Chapter 4. Lily conquers her first Mountain!

Mickey and Stitch were supposed to wake us up with a phone call, but it didn’t come. Fortunately, Brian had also set the alarm clock as a backup plan. So we were all rolling out of bed at 6:00am. As usual I was a little awake before then, and knew that my joints were not doing well, but I was used to being a trooper anyway. Magic Kingdom was having Extra Magic Hours this morning (meaning that we could get into the park an hour early as a resort guest) so instead of doing a character breakfast, we were planning a quick breakfast at Old Port Royale. We had all agreed to try to be ready at 6:30, but neither of the other two rooms were quite ready yet then, so Brian, Lily, and I headed on over without them, thinking they would meet us in a few minutes.Turned out we were done eating by the time they got there, so they just grabbed a quick snack to go and we headed out for the bus stop. Since we boarded it from Old Port Royale, it wasn’t nearly as long before it left the resort and was on its way! Magic Kingdom, unfortunately, is the farthest away park so it was a bit of a ride. We still got there plenty early though, and got a good spot to watch the opening show from. We considered that more important than being right up next to the rope for entry. Brian, Lily, and I got another photopass picture taken, and the kids played with the hoola-hoops that the CM’s set out while we waited.Finally, the train arrived bringing Mickey and Friends with it, and the countdown show was on! It always ends with the audience helping Mickey countdown from 10 to open the park, and as usual I almost got a little teary-eyed while doing it. Don’t ask me to explain why, I can’t. But I know other people who do too, so it isn’t just me 🙂 There was quite a mass of people waiting to go in, and trying to stay together down Main Street would be almost impossible. Brian, Lily, Abby, and Emily were set on doing Space Mountain first, hopefully before a big line could form. So the plan was for them to make a beeline there, while the rest of us headed to the tamer Buzz Light-year ride.Unfortunately, Emily ended up with us instead, and when we got to Buzz Brian was long gone with Abby and Lily. So Brian’s dad agreed to take her, and we loosely agreed to meet up… somewhere… afterwards. The Buzz line was very short and we were on in no time. I was a little nervous about how Lily would do on Space Mountain, and a little sad that I didn’t get to experience it with her for the first time. But nothing could be done about that.

Afterwards, we headed toward the Space Mountain exit, but there was no sign of anyone yet, and Jake really wanted to ride Buzz again. So Jenny took him back while I waited with Brian’s mom for the others to come out of the mountain. Finally, I called Brian to see what was taking so long, and he said they had just finished… I nervously asked how Lily had done…

Her last roller coaster experience had gone terribly (Thunder Mountain, on our last trip), and I wondered if she would ever be a thrill ride fan. But he sounded a little astonished as he told me she found it awesome! A few minutes later they emerged – she still seemed a little uptight but repeated that she had loved it. It took a little longer to gather everyone up again, but the plan was now to head over to Fantasyland and see what we could ride before Toontown opened at 10:00am. Lily wanted to do Small World, and though there was some dissent, we all ended up heading there together.

There was almost no line, and the ride was cute as always. She wanted to do Pooh next, and again not everyone agreed, but even after assuring them that they could go do something else, they chose to come along anyway. Pooh is my absolute hero, so I was more than happy to ride. After Pooh, we only had a little time before Toontown (and Pixie Hollow’s) opening, so everyone else went on the Teacups while I went to save a spot in front of the rope. Lily later told me that Alice (in Wonderland) was there and rode the teacups with a family!

The crowd quickly began to build in front of Toontown, and though I was right at the rope, I doubted that they would be able to work their way up there to me. About half the group had joined me when they dropped the rope, and we became even more separated as we were escorted through Toontown towards Pixie Hollow. Lily, Abby, and I ended up very close to the front of the fairies line, but weren’t sure where everyone else was! I sent Abby back through the line to find them, and she sent Brian up to meet Lily and I. The others were going to stay where they were and go separately. Which was fine, since the fairy greeting area is pretty small, a large group would have been awkward anyway.

The CM handling the line showed us a special frog on the wall, that appears 3-D when in a photograph. So we got a picture of Lily kissing him while we waited! But almost immediately we were being ushered inside to meet Fawn, Tinkerbell, and Terrance! Two new fairies that we have never met before – plus Tinkerbell. Perfect! They all asked Lily her name, and gushed over the fact that she must be a garden-talent fairy. And of course there were photopass photographers there to get lots of good pictures. Our meet and greet with them was over all too soon though and while we waited for the rest of the group to have their turn and come out, Lily shopped in the big store right outside the exit, and bought a Boo (from Monster’s Inc) doll. After the others came out, they wanted to shop too, but knowing we were short on time, we headed on to Minnie’s House which was next door. They all joined us within a few minutes.

Minnie’s house is always lots of fun – plenty of oversized objects to touch and try to pick up! We had to hurry though, because our lunch reservation was quickly approaching. So we made a beeline through Fantasyland, and down Mainstreet towards the monorail. We were having lunch (or technically a very late breakfast) at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian hotel. Alice, Mary, the Mad Hatter, and Pooh characters would be there! If we could make it on time, that is. Getting to the monorail had taken longer than I anticipated. I knew by the time we got there that we would be cutting it close, and since I had gotten the very latest seating, was worried that if we were at all late they weren’t going to let us in! Hopefully the monorail would come soon…

Chapter 5. Backing up is Serious Business…

The monorail did come pretty quickly, but since it goes only one direction, we would have to ride it all the way around the loop to get to the GF. It took longer than I remembered, since it remained at each stop for several minutes. Finally we pulled up to the GF with 5 minutes to spare… and the monorail doors didn’t open! After a few minutes it was announced that they needed to back up the monorail before unloading, and had to wait for radio clearance to do so. No surprise after last years accident that they take backing up so seriously now, but really – when we finally were given permission for reverse motion, the monorail moved backwards maybe an inch! Now we were surely late, but we raced down there as quickly as we could. It was almost deserted outside, but they still seemed willing to seat us.

Soon we were called over to get our group portrait done, then taken inside to the dining room! Once seated, the characters started coming one after another. First Pooh, who I had to get my picture with as well, followed by Tigger and Alice. We were seated at two tables – Brian, Lily, Abby and myself at one, and the rest of the gang at the other. With the first character streak over, we headed up to the buffet. We were treating this meal as lunch, but the restaurant was doing breakfast, so we had pancakes, waffles, and the like. A little later, Mary came around, then finally the Mad Hatter! It was the first time we had ever met him, and he was a hoot! Always trying to surprise people and being generally obnoxious whenever he could.

It had been a successful meal afterall, and we were all wearing out – ready to head back for naptime! Unfortunately, to get back to CBR, we had to take the boat back to MK, then transfer to our bus. Kids we already trying to fall asleep on the way back, and it was certainly no problem getting Lily settled into bed back at the room. She was sleeping soundly almost immediately. By the time she woke up, the “nap fairy” had left her a small Mickey figurine that was painted to look like a cross between a Small World doll and a space robot! She thought it was pretty cool. She would receive several of these throughout the week, and referred to them as “wooden Mickeys”. They were actually part of the Mickey Mouse Vinylmation series. While she napped, Brian hung out at the pool, and brought us back some snacks shortly after she woke up.

Chapter 6. Bippidy Boppidy Boo

It was time for our evening adventure! Not everyone else in the group was quite ready to go as early as we were, so we hung out in the room for a bit snacking and doing some re-organizing. Lily was dressing as Minnie Mouse tonight, as we were off to Chef Mickey’s to meet her after going to the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique for princess makeovers. She had done the experience twice already, so was ready to be something a little less traditional than the usual princesses anyway. Finally everyone was ready, and we headed to Magic Kingdom.

We were already a little later than I wanted to be, and the bus was taking forever! We thought we had figured out its pattern, and decided that if we caught the bus at a different stop, it would get out of the resort faster. So we walked to Old Port Royale. But the bus was taking a different route this time, and we still ended up making almost a full internal loop before heading to MK! Oh well, we should still have just enough time to make it.

Back at the MK gates, we hurried down Main Street to the castle, loosing several members of our party along the way. That seemed to be becoming a common theme, it is so hard to keep a big group together when it’s crowded and you are in a hurry! Brian and his mom, as well as Abby and Lily were with us, but we had lost track of the others. We thought we should check in anyway, so they knew our party was here. As usual, they were running quite behind. They had just called Abby back to try on her dress when her mom and the others finally arrived. Brian decided to head out with his parents to do some rides while Jenny and I stayed with the kids. Eventually they were called back and the makeovers began!

Jake changed his mind and didn’t want to do the “Cool Dude” afterall, but the girls seemed to be immensely enjoying their transformations. As always, the photopass photographers snapped lots of pics as it happened. The big reveal moment came, and we now had a Minnie Mouse, Princess Tiana, and Land Ariel instead of the 3 little girls we entered with! They were all very pretty, of course 🙂 I had told Lily I would buy her 2 shirts on the trip, and she picked out her first one here- it said (in glitter letters) “I was turned into a Princess at the BBB”. And she spent some of her own money on a colorful Mickey-bead bracelet.

We had a little time to spare before dinner, so we stopped for a photopass opportunity in front of the castle, then hung out by the Rose Garden for a few minutes before heading toward the gates to Chef Mickeys. It’s probably faster to walk to the Contemporary from MK, but the kids thought it would be cool to be able to get off the monorail inside the building, so we took it anyway. Fortunately no more backing up adventures this time to slow us down. Though Brian did get confused when exiting and ended up on the wrong side of the queue to get out!

Chapter 7. Not Another Souvenir Crisis… Please No!

We checked in at Chef Mickeys only a few minutes early, and had another group portrait done while we waited. Everyone was starving and the kids were having fun playing around on the couches in their princess attire. That is, until Lily’s bracelet, that she got at BBB, broke! Oh no, total meltdown time. Or so I was afraid. It would take her several minutes to fully recover, but the promise of obtaining another one easily allowed us to mostly avert a total crisis. I was having flashbacks to the lost Crown episode on our last trip, goodness knows I didn’t want a repeat of that disaster! Soon, characters and food would distract her though.

Once seated, there were no characters nearby so we made a quick trip to the buffet to get food. Mickey came soon though, followed by Donald and Pluto. Lily almost missed Minnie, who she was specifically excited to see since she was dressed as her. I warned her not to head back to buffet right then, but she went anyway. Fortunately, we noticed in time and I sent her running back to the table just as she was finishing autographs for her cousins! Goofy had been nearby too, but somehow ended up leaving our room without seeing us, and later we had to have a CM track him down for us.

The food was excellent – some of the reviews I’ve read were not that great, but I couldn’t find any reason to complain. We had been watching the sky outside the windows, and were worried about rain. We had a fireworks cruise planned and rain would not be welcome tonight! But it was definitely looking questionable. All we could do was hope for the best. We finally tracked down Goofy, and by then everyone was long done eating and ready to go. Fortunately we werne’t in any hurry since it still wasn’t quite time to check in for the boat. We spent a few of our extra minutes looking for a bracelet replacement, and luckily we found one without much trouble. I hate it when souvenirs cause more heartache than happiness. Oh well. That one could have been worse, as we know from experience.

Brian and I had been noticing all night how much we actually liked this hotel. I had never considered it one of my favorites, but it seemed to be growing on us suddenly. We walked by the pool a bit, since that is a major deciding factor for us, and it was really neat, especially cool all lit up at night. Perhaps this wouldn’t be a bad choice for our next Disney vacation – it definitely has the advantage of location. We had started already to grow weary of the long and complicated bus rides back and forth from CBR, we were certainly spoiled last time staying right on the monorail. Something to keep in mind, anyway.

Chapter 8. Not the Adventure We Had Planned

We went on down to check in for the boat, and met our captain right away. The kids were immediately put into life jackets, and we loaded the boat for our water adventure! The captain first took us over by Discovery Island, something I had no idea about. It used to be a nature park that guests could visit, but eventually all the wildlife was moved to Animal Kingdom, and now it is a protected sanctuary with very limited human contact allowed. But all the docks, and other structures are still there, and showing their age. In the dark, it was especially creepy to see. Also saw lots of white egrets in the trees.

There had been a few distant lightning strikes, and sure enough the rain started soon. The marina made the call about 30 minutes into the cruise, and about that long before the fireworks were to start – they were indeed canceling our trip! Rats! So back to the dock. Fortunately, we were able to get a refund, but what to do with the rest of our evening now??? The rain was light, but no way to know if the fireworks would happen or what the weather would do the rest of the night.

My idea was to head back to MK, since we were a 5 minute walk away, and enjoy some rides before it closed in just over an hour. At least we could salvage some fun for the night. We had our trusty ponchos with us, so I wasn’t too worried about getting wet. The rest of the group seemed hesitant, especially when we walked outside the front of the hotel to find it raining even harder! Brian, Lily and I were still up for it, but the others clearly weren’t. In fact, they decided they didn’t even want to make the walk back to the bus station (between the hotel and MK) so they quickly jumped into a taxi that was waiting in the drive, declaring that they were headed back to the hotel that way. So the three of us finished suiting up for the rain and headed out. This was not the adventure I had planned for the night, but it would hopefully be fun.

I was hoping that the rain would drive most people out of the park, leaving little to no lines for popular rides. And tons of people were leaving… but it was still packed inside! But it was also immediately obvious that Wishes (the fireworks show) was still on, and about to begin! The rain had almost completely stopped by now. Unfortunately, we were so late that all the good spots were taken, so we walked up the sidewalk on Main Street towards the Tomorrowland turn-off before we found a place to stop. There were trees blocking the view of the Castle, but we could still see the fireworks pretty well. Brian picked Lily up to give her a better view, and it was almost as much fun watching the two of them cuddle as it was watching the fireworks! At first, Lily hadn’t wanted to stop to watch them, but after it was over she exclaimed “Oh my gosh, thank you so much for letting me watch that! I loved it so much!” Hearing her so excited made it all worth it. Would have been cool to see it from the boat, but she had clearly had a magical time anyway. It was probably the last time we would see “Wishes”, as a new fireworks show was scheduled to start later in the week.

We had to fight the post fireworks crowd afterwards to make our way to Liberty Square – we were like fish swimming upstream! Lily wanted to do Haunted Mansion, and possibly Space Mountain again. We finally plowed through the masses and got there, almost no wait, as I expected. NOW people were leaving the park in droves and we would have it almost all to ourselves, until they closed in about 45 minutes. Last time, this ride had made Lily very nervous, but she ended up liking it. So I was surprised at how scared she still seemed, even though it had been her idea to come. Further frustrating us were a couple of distracting guests that ended up in our group. But we were soon loaded onto the ride, and she did mostly okay. I think she was definitely glad to have done it.

Afterwards, we had time for just one more ride, and on our way to Space Mountain, she saw Peter Pan’s Flight, and opted for that instead. At least that was something we could all ride together. The wait was about 10 minutes, much shorter than normal for that one! Finally it was time to leave, nearing 11:00pm. I hadn’t planned on being out quite this late, but was glad we had still managed to have fun in spite of the canceled boat ride. We decided to go out through the castle and down Main Street.

But wait, why were there people sitting on the curb??? OH YES! I remembered! At the last minute, MK had decided to do a second showing of Spectromagic (the parade) at 11pm all week! A long time ago, I had said that I really wanted to see a late parade sometime, because it’s so much less crowded. Well, here was our chance. It was starting in 5 minutes, and plenty of good seats to still be had right on the curb – front row! But we paused – was this wise? We had a very early morning planned the next day. Oh, to heck with it, we may never get another chance like this! And just like the fireworks, the parade was changing later in the week, and we might not see this one again.

So they sat down on the curb, and I stood behind them. I won’t lie, I was in a lot of pain by this time. The thought of getting myself lowered down to the ground, then back up again, was just too much. But I was determined not to let my discomfort spoil it for them, so I toughed it out. I had already decided that this trip wasn’t about me – I would do whatever I physically could to keep up with everyone and make it a good experience for them. Being in pain wasn’t really an issue, I could get past that.

The parade was awesome – we had certainly never had such good seats! Lily was completely mesmerized of course, what a fun evening it had been! Best made plans tossed aside, but another adventure had awaited us. And it was fun to have some time to ourselves as a family, after being in such a big group for several days. We were sad the others had missed it, but they probably would not have tolerated staying out so late anyway. We finally arrived back in the room at 12:11am. Less than 6 hours before we had to get up! I wasn’t too worried about myself, since I’ve become accustomed to getting by on minimal sleep the last few months. I just hoped we weren’t asking for trouble with Lily. Only morning time would tell.

Chapter 9. Breakfast with the PrincessesI slept about as well as I could have hoped, and felt reasonably well when the alarm clock went off at 6am. I have adjusted to not getting much sleep at night anyway. I went ahead and got in the shower, and had Brian wake Lily up a few minutes later. She appeared in the shower pretty quickly, but it became clear almost immediately that she was a bit grumpy. Hopefully we could work through it, or we would have to rearrange our plans for the day and come back after breakfast for a morning nap.We managed to get ready though, and got everyone rounded up and to the bus stop. We had reservations for the Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus, in Norway. Before long we were at Epcot, which wouldn’t open for over an hour, but lots of people with early ressies like us were lined up already. We had a few minutes to spare when they let us in, so we got some pics of the kids in front of Spaceship Earth while it wasn’t so crowded. But then we had to get moving – Norway is awfully far away, even at Epcot! It was neat being there before the park was open, it seemed so empty and serene. The kids could run ahead and generally be wild on the way without us having to worry much about it. We had a short wait after checking in, and Lily fell in love with a Viking battle gear set in one of the shops. Her and Emily duked it out for a while, and Lily thought she wanted to come back after breakfast and buy it, but it was going to take almost all her money she had left.After our name was called, we went in a got the photo done with Belle, who is always waiting in the lobby. Since we were such a big group, we were given 3 different photos (which were free) so Lily got to have one by herself and with her cousins! Then we were seated and helped ourself to the buffet while the waitress brought more food to the table family style. Before long, we saw Princess Aurora! One of Lily’s favorites, and we had seen her here last time too, in fact Lily had been in her Sleeping Beauty costume last time we were here. She decided to go with simpler attire this time though.We also got to see Snow White, who we had a hard time finding on our last trip. Then, we lucked out a second time and Cinderella was here again! I don’t think she is a regular here, but we’ve now seen her there both times we’ve been. We also got to see land Ariel, who Lily had never met before (only mermaid Ariel). Abby had been wearing that exact dress last night, and still had in her Ariel hair from the BBB! So it was a rather successful character meal, and the autograph books were looking pretty impressive by now.

After breakfast we decided to split up for a little while. We wanted to ride Soarin’, but knew we would need fast passes, so Brian collected everyone’s ticket to go get them. Lily and I were headed to the Character Spot, though I suspected the line might already be too long to stand. The rest were thinking about doing the Norway ride. So off we went!

Chapter 10. Soarin’ through Epcot

We stopped for a few minutes to play a little in the fountains, it was getting so hot already! Being a little wet definitely made it more manageable. Brian took off ahead to get the fast passes. Lily and I got in line for the character spot, but quickly decided it was going to take too long, and got back out. They give you neat pictures with cool backdrops, but we had already met all those characters, so it didn’t seem worth it to put up with a long wait. Instead we met back up with Brian and headed over to the Figment ride! That is one of my favorites.

There was no line at all, in fact we weren’t even sure if it was running yet since no one was in there, it was a little creepy! We had our choice of cars, and took the very front one. In hindsight, we should have picked the middle because we would have had a better view for the place where they turned sideways, but oh well. Afterwards, I talked Lily into doing one the magical pictures in Imageworks, and we played around conducting the instruments and some of the other activities. I decided to buy a new stuffed Figment, mine from 26 years ago is, well, showing his age. Of course I’ll never get rid of him, and I hope he doesn’t get his feelings hurt and think he is being replaced. But it will be nice to have one I can hug without fear of him falling apart.

The rest of Brian’s family arrived about that time, but they hadn’t done the ride yet, so they went back to do that. Lily picked out a really cool pop-up book of inventions that she wanted to buy, having wisely decided against the Viking set. Brian had already gone outside to play by the fountains and jumping water, so we joined him. The rest of the crew had just finished the ride, and we were ready to go to Spaceship Earth!

There was only a small wait, and after some juggling of seating arrangements, we were on. This one is a classic, even though I have most of it memorized, I can’t imagine coming to Epcot and not doing it. The fairly new stuff at the end is really cool -where you get to customize your future! Afterwards, in Project Tomorrow, I used the kiosks to email ours to myself. It pulls up your future by facial recognition from the picture it took in the ride, pretty cool! Later, after checking my email at the hotel, I realized that it had even sent me the whole video of our customized future, not just the picture! That one is going on Facebook 😉

Some of the kids were asking to do Test Track afterwards, but the signs in the main area were saying a 45 minute wait, which wouldn’t get us to Soarin’ in time – it was only a little while until we could use our fastpasses! So we went over to the Seas with Nemo ride. Brian’s dad yelled “mine” to the animated birds out front, and they got all worked up doing their “mine mine mine” thing – that was neat. Inside, there was more jockeying for positions of who would ride with who, a definite downside of being in a large group. I ended up giving in and letting Lily ride alone with Abby, despite having earlier said that she always needed to be with an adult. Hopefully she wasn’t too scared during some parts, and fortunately didn’t do anything stupid and try to jump out.

The ride was fun, but we didn’t have much time to look around in the tanks before we needed to leave. To Soarin we went! The standby line was over an hour, but we zipped right in with our fastpasses. I saw the 40″ line when going in, and for a moment thought for sure Jake wouldn’t make it, sure enough they called him over to be measured. But he was quickly declared to be tall enough and we were on our way.

We were all put in the middle row, on the right hand side. I still think middle-middle is best, but I think I prefer a side to the top, I don’t like seeing the edges of the screen! Of course it was awesome, there is just nothing else that could compare to it! Everyone else agreed, and was very glad we had planned ahead and gotten fastpasses. Afterwards, it was time to head to lunch. We had our first split meal today – Brian, Lily and I were headed to Mexico to eat at the San Angel Inn, while everyone else would be going to Coral Reef Restaraunt, inside the Seas attraction. On the way we happened to spot Jasmine just coming out for a meet -n- greet, so we made a quick stop for an autograph and picture. it would turn out to be the only time we saw her this trip, so that was some real luck finding her then!

Chapter 11. We made it to Mexico

Our lunch was a little earlier than theirs, so we headed off towards Mexico. We had done quite a bit in a few short hours that morning, but still had missed a lot that we wanted to do. We began discussing the possibility of coming here on Friday instead of going to Blizzard Beach. We had a nice pool at the hotel, and of course Water World is close to home (which has all the same sorts of rides) Maybe our time that day would be better spent at Epcot. Strangely enough, I had lunch reservations made already for the 3 of us for that day in France. A while back I had considered changing plans a little and made them. And our character breakfast planned for that morning was right next to Epcot at the Beach Club, so it was seeming like a stronger choice.

We had to stop for a bottle of water on the way to Mexico, man was it getting toasty outside! We had a few extra minutes once we got there, so we did Donald’s Fiesta Tour (the boat ride) inside the pyramid before checking in for lunch. This wouldn’t seem like a particularly kid-friendly restaurant, but it had been one of Lily’s favorites last time, so she really wanted to do it again. She loves watching the volcano on the wall erupt every few minutes! The service was good and pretty fast.

Food was nothing all that special for me, I just got a salad. Brian and Lily enjoyed theirs though. I mostly come here for the atmosphere anyway. And the smell. The whole place always smells sooo good! As usual, I was too full for dessert, but Lily had some ice cream. She actually asked for a fruit cup, but I guess the waiter misunderstood. She ate it happily enough, anyway. While we were eating, I found a text on my phone from my brother, apparently something was going on in Naples that I needed to know about. But not having anyone’s cell number with me, there was little I could do at the moment. So I hoped for the best, and planned to check in later from the hotel.

Lily looked around a little in the shops after we finished, but we convinced her to save her money for now, she was already running pretty low with a lot of trip left. So we made our way back towards the busses, stopping to play in the fountains again to cool off! Back at the hotel, it was the usual routine of napping. I was surprised she had actually made it all morning without any major problems, after our late night even. Today, Brian decided to nap too instead of swimming since he was also worn out from last night. After stopping at Old Port Royale to stock up on snacks, I did my usual photopass editing and trip report writing while they slept. And today, the nap fairy left a special Epcot Mickey figurine by the bed!

The rest of our group had a successful lunch as well at Coral Reef, and checked out some more of the Nemo tanks, and the Turtle Talk with Crush show beforehand. Crush even singled Jake out and talked to him! We did that show last time, but it seemed to freak Lily out a bit, so we weren’t sad to skip it. I guess she doesn’t like the idea that her cartoon characters are actually watching and listening to her while they are on screen!

Chapter 12. A Wet and Lonely Adventure. 

Lily slept longer than normal today, having been cheated out of sleep last night. By the time she woke up, there was no time for swimming, or even a ride once back at the park. We would have to head straight to dinner, and fast! Tonight we were very split up – Emily was coming with the 3 of us to Le Cellier in Canada, while Jenny, Abby and Jake went to China, and Brian’s parents to Japan. Since we were scattered around the World Showcase, we split up soon after going through the gates. We barely made it to Canada on time, but still had quite a wait for a table. Lily and Emily were clearly enjoying each other’s company, and entertained each other while we waited. Finally we were seated, right by the entrance. Le Cellier is a very nice steakhouse- it’s like being down in the wine cellar of a fine castle! And they have the best breadsticks ever – I especially like the pretzel bread ones.

The food was exquisite as always, though I was so full from appetizer and bread by the time it came that I felt like I couldn’t even make a dent in it! The girls just got cheese pizza, nothing to exciting, but claimed it was the best ever. And then there was more ice cream afterwards. Again, I couldn’t bring myself to even order dessert. The thought of trying to eat another bite of anything made me feel physically ill.

It was getting close to time for Illuminations, so we needed to find a spot. As we were leaving, Brian got a text from his sister saying they had a good spot and for us to come meet them. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the World Showcase. Also, by this time I had now gotten another message from my brother, as well as sister and dad. So I knew I had to get in touch asap. I found a relatively quiet place behind a stone wall still in Canada, and sent Brian with Lily and Emily to meet up with his sister, thinking I would be right behind them. Okay, I harbored no illusions that I would go fast enough to actually gain on them and catch up, but thought I could still be there before the show started.

I got a hold of my dad easily enough, and by the time I was off the phone the show was about to begin. Not really knowing where I was going, I headed off alone around the World Showcase. After a few minutes I called Brian to get clarification of where they were – and found that I had a long way to go! And it was starting to rain. I hadn’t re-packed the ponchos after last night’s adventure, and only had with me a small, flimsy umbrella. But it was better than nothing. I was determined to make it around to where they were, anyway.

The rain quickly became harder, and the lightning had started to become more severe. But the show started anyway. Within minutes, the whole area seemed deserted. Everyone had either left, or sought shelter in a nearby building. I was walking completely alone, in the dark, pouring rain, surrounded by lightning and thunder. And watching Illuminations as I went. It was scary and cool at the same time. But a few mintues later, the cool factor disappeared and was replaced by terror, as the wind began sweeping the rain by me in sheets, and the water felt like hail stones pounding me. And more lighting and thunder, now all around me.

All at once, it occurred to me that there was probably a reason why I was out here alone, and since I was just coming up to the American Pavilion, I made a last minute decision to wimp out and find shelter myself. I could only hope that Brian and Lily had done the same, wherever they were.

Once inside, I called Brian. They were inside the Germany building, also waiting out the storm. I felt a little bad that I wasn’t with Lily, since I knew she had to be scared, but there was no way I could get there at the moment, at least not while using any good sense at all. There was quite a crowd gathered inside with me, so at least I wasn’t all alone any more. And still Illuminations plugged on. Finally the rain lessened enough (right as the show was ending) so I set off for Germany, and found everyone else. Brian’s parents had waited out the storm somewhere else too, and joined us soon after I did. Fearing another storm might be on the way, we set out as quickly as we could for the bus stop. We got separated on the way, and Brian, Lily and I ended up one bus behind the others. But it was probably for the better since we got to sit down for the ride back this way.

So 2 nights in a row our evening plans had been disrupted by thunder storms! What bad luck. But it was still a cool adventure, in a way. Brian wished he could have toughed it out and stayed in the storm watching for longer – he thought the natural effects just added intensity to the show! But sometimes a little common sense gets in the way of bravery. We were a pretty soggy looking bunch when we crawled back to the room, at least we didn’t have to get up quite so early in the morning. And by now we were sure that we wanted to use our Blizzard Beach day for Epcot, maybe we would have a second chance to see Illuminations without the drama from the weather.

Chapter 13. They fell, then Got ShrunkIt was the longest night of sleep on the trip, but for some reason I felt much less rested when the alarm clock went off. But we drug ourselves out of bed anyway and started getting ready. Today we were headed to Disney Hollywood Studios. We had no plans for breakfast, so after getting dressed and collecting the cousins, we headed over to Old Port Royale for a quick food court meal. Brian’s parents decided to sleep in a bit and join us later. We were at the DHS gates about 15 minutes before they opened. The plan was for everyone except me to run straight to Tower of Terror, while I made a beeline for Toy Story to get fastpasses.There was a brief opening show, then the masses were released. I’m always afraid of getting trampled! I went as quickly as my stiff, achy feet would allow (and btw I think I’ve done very minimal complaining up to this point, despite the constant pain). By the time I got there, the line to get fast passes already extended past the next building! The Green Army Men from Toy Story were there, not so much as meet -n- greet characters, but actually controlling the line and keeping order in the chaotic scene. It was pretty cute. They even made conversation with each other in the usual army men banter. Finally, with fast passes in hand, I headed back to meet up with the others.My camera was being a dork during this time -it was fogged up inside it somewhere and I was having trouble getting good pictures, fortunately it seemed to work itself out later. I saw some photopass photographers in front of the Hat and made a mental note to stop by there later. I also heard someone say that the first Little Mermaid show was at 9:40, and wondered if they would be done with ToT in time for us to make that one.I had just sat down on a brick ledge outside the ride when they came out, that was good timing! Brian had bought Lily a lollypop and was getting it open for her. She claimed to have liked the ride, though she was still seeming quiet and a little stunned. But also acted eager for the chance to do it again if the opportunity arose. She also by now really wanted to do Rockin Roller Coaster, but we couldn’t get more fast passes while we were waiting for the Toy Story ones, and the line was much too long already. So we promised to try later in the day. Lily had gotten in the habit of stalking the many birds around the parks while we were there, and often entertained herself that way whenever we were stopped for a few minutes, or even en route somewhere.

We stopped for our picture in front of the hat, then just barely made it to the Little Mermaid show. It’s always very cute. We were also interested in the Playhouse Disney show, but the next one was still 30 minutes away, and no one seemed eager to wait. We decided to go instead to the “Honey I Shrunk…” playground. I was secretly hoping to meet the Monster’s Inc characters, who were in that area, but I had no idea what time they would be there. I went to check it out after dropping everyone else at the playground, and found they wouldn’t be there for almost another hour. Doubtful that they would want to stay at the playground that long, but maybe later.

I tried to get a few pictures of Lily while she was playing, but she was very averse to the idea, far too busy playing hide and seek with her cousins. The playground “shrinks” you when you come in, so that you are much smaller than even a blade of grass. So you play among giant play-do cans, paperclips, etc. Brian’s parents arrived while we were here and joined us, and soon it was time to go use our Toy Story Mania fastpasses. We figured out that if we left from a certain exit, we were actually very close, so we headed out. Brian’s parents hadn’t been there when I got fastpasses, so there was no way to get them one. They would have to sit this one out and wait for us.

Chapter 14. I Beat You!

The fastpass line wasn’t too bad at Toy Story, about 10 minutes or so. Standby was well over an hour, and the current fastpasses being given out were for 8 hours later! Glad I got here early. There was the usual figuring out of seats, but we were loaded and off before long. I’m not particularly good at these interactive video-game style rides, and knew Brian would totally kick my butt. He was in the car next to me, and occasionally taunted me by shouting out his score, which of course was well above mine. But then came the bonus round at the end. I fired like never before, and made an amazing come from behind victory to beat him 73,000 to 71,000!!! As soon as I saw the scores come up, I started shouting over to his car “I beat you, I beat you!” Probably pretty tacky and immature, but I couldn’t believe it! The ride is definitely a lot of fun, though I’m surprised that it is still this insanely popular.

We had agreed to go back over and meet the Monsters after Toy Story. The line was very short, and we got several photopass pictures with them. Lily was disappointed that they don’t do autographs, but their hands wouldn’t hold human pens very well. They are some of my favorites though, so I was glad we got to see them. Lily was still begging to do RnRC, so Brian said he would make a fast pass run while the rest of us went back to the Playhouse Disney area. It turned out we had just missed a show there, and the next one wasn’t until 12:10, which would make us late to our character lunch. But Jake was the only one who really wanted to do it, so Jenny decided to take him and join us late for lunch. Her mom and Emily ended up going too. Lily did stand in the short line to meet two of the Little Einstein Characters though – Leo and Annie. She was hesitant, and for a moment I feared she thought herself too old for them. That would make me sad. But I think she was glad she did it afterwards.

Brian came back with fast passes that would need to be used after nap time for Rockin Roller Coaster. The rest of us headed over to the Magic of Animation. There was a short show were they explained a little about how animated characters are brought to life – hopefully not too much for Lily who (as far as I know) still totally thinks all the characters are real. But I’m sure she’ll figure it out before long, hopefully it all still seems magical to her even then. Afterwards we saw some animators at work- one was working on a Woody drawing, and finished him while we were watching! And the artist’s last name was DeLaney, pretty cool!

The character greeting areas at the end did not have the long lines I expected, but I couldn’t get Lily interested in meeting Sorcerer Mickey, claiming she had his autograph already. Meeting him in his sorcerer outfit would have been cool though. She did decide to meet Lotso, a new character from the upcoming Toy Story movie. Afterwards, they played around at some of the computer games before it was time to head to lunch.

Chapter 15. Rockin’ Out 

The 5 of us checked in at the Hollywood & Vine Restaraunt, home of the Disney Play n’Dine Lunch. We weren’t all there yet, but the CM checking us in was nice about it anyway. They ended up calling us pretty quickly, and almost right away Leo (a Little Einstein) came by! Lily, Emily, and Jake had just met him that morning, but as always he gave Lily the thumbs up for her glasses. The others still weren’t there, but we headed on up to the buffet.

This would end up feeling like one of the most unorganized meals we ate together, since we had been eating for a while when the rest of the group got there. And since it was a buffet, we were almost never all at the table at the same time. I think almost all the kids missed at least one character (but different ones), fortunately they had met most of them already that morning. (The Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and JoJo) I thought the food was okay, but nothing special. Except the chocolate chip cookies for dessert, they were yummy. The characters did the celebration thing several times where the kids could come up and dance and sing with them. Lily did it each time, but didn’t have much luck getting her cousins to join in. I don’t usually think of her as the brave one of the bunch!

We had dawdled long enough, time to head back so we could get in a nap before coming back for Fantasmic, and RnRC! Brian’s parents decided to stick around and do some more attractions since they had come later than everyone else. The bus ride back was long and frustrating as always, man do we ever miss staying on the monorail! Not that it would have helped here, but it was getting really tiring having to deal with this several times every day. Nap time went smoothly though, and Lily was up in plenty of time to head back to the park. There had been a pretty severe thunderstorm going on during most of nap time, hopefully that meant the clouds had released all their moisture and there wouldn’t be any more rain that evening!

Abby was going to need to come back with us to go on RnRC, Jenny and the others said they would meet us there later. Waiting for the bus, a family was talking about how intense RnRC was, and Brian and I wondered if this was really too much for the girls. I know Lily has come a long way since last time, but still…hopefully it wouldn’t traumatize her.

I walked with them to the ride, to make sure that Lily made the height requirement, and that it wasn’t a problem to be using the fast passes after they expired. I didn’t expect issues with either, but didn’t want to have disappeared from them too early just in case. Once they were successfully in the fast pass line, I headed out to see if I could track down their earlier photo from Tower of Terror. I got the picture sent back to the hotel, so I wouldn’t have to carry it or worry about it getting wet if it rained, like it usually seemed to do in the evening. I was still waiting for them to get off the ride when I saw the whole rest of the gang walk up, looking for them as well.

They came off before too long, and both girls were beaming – they had loved the ride! Whew – sigh of relief! Maybe she will be a thrill rider afterall. We split up shortly after this, since we had separate dinner plans, and our ADRs were earlier. The 3 of us were headed to Mama Melrose, which we had never done before. On the way, we passed Star Tours, which Brian and Lily hoped to come back to after eating, as the wait was short. We were seated pretty quickly, and the meal was delicious and fast. We were out in under an hour – a big change from most of our meals so far. So they went on in to Star Tours, and I agreed to meet them outside the Fantasmic amphitheater.

On the way, I stopped to do a bit of shopping – mostly picking out my own souvenirs since I had hardly bought anything so far. Got a purse, wallet, and a couple of shirts, all in the same matching pattern I had seen all week and liked. It was a pink and white varying stripe / plaid / solid combo with little Mickey heads on it. Very cute. Also picked up a few small things for Lily (socks and underwear, nothing all that exciting)

By the time I finished, Brian and Lily were already waiting for me, so we went on in to the amphitheater to get seats for Fantasmic. I had meant to go get their RnRC picture, but was afraid there wasn’t time. We actually found very good seats right near the front, even though the theater was filling up fast- almost an hour and a half before the show! Would Jenny and the others possibly make it in time to join us? We could try to save seats, but at the rate the theater was filling up it didn’t look good for them…

Chapter 16. Fantasmic – at least for some of us… 

We communicated by voicemail and text several times with the rest of our group, and tried diligently to save them seats, but unfortunately in the end it was in vein, as they didn’t make it to the amphitheater before it reached capacity and the gates were closed! What a bummer, they had been looking forward to seeing the show, and didn’t think they could stick around long enough for the 10:30pm one. I can’t believe DHS only does this show a few times a week now ,instead of every night like they used to. If the whole amphitheater is full 45 minutes before showtime, that is a sign that the supply is not meeting the demand!

But we did have great seats, and a perfect view. It was great as always, though Lily got a little freaked out by the part with the fire. We were so close to the water that you could really feel the heat from the flames and that scared her quite a bit. But just like last time, she was grinning from ear to ear at the end. Brian says he can’t imagine coming to Disney World and not seeing this!

After the show, I was expecting them to release us into the bus loading area like last time, but instead we were funneled back into the park, which was apparently still open. So we decided to try to get the RnRC picture before leaving. On the way, Lily asked to ride Tower of Terror again one more time, and Brian agreed to take her while I went to get the picture. She said it gave her nightmares at naptime, but wanted another go at it anyway. So we split up.

Almost immediately, I realized that it made very little sense for me to wait for them, just so we could then walk to the bus stop together. So I called Brian and told him I was heading on back to the hotel after getting the picture, and for him and Lily to come back on their own. I was tired, and my back and feet were aching, so this would give me an early reprieve. I ended up having to stand on the bus – probably should have waited for the next one instead, but I was just tired and wanted to get back asap. I was also by now carrying several bags, which I should have had sent back to the resort. They had come in handy when trying to save seats at Fantasmic, but that had ended up being in vein anyway. But slowly, I made my way back.

I spent a little time updating some photopass pictures, and then Brian and Lily got back. We made the decision to skip our breakfast plans in the morning in favor of sleeping in. We had planned to go to the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe, at the Beach Club, one of the few character meals we’ve never gotten to do. Oh well. I was mostly wanting to see the Beach Club to check it out for future possibilities, but we’ve been pretty much won over by the idea of the Contemporary, no need to tempt ourselves away from it, I suppose. Brian’s dad came over briefly for camera help, but there was nothing we could do for him, so it was off to sleep with us – much later than intended!

Chapter 17. Just Can’t get Enough of Epcot.We had given ourselves an extra hour to sleep in, getting up at 7am instead of the planned 6am, thanks to our decision to forgo the character breakfast. This is the day that we had originally planned to go to Blizzard Beach, but decided we wanted more time at Epcot instead. Jenny’s family wanted to go to Magic Kingdom, and Brian’s parents were heading to Downtown Disney. We had split up for meals, but never for a whole day before.We got ready, checked in with the others to make sure they were okay being on their own for the day, then made a quick stop by Old Port Royale for some breakfast snacks we could take with us to the bus stop. I joked that this would be the one time we didn’t have to wait for a bus, and wouldn’t have time to eat. Sure enough, there came the Epcot bus! Why was bus service never this fast when we wanted it to be???We were in line at the turnstiles well before Epcot opened, and for once got a really great spot in the center of Future World to watch the rope drop ceremony. The plan was for Brian and Lily to take off for Test Track while I went to get fast passes for Soarin’. Yes, we wanted to ride it again 🙂 As I made my way with the heard to the Land Pavilion, I passed the Character Spot. 2 years ago, Lily had missed being the first one there (and getting the cool pic with all the characters together) by a few seconds. Today, Pluto was standing outside as I passed practically begging someone to come on in! Had I been able to talk Lily into coming with me, she would have gotten to do it this time. Oh well.There was no way to move any slower or faster than the mass of people headed the same way as me – we moved almost in unison into the Land, down the escalators, and into the either the standy-by or fast-pass queue. I cleverly picked what I thought was the shortest line, but it ended up being by far the slowest. Still got pretty good return times for us though, and it turned out I would still have to wait a while for Brian and Lily. Test Track was having some technical difficulties and didn’t open on time. So I hung out near Innoventions for a while waiting for them.

Finally they came back, and we decided to do Universe of Energy next. We got lucky and walked in right as a pre-show as starting. And it wasn’t crowded at all. I had seen it once since they added the new stuff with Ellen, but didn’t remember that Bill Nye the Science Guy was in it too! Overall, it was much more enjoyable than I remembered from before, and Lily seemed to like it too. We got to sit in the very front, center, which was cool. We had talked about possibly doing Mission Space (the stationary version of it, as Brian is prone to motion sickness) but it was time for our Soarin’ fast passes so we opted to head there instead. We never did make it back to Mission Space, but that was okay with me.

This time on Soarin’ we were seated in the middle section, bottom row. Never sat on the bottom before, you can see the bottom edge of the screen but I still think that’s better than seeing the top. Wonder if we’ll ever get middle-middle again, we sure lucked out on our very first ride last trip! By this time Lily was hungry, and we had a while still until lunch. We hadn’t had a full breakfast afterall. We talked her into doing the Circle of Life (Lion King) show inside the Land first though. I always seem to forget how much I enjoy that movie. We again sat in the very center of the front row, so it felt like we were in the middle of the action!

We grabbed her a quick snack (pretzels, I think) from Sunshine Seasons inside the Land before heading out. We had a little bit of time still before lunch so we went into Innoventions. We wandered into the “What’s your Problem” show, hosted by Velcro. Lily and all the other kids got to go up on stage to perform a challenge of stacking velcro blocks, I think she was having fun from the grin on her face. There were a few other audience participation games too. When that was over, we walked a quick circle around, but didn’t really have time to do anything else. I saw where the Disney Visa Member Character Greeting area was, but it wasn’t open yet so I was hoping to come back after lunch.

We gradually made the journey to France, where we had lunch ADRs at Le Chef’s de France Restaurant. Lily started to get a little grumpy on the way, but the sight of something (or someone) coming into France made her perk up – it was Marie from the Aristocats! I would have missed her entirely but Lily apparently has a better eye for these things than me. She had just “appeared” so only one person was waiting ahead of us! Sleeping Beauty also came out around this time, and even though she had met her already on this trip, Lily took the opportunity to see her again. So far it was turning out to be a great morning, one of the best days we had had yet, I would say!

Chapter 18. Two Special Character Meetings

We were now a few minutes late for lunch so we hurried to check in, and were seated right away. This actually felt like the most intimidating place we had eaten at so far. The waiter had a very thick French accent, making him difficult to understand, and the menu items were all in French! But it would also end up being one of my favorites. I had a great vegetarian lasagna and a really yummy chocolate cake for dessert. Brian and Lily ate snails for their appetizer! We were seated near the windows and could see Belle outside, later to be joined by the Beast. When they went inside for a break, they walked right passed the windows and waved at us!

Later in the meal, a large serving cart was brought near our table, as the lid lifted off the large silver tray, guess who was underneath? Remy from Ratatouille! He could move and squeak and seemed to respond to the person wheeling him around, pretty cute! I had heard about him being here, but knew he only appeared a few times a day, so we got lucky. Lily enjoyed the two of them conversing about the food she had ordered, and thought the whole thing was really neat.

It was time to be heading back for nap, but Lily really wanted to do one more ride (preferably Spaceship Earth again) and I still wanted to see about doing the Disney Visa photo thing. So we agreed to try each of those if the line wasn’t too long. We took the boat back to Future World, which probably ended up taking longer than walking would have, oh well.

We got separated from Brian heading back to Innoventions. I found the picture spot again and there was only one person in line! But we would have to wait for Brian to join us. I called him to let him know where we were – by the time he found us a few people had gotten in line ahead of us but it still wasn’t a very long wait at all. Lily had been very resistant to doing this – she just wanted to ride something then go to her nap. But I begged, and hoped that she would cooperate. Afterall, there had been very few things I was able to do on this trip – I figured she owed me one by now.

It turned out to be great fun – one of the highlights of the trip for me! As soon as we came in the room (which was closed off completely from the outside viewers) and Lily saw Minne and Goofy waving excitedly for us to come over, her grumpiness disappeared and she was grinning from ear to ear! The characters here were awesome, they were so friendly and excited to see us, a definite perk of having that Disney Visa for sure! Minnie was especially thrilled by the special cargo I was carrying, and asked with her hands if it was a boy or a girl. The photopass people took several posed shots of us, then Minnie and Goofy had lots of hugs and kisses for us. A cool opportunity indeed.

Spaceship Earth, our other mission, only had a 5 minute wait so we made one last stop there. While Brian and Lily looked up their future videos in Project Tomorrow, I went across the way and got our free print from the photo op we had just done. We were unsure at this point which park we would spend our last few hours in on Monday, I wouldn’t mind it being Epcot but by now felt okay enough to leave even if it was our last time there. Still hadn’t gotten to do the American Adventure movie, but oh well. We just never seem to make it World Showcase for anything other than meals.

Definitely time to head back – a large storm was threatening anyway. Sure enough, it was raining by the time we made it back. We were far later getting back than I had meant to be, so it was going to have to be a short nap, and for the first time we had to wake Lily up from it. Hopefully she could just make it through dinner, which was our only other plans for the day.

Chapter 19. A Successful Ending to our Good Day. 

She was a little groggy when woken up but assured us she could last the evening. We were headed over the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where part of the group was eating at Boma (an African buffet) and the others were eating at Jiko (one of the signature restaurants) There is no way to get directly from hotel to hotel, so we were going to have take a bus to a park and transfer. So we rode to Animal Kingdom, then hopped off and got in line for the hotel bus. It went smoother and more quickly than I had feared, and we had a few extra minutes after we got there to look around in the savanna area outside.

We saw giraffes, zebras, and a few others. It might be neat to stay here sometime, but it seems so far away from everything, more than our own hotel did even. But I’m glad we got to see it once – the grounds and interior are simply fabulous. We split up to go to our separate dinners. We were seated almost right away at Boma and began helping ourselves to the buffet. Most of the food was not anything I recognized, but was very good. I was a little disconcerted after dinner to realize that one of the small desserts I had eaten contained Rum, and I had given it to the kids too! Oops, I figured it couldn’t possibly be much though, or surely it wouldn’t be legal to have it just sitting out on the buffet, with no way for the restaurant to control access to it. But all evening I kept wondering if I was feeling any effects from it.

Our dinner was done well before the others, so Brian, Lily and I headed on back. We tried to transfer at DHS, but the driver wouldn’t let us so we had to go to Epcot. Still, it hadn’t taken as long as I had feared it would. I had wanted to get back early so Lily could get to bed, but it was obvious that no one was sleepy yet, so we decided to go for an evening swim instead. I needed to pick up a package from Old Port Royale anyway. They jumped in the water while I went to take care of that, but eventually I came back having given up. The lines were too long and complicated, and I was sad to be missing not only swimming time, but the Epcot fireworks which I could hear outside.

We swam for about 30 minutes, but I knew we couldn’t stay out too late so we began heading back. I did go in to get my package now, and they filled up their resort mugs at the food court. We checked in with the others back at their room to make sure we were all set for the morning, then got ready for bed as quick as we could. Definitely one of our best days yet!