I Promise I Put On Deodorant! (A June 2018 Report)

[AColeman]

When we left off, we had headed back to Pop for some type of relaxation for a few hours. I still don't recall what it was, but I'm sure it involved a quick visit to Petals while we were there. After relaxing a bit, it was time to head back to Epcot. I really wanted to see the night time show, and even though we had two Epcot days, this would be the only night that we were going to be able to be there to see it. After seeing the line at Nemo earlier in the day, I went ahead and snagged us a FP for somewhere around 7pm, but on the way back to the ride we had a stop to make.

I don't know about your house, but in our's, we love us some Big Hero 6! We had stopped earlier in the day but the line was SOOO long. Thankfully when we stopped this time it was only about a 15 minute wait. Joy and Sadness, however, was still snaking about and we never made it over there for DD to get a picture with them. But, you just can't do everything, right? After out quick stop for pictures we toddled on over to see Nemo! Now, wouldn't you know that at 7pm, this area was nearly abandoned. There was a 5 min standby time...Seriously. Hey, at least we walked right on though! We still had a bit of time to spare after we got off, so we headed inside to do Turtle Talk with Crush. Now this is a pretty neat little gig. Crush was answering questions and actually picked DD to ask one...in all her glory and bravado...
"I know turtles are slow!"
Guys...I think Crush might have been offended. Haha. Those slow turtles, by the way, are land turtles. There's nothing slow about riding the EOC. Just so you all know.

By this time I knew we needed to start following the crowds and trying to find a decent spot for the show. I had several in mind, but of course, plans don't always work out...because...we get side tracked easily...especially Mom...with skulls and pretty creepy things. Where'd we end up?

Mexico!

We had actually stopped because the 3 Caballeros was a walk on, and we might as well ride it while we're passing by, right? Right. I had completely forgotten that I had wanted to stop in anyway because of all the Day of the Dead what nots. I stepped right on off into my happy place.

So, I wandered around on the way back to the ride, eyeballing all the things I wanted to take home. As we were making our way back to the back my DH caught the smell of whatever restaurant is in there (is it sad that I can't keep up? LOL). "I don't know what they have, but I want to eat here!"

Sorry, Bubba, we gotta get moving and our credits are all alotted already. Should of spoken up during planning when I asked for input! LOL.

We made it off the ride and were heading out when I saw a lady hand painting some wooden animals. There was a beautiful black cat that I picked up, saw the price, put it right back down. Come on, we've all done it. Looking back though, I had my little splurge budget set aside and I could have gotten it...should have gotten it..because I never did find anything else I really wanted. Lesson learned.

We were passing by the Joy of Tea (is that right?) cart and I remember one of you folks, or maybe many of you, saying that you had to try the Tipsy Ducks in Love if you made it passed this cart. Okay...there's a short line, I can grab em and find a spot to watch Illuminations from here. Not ideal, but okay. DH takes the monsters to find a spot and there I am trying to get a Tipsy Ducks and some kind of punch for DH.

The show starts.

Thankfully DH knows how much I really wanted to see it so he comes to take my place in line while I stand with the kids. The viewing wasn't ideal, but at least I got to see it, and try a Tipsy Duck. (Side note, apparently at the end of the night they put aaalllll the alcohol on top. Mix! Mix thoroughly!) I'm almost ashamed to tell you all that I just really didn't care for Illuminations that much. Maybe it was because I couldn't really see everything...I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and try it again if we ever get to go back.

So, here's where a bit of random unplanned fun comes in. It was EMH and Epcot was open until 11pm. Might as well try to grab a few more rides, right? From here, my phone was dying and I didn't get anymore photos, but here's the quick run down.

EVERYONE, and I mean it looked like everyone was making a mad dash to Frozen. Negative, Ghost Rider...I am not getting in that line. LOL. So, we bebopped our way over to hop on Figment. Guys...My DH didn't know who Figment was!! We walked right on and made our journey, and the monsters loved it.

So we hop off and DH has only one request...Are you ready?

Mission Space...AGAIN.

Eeeeeeek *stomps brakes* Okay, okay...it wasn't THAT bad, but I really don't want to do it again. It's late, I've had a drink, that's just not a good combination. Not to mention the little monster was freaking out because she didn't want to do it again on Orange either. (Good job kid, he'll feel more sorry for you!) We all agreed to do it again, but only on the Green side. We walk in and there's a line like, omg, but thankfully...it's all for Orange. Sweet!

We walk right in and get boarded for our mission. Green is such a more enjoyable trip. LOL. I actually quite like it on the Green side.

As we're leaving, the monsters had spotted Stitch and Angel after our first ride and I had promised them that if they didn't see anything else before we left for the day that we'd get them. So, you guessed it, we are now the proud owners of Stitch and Angel. Not bad for being on day 3 and that's the first things they've really really wanted. So, it's about 10:30 at this point and we decide it's time head back to the room and call it a day. We make our way out to the busses and see that there is a MASSIVE line at one of the stops...surely that's not Pop...tell me that's not Pop....crap. It's Pop.

Nearly all the other terminals were empty, except Pop. An AoA bus was loading and I was trying to convince DH to get on that one, that it was okay and we could walk over the bridge to the room. He didn't listen.. (Do you guys see a reoccurring theme here? LOL), so, we waited....We didn't make it on until the 3rd bus!! You could feel the tensity in that crowd, DH was sure a riot was about to break out. Haha. We decided right then that if we closed any other parks...that we'd get back some other way besides bus!

We finally made it back to the room and I got everyone in bed. As much as they hated to hear it, we had another full day planned and the kids had a special surprise the next morning so I needed them rested. Dream of Pirates, my monsters.

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[Sailormoon2]

WOW! What an intensely packed Epcot day you had!! Waiting for a POP bus at the end of the night, always seems WAAAY busier than any other bus for some weird reason.

 

[Hope Soda]

After lunch we headed over for our Star Tours FP. Now that was fun. I waited as long as I could before putting my glasses on (I had heard that was the trick), but alas, I was not identified as the spy. Maybe next time!

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My four year old has been on that ride 6 times. He has been the spy EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It's ridiculous but adorable and awesome.

 

[AColeman]

My four year old has been on that ride 6 times. He has been the spy EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It's ridiculous but adorable and awesome.

Awwww. Hehehe. That's got to be fun for him! I'll just sit over here and not so secretly be jealous of him.

 

[AColeman]

Side note for the following section as I'm sure some of you will notice (Mom obviously didn't until looking through pictures): Yes, my DS is wearing the same shirt from yesterday. Apparently in our disney stupor I completely did not notice when we were getting ready for the day that my kiddo just threw on the same shirt he wore the day before. I promise I packed him plenty of clothes!

Today was marked as our 'easy' day in my planning. The monsters grabbed a quick breakfast in the room and we were off to catch our first ride in a Minnie Van! (This ended up being a preferred method of travel, well worth the money we spent.) We were headed over to the Yacht Club (I think?) because the monsters had a pirate adventure to go on! First off, wow...This resort is absolutely gorgeous. Maybe one day we can afford to stay here!

It looked a bit like rain, and I was really afraid that this event would get rained out before it was over. It was a 2 hour activity and it was already sprinkling. We got the monsters signed in, then they were given their own little pirate hats (to keep! I didn't know this.), and boarded their vessel to go find treasure.

It was so cute. The captain and first mate had the crew chanting and "aaaargh"ing as they left the dock. They had found their treasure map that Captain Jack Sparrow had left them and they were off!

I had intended to use this time for DH and I to walk over to Epcot and wander around the World Showcase for a bit, even if we didn't make it very far into it. DH decided that was just too far and we didn't have time so we crossed the bridge to walk over to the Boardwalk area to see what we could see there. Transparent moment here, DH and I hardly ever leave our kids with anyone...we're not use to not having to keep up with them, or trying to corral them, or just have...us time. We were lost.

Whew, it was getting kind of hot already. I was ready to duck into a store or two in order to browse and cool off. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot over on the Boardwalk side open at that time of morning. We did stop into one store, but really didn't see anything we wanted so we just finished the loop and ended back up over at the Yacht Club with like..an hour+ to spare. Yeah...we totally suck at this "Us time" thing. We ended up heading inside to the little QS place as DH was getting hangry already. Hehe. We used our credits to snag some breakfast sandwiches here, and guys, they were good! He got ham, I got turkey, and they were massive for breakfast sandwiches. I grabbed the monsters a gatorade a piece while we were there, then we headed back outside to a bench to wait.

It was finally about time for them to come back, thankfully the rain had held off and clouds had moved on. You could hear the kiddos before you could ever see them. Hehe. Adorable. About that time, an enemy pirate came out and was frantically running up and down the dock as the kids were screaming "Get that pirate!". It was Captain Stinky Feet (or something like that, LOL) and he had been one step ahead all day in finding the treasures. Once back on land, the crew finally found the box of treasure and were all rewarded with their own little treasure box full of gems, necklaces, rings, stickers, etc. On their voyage they had all also been rewarded with pirate swords in order to fight the 'bad pirates'.

With our pirate fledglings back in tow, it was time to make it back over to Epcot for our half day there. We decided to take a boat over, just because. Thankfully the CM's saw us coming as they were getting ready to undock. I told DD to run ahead and tell them we were coming, but they were nice and waited after they spotted us. We loaded up and breezed on over on a quick ride to the gateway. Again, Mom had wanted to spend some time in the World Showcase, and this was the most it was going to happen....walking through on our way to FPs. Haha. Next time, there's always next time.

We had FP's for Living with the Land, Soarin', and Meet and Greets with Mickey and Friends. Somehow...I didn't get pictures of any of this on my phone. Oopsie! Living with the land was a really neat ride. The monsters enjoyed spotting the hidden mickeys, and DH was amazed at how they had some of the plants growing. We left from there to hit up Soarin'. Man...I'm sure glad we had a FP for this one! That line was so incredibly long, and now that I've ridden this ride, I would have been very disappointed to have missed it. This is probably ranked in my top 3 rides from our trip.

None of us were really sure what we were getting into, and once the rig lifted up I was sure we had made a fatal motion sickness mistake. Hahahaha. This was a beautiful ride, and I love LOVE that Disney uses scents to help you really experience this. Now, if anyone can tell me what they used for the scent as you glide over Fiji...I need this in my life. I believe they use it again in FoP, and I just really need my home to smell like this all the time! When the ride was over, the monsters really wanted to do it again, but there was no way I was waiting in that line. As we were leaving the building, the bottom decided to drop out of the sky. Mommy fail here, I had never purchased ponchos. >.< Thankfully we're country folks and a little rain never hurt anything. We made a speed walk dash over to the building where our FP with Mickey was. Of course it's super crowded with everyone waiting out the rain, but that's okay. We found a spot against the wall and took a rest for the 15 minutes or so we had until our window opened.

Mickey was in a playful mood. When we went up to get the family picture, DH towered over Mickey. When we were finished, DH was cracking up going did you see what he did? I hadn't. Apparently Mickey just kept looking up at DH like "Man, you're tall!". Hehe.

I love this photo because you can see DH trying his best to keep a straight face and failing. Hehe.

Of course there was Goofy... DH might have gotten jealous because Goofy was giving me kisses on the forehead in between pictures. Hehe.

And of course, beautiful Ms. Minnie:

This photo right here is why I wanted to go to Disney so badly. To me, this is the magic. DS is 9, he knows that this isn't 'the' Minnie, but in this moment right here, he didn't care. He was in Disney and he was getting his picture taken with Minnie! He was so excited and I'm grateful to the photographer for catching this moment for us to remember.

After our meet and greets, it was time to head back to Pop, take a break, and get ready for the evening. Tonight was date night for DH and I! Woo hoo! I can not tell you all how long it's been since DH and I actually went out...on a date... It had certainly been well over a year by this point. I had reservations for the monsters to go to the Pixar Play Zone while Dh and I did the Highway in the Sky Dinearound. Mom was excited!

After our rest, and showers, and snacks it was time to head off. I hailed another Minnie Van and we were off. I didn't even think to get pictures of the kids before we dropped them off, but, that's okay. I should note right here that neither kid was happy to be going to Disney 'daycare' while we went out. They were both kind of sulking and being butts. (Honesty, it's brutal sometimes. LOL)
We signed them in, selected their meal for the evening, and basically threw a quick wave at them and ran!

No, I'm kidding...we only had to go downstairs to The Wave...maybe we just walked away very fast. *innocent look*

DH and I signed in for the evening, got our event lanyard, and settled in for what we hoped would be an awesome night!

Aaaaaaand, here is where things start going a little sideways for us.

Have you all picked up that DH and I aren't really social creatures yet? Yeah.... Well, we've checked into the Dinearound event and we're all just hanging out in the lounge area...like sardines...and as more people show up, the crowd is getting closer to our 'bubble'..and we're already hating it. *headdesk* Seeing as I had paid an arm and a leg for this night, we agreed to stick it out and just hope it got better as we went along.

Starting at The Wave we were given a newly created drink. It was a Peach Tea with Whiskey, with a brulee'd sugared lemon as dressing. Of course Dh and I downed ours, we're Southern, that was nothing. (I should also note, I promise we don't drink as much at home as it seems we did on this trip! Haha) We were then offered a itty bitty tea cup size of an asparagus crab soup. It was getting awkward at this point because there aren't tables for everyone, so I had to ask our neighbors if I could set our empty drink glasses on theirs. Thankfully they were nice and even scooted their table closer to us so we could share. Dh looked at me when he was handed his itty bitty soup and goes "What am I suppose to do with this? It's like I'm eating out of Chip!" These were the smallest cups and soup spoons I have ever seen in my life, but ya'll...that soup...Oh my my. It was absolutely delicious! As far as the food, we were off to a good start! After a few more minutes we were off to the monorail to head over to the Poly for our next round.

We boarded the monorail, only to find there wouldn't be enough room for everyone to sit comfortably. Eh, that's okay, we're not going far..but then there was 'that' guy. As Dh and I are hold on to the rails I notice 'that' guy sitting on one of the seats, basically spread eagle blocking the seat next to him so no one else could sit down. I should mention I'm in heels...uncomfortable heels at that (I'm a flip flop year round girl) and this guy is just spread out just as comfy as he could be. Yeah, I probably could have said "Excuse me" and sat down, but I just shook my head and nodded to hubby. He knew, he saw it too. The bad thing, I think I was more upset that there was an older lady holding on to the rails too and that man didn't even check up and offer her his seat. Again, we're from Mississippi and maybe it's just a thing with us..but that really bothered me. We arrive at the Poly and were escorted inside to a very small blocked off area that was nearly standing room only. I think there was only about 3 tables with chairs, which I immediately made my way to so I could get off of my feet. (I'm so sorry for anyone else who was suffering). Thankfully this meant that DH and I could sit together...alone...and not have to share a standing table with strangers. Whew! Here we were served a Mai Tai and an appetizer plate that consisted of a grouper, a raw fish something or other, and some kind of beef on potatoes. My favorite was the grouper, though the raw fish was a close second. Dh found it funny that we were one of the few who actually ate the raw. I had my back to the crowd, but he said nearly everyone else left it on their plate. We're adventurous folks who will at least try something once. It works out most of the time. It was quickly time to board the monorail again, and ya'll. Bless him. This time there was an older couple from the UK visiting. Lovely people, really. I was set to hold on to the rails again and the older gentleman stood and offered me his seat. I politely refused (he was like my pawpaw old ya'll) but his wife was quick to tell me that he wouldn't sit back down and to not worry that he was still only 20 years old at heart. I thanked him and took his seat, who was I to argue at this point? We had a nice chat about their visit and how their son had set this up for them, only telling them that day (or the day before) for their anniversary. It later came to be that their son had another surprise in store, but we'll get to that soon.

We arrived at The Grand Floridian. Again....Oh my goodness at this resort. We walked in and I was completely in awe.

Gorgeous!

We were headed to our main course over at Citrico's (I think that's right, someone correct me if not). I had looked at this place when debating on what I should plan for date night. I decided on the dine around so we could see different places instead of going to just one. When we arrived, the group was split into different sections and we were the last few to be taken in. We were being taken to dine at the chef's table!! I had seen the price on reserving this particular table and there's no way we'd ever get to do it, so I was giddy to say the least...until I realized that meant we'd be sitting with about 6 other people...awkward again! DH and I both got the white wine with our meal which was yet again another fish, and I think a spare rib? The fish was good, but for such an expensive place I really wasn't impressed with the spare rib. Everyone was oooh'ing and aaahhhh'ing over the meal, but I'm going to be honest, it was lacking. DH and I didn't do much talking during the meal...we were however discretely texting each other. Haha. I told him the spare rib reminded me of my roast that I make in the crock pot at home...Sadly, he 100% agreed with me! After our meal there, we were escorted down to the tea room area and were served a meat and cheese board, again sitting at a table with strangers. Guys, we're not elegant folks..you probably don't want to sit with us if you're more well...classy. We know it, and now you know it too. We tried the nibbles, but yeah...not for us. THAT was not cheddar or gouda.

Finally it was time to head back to the Contemporary for desserts and the fireworks. DH had already asked if we could just leave and go back to The Wave to wait on time to pick up the kids. Looking back, I should of agreed. Haha. We grabbed a few bites of sweets and sat down. Just before the fireworks began one of the CMs approached the sweet older couple that was their for their anniversary. She told them that someone had sent them a special gift and would they like to cut it now, or take it with them. Turns out, their son was having a baby (their grand baby) and had purchased a gender reveal cake for them to find out what the baby would be! Ya'll, this soon to be grandma was SOO excited. I don't know what the cake said, but as soon as she read it she immediately said they'd be cutting it right then! It was so sweet. I sadly don't remember what the gender was, but that Mawmaw didn't care, she was so excited. It was time for the fireworks, and while it was okay, I was disappointed a bit. I don't really know what I expected to see...We saw the fireworks, yes, but they weren't lined up over the castle, they were off to the side and blah. I was over it. DH and I ended up making our exit just before the end of the show. While it wasn't a terrible evening for us, it's something that DH and I will probably never do again. I definitely feel that we would have been better off just picking a place to eat and going at it alone.

We headed back upstairs to get the monsters. The event ended at 10:30 and it was about 10:15. Now remember, they weren't happy at all about going...remember? We check them out and BOTH of them are complaining that we interrupted their dance party. Then they both immediately want to know if DH and I can go on another date night the next night so they can come back and play some more because they had such a good time. Hey, at least someone enjoyed their evening! With that, it was back downstairs to call a Minnie Van and head back to Pop.​

 

[Sailormoon2]

We headed back upstairs to get the monsters. The event ended at 10:30 and it was about 10:15. Now remember, they weren't happy at all about going...remember? We check them out and BOTH of them are complaining that we interrupted their dance party. Then they both immediately want to know if DH and I can go on another date night the next night so they can come back and play some more because they had such a good time. Hey, at least someone enjoyed their evening!

Of course!!

I'm sorry you didn't really enjoy the dine around! Hubby and I, being anti-social beings as well, are devising our own Monorail food/drink crawl instead!!!

 

[AColeman]

Of course!!

I'm sorry you didn't really enjoy the dine around! Hubby and I, being anti-social beings as well, are devising our own Monorail food/drink crawl instead!!!

I think that will likely be in the cards for our next trip. Hehe. The dine around is probably great for people who are...people people..hehe, we just aren't.

 

[AColeman]

And here we go, chugging right along. I'm tired, are any of you tired yet?

We're up! Ready for another day..but bright eyed and bushy tailed is certainly no longer what you would call my family. Today was going to make for another rather long day as we were headed back into the Magic Kingdom and Mom had her last surprise planned for this evening. We're out the door and on the bus in enough time to make it just at park opening at 8am. No breakfast plans, but, we do have our first FP scheduled that we had to make it to.

Remember on our first visit how I kinda sorta lost our Splash Mountain FP? I knew we didn't really NEED a FP for a ride that early in the morning, but better not to risk it, yeah? Since we had ridden Space Mountain on day 1, I switched out our FP for that for an early morning Splash FP. I can not tell you how happy I was to be going on a water right before coffee.... Sarcasm, catch the sarcasm? LOL. But, DD had wanted to ride this ride so badly the first day and I just couldn't make it happen after losing that FP slot. I searched all day and another never did open back up. So here we go, off for a nice refreshing ride through the briar patch! I really hate that you can't see DD's face in the picture, that child belly laughed the entire ride down that drop.

With that out of the way we decided to cut down to Adventureland where we got to use a little pixie dust that had been given to us on last visit. Remember how we had done the scavenger hunt to earn Pirate FP's? When we went to ride, the CM just waved us through and didn't take our passes! I didn't question the man, I just tucked them away and figured we could use them today! Woot woot! I figured if they didn't take them this time, we'd give them to another family since they didn't expire until the end of the month. Sadly, today's CM took them at the entrance. Sorry, folks. The funny thing about today's ride?

We were so caught up looking at things we had missed the first time, that I completely forgot to remind everyone about the pictures. Again.

After Pirates it was time for breakfast! I had one thing on my mind, and I was GOING to eat it before I left today.

It was gooey, and warm, and delicious...and my DD almost lost a finger or two when she tried to steal my bananas.
DH got the chicken waffle with chips and the monsters...well...they had ice cream. I mean, what good parent doesn't let their children have ice cream for breakfast at Disney? Totally acceptable. After all, I mean, it was like...9am. LOL.

Somewhere in here we were able to do a stand by for Big Thunder with minimal wait. It was after we got off and were getting ready to head to our next FP that we got the dreaded "Your FP ride is down" notification...where were we headed? You guessed it...7 Dwarves! Noooooo. DD had spotted this one on our first visit and begged and begged to get on it. Instead of making another FP selection I told Dh that we'd just hold ours and pray it came back up before we left. So, since we suddenly at a rather large time period to goof off in, we figured we wander around a bit.

The face of determination..are you ready?

The monsters even tried a team approach, alas, they were not worthy. Hehe.

We piddled around a bit and DD wanted to go back to Dumbo and Barnstormer so we decided to walk by 7D just to see if it was back up, thankfully they had just gotten back up and running and we were able to beat the hoards that had also held on to their FPs to get in line. This was another ride that DD just laughed and laughed the entire way through. I loved hearing her so happy.

Now it was time for more Dumbo...and Barnstormer...and then cutting though to our FP for Buzz Lightyear.

Mommy tip for Buzz: DO NOT put your kids in the same car so you and your DH can have a friendly battle. You will spend the majority of your ride breaking up the fight that ensues over which monster is going to control the turning of the cart, the ride picture will catch you in the mommy stare of death, and you will lose by over 100k points.

You're welcome.

After Buzz, it was obviously time to head back to Pop for a nap...at least for Mom. Her sanity is depending on it.

We get back to Pop and DH decides that he'll let me rest and he'll take the kids by the pool for a bit before we get ready to go back to the park for our dinner reservations and fireworks. Some how in this time period the fam had some more pixie dust sprinkled on them. You see, we had something like...33 snack credits (or some stupid amount) left and we only had 1 full park day left. Apparently the CM at Petals had seen this when DH went to get a drink. DH was asking them to recreate something close to the Peach Tea Whiskey thing that we had gotten on the dine around, and the CM said if DH would be a guinnea pig for the drink (Which ended up being a long island ice tea with peach schnapps instead of tequila. Ask for it, DH said it was a great summer drink!) that they'd let DH pay with a snack credit AND let each of the monsters get a lava lamp slushy something or other with snack credits as well! I have no idea what these were, but I know they weren't supposed to be snack credits for any of it. But, thank you CM for helping us spend those so I didn't have to take just a ridiculous amount of chocolate and pretzels home with me from the gift shop!

Coming up next post: Rain, Mommy has a Melt Down, and HEA Dessert Party

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[Sailormoon2]

But, thank you CM for helping us spend those so I didn't have to take just a ridiculous amount of chocolate and pretzels home with me from the gift shop!

THAT is fantastic!!! Alcohol for a snack credit is excellent!

 

[nancygirl1]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! Sounds like a busy, but fun trip!