, if we could get there and have accommodations. Around March, Brenda and I started thinking how we could do another trip before June. We ran the numbers and it wouldn't cost us much, using our frequent flyer miles, the airfare would be virtually free. Economically, we could do it, so the wheels were set in motion and plans were made, it was also decided to have this trip be a surprise to the kids.

When the day came, we pulled the kids from school early (Brenda had packed their things already), sat them down together and sprung the news, "we're going to Disney world!". The response was less than expected and was met with, "oh I'm gonna miss out on art project" and "I will miss horse lessons". Well no time to address those issues, we must catch a flight. As the reality sunk in, I think the excitement started to build.

We arrive in Orlando and after many trips to Disney World, everyone in the entourage knows where to go; find the tram, take tram to terminal B, head to baggage claim, down two levels to ground, then go right all the way to the end and find the Magical Express, scan your magic band, board the bus and arrive at hotel. Yes we've done this many times and I can walk anyone through the process.

We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside resort, our room wasn't quite ready yet, so the kids had fun with the games at the entrance.

We are staying in the Princess room. A nice enough room with a princess theme, our room was Princess Tiana from the Princess and the Frog. 

 

  

   

As we always do we explore the resort while we make our way to the food court. I was really impressed by the layout and style of the resort, the old plantation decor, situated along the banks of the Riverside river. Crossing over the bridge to the main resort area you get a feel of being in small port city along the Orleans area of the country.

 

 

World (showcase) Travels

This is our third day at a Disney park and every day I have been selected for a "random" security check, this is starting to get ridiculous, but I'll play along. Find me some hot coffee on this cold day (47 deg) and I'll get over the "random" security check.

We get us some nice hot coffee and the day is starting to warm up, so now our attention turns to our first fast pass, a character greeting with Mickey and friends and then a jump across for a picture with Baymax (he's like the Pilsbury dough boy)

 

Its snack time now and I was promised a croughnut today (donut fried croissant) but we get distracted by the sounds of the Jammitors. The Jammitors are cast members dressed as janitors pounding out music on trash cans, very entertaining.

 

We are not quite done with the distractions, we must make one more stop before my croughnut (or so I'm told), but this stop I don't mind, its Test Track. Of course on our way to Test Track I couldn't help but noticed that security has been following me, after all the "random" security checks I've had these three days, I guess they decided to put a tail on me (notice the guy with the map).

Some super cool pictures after Test Track.

Some where after Test Track we lost security and FINALLY made our way to get the croughnut, a taste of fried goodness!

 

The remainder of our day we spent traveling around the world (showcase); nachos and Three Cabelleros in Mexico, frankfurter in Germany, croissant and eclair in France. We witnessed the Voices of Liberty and American Music machine in America and The Revolution England.

(The Mexican Temple with the Three Cabelleros)

(land of Norway and I guess Trolls)

(China's archway to Epcot)

(The Voice of Liberty)

(Yes I made her do it)

(The Revolution in England)

(Surprise visit by Tigger)

We end our day of travel with some international cuisine from  Canada at La Cellier where we enjoyed delicious steak.