Disney 2014

The main characters: Me, a slightly manic and completely Disney-obsessed mom of two; my husband, who tolerates and maybe even enjoys my love for the parks; my 9 year old son, who loves baseball and pokemon; and my six year old daughter, who loves princesses and trying to burp the alphabet. Guest starring: my mom, recovering from a horrible foot injury and the ensuing surgeries, who still complained less about her feet hurting than I did.

Here we all are

The latest trip and topic of my inaugural post is our recent trip to Disney World in Orlando, FL. It was the fifth trip together for most of us, fourth for my daughter. When I was growing up, we did a few trips as well - I think a total of five between ages 5 and 15. So, my kids are way ahead of where I was at their age.

This trip was the longest that I have ever done - nine nights and ten days. The excitement leading up to the trip was almost as fun as the trip itself. Being a bit type A, I spent a lot of time reading, planning, and thinking about what we hoped to do on our trip. It definitely paid off, IMHO. I am usually playing the role of tour guide - no one else really pays much attention to things like scheduling fast passes, booking dining reservations, or even just the best way to get around the parks.

Day 1

Our plane left Hartford on Friday morning - just as the first real wave of spring weather hit New England. We arrived to very hot and humid Florida weather. After hopping on the Disney Magical Express - free airport transportation available to Disney hotel guests - we arrived at the Art of Animation resort. As we were waiting for our bags to be unloaded from the bottom of the bus (just our carry-ons, Disney picks up all of your checked bags and sends them right to your room), I sent my mom ahead to complete check in. We did online check in ahead of time, but I knew that we'd still need to talk to a cast member (CM) to get our Magic Bands and whatnot all set up. It always seems to take longer than expected. The weird thing was that as soon as we got our bags, a CM came over and asked if we were the "Heller party." Mickey told her we were coming, I guess.

We ended up just joining my mom who was already working with a CM inside. Next time, though, we will know not to bother sending anyone ahead since we'd done our online check-in.

I love Art of Animation resort. It opened last year, and this was our second stay. It's a value resort with Disney and Pixar movie themes, but everything is so well done that it doesn't feel like a "value" per se. The lobby area is huge, well-lit, and brightly decorated. Walking in feels like I am finally really on vacation, even more than getting on the plane does. Only a few negatives to note: housekeeping or "mousekeeping" was inconsistent in quality. We tipped $5 per day, but it made no difference. The only other complaint I have, and something that Disney really needs to fix, is the wi-fi in rooms. It was out far more often than it worked. I frequently could not get on, which when you need to do things like change Fast Pass times or update touring plans, this was frustrating. Worse still, I had absolutely no phone service in the room, so I couldn't even use my 4g data to get online. On the plus side is the main pool, called The Great Blue with the Finding Nemo theme, which is really spectacular. It has a zero entry and lots of decorative, theme-specific stuff all around. It's also huge, which is necessary for such a large resort. More on the pool later, and some of the not-so-nice things that happened in it. 

 

Kids in the lobby at Art of Animation

After checking in, we headed to our room - which was ready even though we arrived about an hour and a half ahead of official check-in time. We had again requested a suite in the Finding Nemo section. Finding Nemo, Cars, and Lion King are all suites; Little Mermaid has regular rooms. The suites are perfect for us traveling with two kids and three adults. Two bathrooms make getting ready easy, and the dorm-sized fridge, sink, counter, and cabinets add a lot of convenience. We have our kids sleep in the room (we bring an air mattress, too, because sharing a bed is really out of the question for them) so that we can all stay up a bit later without worrying about keeping them up. My husband and I share the pull down bed, and my mom takes the pull out couch. She gets her own bathroom and the rest of us share - but still manage to get all four of us ready in less time!

Once we had settled in a bit, we decided that the heat and humidity was just begging us to go do a water park. Off we went to Blizzard Beach. Pro tip - if you want to swim or hit a water park on your first day, pack your swim stuff in your carry on. Despite my reminders, my mom forgot so she had to stick with just getting her feet wet.

This was our first time at a Disney water park! We got there around 3pm, knowing that it closes up at 5, but just wanting to check it out. We had no dinner reservation, but did have a fast pass for Soarin' at Epcot that we'd need to get to. I went to rent towels - $2 apiece, decent size and quality - and was told that they are "on Mickey" that day. Sweet.

We headed first to the wave pool - Melt Away Bay - to find a place to put down our stuff and before heading off to do any slides or attractions. Being our first time, and something of an impulsive visit, we weren't really sure what to do. We decided to split up so that my hubby could take our 9 year old on some slides while me and the six year old found more mellow activities. They did the Down Hill Double Dipper and Toboggan Racers and loved both. In the meantime, we went to the kiddie area, which my daughter was just small enough to do still. She just kept doing the slide over and over again, having the best time while my mom and I relaxed with drinks - beer for her, green iced tea for me. Not sure that it was freshly brewed iced tea, but it was not overly sweet, just refreshing. 

Here's my daughter coming down the slide in the kiddie area

Finally, we all met back up at the wave pool and enjoyed that together. The waves, while much smaller than what happens at the other water park, Typhoon Lagoon, were still pretty intense. My kids are not super strong swimmers, and they definitely needed an adult right with them in the deeper parts. I decided that our next trip would require life jackets, something that I knew would not go over very well.

We left Blizzard Beach to learn that one shortcoming of the Disney transportation system is that there is no direct bus to Epcot. Instead, signs advised that we should go to Coronado Springs resort first and then switch buses there! I felt that was bad advice, and instead we took the bus to the Beach Club resort and walked to the International Gate. I began to rethink that idea, when I realized how far we were from Soarin' at the IG.  But in general, leaving Blizzard Beach to get to Epcot is easier via Boardwalk or Yacht or Beach Club than a transfer a Coronado. No option is as good as a direct bus, though, so I would strongly hope that changes in the future. And this issue reared its ugly head again later in the vacation, too.

We got to Soarin' with three minutes to spare on our fast pass, meaning that we were twelve minutes late for the return time, but they give you a fifteen minute grace period, thankfully!

After Soarin', everyone was hungry so we grabbed food at one of our favorite spots - Sunshine Seasons right next to Soarin' in The Land pavilion. My daughter had mac and cheese, the first of many on this trip, and my son ate an adult-sized turkey sandwich. My husband went with an Asian-inspired meal - orange chicken, I believe. My mom and I were holding out for the food booths that are set up as part of the Flower and Garden Festival.

After everyone felt a bit less hangry, including me since I snacked on various leftovers, we headed out. Though we couldn't just get straight to World Showcase where I planned to do a lot of eating - we had to first stop for ice cream! The kids love Dibs, which my mom aptly (though mistakenly) referred to as Turds. Basically, they are small chunks of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate coating with Nestle crunch. Pretty tasty, actually, especially for something referred to as "turds."

Then, finally, the moment that I'd been waiting for all year, I got to head back to Flower and Garden booths. These are definitely a highlight for me. They serve small size portions of all kinds of different food, generally specific to the country. In addition, there is a Florida booth, an urban farm booth, and a pineapple pavilion. My first treat came from the U.K. booth - a sausage roll, accompanied by a cold curry/pickled salad. Yummmmm.  Next came France, where I tried the duck confit and a sparkling wine cocktail. In the meantime, the kids were doing the Phineas and Ferb scavenger hunt game. My mom got the gnocchi there, which I tried and also loved.

Just as the kids were wrapping up the scavenger hunt, Princess Aurora suddenly appeared for a meet and greet! We were the second in line, though ended up third after a crazy lady pushed in front of us. Not worth fighting for. My daughter got to meet her first princess after four visits to Disney. We just typically do not wait for characters, and she has always been too shy, but this time she was at least willing to give it a shot. I think she loved it, and I can't wait to schedule some princess dining for our next trip.

Meet and Greet With Aurora

After all that, we headed back towards the exit, stopping to try the urban farms booth - eggplant scallop and cucumber mint spa water - both excellent, and for pineapple soft serve from the pineapple spot.

In general, we were very lucky with buses, and this night was no exception. We got on and got back to the hotel pretty quickly. Our bags were waiting for us. After getting the kids mostly ready and set up for bed, hubby and I headed back out to an Epcot Wind Down event at La Cava.

We knew we'd be a little late, especially since we would arrive back at the park just as Illuminations was ending - getting from the entrance to La Cava was like being a salmon swimming against the current. Eventually, we made it, not realizing that it was such a small space and that there was a whole presentation. So basically we looked like assholes coming in and interrupting, but whatevs. We did not miss any tequila and that's what matters. The presentation, given by an energetic and fun woman named Hilda from Tequila, Mexico, was informative and fun. The tequila itself was ok, but I think that a person who likes to drink liquor straight might enjoy it more than me. It comes with a palate cleansing/stimulating shot of vodka, then a blanco, reposado, and anejo 100% agave tequila, and then a smoky mezcal. I actually enjoyed the mezcal the most, but others seemed not to like it. It tasted like chipotle peppers to me.

The only pic I got of the tequila tasting

While they nicely include a small bottle of Dasani with the tasting, I was so thirsty after our near run through massive crowds that I guzzled most of it as soon as I sat down. I noticed that a lot of others had done the same. Maybe some iced water would be a good idea to keep on the tables. Not having water made it harder for me to drink the liquor.

Luckily, the food came out and was delicious. While not huge, it was more food than a typical appetizer. The presentation was also quite nice. It included a small cup of ceviche in a rich tomato-based broth with big chunks of seafood; shredded chicken on a tostada with cabbage shreds; and a pulled pork tostada with a large helping of guacamole on top.

Normally after Wind Down it's time to leave but because it was Extra Magic Hours, hubby and I were able to hop on Maelstrom and ride in a boat all alone, which was pretty funny. We then scooted over to test track and had a relatively short wait - and then that was it for us. After a long day beginning with getting to the airport for our 9:30 flight, flying, riding the Magical Express, getting to the hotel, getting to Blizzard Beach, getting to Epcot, running to Soarin, back to hotel, back to Epcot, tequila, and rides - we were pretty well done for.

Day 2

It would have been nice if, after the crazy Day 1, I got some sleep - no such luck. For whatever reason, my body decided that I should wake up at 6 am, after staying up past 1 am. I was just probably over stimulated and not quite used to the new bed. No one else was up, and I eventually fell back to sleep for about 45 minutes.

Our plan for this day, Saturday, was Magic Kingdom. The way I set up our fast passes and our touring plan (from this website), we would spend the whole day in Tomorrowland and Fantasy Land. Fast passes were planned for Space Mountain, Peter Pan, and Tomorrowland Speedway. When we hit the park, we went straight to Winnie the Pooh, then Dumbo, then the Goofy mini-coaster, The Barnstormer. Note that this ride is not worth much of a wait. It is incredibly short - blink an you miss it. The kids did like it, though, and that's really what we were after. One thing that we missed doing in this area was the Dumbo play area because there was no wait when got in line. Later plans to return just for the play area fell through. A definite for next time. Apparently, the deal is that you can take a number and play in the play area (this is a new thing since Dumbo moved not too long ago) until your number is called. The kids loved the way it looked. 

Here we are on Dumbo

After Goofy, it was snack time. After hearing rave reviews, I wanted to try the Cake Cups at Cheshire Cafe. Sadly, we were all pretty disappointed. They look pretty, but taste like cheap frosting from a can. To be fair, we only tried the strawberry - maybe the other flavor is better. What I did enjoy there was the frozen lemonade.

After that it was on to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. My son somehow got 999,999 on it last year and was a bit disappointed that he did not do so again. Space Mountain was a first for my daughter who went from liking to hating to liking it again. We never got the chance to re-ride, but she claimed she'd go back on. We'll see what happens next year.

After Buzz, it was time for lunch fast pass for Be Our Guest. I have to say that this may have been what I was most excited about. It was our first time going into the castle, and I loved having gotten to pick out our food in advance and just take a seat. Very relaxing and civilized! Well, it wasn't that civilized because it was still a mad house in there with very few available tables. We lucked out and got a nice big one right in the center of the ballroom.

The best aspect of this meal, which I totally didn't anticipate, was listening to my daughter's excitement about being in the castle. She non-stop discussed where the beast was, where Belle was, what all the doors lead to, etc. She had tons of great questions and it was clear that for her, this IS the home of the beast. She wondered if he'd get upset if people were too loud. She observed and soaked in every little detail.

Chatting with my DD at Be Our Guest lunch. She found the balcony, with no stairs up to it, fascinating, and speculated that the the Beast would just jump to get up and down.

I also loved the food and the welcome respite from the heat. My husband and I each shared the two soups - French onion and potato leek. The latter was by far the best! The onion was just a bit too bland. We also split the roast beef sandwich, which was a good amount of food (it came with shoestring style fries). I enjoyed the sandwich a lot - nothing super fancy (and no au jus, like I sort of expected), but definitely better quality than many of the quick service spots in the parks. My mom tried, and enjoyed, the tuna nicoise salad. Though she picked out the olives - sinful! My daughter got the pasta with peach applesauce - she liked the pasta, not the applesauce. My son got the grilled cheese, which though he liked it, was on the small side. His also came with the peach applesauce, and he seemed to enjoy it.

The kids got drinks with their meals, but the adults just went with the water. It tasted like it might have been filtered and was extremely refreshing. It was also great to grab a few fresh lemons for our water bottle. This is a must-do for us now, as long as we can get the fast pass. The non-fast pass line was extremely long and all outside in blazing sun with literally no shade. They did put out ice water for those waiting, but still not worth it. If I did not have a fast pass, I would want to try to get there early or late. We are also contemplating dinner there.

The afternoon included Peter Pan, the teacups, the Speedway, the Laugh Floor, the People Mover, and Ariel's Under the Sea adventure, not in that exact order. We also took a few breaks, including to enjoy my mom's favorite treat - the carbonated frozen drinks from Tommorowland Terrace. While she was certain that NOWHERE else on the entire earth had these, I was eventually able to convince her that they are really just Icees that can be bought at almost any gas station in the US. One great addition we made on this trip was the Astro Orbiter. It was the last ride we did before we left the park, and one that on our four previous trips had been skipped. I expected that it would be Dumbo with rockets, but it goes much faster than Dumbo. The view is pretty amazing, too. The seats, however, are small and my husband and I could not fit in one together. It's also not the kind of ride you want to sit with someone you don't know well. It's probably still not a must-do for us, but if we can get one with not too crazy a wait, I think we'll do it again on most trips.

We had a fairly early reservation for California Grill, so we headed out to that. It took less time than I expected to get there, though, so we popped down the Wave for drinks. (Note about the Wave - we ate there last year and will definitely return. The food and service were both great. I have also heard that it has an excellent breakfast buffet.)

Getting to the California Grill is not as straightforward as one might like, and it took us some trial and error in the elevator. Picture us pushing the button for the 15th floor repeatedly to no effect. Turns out, you have to check in on the second floor, then take the express elevator with a cast member up to 15. We did all of that, and then got seated as soon as we walked in. The best part of this entire experience immediately hit us - what a spectacular view! Eating dinner while looking at a panoramic of the Magic Kingdom was, well, magical.

California Grill turned out to be a bit of a disappointment otherwise, but damn, what a view. Our waitress started off by saying that it was her first night working there - she had previously worked at another Disney hotel restaurant nearby called O'hana, so it was not her first time as a server. She was very nice and friendly, and we definitely wanted to cut her some slack. Ultimately, she was ok, but what was really disappointing was the lack of a support staff backing her up. Plates sat empty and were not cleared quickly, water went unfilled, drinks were finished and no one asked if we wanted another. It did not feel like the kind of service I expect at a restaurant that has a private elevator!

My view while I ate at California Grill. Go for the view.

The food, while very good, was not up to par with the prices and exclusive atmosphere that this restaurant conveys. Now, granted, I was being a bit difficult, but with a good kitchen my simply request should have easily been met. There are numerous delicious sounding sushi items on the menu, but not a salmon roll. I wanted to have a fancy roll, but with the salmon subbed in for the tuna. Or another creation by the chef. Instead, what I got were the most boring salmon rolls imaginable. Just rice and salmon wrapped in nori. No toppings, no sauces, no crunch added. The fish was fresh and delicious, but I enjoy the rolls at my local Whole Foods about as much. I don't know whether it was the kitchen that just refused to get creative for me or whether the server was unable to understand/and or convey my request. I am guessing the latter, but I would caution anyone from trying to order something not on the menu. Typically a restaurant like California Grill would send the chef out to talk to you and go out of its way to make something work, but that most certainly did not happen.

The other apps we tried were the Tuna Four Ways, the California Combination Roll, and the tomato flat bread. All of those were excellent - truly delicious and definitely up to par. For our entree, my husband and I split the scallops. These were, I must say, delectable. My mom went with the beef filet, and she was underwhelmed.

The primary attraction for many people to California Grill is the opportunity to view the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the large patios overlooking the park. Well, we certainly were looking forward to that in theory - in practice, the kids were totally done for by the time dinner ended, and we just needed to get back and get some rest. And of course jump in the pool!

A quick note on transportation from the Contemporary. The monorail only goes in one direction, so you get a lovely tour of the MK resort area. While nice, it is a bit of a waste of time. Walking is definitely quicker. After a long monorail wait then ride, we ended up getting off and walking all the way the Art of Animation bus stop - which, incidentally is directly across the street from the Contemporary! Lesson learned. It was about 45 minutes just to get back to where we started and ultimately involved more walking than if we had just crossed the street.

Day 3

Back to Epcot for day three - Mother's Day. Got there close to park opening and went directly on test track with a short wait, then to Mission Space. I tried Orange for the first time and was a bit disappointed. It did not seem that different than Green, and I didn't feel the spinning. Maybe it was broken? No CM mentioned it not working? It just wasn't exciting or thrilling, just felt the heavy weight of the g-force.

Lots of excitement and competition while designing our cars on Test Track

We ended up spending far too much time in the exit area for mission space, but eventually made it out of there and over to the World Showcase. We started on the opposite side and got Phineas and Ferb again. I began eating again. My husband and I enjoyed the spring roll in China. Then it was on to Germany. Here, we got even more food - I LOVE the Florida booth with the shrimp and grits and the watermelon and arugula salad. My mom loved the beer there. We grabbed hot dogs and these fun drinks for the kids in the outpost area just before Germany. The drinks were basically frozen lemonade with wild berry foam on top, but were in beaker-shaped bottles and called "Doofenslurpers" after the infamous Dr. Doofenshmirtz from P&F. These are souvenir cups that my kids are now using to drink smoothies out of at home. (*Update: smoothies are impossible to clean out of these, so they now for juice or water only.) They seemed to attract a lot of attention, as passerby kept asking where we got them. One person said to me “are these your children?” I got a horrified look on my face, sure that she was about to say “they just threw rocks at me” or “they just mooned me” or some equally embarrassing incident, but she was only asking to find out where we had gotten the Doofenslurpers.

Next was treats in Germany - salted caramel, a caramel filled cookies, a blondie - oh, and more beer for my mom. It was then time for a hotel pool break, our first time ever trying that out.  It worked beautifully.  We got back and did the Seas and Test Track with our fast pass, then Living with the Land just before our dinner at the Garden Grill.

Garden Grill is one of our kids' favorites. It's a (very slowly) rotating restaurant located in The Land pavilion. As it rotates, you get views into the ride Living with the Land. It is also a character dining experience, which Mickey dressed as a farmer, along with Pluto, Chip, and Dale. This was our third time eating here, and I was not that excited because the food does not really change that much. I would rather have kept trying items out in World Showcase at the special Flower and Garden tents, but that just wasn't going to fly. On this trip, the rotating mechanism for the restaurant was broken. Another drawback was that we were seated at a table meant for four with a chair on the end sticking out into the aisle. It was a less pleasant spot than previous years where we were seated at a big semi-circle booth. On the plus side, the character interaction here is always stellar. Mickey noticed that my DS was wearing a baseball related shirt and engaged him in an imaginary "at bat" in which he pitched to my son who got to hit a "home run." It was perfect and hilarious for a kid who lives and breathes baseball. (Cannot believe I did not get a picture of this, but it's possible I got it with our video camera *fingers crossed*) Chip and Dale are always funny, and my daughter asked Pluto some funny questions and the kids (gently) held up his ears for a silly pic on when he came around for a second visit.

Having fun with Pluto

Overall, character interactions are much more fun if you engage the character by conversing and asking questions. They do respond with some hilarious pantomiming that is usually pretty good at getting the message across. Another plus was the food. The salad in particular is one of the best salads I have ever had, made with ingredients grown right in The Land pavilion. Even my daughter could not get enough of the salad. The bread is tasty too and comes served with a delicious honey butter. The entrees are turkey breast and stuffing, fish (it was tilapia grown right there in tanks that we had just seen on our ride), and roasted beef with mashed potatoes. The kids are given mac and cheese, broccoli, and chicken drumsticks. My picky little eaters stuck with the mac and cheese - except the one piece of broc I made them both eat. It's an "all you care to enjoy" dining experience, so you can get more of anything that you like, but the first serving is usually enough. We did get extra salad, though. This time the quality of the food seemed to have gone up from last time and was more similar to our first time eating there. I am hoping that 2013 visit was just an aberration. Dessert for the kids was cupcake and some other weird cake thing that no one really liked. Adults got a huge berry cobbler - which my husband inexplicably asked for seconds on and did not feel great after stuffing himself with it.

After dinner, it was time to Spaceship Earth. Now, despite have eaten dessert, I did promise them Mickey Premium ice cream bars. While they played in the arcade at the end of SE, I went to track down the bars. By this time, it was 9pm and Illuminations was about to start and the park was closing. I found the only open kiosk in sight and got in what should have been a quick line. Sadly, it was staffed by one man, who moved at the speed of dirt. I finally got the bars and met up with everyone else.

My husband then took the kids back to the hotel while my mom and I got some time to hang and celebrate mother's day at the Rose and Crown Wind Down. Although we were going against the traffic to get there, the crowds seemed much smaller than on our Friday night visit to La Cava. I even got to take some pics of Illuminations on our way to the R&C.

Pictures of fireworks tend to be a bit underwhelming

This wind down event did not have the social or educational aspect that the La Cava one did. We were seated away from the bar area and it was very quiet at our table. Servers were helpful and friendly, but I missed Hilda! The food and beer came out together, which I really appreciated. The beer was a flight of four seven ounce glasses - Guinness, Harp, Bass, and a cider called Strong Bow. I would have rather had a fourth beer, but the Strong Bow was ok as far as ciders go. It was definitely refreshing.

My favorite of the four was definitely the Guinness. It was served very cold, which I know is not how it is "supposed" to be served, but I think that made me like it because usually I don't care for it. This was very refreshing, but also very flavorful and rich. The Harp and Bass were fine but uninspired. The food, though, was great! Scotch eggs are both my mom and my new favorite thing. Get yourself to somewhere that makes them. Delicious. It's essentially a hardboiled egg, wrapped in ground meat, and deep fried.

The plate also included the same sausage and curried salad I tried at the U.K. booth on our first night. I was a little sad that I didn't get to try something new, but it was so good that I got over it. Last was a good sized chunk of cheddar some sort of sweet topping. I could have eaten a good pound of it given the chance. It all went very well with the beer & cider.

Unlike after our first wind down, which was an extra magic hours night, this wind down was after park closing. The walk to the bus was almost eerie. The park was nearly empty and so quiet. If you love Epcot like I do, this is very much worth doing. Yet, going for the extra magic hours means that you will likely get to do a few rides even after your wind down. I recommend the R&C over La Cava, unless you know you love tequila. And I don't mean margaritas (though you can certainly order margaritas off the menu) - just straight up liquor.

Total cost of each of these wind downs, after tax and tip, ended up being $88 for two. Not a bargain by any means, but a fun and worthwhile treat. We frugally refrained from ordering anything else so as not to drive the cost of the evening way up.  However, if you skip a dinner reservation and make this a dinner, adding on an extra app and drink would not be so bad.

Day 4

This was our first, and it turned out only, day at Hollywood Studios, f/k/a MGM, which I still sometimes call it before getting corrected by the kids. Last year was our first time trying Hollywood Studios, and it had several rides and attractions that we all liked, so we decided to give it a full day. We started by getting there as close to opening as possible, given that we are all exhausted. I had a touring plan and was ready to go! We began by riding the Tower of Terror, basically a "drop zone" style ride with incredibly good scenery and theme. I won't tell the whole story, but it gives off a definite creepy vibe. Both kids said they'd ride, but my nine year old backed out before we even got in line. Doing the ride switch was simple, and it meant that one of the three adults would get to ride twice, which is always a bonus. As we got to the front of the line, we had to take an elevator (a real service elevator, which is kind of funny given the ride story) down to where the ride empties out. I waited first with my DS while mom, hubby, and daughter rode the ride. We were watching when the pictures of riders came up on the screen, so before I even saw my family, I knew that daughter hated the ride. In the picture, she is hiding her face while my mom is pointing and trying to get her to look outside - yeah, that worked. No shocker - she hated it. After hubs and I rode, we headed off to see a couple of shows that we'd never done before - Journey of the Little Mermaid first. We had to rush a bit, but it was worth getting in early - and the show itself was fun. While the plot was nothing too excited the effects were incredibly cool and the theater itself is worth seeing.

We then scooted across just in time to get to the Disney Junior show. Well, no one mentioned that you have to sit on the floor for this. Given my kids' lukewarm feelings about the shows that get acted out here - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake, Doc McStuffens, and Sofia the First - I would never do this one again. I was not thrilled to be on the floor, and we were in a way back corner. Even my mom, who was recovering from a broken foot and walking with a crutch was not offered a seat! I was disappointed that a Cast Member didn't take steps to ensure that she had a seat, but then again, when a nice person offered her one, she refused. Still, it's the principle of the matter. For my daughter, this was a good show, not great. For my DS, it did not even hit good and he kind of mocked it - though did get into despite himself a few times.

After the two back-to-back shows, we were all ready for another ride, so we headed over to the Star Tours ride. We had a fast pass and hopped right on. This was one of our favorite rides from last time and did not disappoint. I love how the show is different each time. The other big draw here is the gift shop, which has a fun collection of Star Wars merchandise. My son loved making a robot (they are probably called something else) that you put together yourself last year, so he did it again - with his own money. I think that it was $12.99, which is not bad considering you are getting the toy plus the experience of making it and customizing yourself.

The kids were not the only ones who enjoyed the gift shop.

After this, we went over to the Muppets 3D just in time for another show. I initially insisted that we had not done it last time, but once I got in the theater I realized that I was wrong. It's a fun and cute show, though probably one that we would skip next time in favor of having more time for rides.

Following Muppets 3D, we slowly made our way to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Places like this are huge hits with my kids. At Animal Kingdom, it's the Bone Yard they love more than pretty much anything else. On the way, we stopped for some penny pressing, snacks, pictures, and people watching. Once there, they enlisted dad in a major game of tag while my mom and I got to relax a bit. It's a pretty shaded area, and they can get wet, so it's not a bad spot for a break. Even though it may not be the most exciting Disney attraction, my kids love it so much that I couldn't dream of skipping it now.

The New York Set at Hollywood Studios. 

Finally, the heat got to them, so we headed back to the hotel for a mid-day break and swim. Totally brilliant move, again! We did not wait long for a bus, and when we made it back to the park we were much more refreshed. Only real issue was that while we were swimming, the life guards started closing the pool - the "clean" it. Not really clear what had happened, but we had our guesses. (Picture looked of grossed out disgust on all of our faces.) Luckily, or maybe unluckily, we had been swimming for a while (chlorine kills everything, right? RIGHT??) so we were ready to head back to the park.

Afternoon at Hollywood Studios was perfect. We walked on to Rockin Roller Coaster (again, we did ride switch for my youngest), and had a great ride. My 9 yo absolutely loved it, which totally made my day. I am such a coaster freak and have never seen a ride that I wouldn't ride - I am happy he is following in my footsteps. Then we used our FPP for Toy Story Midway Mania. It was even more fun that I remembered, though it was also the longest fast pass line that we waited in on the whole trip, probably close to 25 minutes, thought I didn't actually time it.

iPhone picture of our ride picture from Rockin' Roller Coaster - 

the lady next to me was definitely having fun. DS and DH are in front.

After TSMM, the kids wanted to do another go around at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, so we just went for it. I think that the adults might have picked a different attraction, but seeing them get so excited was worth it. We had a late - 7:20 pm - reservation at the Brown Derby, and we headed over there a few minutes past 7. They seated us pretty quickly, probably right on time or maybe even a few minutes early. We had tried the Brown Derby the year before and it was a unanimous hit. The kids loved the light up ice cubes that they got in drinks, and the adults enjoy the atmosphere and delicious menu. This year was no exception. I went with the chicken, my mom had the large cobb salad, and my husband had the salmon. For starters, I believe that we went with soups and the andouille-crusted prawn, but my mind is drawing a blank. I do remember being very satisfied with the meal, though I felt a bit sick after (not due to the food at all, but just over eating several days in a row).

Given my rumbly tummy, I headed back to the hotel while everyone else caught the 9 pm Fantasmic. I was a little uncertain if the kids would like it, but when they got back, it was all smiles. I felt a bit sad for missing their first time seeing it, but I felt good about getting a little downtime and extra rest.

Day 5

Our first Universal day! We decided, after pricing all options out, to go with a cab for transportation. I believe, after hearing some people's horror stories with shuttles, that we made the right call. For a family of four or less, the shuttles might be cheaper, but even with a little savings, the cab was SUPER easy. It was also a nice relaxing ride without being tightly packed into a bus with strangers, like several of Disney transportation experiences.

When purchasing our Universal tickets, I chose the days where the Universal Express Pass would be cheapest and, therefore, the crowds lightest. Because you have to buy the passes for specific days, were locked into our plans. Day one was Islands of Adventure. Let me just pause to say that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and have been dreaming of this day since I first heard it was being built. We never had time for Universal on previous trips, and I had decided that it made sense to wait until the kids were tall enough for more rides and might have interest in HP like me. It turned out that this was the year for it. I read the books aloud to the 9 yo, and we all watched the movies together. We headed straight to the Wizarding World, and got right in line for the Forbidden Journey ride, which is the headliner attraction that is in the castle. All of the detail was phenomenal, and because we hit the ride early on a day with light crowds, the wait was quick. Maybe even too quick at times because we couldn't stop long enough to hear the whole background story. No matter, it did not at all detract from our enjoyment of the ride. The only weird thing about the wait was that in order to do rider switch, you have to walk through these weird, totally boring and not-at-all themed hallways to get to a tiny holding area where you wait for the one dedicated ride vehicle to return. It's nice, again, to get in the multiple rides (sad my daughter didn't get to do it, though, but she's still a bit too short), but an odd arrangement over all. The tiny waiting area was packed and every time a new group came or left it required serious maneuvering. It also added like 10-15 minutes to our wait with only one group in front of us. I cannot even imagine what they would have done on a busier day.

From the Forbidden Journey Queue

The ride itself met and exceeded my expectations. It practically brought tears to my eyes as we swooped over the lawn and lake towards the castle. I won't give away a lot of details, but the combination of actual physical special effects and the simulation screen was perfect. It definitely had scary moments, but it was more in the effects than in the motion of the ride, in my opinion. Luckily, I got to ride twice in a row, as did the 9 yo, who also loved it.

Next we headed to the Flight of the Hippogriff, a small but worthy coaster right next to the castle. Best of all, daughter, who was sad for having missed the Forbidden Journey, loved it. We then went exploring around Hogsmeade, and popped into the Hog's Head pub to try the butter beer. How could we not? It was way better than I expected it to be! I went in expecting cream soda, but the flavor was subtly different and the foam on top was freakin awesome. Like I want to take a bath in it awesome. Although it was still early, we decided to take advantage of the light crowds at grab some lunch food from the Three Broomsticks, which is connected to the Hog's Head. We claimed a nice big table out on the back porch with an incredible view of Hogwarts and the water. I could not think of a better lunch spot, I was absolutely enthralled. For food, we tried the Cornish Pasties, which are basically the British version of empanadas. It came with a very generously portioned salad. The kids both (bo-ring) went with macaroni and cheese, but I also ordered a kids' fish and chips to make them try it. They both really liked it, which was good. I liked it even more and wished that I had gone with the adult version. My mom, inexplicably, went with the turkey leg because she "wanted something light." Um... hmm. Following the Be Our Guest lunch, this was my favorite counter or quick service meal on our trip, and I think that the prices are overall a bit better than WDW. Not much, but a tiny bit. We also shared a pumpkin juice, which was tasty but couldn't hold a candle to the awesomeness of butter beer.

Lunch with a view - of Hogwarts!

Following this delightful best-view-ever lunch, we explored Honey Dukes. Somehow we got out of there with only a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and two sugar quills (not very good looking lollipops). And I took back my commentary on WDW prices - the candy prices were over the top.

Full stomachs and all, we headed to the Dragon Challenge. I was absolutely delighted that my son was totally game for these pretty intimidating roller coasters. I think it honestly is because, as with Rockin Roller Coaster, you can't see the track much from the line, so you don't get yourself psyched out. He went on first with the rider switch (a much better arrangement on this ride) along with my husband and mom. Then I got to go with him. I thought it was a pretty impressive roller coaster - definitely intense. We are not in the Magic Kingdom anymore, Dorothy.

Since we got in so much at the Wizarding World, it was time to head on to other attractions. The crowds were getting a little overbearing by then, anyway. We decided to head back the way we came since we had really liked the looks of the Seuss-themed land. On the way, however, we made the mistake of getting in line for Poseidon's Fury. We were told that it was a "walk through show" and, given son interest in Greek mythology and our Universal Express, we decided to give it a try. We really did not know what to expect, but what we got was about 30 minutes inside a hot, stuffy, and smelly line, followed by a show that was in turns too scary and too boring to be worth our time. We finally told a CM (I know, that's a Disney term, but that's just in my head now) that we wanted to leave because the kids were SO not into it and getting scared. She pointed us to an exit, that, after a couple of wrong doors, spilled us out way behind the building onto a path literally in the employee parking lot. It was a weird and funny behind the scenes tour - there were signs saying "this way to park" so we were obviously not the first ones to follow this path, but this would NEVER have happened at Disney. We were also completely unsupervised in this area, which just felt wrong. Still, it was cool to get a look at things back there.

Finally, feeling super annoyed at having wasted a considerable amount of time on this, we got to Seuss Landing. The first ride we tried was the trolley, which was awesome. It was kind of like a Seuss-themed people mover. I loved the view it afforded us, but found the music/narration distracting and loud. It was a bit short, too. Next, it was on to the Cat in the Hat ride. This was a pretty fun ride, in the way that the Winnie the Pooh ride is fun. Quick turns and familiar characters with great visuals. It seemed a tiny bit dated, though, and our ride car stopped at one point for a surprisingly long and inexplicable time. We also ended up doing the One Fish, Two Fish ride, which is basically Dumbo with fish. After Seuss Landing, it was on to the superhero zone (can't remember the official name) with the huge Hulk coaster. We headed first to Spiderman, which we could all ride together. This turned out to be one of the worst and best rides for us. When we all went together, the ride was malfunctioning, and there were several issues with it, including no sound. It seemed very tame and did not live up to what I had read about it. Well, then it just stopped. We were right at the exit, but couldn't get out. We sat for what felt like a long time, but was probably in reality no more than ten minutes. Once we got out, they gave us the chance to ride again, explaining that the ride had shut down but was running normally again. My son, having gotten spooked by getting stuck in the ride, decided not to ride, so I waited with him in the gift shop while the others rode. The report back was that it was ridiculously good and that I missed a great ride. Oh, well, always next time.

After that, my mom and I went for the Hulk. No one else was into this, I think because it looks intimidating. And in reality, it is a very intense coaster. Totally fun, but very intense and little bumpy. We rode twice with the extra express passes. We skipped a couple of rides over there - the storm force accelerator and the doomfall or whatever. Saving those for next time - it would have just been my mom and I on the latter.

The Incredible Hulk coaster

Next was a cartoon-like land where the theme appeared to be water rides. initially, we all felt excited about water rides, but by the end of the day, no one was as into it. We saw how wet people were getting off the rides and decided to move on. We did manage to stop for ice cream and potty breaks here.

Next came the Jurassic Adventure part of the park. We tried to get the kids on the Pteranadon Flyers ride, which due to weird height restrictions they would have had to ride together or not at all, but the line was 50 minutes and did not allow the express pass. The wait was actually longer that the headliner HP ride at that time! Bizarre. Anyway, instead we played (ok, the kids and husband played, while my mom and I rested) at Camp Jurassic. I then convinced everyone to get on the Jurassic River Ride - while I knew we risked getting wet, it just did not seem like as big of a risk as the other two rides that we had skipped - the Bilge Rat Barges and a flume. Well, I thought the ride was cool and done pretty well. The animatronics were nowhere near as well done or realistic as the Dino ride at Animal Kingdom, but the ride itself was fun. And yes, we got pretty wet, but nothing horrible.

By that time, the park was closing soon, and we all wanted another butter beer and a look through the Wizarding World shops. We got there with time for a butter beer (this time inside the Hog's Head to cool off), another ride on Flight of the Hippogriff, and some time for shopping. The kids each got a "big" item - a Slytherin messenger-style bag for my son and a Hedwig shirt for my daughter. My mom got me a Christmas ornament with Dumbledore on it and a key chain with the symbol of the Deathly

Hallows. I love a subtle souvenir like that - only true fans with get it.

Goofing off in front of Hagrid's Hut in line for FotH.

We closed up the shops, and there really could not be a better time to shop there - the vast majority of people had headed to the exit and we could browse a bit without feeling too bad about it because there were still enough people checking out and whatnot that we were not holding anyone up. The staff seemed friendly and when I apologized for staying late they reassured us that we were completely fine.

So, this was the conclusion of my first day Universal since the early 90s when the park had first opened and my first time at WWOHP. I LOVED it. The park felt a lot smaller than a Disney park, which if crowded, would have been bad, but with the low crowd levels, it was nice. Bathrooms are much closer together than at WDW. Staff was slightly less well-trained, but still helpful and friendly. Recycling cans seemed somewhat less abundant. Crowds were definitely older - more teenagers, few families with small children who probably, like us, want to wait until the kids will have more to do. Way fewer strollers, too. It's definitely an awesome park, though probably one that, if my time were limited, I would be ok skipping. As great as HP is, the extra expense, including the transportation to the park, might not be an every trip kind of event. I definitely thought the Universal Express was worth it, but it did not make a huge difference on some of the rides. On a busier day, though, it would have been a must-have. I think that I'd actually like to come back and stay at a Universal resort. I'd be okay with a short trip there, and maybe transferring to WDW - or even just a Universal weekend.

For dinner, we decided to go a bit casual and, largely because my sports-fanatic son was psyched about it, check out the NBA City restaurant. I didn't precisely regret it, but it hardly knocked my socks off. My husband and I shared two appetizers and an entree. The apps were the shrimp and chorizo eggrolls and the "pinwheel" potatoes. The former was great, and everyone enjoyed them - flavorful, but not too spicy even for husband and DS. The latter was a bit of a disappointment. While the "beef con queso" dip they came with was good, the potatoes were essentially boring steak fries. Our entree was an Asian Chicken Salad. It tasty, but nothing terribly exciting. Probably could have gotten this at Chili’s. But again, we were there for the kids. They, including husband, had fun playing a few games in the little arcade afterwards. 

Kids by foot of enormous bronze statue of basketball player in front NBA City

Overall, if you have a sports fanatic in the family and are desperately hungry after you leave Islands of Adventure, it might be a good spot to get a quick bite if nowhere else has tables. It's likely that this place will have open spots even on a busy night because the quality just isn't there. Furthermore, husband reported that the men's room was in disrepair and just had a general run down, might not be open for much longer kind of vibe going on. To be fair, my mom ordered the filet and insisted, much to my chagrin, that it was the best she'd had on the trip, compared with much nicer restaurants. I am just chalking it up to her blue collar tastes, sorry mom. On the other hand, I did try a bit and it was very nice.

We got a cab right away - no wait or anything - and got back to the hotel in time for bed.

Day 6

Another Universal day - this one at the Studios. Just a note here - the Universal days were the only days when we rented a locker. Because of the cab situation, we knew that we couldn't get back to our hotel if anything happened and we needed a change of clothes, so we did get a locker and shove our backpack into both days. The locker system was easy to use and convenient and only $8 so felt like a decent deal. As it turned out, we never needed anything, but it was worth the peace of mind.

This day started really strong with some awesome attractions all at once - Despicable Me, Shrek, and Transformers, all before lunch with plenty of time to spare. We kind of slowed down a bit after that as we made our way over towards some other attractions. We stopped for a snack break, and to watch a couple of floats go by. It was not the full parade, but it got us excited for the parade later. Despicable Me is one of the kids' favorite movies and the ride itself was one of my favorites all trip.

Minion Mayhem!

We then tried ET, which was one of the few attractions that I remember as a kid. Seeing as how neither of my kids have seen the movie, this was less of a hit. But with the Universal Express, it was totally worth trying as much as possible once. The kids did, however, LOVE the Nuthouse Coaster. I went on once, then sent them along with husband for the multiple rides they did. Next they fell in love with Fievel's playland, which was a mostly kind of whimpy play area, especially when compared with the Disney versions BUT FOR the water slide. They did that over and over again, but it seemed that a storm was coming and we decided to head for lunch. We debated for a bit on what to do because unlike at IOA, where The Three Broomsticks is a no-brainer, the Studios had no obvious choice. After a few comments on a Disney chat, and the recommendations on a CM, we headed to the Simpsons food court. I have to say that the theming in this area was stellar. It was very cool to eat at Moe's Bar and drink a Duff beer (even if it did taste just like Bud). My kids, who have never watched the Simpsons, really enjoyed the TV clips that were playing. We then did one of our favorite rides in the park, the Simpsons ride. For some reason, they did not scan our Express Pass, so we ended up going on this one twice. DS then easily won a Lisa Simpson stuffie at a game that required him to throw a ball at balloons to make them pop.

Duff Beer Factory

Moe's Tavern

We tried the Kang and Kodos ride - Dumbo with aliens, and just as a downpour hit, got onto the MIB ride. Unfortunately, with the Universal Express we were on and off so quickly that it was still raining hard when we got off. Finally it slowed down and we headed around the other side of the park. I was so excited to get a peek at the newest addition to Universal - Diagon Alley, a major expansion of the Harry Potter theme and this time at the Studios. It is set to open this summer, so at least I know that on our next long trip it will definitely be open.

Diagon Alley! 

The kids did not want to the do the Twister ride and none of us were into enough to split up. We did catch a Blues Brothers show which I found mildly amusing but that my DD and mom seemed to really enjoy. I was eager to get to The Mummy ride, which is awesome! It's a roller coaster, but also an indoor dark ride with detailed sets, fire, and a plot. While my son hates fire, the awesomeness of this ride helped him overcome that and he rode twice on the ride switch. My mom and I ended up going alone on the Rip Ride Rocket - it is a coaster that looks much scarier than it actually is. I really enjoyed it and felt it has one of the smoothest rides of all the coasters I went on this week. Sadly, we had no time for a second ride before another storm hit, with thunder and lightning.

When that slowed, we ran over to the Horror Make up Show. I thought it was really funny and educational, but the kids did not like it AT ALL. Both buried their faces and covered their eyes. We then tried to do the Terminator show, but they were not having it, so we left to go wait outside for the parade. We were early enough to get actual chairs from the front of a closed up ice cream shop (why on earth they closed before the parade that brought lots of customers right to them, I could not tell you), and sat down to relax. The parade turned out ok - nothing amazing, but several fun floats with characters we know and love, like SpongeBob, Dora, etc.

Parade seats borrowed from ice cream store

By this time, no one was requesting any additional ride or shows (I was sad to have missed the animal actors show, but a dog did escape from it and run by us at one point in the day, which was pretty hilarious). We ended up calling our dinner reservation at Emeril's to see if they'd seat us early. Surprisingly, it was no problem! We moved a 6:30 reservation to for 5 people to 6:00 at 5:00 that day. Try that at Disney.

Emeril's, for me, was one of the best eating experiences on this vacation. My husband and I both went with the pre fixe menu. We started with an amuse bouche (which the server felt needed a lot of explanation and translation for us, apparently we do not look sophisticated enough to understand basic French). It was a cornmeal crusted oyster, fried and served with some type of yummy lemony sauce. The next course was scallops, followed by seabass, and the filet. It also included a dessert - pina colada crème brulee. It was a lot of food, and nice because it meant we got to try a bunch of different dishes for a reasonable price. Left us feeling VERY full. Service here was excellent. There were at least three different staff members coming over and assisting us. The main server made an excellent drink recommendation for me to help me avoid an overly sweet cocktail. Only a couple of things kind of surprised me - one was that there were at least two major "accidents" - servers dropping and smashing plates of food that scattered all over the place. Also, we had a weird view into the kitchen because of sliding doors that appeared to be broken. It was not the part of a kitchen that is normally open for people to see - it was the dishwasher and more mechanical stuff, very unattractive. Took away from the vibe a bit for me because it was directly in my line of sight. Putting that aside, I enjoyed the minimalist decor in the restaurant, brightness, and cleanliness.

Day 7

This day brought us back to the Magic Kingdom. For a variety of scheduling reasons, we ended up with two "all you care to enjoy" dining experiences on this day - a late breakfast/brunch at Crystal Palace and dinner at Mickey's Backyard BBQ, located at Fort Wilderness.

Since our first days was Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, we planned to focus on Liberty Square, Adventureland, and Frontierland. We also planned to let our son play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, and hoped to meet the newest WDW innovation - a talking Mickey Mouse. When we arrived, we headed straight for Frontierland, where we had a FP for Splash Mountain. When we got there, we saw that Big Thunder Mountain had a very short standby wait, so we hopped right on, even though we had a FP for later in the day. Good thing we did, as it turns out. After that, we used our FP for Splash Mountain. Although the kids were less excited about it than on past trips, we did a quick trip up into the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse as we made our way back to the front of the park for our 10:30ish reservation at the Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Palace finally seated us. Like Garden Grill, we eat here because the kids love it, especially for the character aspect of it. It is a buffet-style restaurant with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore as the stars. We have always done it for dinner, but decided to try a breakfast this time, basically so as to save dinner for things we wanted to do more. All in all, that was the right call. Not only is breakfast much cheaper, I actually liked the food better. On the advice of a book that has become like a Disney bible for us - the Unofficial Guide - we got the latest available breakfast reservation, with the idea being that it would switch over to lunch while we were there so we could try some of those foods, too. This was problematic for two reasons - first, by the time any lunch type of food came out, we were all completely stuffed with breakfast food. The second issue, and much worse, was that instead of switching over for lunch, they appeared to want to clear out all of the breakfast guests. The character interaction was the worst it's ever been. Winnie the Pooh was literally, and I do mean literally, dragged away by a CM from our table. The same CM was aggressively taking our kids' autograph books to give to the characters, and I actually had to stop her and tell her that she was making us feel very rushed and that the kids really like to hand the books over themselves. Another minor complaint was the location of our table. We were directly next to a large column. This would not have been a big problem, except that they made the characters go stand on that side of the table (rather than on the other side where the original hostess told our kids to sit in order to interact with the characters). So, not only were my kids far from the characters when they did come around, a big column is in every picture for the most part. Though I didn't like feeling rushed, I actually did want to hurry out of there so that we could get through the rest of our day. 

Oh, look, a column. And a crutch, too. 

Our next stop was on Main Street to get the Sorcerers cards. While we were in there, it suddenly started to pour. When it rains in Florida, it usually pours, and this was pretty torrential. When it slowed a bit, we navigated across the square for Mickey's Townsquare Theater, where we jumped in line for what we hoped would be talking Mickey. I had heard reports that it was not always talking Mickey, so I asked a few CMs, none of whom would tell me. While I understand that they are trying to preserve the magic, I really did not want to wait in line for 30 minutes for regular Mickey. Ultimately, my mom, who was still managing with her healing foot, sat on a bench while husband and daughter waited in line. My son and I went out to test the new Sorcerers game out. Essentially, it's like a scavenger hunt meets Dungeons and Dragons or something like that. You get a pack of "hero" cards and are given a map with the locations starred around MK.  Luckily, each adventure keeps you in the same land, so it is not a crazy amount of running around. Each location has a screen and a large brass symbol embedded in the ground in front of it. The screens are built to blend in incredibly well with the surrounding landscape. While not crazy hard to find, some were a bit tricky. Cool details stood out to us, like in Liberty square where one of the speakers was a shutter on the building that nearly exactly matched the other "real" shutters.

One of these shutters is not like the other

 Anyway, we started the game in the Main Street area. As you begin, Merlin gives you some background on what's happening and how you can help. Essentially, Hades (a supervillain, I guess from the Hercules franchise - otherwise I am not sure how he is related to Disney), is looking for a Crystal that will give him control of the Magic Kingdom, or something like that. He enlists other villains to do his dirty work, and each of the nine adventures has you fighting these villains, who are all familiar from Disney movies. We started off "battling" Cruella DeVil.  The fun part is that when called upon to do so, you hold up one of your "hero" cards and the system reads the card and does what your card says to the villain. For example, if you hold up an Elsa card, the villain would be frozen. We do not have an Elsa card, of course, I am only using that example. We do have a card with the Giant from Mickey in the Beanstalk. He stomps on people. My mom speculated that it wouldn't matter what card gets held up, but it actually does change the game. If your "hero" card is too weak, the villain will take longer to be beaten. I have to say that it was more fun than I expected. YET I kind of did not get the large number of adults who were playing this game on their own. No kids in sight. In fact, at our second stop, two "adults" who were probably in their early 20s and looked like they were straight out of Comic Con or perhaps a Dungeons and Dragons meet, raced ahead of my son to get to the screen first. Sweet. You beat out a 9 year old at Magic Kingdom to play a cartoon game. I hope that made their day. Luckily, my son did not really notice or care. He LOVED this game. We did talk to one adult, a solo male, who said that he mainly plays it to collect the cards. Most others seemed WAY more into it, including two young men who were straight from frat boy movie central casting were also perturbed when my kids got in line before them. We later saw them guzzling what appeared to be smuggled booze out of an old plastic gallon jug. Could not be cooler.

This is not actually them, but you get the idea. These are just some cool guys from Google Images.

After trying out a few of the Sorcerers spots, we went back into Town square Theater and joined up with our group again. It was still a good ten minute wait before we got in to see Mickey - and sure enough! He talked! That was a huge trip highlight for all of us, though the kids were a bit shy. I think that next time, I will have them think of questions ahead of time. Mickey was sweet and funny, having us say "cheese" for the camera, then "queso." I added "fromage" but my husband later told me that it was a lame joke. Lol. Exactly!  

Mickey talks!

After finishing up with Mickey, we explored the gift shop which none of us had ever visited before. Yes, it's all basically the same stuff everywhere, and yes, it's all overpriced, and yes, it's all mostly unnecessary junk. Luckily, our kids do not beg for us to buy them stuff and we used their own money to buy pre-loaded gift cards, so they had a spending limit. In addition, we agree to get them one t-shirt and one stuffed animal, or something equivalent, each year. That makes it a lot more fun to browse, try on silly hats, and goof around. I know that some parents have a very hard time getting out of gift shops, but this is one point of parenting that I am very proud of. Unlike my own six or nine year old self, who would have had a massive tantrum when told "no" in the store (because really, my life would end without those m&ms in the checkout line), our kids might ask for something but they take the answer they are given. 

We started to head towards our FP for Thunder Mountain, but because another storm appeared to be threatening (and because I saw cloud to ground lightening), we made the call to get on Pirates of the Caribbean, which is all indoors. The timing wasn't quite perfect as we ended up coming out as the rain was at it its hardest. Again, gift shop to the rescue. Given the rain, I kind of let the kids run a little wild, and even engaged in a battle with pretend plastic pirate hooks with them, until a few went flying and we had to hurriedly move on. The good thing is that storms do pass very quickly, and this was no exception. By then we were hungry again, and we hit up the stand for some Dole Whips. These are an extremely popular treat that sometimes has lines to rival Space Mountain, but we were lucky and waited no more than five minutes. We ordered a pineapple vanilla and a pineapple orange, but they accidentally gave us an orange vanilla. Instead of taking it and throwing it away, they gave us the mistake for free!  Woohoo. We all shared the three. I actually think my favorite was the mistake - it was like big Creamsicle but with soft serve ice cream. 

After that, we headed back to Liberty Square to do another Sorcerers adventure. This time the villain was from the Pocahontas movie, which my kids have not seen. That did not stop them from enjoying the game, though! After we beat the villain, it was time to head to our fast pass for the Festival of Fantasy parade. This parade is relatively new and has gotten stellar reviews. As a particular point on interest, it is supposed to feature Anna and Elsa from the hit movie Frozen. Only my daughter had seen it at that point, and as we were unable to get a FP to meet the princesses (and had no intention of spending five hours in line, which seems to be the going time table), this was her chance to see them. Given the rain, I was unsure whether the parade would happen, but a CM who was setting up for it explained that it would be a reduced version, so we decided to go for it anyway.

Parade fast passes were a new thing on this trip, and I did not know what to expect. The FP area is at the "hub" directly in front of the castle. That is a lovely location, though it is near then end of the route. Because you have to get there 15 minutes early, and because the parade takes about 12 minutes to reach you, you end up standing here for a good half an hour. This was very tough for my mom with her foot situation. Walking did not bother it so much, but standing on concrete was killer. I asked a CM if they had a wheelchair she could use, but she told me that the only option was to rent one. I had tried to do that several times already, but my mom was NOT having it, so that was out. When the "parade" known as the Rainy Day Cavalcade arrived, it was nothing short of a huge disappointment. Basically, a few truckloads of characters riding by in open vehicles waving. Definitely a waste of time and of a fast pass. I believe that if you are willing to stand around that long, there are plenty of spots along the parade route. Also, it seemed that there were too many people and they kept crowding us. 

Waiting for the parade in the Fast Pass spot

After this, we decided to go to Fantasyland for a third Sorcerers adventure. After wrapping that up, we snagged a FP to the Haunted Mansion and hopped in there. Kids seemed to like it a bit better than last time a few years ago when they both cried. We then headed back to Adventureland for yet another - final - Sorcerers adventure. Here we met a father and son who were VERY into the game - they had all but six of the hero cards. They were also Yankees fans, so we struck up a conversation. They gave my son one of their duplicate cards. The funny part about this game was how we met some really nice people and a few real oddballs. We will definitely play again. We were also able to hop right on the Aladdin’s Magic Carpets – Dumbo with carpets – that had reopened after the storms.

By this time, we decided to head out of the park to get to our dinner reservation at Fort Wilderness. I was a bit disappointed that we did not get our second ride on Thunder Mountain and did not make our usual pilgrimage out to Tom Sawyer's Island, which is a favorite of the kids, but the weather just did not cooperate. Instead, we got to try out Sorcerers and Town Square Mickey, two really fun additions that we'd never done before. We also took the time to watch the entire “Dreams Come True” show in front of the castle as we were leaving, an especially big hit with my daughter.

As we made our way out of the park, it began yet another torrential down pour. We made it to the waiting area for the boat that would take us to Fort Wilderness just in time - the rain that came after was probably some of the heaviest that I have ever seen. Looking out across the lake was like looking at a wall of water. The waiting area was covered, but a bit leaky as it was really just an old canvas. Finally, the boat arrived and the poor crowd getting off had to do it in this crazy storm. Lucky for us, it stopped just as we had to leave the covered area to get onto the boat. Unlucky for us, the only seats left were soaked. 

The boat ride took much longer than I expected, but we arrived and made our way over to the covered picnic area where the BBQ takes place. We one of the last to arrive, so our table was nowhere near the front, but it didn't really matter. We took our seats and then got right up to get food. This turned out to be one of my favorite meals. While a bit pricey, it actually ended up a decent bargain because it included unlimited adult beverages - beer, wine, and sangria. I did not try the wine, but the sangria was awful. The beer was Bud Light or Yuengling. We all went with the latter, which is a very good beer. The food was surprisingly good. There were two kinds of salad, including Cesar, potato salad, corn on the cob, ribs, burgers and dogs, mac and cheese, and my personal favorite, grilled herbed chicken. Oh, and pulled pork, which I ate a small portion of mixed with the mac and cheese. There was also fresh sweet watermelon. While many of our dinner reservations included menu items like filet, scallops, and other "fancy" dishes, this down home cooking actually really hit the spot. Maybe it's my blue collar side talking now. It also included unlimited Mickey Premium ice cream bars, which made it a huge hit with the kids. 

Aside from the food, the other attraction at the BBQ is the band and the characters that come out to dance to it. The band, while a bit loud for my taste as it made it very difficult to have any kind of conversation, was decent. They played completely forgettable music, but it was not musically offensive for the most part. The characters would come out for probably 20 minutes at a time, then take a break. During the break, Mickey and Minnie (but not the others, which I think were Goofy and Pluto or maybe the chipmunks) would go a regular meet and greet off to the side of the pavilion. We got in line for the last of three chances, and got autographs and a picture. Out on the dance floor, son got very into it when it was "kids only" with the characters. Of course, he was more into his dancing than in getting close to characters so that I could snag a good picture! It was very crowded at that point with parents watching their kids and trying to get pics, so it was not easy. One thing that fascinated daughter was the guy out there doing rope tricks. Honestly, my back was to it and (this seemed to be the theme for the day) a column blocked my view. She went right over to watch, though, and was pretty transfixed. Ultimately, this is a super low key easy dinner that mixes good food, lots of beer, and tons of fun for the kids. 

My attempts at a good dance floor photo

The only real drawback was getting back to the hotel afterwards. Because Disney buses do not do hotel to hotel transportation, we had to first get back to Magic Kingdom. There was a huge line waiting for the boats, of course, and it seemed that only one boat was running given how long it took for the second one, which we finally got on, to arrive. It was well past 9 when we got back to MK, and my husband again took the kids to the hotel while my mom and I went back into MK to buy some souvenirs. We left the park just as the fireworks were starting and saw a good bit of them. They are very cool, but I am not yet convinced that they are worth keeping our kids out past 11 to see. There are plenty of non-Disney opportunities to see pretty decent firework, at least in this area. 

Day 8

Our first - and only - Animal Kingdom day! I really love Animal Kingdom, as do the kids, but we love it for completely different reasons and enjoy very different things at the park. I tried to make this visit a good blend of both, and I think that I succeeded. Part of my success was due to an awesomely fun Animal Kingdom game called Wilderness Explorers. Basically, it's the AK version of Sorcerers but with live people instead of screens, and stickers instead of hero cards. It's a park-wide scavenger hunt, with a map, and different activities in a large book where they collect stickers. It involves a good deal of CM interaction, which was very fun with a few of the CMs, as well as some learning about animals and the environment. I don't know if it was here on our last visit, but we were not aware of it if it was. Last visit we did a much smaller version of this with stamps - one for each of the five lands instead of the 32 you can get with Wilderness Explorers. I thinks it's called Discovery Club. That still might be better for kids who can't read yet, as the WE book did require a bit of reading. 

The upshot of the WE program was that it got my kids, who normally range from lukewarm to absolutely cold on their interest in animals, much more into spotting animals and following the different wildlife trails in the park, something we had done very little of on past visits. It was great for me because instead of complaints about doing the stuff I like - I am a huge animal lover and enjoy trying to spot different wildlife in their enclosures, though I am very much ambivalent about zoos as a concept - I got enthusiasm! My son usually hates the Safari, but now couldn't wait to ride it, which was our first attraction of the day. That is something of an AK tradition for us now, particularly since we have always heard that the animals are more likely to be active early in the day. 

 Giraffes with Watusi Cattle in the background

White Rhino - apparently these are a conservation success story. 

And their horns are made of hair. See, Disney is educational!

I love the changes to the AK Safari. The old story about the poachers was just a little too silly for the majesty of this incredibly location and beautiful surroundings. It also seemed like a slightly longer ride than usual, though we saw basically all of the same animals that we have seen on previous trips. It was still awesome, regardless. 

Next up was the Pangani Forest Trail. The large animals on display were the hippos and gorillas, but the place we spent the most time was actually with the meerkats. Meerkats are social animals with a very complicated social structure, communication, set roles within the group, and more human-like traits than many other animals. While we were there, a CM was out feeding them, and they were very active. And adorable, of course. We also were lucky enough to strike up a conversation with a CM who was very knowledgeable about them and told us all of the above. 

After Pangani, it was time to head over to Dinoland, USA, which is basically a carnival-like area with a few rides, including son's favorite, the Primeval Whirl. We did rider switch for that because DD is not quite tall enough. They gave us a FP to come back anytime, so we did one ride then. While DD and I waited, we got her face painted; then, DS came and got his done. This is a big treat for them and one that my daughter had asked about close to 20 times just that morning, never mind how many times over the last seven days of our trip. Oh, and for days leading up to the trip.

 The "Lion Prince" and "Princess Kitty"

My son asked "is this as big as the real Everest?" Um, no. Not quite.

Faces freshly painted, we headed over to Expedition Everest to use our FP there. This was a first time for both kids. Given daughter's reaction to Space Mountain, we thought this might be ok for her. Nope. She did not care for it at all. My son loved it, yet another coaster under his belt. By then, we were hungry so grabbed some food in "Asia" and sat in our favorite spot by the water. I also snagged us Everest FPs for later just in case we wanted to ride again later in the day. I was a bit disappointed that the little food stand that I had always ordered from the past was closed that day. I love the eggrolls and appetizer food. I ended up sharing my husband's orange chicken, which was pretty tasty as long as I don't try to compare it to anything I ate in China, and the remains of my DD's burger, along with a shared box of fries. 

After lunch, we headed out to collect more WE badges and walk down the Maharajah Jungle Trek animal trail. Here, the big mammal on display are the tigers. These, while incredible, made me sad because despite having a huge enclosure, still did that awful zoo animal repetitive motion thing. One big male just kept walking in the same loop over and over. We also saw bats, all kinds of birds, and lots of other cool animals. 

Poor guy. Definitely not meant for captivity.

It was then time for a show that I was really excited about - Flights of Wonder. It's a performance by some really cool birds, with a funny little story mixed in with lots of educational information. An enormous hawk skimmed just over the top of husband's head. We also got to see a bald eagle, very neat tropical birds, a large crane-like bird, and many more. 

Following Flights of Wonder, and a stop for ice cream, of course, we went back for another spin on Primeval Whirl. While DS, mom, and I went on, husband took DD to ride Triceratops Spin, which is Dumbo but with dinosaurs. Then it was for the highlight of the day for the kids - the Bone Yard. As mentioned earlier, this is a huge, contained play area. It is themed to be like an archaeological dig. The kids love running around here, up and down ramps and stairs, down a huge slide, over bridges, and behind large (fake) boulders. For the more mellow child, they can actually use tools to dig out "fossils" - though you won't catch my kids doing that. In fact, you won't catch my kids at all because they are incredibly fast and never stop moving. Again, my husband was sucked into a game of tag with them that resulted in lots of screaming and giggling and peaking around corners. At one point, DD thought she was being slick and spying on husband, but we could see her entire hat over the top of the rock or whatever she was hiding behind.

Once we hit our limit here, it was time to head back to the hotel for our afternoon break. Incredibly, we had done everything we wanted to in this park. We skipped a few major attractions, though, so I'll briefly explain. We saw - and loved - Nemo last time, but it didn't seem a good use of our time to watch it again so soon. Maybe on our next trip. We have ridden Kali River Rapids exactly once, during which my DS, then 6, got completely soaked and sprayed in the face, which despite him getting voluntarily soaked at the Bone Yard that same day, was tragic for him. He turned against the ride. I had planned for us to do the ride switch so that everyone else could get on, but daughter also was not into it and the weather had taken a much cooler turn. Suddenly, getting wet did not seem very appealing to anyone. We also did not bother with Dinosaur. It's a very cool attraction, and I recommend everyone try it, but neither of my kids like loud noises and I don't think they'd enjoy this. Because the adults have already done it a couple of times, we didn't feel compelled to do it again. Last, It's a Bug's Life sounds awesome to me, but every other person in the group, including the other two adults, have bug phobias, so that's a no go for now. 

As we headed back to the hotel, our bus had to take a detour due to what was apparently a serious accident that occurred right in front of our hotel. It took longer than expected to get back, but we were able to get in a swim before needing to head out to dinner. I took advantage of the break to take a shower and actually do my hair for the first time on the trip. Again, because of the cool weather, the pool did not appeal as much to me and I only managed a quick dip.

This afternoon lead to a long transportation debacle. Seeing the accident situation and the length of time the bus ride took, I decided that we would be better off to call for a cab to take us to our dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge than to take a bus to Animal Kingdom then switch to a different bus to the lodge. This gave us a lot more time to relax. So, I went to front and let them know that I'd need a cab for a specific time. They promised it'd be available. Specifically, I asked for a van style cab since we have five people and need that in order to travel safely. When we got out there, about five minutes ahead of the appointed time, no cab was waiting. The woman who I had spoken with said that she had called and didn't know why they weren't there. She then said that a bunch of cabs got taken by other people who had given up on waiting for buses to the parks which were backed up, as I had suspected they would be. Um, ok, but you told us we'd have a cab. Then a cabbie pulls up in a car, and we, thinking that a van is on its way, turn it down. After another fifteen minutes, during which we call the restaurant to let them know that we will be late and they say they'll hold it for "15-20 minutes," yet another sedan style cab shows up. We are then told that this will work for 5 people, so, out of desperation, we jumped in. The kids ended up sharing a seat belt in the middle (reminding me of my own childhood in which that kind of maneuver was not uncommon), which was totally not safe and made me very anxious as a mom especially given that the reason we were in the cab at all was because of a serious accident (that still hadn't been cleared several hours later). Finally, we get there, pay the cab and hop out. Of course, we were dropped off at the wrong building. The correct building is a TEN MINUTE WALK. Or we could wait for the shuttle - which should be there is 10 minutes. We opt to walk, with husband trucking ahead, me in the middle, and my mom with her injury bringing up the rear. The kids kept up with husband, even though it meant a light jog at times. 

Finally, now with my hairdo completely ruined from sweating after my power walk, we get there and give our names. We are not promised anything, but it looks like we will get seated. The appeal of this restaurant, Sanaa, is that it looks out onto the Savannah, where animals like giraffe and gazelle just might be out chillin. On our visit last year, we went during daylight and were seated at a window. We saw those animals, plus an incredibly cool and enormous crane that came over and did a funny dance right in the window where we were sitting. It was truly phenomenal. We did get to check out some animals, including zebra, giraffes, a Watusi cattle (with the biggest set of horns imaginable) from the patio. This alone made all of the hassle pretty much worth it - thought I think we'll probably skip this one next time. 

We were finally seated, quicker than I would have expected, given our tardiness. It was not a window table, but by then it was nearly pitch dark anyway. The food is Indian inspired at Sanaa. It is probably not as good as your average real Indian restaurant, but since I rarely get to eat Indian food, I am not terribly picky about it. We started with the bread service with all nine condiments. Yummo. Definitely the highlight of the meal. We also ordered a salad plate with three salads, all of which were delish. I could have eaten just bread and salad and been totally happy, but we all ordered entrees as well, which I think was just overkill. Even my mom, who NEVER wastes food even if she doesn't like it, couldn't finish her meal after the bread! Service was very good and friendly here. I had the butter chicken and Durban style shrimp. The chicken rocked, the shrimp kinda sucked. It was a little fishy tasting and the Durban seasoning was just not to my liking. Frankly, it's rare for me to find a flavor I don't care for (unless we are talking Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in perhaps "earwax"), so I was a bit surprised that I could not muster any enthusiasm for it. Everyone else liked their meals, except DS who had ordered the kids' fish. I was surprised when he ordered it, but happy. Unfortunately, my husband tried it and even he did not like it. Now DS is probably going to be anti-fish for a long time!

After dinner, we went back out onto the patio where they let us use night vision goggles to look at the animals on the Savannah. Yes, Jack Bauer-style night vision goggles. This was more novelty than anything though because we could not easily tell what we were seeing and really only saw one animal that was close enough to be seen in the lights from the patio any way.

Luckily, cabbing it back to the hotel was much smoother - we got our van so that everyone could be safely buckled, and it dropped us off right in front - no ten minute walks after the ride.

Day 9

Somehow, not a single picture was taken today or the next day! For our last full day and last day in the parks, we had originally planned to go back to Hollywood Studios. However, because it was Star Wars Weekend and would be packed, and because we had done everything that we really wanted to do there, we decided to go to Epcot again instead. Looking back, I think we would have been fine with just the 6 days in the parks and used this last day exclusively for the water park, but we decided to split it instead. So, Epcot in the morning, where we went on one last run on Test Track (the fourth for hubby and I, third for everyone else), which is just favorite with everyone, then to Innoventions, an sort of interactive arcade/play area that DS in particular loves. DD got pretty into it, too, but not to the same degree. This time, DS wanted to do Sum of All Thrills, which is an incredibly cool attraction that allows you to design your own roller coaster then go into a motion simulator to test it out. My husband and I did it a few trips ago. Our son loved it, as we expected. 

I hung there with the kids for a while when my husband and mom went to check out the Flower and Garden show area, then we headed for the World Showcase to grab some lunch before going to the water park. My husband also wanted to buy a flower that was for sale at one of the F&G booths. We did some more snacking at different booths, this time trying Morocco and Japan for some yummys. The kids got hot dogs at the America part. After eating, we spent a few minutes at the huge store in the Japan area. Kids both got something there for themselves. Then we headed out to get to the water park. My mom decided to stay and do more exploring there because she was not sure about how her foot would do on the slides. 

Thus began the second biggest transportation debacle of our trip. Remember way back on day one when we learned that getting from Blizzard Beach to Epcot was nothing short of a PITA? Well, little did I realize, the reverse trip also was a problem. There is no direct bus, so we had to first wait for a bus to Coronado Springs, get off the bus there, then wait for a new bus to Blizzard Beach. This added a good hour to our day. I wish I had gone with my gut and ordered a cab. The switching did not seem like a big deal, but I failed to account for the fact that the buses just would not come as frequently as they usually do. Well, live and learn.

We got to BB around 2, three hours before park closing. We staked out a couple of chairs, left all of our stuff, got in right in line for the chair lift. The chair lift took us up to get on the slides that start at the top of the "mountain." The first ride that we went on turned out to be my absolute favorite and one of my favorite water slides ever - Teamboat Springs. We all rode in one big round raft together and flew down a long and winding path, spinning and swirling along the way. As with the day before, the heat and humidity that we had on the first part of our trip was gone, so the water felt very cold to me. I know, I'm a wimp. After Teamboat Springs, we spent some time exploring an area for pre-teens called Ski Patrol Training Camp. Both kids found things they liked here, which included a few smaller (but still fun) slides, plastic "glaciers" that you could climb on that reminded us of the show Wipeout, and a shallow pool area. After a while, husband and DS decided to go off and check out one of the major slides - Slush Gusher. DD and I hung out for a while there, then headed back to the wave pool where we left out stuff. I grabbed a frozen strawberry daiquiri from the nearby bar, pulled a chair up to the water, and relaxed while DD splashed around. It was great, though I abandoned it all once the wave started and she began drifting into pretty deep water on her tube. Eventually, husband and DS found us. The line had taken longer than advertised. The verdict on the slide was mixed. DS liked it but it kind of jostled him and gave him a headache. We decided to check out another slide that uses a raft, as that's my preference, called Runoff Rapids. We went with the two-person rafts. There was no wait as it was getting pretty late in the day. This was also an excellent ride, though similar to other water slides that I have been on. The CM at the top mentioned that I might want to take my sunglasses off, but as I told her, I wore them on Expedition Everest and it was fine. And it was, at least until I tried getting off the tube and went under in the catch pool. Luckily I grabbed my glasses, and my shoe, and got out of the way. As we were walking away, I relayed this story to my husband, who suddenly said "oh, S, my sunglasses." Oops. They fell off him in the water as well, and he did not grab them. We decided that given the late time, we would split up at that point. He went back to get his glasses while I went to try and find my mom who had supposedly left Epcot and was headed our way. In order to get back to our spot, we took the lazy river, which both kids really liked. I did not love it as I had a hard time getting into the tube, so I didn't get the full relaxation effect.

When we found my mom, her transportation debacle was even worse than ours. She took the bus back to our resort, instead of to Coronado Springs Resort, figuring that if she had to do a bus transfer anyway, it might as well be at our resort so she could freshen up there. She then waited for the Blizzard Beach bus, which our resort shares with Animal Kingdom, usually stopping at AK first. The bus said "Blizzard Beach" on top and came to the stop for Blizzard Beach. She got on, and off they went to Animal Kingdom, which she expected. But once there, the bus changed without any notice and was suddenly going an All Star resort instead of to Blizzard Beach. She had to get off the bus and make her way to a different bus stop and wait there for the BB bus. By the time she made it to the water park, it was so close to closing that she didn't even bother with the rides. 

The kids and I decided at that point to go get changed, and we left my mom with our stuff to wait for my husband. But he was not there when we got back. Meanwhile, the park is emptying, security is out, lifeguards have closed the pool, and we are just standing there waiting. It turned out that getting his sunglasses out of the water was a huge production. The lifeguards said that they were not allowed to go in for them without a supervisor present, but no supervisor was available. They would not let my husband get them either, even though they were clearly visible and not hard to reach. What they only told him after he waited around for 20 minutes, wasting the last bit of time in the park, was that he could have just gone down the slide again and got them on his way out. Um, thanks for telling him. Finally, he got the go ahead when the ride shut down for the day. Needless to say, he was dis-pleased. Another lesson learned. Either don't wear sunglasses or get a good wrap to keep them attached on rides like that.

For dinner, we headed to the Boardwalk to check out the Flying Fish Cafe for the first time. We had originally planned to eat at another Boardwalk restaurant called Kouzzina, but changed plans at the last minute after I re-read the menu and didn't feel real inspired. I think we made the right choice. In fact, we learned that Kouzzina is closing in December and service has fallen off as a result. Makes sense that the soon to be unemployed are not going be as invested in their jobs. Whatever the case, we LOVED Flying Fish. Food and service were excellent. We started off with some tasty apps - my mom and I shared the cheese platter, which for $16 for five different generous portions of cheese and four different toppings, plus some high end crackers, was a great deal. We also shared the tuna app and the crab cake, both of which were absurdly good. For entrees, my mom made the unusual choice of a pasta dish, quite a break from her record of filet every night with the exception of lamb at the Brown Derby.

Hubby and I both went with what was described as the most popular dish for our entree - potato crusted snapper served over leek "fondue."  It was very nice, the fish was perfect. The potato crust might have been a little much, so while it was tasty, I probably would have enjoyed a lighter preparation. That was more a problem with me than the dish, though. We also all shared a side of risotto, which was good but not phenomenal. I have definitely made better myself, though it was still very good, especially the peas.

This was the only night that I had room for dessert. The kids ordered a chocolate fondue type of dish, which resulted in them literally drinking the chocolate sauce after their dippers ran out. I shared the Bananas Napoleon and a trio of chocolate-based desserts that came on one plate with my husband. All was very good, my fav being the Bananas Napoleon and my least favorite being the chocolate sorbet. 

As this was our last night in FL, I was glad that this reservation was on the early side. We headed out to the Boardwalk to hang out for a bit, and the kids were delighted to find a large, open grassy area. I did not realize how uncommon this was until we were there. Even the hotel did not have any big open areas like that. They ran around for quite a while, before going a trying a few games of chance, and getting on the boat to Epcot so that we could catch our hotel bus. It turned out that going through Epcot was a totally inefficient was of doing this, and we would have been better off to just wait for the Hollywood Studios boat, or to just walk there, but in 24 hours full of transportation debacles, why not have another one. I do not remember if did anything at all in Epcot, or just passed right through on our way to our bus. I do know that given that it was a Saturday night, the crowd was a bit rowdy. It was fun, though I can see how people might want to avoid Epcot with small children during the Food and Wine festival. That night, we mainly focused on doing laundry and packing while the kids went to bed.

Day 10

At this point, we were all feeling a bit sad. Totally exhausted from this trip, but really still feeling like we'd be happy to keep going for another week or so. Alas, real life was calling us back. But not until late in the day, so we made the most of the time we had left. We started off with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, a first on this trip, then headed to mini-golf. We went back to Blizzard Beach to the Winterland Summerland course.

Now, on previous trips, we have had four mini-golf vouchers for five people, so I didn't notice the cost. This time, we had two vouchers. The remaining two kids and one adult ended up costing over $40. That was real sticker shock for me. I don't mind paying $7-$9 for a beer, and I don't really complain about the cost because I go to plenty of events where prices are pretty similar. But this was nuts!

We had fun on the course though. DS played his own round ahead of us, and we let him keep his own score. He was liberal, to say the least, in how he scored. He had several "re-dos" and clearly was intentionally under-counting his score. It's easier for us to just let him do this while the rest of us play a normal game. Well, the result was such a low score that he beat "Daisy" who was up on the chalkboard as the low scorer of the day. He even got a certificate and was pretty pleased with himself. It was hard to choke back indignation, but we settled for just reminding him to keep his celebrations mellow given how generous he was with himself on the course.

After golf, we headed back to swim, and spent the rest of the day doing that and the hotel arcade. It was incredibly relaxing, the weather was perfect, and it made a great end to our amazing vacation. Finally, we headed back onto what I have heard called the "tragical express" to deliver us back to the airport. The flight was pretty uneventful, but, as usual, the line for security was longer than any of the ride lines that we waited it. A couple behind us who were clearly coming from a My Cousin Vinnie themed costume party were very agitated because they were late for their flight. The woman actually scratched me accidentally. 

Although getting home around midnight was less than ideal, the kids were real troopers. We all got up and made it work and school basically on time the next day. And I immediately began fantasizing about our next trip back to the World.