Disney 2015! - Magic Kingdom (part 2) Wednesday

After walking approximately 25.6 miles on Tuesday, I had no problems sleeping in Wednesday morning. (I'm sure you were concerned...)

Let it be known that by this point the slathering of sunscreen onto children was getting pretty old. Bless Lance for taking charge on this task each morning.

Let it also be known that on this day it started to get really hot and muggy. No worse than Indiana in the summer, but still. Hot. Muggy. And crowded.

We started the day with another Disney classic ride: Pirates of the Caribbean! This ride had always been my favorite at Disney Land, and this version did not disappoint. There's something so catchy about that Yo Ho Ho song - you just have to sing along!

My favorite part is always the buy a wench for a bride.

Then it was back over to Tomorrowland for Buzz Light Year's Space Ranger Spin, which was pretty dang fun. The ride is also a game where you shoot at targets to earn points.

Much fun was had by all. Despite the look on Lance's face. (That's the back of Tess's head. HOW IN THE WORLD did she know to turn her face just then?!!? She's never gonna believe she went to Disney World because none of the pictures show her face...)

The two oldest Madsen brothers...

... versus the two oldest Roper siblings. Spencer and Josh beat us, but only because the ride stopped for a while and we were at a point where we couldn't shoot anything but Spencer and Josh could. Oh, and I have no idea what's going on with my face. Curse you, emperor Zurg!

Dad got the highest points because of the aforementioned ride stop.

Then it was off to something the boys had been waiting and waiting for - Space Mountain! We had so much fun we did it twice! (The line was short enough, so it was worth it.)

See this? This is the picture of a mom who does not yet know that Space Mountain is leaving some sort of oily goo on her brand new cute pink mom shorts.  GROWL!!

Spencer begged to sit in front and did - and then was pretty scared. I mean, not to pieces, but he did admit it was pretty scary! (Grandpa and Kyle both love Space Mountain.)

Here I am again. Still oblivious to the oily goo. Dang goo. Dang Space Mountain!  I mean, I love Space Mountain - it's a classic. And it's super fun. But not worth ruining shorts that I had worn for the first time that day! I came home and tried all sorts of things to get it out, but nothing worked, so then I tried OxyClean White Revive because that's worked on just about everything, but then I forgot it was soaking and left it overnight and now there are several bleached dots down the front of one leg. The oily goo is gone, but bleached dots.

I only harp on this because it's so hard to find cute shorts that are long enough and that don't cost an arm and a leg. That, and it's harp on it or keep wondering what that oily goo was, and I really don't want to think about that, or about how many billions of people had sat in that seat before me and produced that oily goo. Erlack. So now I have cute pink mom shorts that will be used for gardening and camping. *sigh*

Then it was back to Adventureland and the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Because that's always fun. (Except wait... did we do this just after Pirates? I'm beginning to forget the order of things we did. Well, we did it, and that's what matters, right?)

Then we hit the Tiki Room, which is another Disney classic. Cole HATED it. That child hates all frivolous, make-believe things. Plus, he was tired and hungry and hot, so room full of singing birds and plants was his idea of a living Hell. And I got to sit next to him. The joy of it!

We made the mistake of putting of lunch a bit and hit a HUGE rush. By this point it was really hot and muggy, we were all really hungry, and the lines at the place we went to eat were insane. It was this burger place where you ordered your food and then had to go to a condiments bar and put everything on your burger. Well, we thought we'd be smart by ordering and then sending the grandparents and grandchildren out while we waited for the food and brought it to them. Only they could only find seating outside in the sun. And once we got out we realized we couldn't just easily go back in and get everything we needed; you could leave the restaurant easily enough, but the doors wouldn't let you back in - you had to go all the way around to the entrance. Ridiculous.

It was not the happiest lunch. But we were entertained by this rather large bird that kept lurking around our tables and then happily perched on our umbrella. (The umbrella only covered 2-3 of us.) Josh, a budding nature photographer, snapped this picture of it. It was probably a good 3 feet tall!

Then we decided to go explore Tom Sawyer's Island. Josh was being a punk, but we tried our best to ignore him. Cole kept asking when we were going swimming, and then getting really made when we told him we weren't. But Spencer was happy because he had read the books associated with this and Tess was happy because there was a playground. I had fun on this barrel bridge.

We also had fun in the fort "shooting" the rifles up in the windows.

I tried to get a picture to show how crowded it was, but just as I was shooting this big hole opened in the crowd. What the what? Well, it was really crowded that afternoon. Annoyingly so.

The kids were all super hot and bored, so we spent an hour in a big shop on Main Street and let the kids pick out some souvenirs. (Spencer couldn't decide and didn't get anything and cried. I knew every kid would cry at some point in the trip. I just didn't think Spencer would lose it over shopping...)

Tess chose this fab Princess hat, but refused to pose for any pictures with it.

She LURVES this hat. She still sleeps with it.

Later we found that Alladin's Magic Carpet Ride didn't have a line, so of course we hopped on.

"Watch out - they spit."

Enjoying the breeze.

I have always loved the detail Disney puts into everything. And I've always loved Adventureland most. It was fun to see some of it from the air.

Notice my glasses? Those are the most expensive (non-prescription) sunglasses I've ever bought. My regular Target clearance ones that I really actually loved broke on the first day, so I had to buy these at the Magic Kingdom. $20! I know, not THAT pricey for sunglasses, but still. They look like something I would've worn in the 80's, so I'm totally retro cool. They also have little Mickey head holes on the sides. You'll see them on me all summer; I'm too cheap to by new ones!

After the ride we all got Dole Whips, which were as delicious as everyone claims. I'm totally making some this summer. (It's just pineapple ice cream. But DELICIOUS pineapple ice cream.) They were so delicious that I didn't even think of taking a picture. *nom*nom*nom* Everyone loved them - except Tess, but she's a weirdo.

FINALLY (Cole's emphasis, not mine) it was time for Splash mountain. We felt super-smug as we used our FastPass and bypassed all those suckers tourists who were waiting in the 60 minute line.
Zip a dee doo dah indeed!

Then we rode on Big Thunder Railroad, which was fun but kinda tame compared to some of the other rides we had been on - and were planning on. They didn't take a picture on the ride, so we stopped for one just outside of it.

One must question why I wore a white shirt on the day we went on Splash Mountain...

We spent the rest of the afternoon killing time, waiting for our dinner reservation. We rode the train a bit, where Tess told me to take a picture and then promptly pulled the hat over her face.

She teased me by lifting it a little but then pouting. Princess Punk.

We decided to get a picture at the entrance before we left. You can tell we're all a bit bedraggled after our long, hot day. Tess REFUSED to pose, but we didn't fight it.

In fact, we all decided to join it. We're all pretty good at pouting, aren't we?

That night we had dinner at The Wave, which is a nice restaurant at the Contemporary Resort. The kids were excited because we got to take the monorail there. I was excited because it wasn't a loud themed restaurant. We could actually hear each other!

The food was all excellent, but Cole's grilled cheese stole the show.

Just look at the colors of that bread! (Although I just know that if I made bread like that all I would hear is "ewwwwww! I'm not eating that!") ((That's the magic of Disney.))

The kids had ice cream sundaes for dessert, and once again Disney showed their brilliance by bringing out a scoop of ice cream and then toppings each in separate cups so the kids could put what they liked on top. I especially liked these Mickey sprinkles.

I had this awesome German Chocolate cake with Heath Bar ice cream. The picture doesn't do it justice - it was heavenly!

We all quietly rode home on the shuttle - it had been a long day. It had been hot and humid and crowded and not always the most fun. Still - more fun than just hanging around at home, so worth it.

Disney 2015! - Epcot Tuesday

On Tuesday I woke up bright and early again. So much for rest and relaxation on a vacation, right? (Not that I ever imagined rest and relaxation on this trip. But still...)

So we got dressed and ready and headed out the door and onto the shuttle. And of course the first thing we did was take the classic Epcot picture, because that's what you do. (I can't remember where Kyle was... I think he had a little later start.)

Dad and Susie got in on the PhotoPass action.

We split up first thing because we had FastPasses on big rides that Tess couldn't go on. This time Dad and Susie took her. We had a little time, so we went on Spaceship: Earth. It was this ride that had all these scenes and animatronics depicting Earth's history of communication - it reminded me of my major studies in college. ;) We were in the dark a lot and I decided then that Disney REALLY likes to put people in the dark. Like, a lot. I'd be almost half of the rides we went on included being in pitch black darkness at some point. Anyway, it was fun in a cheesy kind of way, and they had interactive computers in each little car. It took our picture and then added our heads to some animations, which Cole got a huge kick out of.

Then we went on the Chevy Test Track, which was super cool. First you get to design a car on a computer. (Great software that lets you choose color, change the shape, choose the engine, etc.) Then you get on this car and speed and bump around a race track. We reached just shy of 70mph on the track - so cool! During all of this your car is rated and compared to other people's. Spencer's and mine did well for environmental factors, but not so much for speed. (We took the higher, moral, planet-friendly high road. Lance, Josh, and Cole just wanted their car to go fast.)

After the ride you could race your car against others and then look at Chevy's in a showroom. They even had salespeople there, which I thought was pretty off-putting. Definitely did NOT make me want to buy a Chevy! But I wasn't so off-put that we didn't take advantage of the selfies you could take with the Camero.

See Kyle on the road on the right? It was supposed to look like we had hit him. (We only had a few seconds to stage each picture.)

My muscle men with their muscle car.

This was supposed to look like they hit Lance in the face with the door.

And this one they ran out of time on... but I think it's hilarious because it looks like two ghosts following Josh.

Most people were taking classy, serious pictures with the car. Not my family! (We're way more fun.)

Then we went on a ride called Mission: SPACE. From moment one the ride keeps telling you that if you get motion sick at all this was NOT the ride for you. I mean, every minute and every time an announcement was made, they drove this point home. It was humorous. And then it was a little unsettling. What was going on in this ride?! So we got on the ride, which was this little box that looked like the controls of a shuttle so you could "fly" to Mars. And there were barf bags ON the ride. And big, serious harnesses. And then I began to worry because I was right next to Cole, and even though none of my kids have ever been motion sick you just never know.

Turns out we were on a huge centrifuge and you REALLY felt those g-forces on the ride. It was AMAZING!! Those forces coupled with the video on the screens in front of you made it seem really realistic. I never get motion sick, but after that ride my stomach was in knots for a good 20 minutes after. "Fortunately", after walking all the way out of the ride (it was a really long walk for some reason), Spencer realized he had left his sunglasses. Soooo he and I had a long walk back and wait for the crew to get his glasses back. (Disney has great service that way, though. They were so polite and helpful!)

True Coleish Story: as we walked along the long corridors Cole started asking when we were going back to Earth and what we were going to do on Mars. The child truly believed we were really on Mars!! It was darling and funny at the same time. I think he was a little relieved to learn that it had all been pretend. Side note: he is now really interested in space and even bought a book about the planets last night at the book fair. My 5 year old has now taught himself all of the planets and fun facts about each one. Well done, Disney!

While we were having stomach-churning fun, Grandpa and Grandma made the ultimate sacrifice and waited in a lengthy line so Tess could meet some characters. Don't let her lack of a smile fool you - Tess was quite excited to meet them!

She was especially excited to meet Minnie - she had been talking about doing that for quite a while. She likes Minnie best because "She's a girl and has a bow".

We eventually met up and decided that the grandparents would take the kids back to the resort for lunch and swimming, while Lance and I toured around the World Showcase and had some time on our own. My Dad and Susie are the BEST. Lance and I had a great time wandering around and talking and just being without children. (A rare treat!)

My initial plan was to get a PhotoPass picture in each country, but sometimes the lines were way too long and sometimes we just couldn't find a photographer. So we never did get photos in Mexico or the Netherlands, but we got a lot of other places.

We ate lunch in the Asian section and it was so awesome because it reminded me of Taiwan. They greeted us with "nie how!" and there were pictures of each dish and it smelled authentic and I was just so happy I was giddy! (Just ask Lance.) They even gave me sweet tea instead of the Diet Coke I ordered, which also happened in Taiwan! (I took it back.)

I'm not saying going to Epcot is just like traveling around the world - it's far too clean and well managed. But it does a pretty good job. It made this girl want to hop on a plane and go explore somewhere new!

I felt obligated to take a few shots of the Asian section, just to compare with Taiwan. (Pretty similar!)

I even took an awkward selfie, just like I did in Taipei!

We wandered around each section, looking at the shops and the little museums they had. (Really little. But perfectly-sized for Disney attention spans.) Here's Lance in Germany. We're hoping he'll get to go to the real Germany some time in the next year for Aimpad and that I'll get to tag along.

Selfie with Epcot in the background. This was over by a Venetian gondola.

Flag flippers and drummers in Venice/Italy.

Me in Marakesh/the Middle East. (WAAAAYY cleaner and better smelling than the real Middle East!)

We eventually found a photographer in Asia.

Oh my word. Sometimes they made you do these really cheesy poses so they could add things like this. Good heavens.

We walked miles and miles and talked and talked. We stopped in the American section to see this big show called "The American Adventure", which was part movie/part animatronics. It was well done, but kinda long and total propaganda. They mentioned all the good stuff about America but totally glossed over a lot of the things. (Each war through WWII was heavily discussed, but from Vietnam on? Not so much.) I'm as patriotic as the next person, but it made us kinda cynical. Which is the American way, so Well Done, America of Epcot!

True Story: the theater is in this really big building, with a rotunda and everything. About 300 of us had just come up the stairs to get into the theater when our guide stopped us. There were these two little old ladies on scooters who were parked next to the balcony overlooking the rotunda. Apparently they had to ride their scooters into the theater before we could all go in, but for some reason, no matter what our ancient, Southern Belle guide told these ladies, they just couldn't understand. A classic "Who's On First" type conversation ensued. It took them a good five minutes to understand and then turn their scooters around and get into the theater. With 300 impatient people watching, it was pretty comical. I still laugh when I think about it!

Here we are, back in Marakesh.

And in Paris on the Seine. They liked those kissy poses in Europe.

In Paris still. Just before us was a couple who had recently been married at Disney World. They had on bride and groom mouse ears. There were actually lots of those types of couples around Disney World. I guess it would be a fun place to tie the knot - most of your guests would really enjoy it!

I love this picture mainly because the Beast topiary in the back looks like he's saying "Hey! What are you two doing?!"

Back in Venice. With Lady and the Tramp. Yeah, I don't get it either.

We ended the world schowcase with Canada, which also offered a show. We decided to see it because we were really tired and our feet hurt. When we walked into the theater I just about swore: THOSE DANG CANADIANS!!! They didn't have seats because it was a 360 degree theater; they just had bars to lean against. Dang Canada. Many jokes were made at their expense. (It was actually a pretty fun film; American could learn a thing or two.) ((But only if America still provided seats. Sheesh.))

We then decided to go on "Soarin'", which had a pretty long line, but we didn't mind because we didn't have kids. It was pretty cool. Then we went on a ride called "The Land". We knew it would be kinda lame because it was all about agriculture and Epcot's green houses. But I'm a farmer at heart and wanted to see it. Plus, my feet were tired. Still, it should have been named "A Bill of Goods" because that's what we were sold! The explanation of the ride said we'd see a 9 pound lemon and a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. Those were its exact words. But what did we see? A sign next to a little plant that said "Nine Pound Lemon" and a Mickey Mouse topiary. I felt jipped.

Although we did see these big fluted pumpkins.

And these Jackfruit. They kinda look like the stinky durians we saw in Taiwan, but aren't the same.

Okay, I was a little grouchy, but my blood sugar was low. We ate the yummy pastries we had bought at the Parisian Patisserie and my mood was much better!

We wandered around a few more exhibits and went on the sad Finding Nemo ride. (Not sad because they couldn't find Nemo; sad because it was kinda lame.) Eventually it was time to meet back up with the family and have dinner at the Biergarten!

It was everything we had hoped it would be - it looked like we were in a little village square in Germany during some sort of festival. Our servers were all German with great accents. It was very loud, but very festive. (That's one of the bad things about these big themed restaurants. They're VERY LOUD.)

Tess and Cole were both being naughty, so that was fun. Fortunately, the food was great. It was a buffet with all sorts of delicious salads and meats and breads and such. No one went hungry, that's for sure.

There was even entertainment. They had an oompah band and singers, bell ringers, and these alpine horns. Very entertaining. The kids liked singing and doing the actions to the chicken song.

We decided to stay for the fireworks show that night since it was a lovely evening, it started in only 45 minutes, and was much earlier than the shows at Magic Kingdom. (9:00pm versus 10:00pm!) We found a well-located picnic table and waited it out. Poor Cole kept asking every minute if it was time for the show to start.

It was a good show - lots of fire that you could feel the heat from even from far away! We were at the very back of the park, so we thought getting out and onto a shuttle would be a nightmare, but it turned out not to be too bad. On the way out we marveled at the Epcot ball - it's all outlined in black, so it looked like a cartoon; not real at all. (The picture doesn't do it justice.)

It was a great day - maybe even my favorite. Not because Epcot is so great (I mean, it is, but it's not my favorite park), but because I got to spend time with Lance and the kids (while we had them) all behaved so well.

Have You Ever Been So Tired...

... that you'd rather sleep in a box instead of your bed?

Tess has.