vacation Tuesday: epcot

Today was our last park day. 

For breakfast Joshua convinced me to let him have his Mickey Rice Krispie treat.  (I had mine too.)  In hindsight, I should made him eat something else too, because he crashed around lunch time.

Since we were staying at the back of the park and could get in 30 minutes early, we were hoping to stand in line for Ratatouille.  However, as we were entering in we watched the long line and we changed our plans.  We headed to Soarin instead, hoping to get a lightening lane for Ratatouille later.

Soarin was good and actually helped to time everything just right, because next was Cosmic Rewind.  Which was amazing.  Joshua didn't love it, but Cheryl thought it might be her new favorite!  (Joshua did this one twice too...after seeing this picture I'm a bit surprised.)

I grabbed Isaac for a quick selfie under the Epcot ball.  We did this last time too.

Test track was next.  It was Ben and Isaac versus Cheryl, Joshua and I; we won by just a few points.

We had a bit of time before the next plan, so the boys and I went on the mission: space rides.  Green was pretty boring.  Orange was fun.  I felt a bit wobbly afterwards but not too bad.  Then the virtual queue for Cosmic Rewind was available!

For lunch we went to space 220 and it was really neat.  We traveled up to a space station.  Isaac and Joshua got drinks that included pop rocks in rocket ship cups.  It was also fun to watch outer space and see the sorted things coming and going.  Joshua had crashed right before lunch because lunch was a bit late and he only had sugar for breakfast.  While he was grumpy he still held it together well enough until he got some food in him, and he perked back up quickly.  I dropped my fork several more times than normal; it became a joke.

As is normal at Disney, by the time we got out of lunch it was already 3pm.  We hit Nemo and figment.  At this point Ben and Cheryl needed a break and Joshua and I wanted to do the Duck Tales app game.  The kids and I went to go search for clues and find secrets around Disney.  We got through three of the games when been and Cheryl were ready to join us again.  (The kids also really wanted their pictures by the water, so we did that during this time too.)

We joined them in Mexico for the water ride, then slowly worked our way back to France.  It was the art festival so they had a bunch of food booths.  Morocco had this dragon fruit moose that I loved!  Tangy and delicious.  We then got on Ratatouille (very fun!!) and did the Frozen ride.  Joshua loved the lights on the Epcot ball too.

Ben found a nice spot to watch the evening show.  Our fancy wristbands lit up in sync with the show.  Everyone enjoyed that feature, but Joshua was especially enthralled.

We then walked back to the hotel.  I sat down on the bed with 24982 steps.  While I well exceeded my goal of 20,004 steps, it seemed like a poor choice to stop the day there.  So I putzed around the room, plugging stuff in and reached 25,000!  That was about 10 miles.  (Really, that beat my goal by almost too much.  It'll be a hard goal to beat again.)

Monday: home

I was home by myself today and it was wonderful.  It also rained most of the day, which was lovely.  The downside was that I got groceries and loading the car while it's raining is not on my list of enjoyable things to do.

I did zip through my morning chores faster than expected and was able to clean another cabinet for O:CtH.  It's slow going, but as far as cleaning goes it's enjoyable.  I got rid of a medium amount of stuff, including some old food.  The shelves are deep and high and so while I did get rid of stuff it's rather hard to tell because there's a lot of space that I don't want to use.  The biggest change was the candy shelf.  It's still a candy shelf, but it's been organized better.

The rain was rather weird today and froze somewhat.  The deck slowly got covered in ice and our cove slowly accumulated ice throughout the day.  The ice looks weird too...it appears really dirty, although I'm guessing that's actually just the texture of it.

vacation Monday: down day

We had another down day scheduled.  It just helps keep everyone happier.

No one really slept in, but after breakfast the kids did some homework and then we went to visit a few playgrounds.  They weren't all that exciting, but they stayed a while at Pop Century, partially because there were a lot of pebbles to play with.

Then on to our dessert-lunch.  We all had little lunches so we could enjoy our dessert to the fullest!  My lunch was tater tots and bacon.  There were several tater tot options in the park and I loved all of them.  It makes me wonder if I could cook with tater tots more, but I'm sure it isn't very healthy either.

Then screen time and nap time...everyone took a nap.  Sometimes the kids don't fall asleep during mandatory nap time, but we knew it was going to be a late night and we had had some long days.

We hit up the pool next.  It was barely warm enough, but the kids had fun.

Lastly, we had dinner with Travis and his family.  It seems silly to come to Florida to meet up with people from Holland, yet there we were.  They had a great time on their vacation too.

vacation Sunday: Magic Kingdom

We came into the day not knowing how busy the park was going to be.  It was going to be on the cooler side and it was Super bowl Sunday, but it was also a weekend.  (Spoiler: it was a great day to go.)  We had a tentative plan and expectations that we might not get to ride everything we wanted.  (Spoiler: we rode everything at least once.)

Cheryl and Joshua were talking and the following came out.  Cheryl: Grandpa Larry isn't a good waiter.  He always wants to do things now!  Joshua: He shouldn't work at a restaurant then.  (Joshua has had a few one-liners lately.  It's fun to hear them come through.)

Our goal was to ride Seven Dwarves first thing and then skip the extra payment since it's a special lightning lane.  We got there early and stood in a large crowd at "rope" drop.  We rushed with the best of them, although there were probably about 200 people in line ahead of us.  When we got in line the sign said 65 minutes, but then lots of people later that were still getting in line it still said 65 minutes.  We probably only waited 30 minutes, hooray! The first thing Joshua said getting off was that he wanted to ride it again.  What does Grandma do? She worked her magic and we got another ride later in the day.

We started walking towards Thunder Mountain but found a really short wait at Haunted Mansion, which was also on our short-list.  We all enjoyed it, but I'm not sure Isaac understood the reason behind it.

We went on Thunder Mountain, again with a pretty short line.  (This was a pretty surprising but normal theme throughout the day.)  Everyone enjoyed it!  We weren't sure what Joshua would think because it was probably his biggest ride so far, but he liked it!  Ben and I were both pretty excited that both kids were enjoying the big rides.

Our time for Pirates of the Caribbean was up so we went and did that.  It's cool.  (Future note: we started watching the first movie when we got home.  It might have been better to do ahead of time, but I didn't think about it and had assumed that it wouldn't be appropriate.  I've been enjoying watching the movie and seeing the scenes that we rode through.)

We had an awkward amount of time after that, so we decided to ride Thunder Mountain again.  The line said 40 min, but it was closer to  20 min.  A happy surprise, but makes it hard to plan things.

Then we had our time for Jungle Cruise.  I love this ride because of the one-liners.  It was funny but hard to hear.  They need to update their sound system.  

We went to space mountain.  (Without Cheryl, who has said this is one that she never needs to ride again.)  Isaac loved it.  Joshua gave it a medium.  I enjoyed it more than I remembered.  (I love this picture.  Joshua is being so brave.)

At this point we did some of the little rides and sit-down shows.  I was enjoying them, but Isaac was ready to go on some bigger things by the end.  (He really, really wanted to go on Space Mountain again.)  The new magic bands were a big hit.  Joshua figured out that a double tap lit them up.  Of course, Ben put several of them under his shirt and got them all going at once.

Instead we went on Seven Dwarves again.  Once again, I loved it.  It is such as smooth ride.

We had about an hour before our dinner reservation, so we decided to try the Barnyard roller coaster.  It wasn't a bad choice, but it might not have been the best choice.  The ride was really short, and this was the ride it felt like we waited the longest.  We did a lot more standing still than several of the other rides and that makes such a huge difference.

We had dinner at the Plaza.  It was good, but Isaac was getting a bit moody.  Let's be honest, it had been a long day.  We decided to forgo the fireworks because it was cold out and we didn't really have the correct clothes and we thought the Space Mountain line would be especially short.

So we went back to Space Mountain.  I was impressed that Joshua was willing to ride it again.  We did have to wait, but it was only about 45 minutes.  We caught the last part of the fireworks.

We did our last lightning lane at Peter Pan.  The flying feeling is fun but I also agree with Cheryl: I'm not sure why it is such a popular ride.

We thought about trying for another ride, but it seemed like the kids were barely holding it together. So we just called it.  Coming into the park with expectations of not having time to ride all the rides but then being able to ride several of the big ones twice was pretty amazing.

Saturday: Life is Good

The pain that was in my upper neck has travelled down to my lower neck/upper back.  I assume it's a good thing because the old soreness is gone and the new soreness is probably from compensating.  Anyway, I wasn't feeling great so I sat down on the couch with my book.  And then a cat curled up with me.  Could life get much better?

Yes, in fact it could.  I fell asleep.  When I woke up I also had Grey Bear to snuggle with and I was in a castle that Joshua made for me.

Almost better yet, Joshua picked it all up when I woke up without being asked.

vacation Saturday: "down" day

 Today was a down day, but we still packed a lot in. :)  Instead of the 18700 steps that I had yesterday I only had 10000 today.  (My record is slightly over 20000 when we went back and forth at the Tulsa zoo due to an "emergency".  I'm hoping to break that record this trip.)

We had a delicious breakfast (probably one of my favorite things about Disney) and saw some friends.

Then we started walking towards mini-golf.  We stopped on the way for a quick playground.  (In hindsight, we should have stopped at the playground on the way home or while we were queued for mini-golf, but it didn't really matter.)  We had a bit of a wait so Joshua and I went exploring.  There wasn't much to explore, but we did make a stick creation.  There was also a big connect four, so we could patiently wait.

The mini golf was great and worth the wait!  The holes were all a lot of fun.  There were a lot of really tall/upwards initial putts which was a bit odd, but it made the holes interesting too.  There was one hole were Isaac didn't get it up high enough, then he got it high enough but it was in the path that sent it back to him and then for the third try he got it in the bushes.  Then I didn't get it high enough, then got it on the return path and then I got it in the bushes.  Then Cheryl didn't get it high enough, then on the return path, but luckily she broke the cycle and got it on the right path for her third try.  The mountain hole was the favorite for several people, but I liked the buckets of water (not shown) and the whirl pool with water at the end holes.

After lunch we went swimming.  We enjoyed the lazy river and the pool slide and the hot tub and being active but not having to worry too much about a schedule.

Then I made the kids do some homework.  They did it without too much complaint, but they were not very happy about it and I had to prod them near the end a bit more than I was hoping.  Oh well.  They were still working on it.

For dinner we went to the Hoop-dee-Doo Revue.  It was a dinner show and super fun.  Joshua was having a bit of hard time in the beginning because he was cold, but I had him sit on my lap and the show picked up and he was giggling all over the place.  

Ben and Isaac went back to the pool for a few night time slides.  I think Joshua really wanted to join them, but smartly listened to his body and instead went to bed.  He was trying to tell me that he wasn't very tired, but two minutes later he was sound asleep.  The boys slept together and it really seemed like we could fit two more of them in the bed, at least.