Flashback Saturday--Disney Day 4!
I am determined to get through these Disney photos and posts before summer break, so today I thought I'd get us to the half-way mark of our trip :) For anyone who has forgotten, I'm recounting the days of our vacation to Walt Disney World from this past February. To start at the beginning, all Disney posts can be found here.
Day 4 of our incredible vacation was a Saturday and we had big plans for another day at Epcot with lunch at Downtown Disney to break up the day. I will start by saying that we didn't look into the logistics of getting from Epcot to Downtown Disney using the free Disney transportation; I assumed we would be able to get on a bus that would take us directly from the park to DD. I couldn't have been more wrong. We had to ride to a resort, then wait for a separate bus to take us to DD. So my first tip today would be to check into these sorts of details before making plans. In hindsight, it would've been easier to ride the boat back to our own hotel and bus from there. But anyway, back to our day, which was great despite the transportation issues to lunch....
We woke up bright and early (remember, at Disney you'll get more done before noon than you will the entire rest of the day!) and headed to Epcot. Since we'd already covered the West side of the park, today we were covering the East side. Scott ran to pick up fast passes for Test Track and then we headed to Innovations while we waited for our time slot to ride. I hung with Bristol while my mom, Mark, Scott, Jaden and Sienna all enjoyed the activities inside Innovations. There are all sorts of neat inventions inside, but I honestly could not tell you the details of any since I was standing next to this little munchkin the whole time:
No, this mini Snow White wasn't asleep after eating a poisonous apple :) She was absolutely exhausted from all of the fun at Magic Kingdom the day before and due to her typical nap schedule being somewhat disrupted on the trip. She caught a nice morning nap while we were inside Innoventions and woke up while we rode Test Track.
I will say this--if you're traveling with preschoolers or younger, Innoventions will be above their level. They may still enjoy some things, but I think this is much more for the elementary to middle-school aged child. Even Jaden, who begged to explore the attraction, was a little young. Her Daddy though, well you can imagine he loved all of the technology in there!
Once it was time to head over to Test Track, we took the short walk over and Bristol hung with my mom and Mark while the rest of our family got into the line. Like all of the Disney rides, waiting in line for this one meant having a LOT of cool stuff to look at. Each ride is almost like a movie set--tons of props and scenes as you walk through the turnstiles.
Test track made our girls nervous, but it really wasn't that fast or crazy of a ride. Here's our picture taken mid-way through the ride:
Currently, this ride is undergoing some renovations, so it will be fun to see the changes when we go on a future trip to Disney World!
We reunited with my mom, Mark and Bristol, and while mom & Mark rode Test Track and then Mission: Space. In the meantime, our immediate family headed towards Mexico in the World Showcase to see what was going on there and to find a snack.
We were able to grab some munchies at the Cantina (great walk-up dining for lunch or a snack!). Then we walked a little further into the World Showcase to see if we could find Mulan in China. We found China, although we did not see Mulan at that point. Instead, my mom called and said they were done with their rides and ready to give Scott and I a chance to ride Mission: Space.
Tip #2 for today: DO NOT ride the "intense" side of Mission: Space. ESPECIALLY not with children. Scott and I were warned by my mom who said she almost got sick on the ride, but we brushed off that comment thinking she was a wimp and boy was she right on! I too almost got sick and HATED the entire ride. I found out when I looked up the ride at home in a book I'd forgotten to take with us that two people have DIED on Mission: Space! Disney claims both deaths were unrelated to the ride, but that seems awfully ironic to me and had I known that detail, I never would've gotten on board. Yes, it was cool to simulate a real shuttle ride into space, but feeling claustrophobic, sick, dizzy and out of control was not worth it. I'll never ride it again and I don't think I'd ever let my kids do the intense side!
While Scott and Iwere tortured rode Mission: Space, my mom and Mark took the girls to meet Daisy Duck and Stitch of Lilo and Stitch. Thank goodness for that Disney Photopass I recommended a few posts ago--otherwise I never would've gotten to see how sweet my girls were meeting their favorite duck!
Next, it was time to leave for lunch. Tip #3--see above at the beginning of this post about figuring out the details of transportation before making plans and reservations outside of the parks :)
We were meeting our friends Natalie and Peter, and their beautiful baby girl, at Raglan Road for lunch. Located in Downtown Disney, Raglan Road is an Irish pub with delicious sandwiches and other Irish fare. I'd definitely recommend it for a lunch or dinner.
We met Natalie and Peter on our cruise two years ago and have been blessed to be able to keep in touch over facebook ever since. We couldn't wait for our babies to meet one another and to have a little time to catch up over lunch! Here we all are after we stuffed our bellies:
Those of you who know my mom will not be surprised, but leave it to her to start doing her own version of an Irish dance and to find a dancing partner in the street outside the restaurant! Ha!
I did not make Downtown Disney a priority when planning our trip--we just happened to go there to meet up with these friends and then for dinner later in the week since Animal Kingdom closes early--but tip #4 would be to DEFINITELY set aside a few hours to spend at DD shopping and looking around. Even if you buy nothing, you will enjoy it. We actually didn't spend a dime (well my mom did--she bought each of the girls a souvenir at World of Disney) and it was still a good time. Around the Lego store are sculpture-size characters made out of legos that we all were amazed by:
The World of Disney store was ENORMOUS. I loved the windows outside with princess dresses made out of Barbie dolls:
I also thought the characters all over the top of the store were cool. Everything at Disney is full of great details!
Here are a few of the views around the rest of the complex:
Every single shop there was filled with interesting and one-of-a-kind gifts, clothing, chocolates and more. One store not pictured that we enjoyed was called Once Upon a Toy where you can fill a box with Disney-themed Mr. Potato Head parts for $20. How fun to be able to make your Mr. Potato Head into Minnie Mouse or Buzz Lightyear!
On this day we'd originally planned to set aside time for naps after lunch, but we got carried away having fun exploring Downtown Disney, so we headed back to Epcot after a quick stop at our hotel to regroup. First stop once we were back inside Epcot was to visit Mulan.
As you can see from these and all of the photos on this day, Jaden and Sienna's Bibbity Bobbity Boutique hairstyles stayed put for two whole days and we took these shorter princess dresses with us for them to wear. How sweet are Mulan, Cinderella-Sienna and Ariel-Jaden?
We walked through the World Showcase, which is so beautiful, and stopped in Germany for our dinner. We had reservations at the Biergarten Buffet. The buffet was filled with delicious German cuisine--different sausages (wursts), chicken, pork, sauerkraut, spatzle, and more. Of course there were also plenty of desserts and a variety of German Beers. I'd recommend this place if you like German cuisine; it is very kid-friendly and the service was wonderful. The only thing I would not recommend is German Wine--leave that to the Italians! Take it from me--I ordered a flight to try and could barely make it through a taste of each one.
Bristol loved eating the German fare, especially the spatzle!
One great perk to eating at the Biergarten was the band and dancing throughout the dinner. The band would perform 7 or 8 songs, then break and come back 20-30 minutes later to do it again. We saw people dancing when we walked in, then had time to eat before it was time to burn off the calories on the dance floor a short while later. My little girls and I broke it down with our bellies full of bratwurst and spatzle!
As dinner finished up, I was excited for Snow White to be greeting families just outside of the restaurant since Bristol was her mini-twin that day. Bristol was all good at first:
Then I tried to hand her to Snow White and that caused a meltdown :(
Once she realized I wasn't going to give her to Snow White she perked up again a little bit. I've said this before, but all of the characters at Disney are SUPER sweet and Snow White was no exception. She didn't like seeing our baby girl upset and was doing everything she could to cheer her up without being too overbearing and further scaring her.
Bristol got a special kiss from the lips "red as blood:"
My fifth and final tip would be to do what we did (if you can) after dinner that night--send the kids back to the hotel with Grammy and have an Epcot date night! The World Showcase is much more appealing to adults than children (aside from the delicious restaurants and all of the characters throughout the countries!) and there are all sorts of ethnic foods and drinks to try. So Scott and I said farewell to the rest of the family and walked around the countries looking in shops, trying Italian wine and English Beer and listening to an English band.
It was a great treat for my mom to give us these few hours out and about; the perfect end to another FULL Disney day!
Day 4 of our incredible vacation was a Saturday and we had big plans for another day at Epcot with lunch at Downtown Disney to break up the day. I will start by saying that we didn't look into the logistics of getting from Epcot to Downtown Disney using the free Disney transportation; I assumed we would be able to get on a bus that would take us directly from the park to DD. I couldn't have been more wrong. We had to ride to a resort, then wait for a separate bus to take us to DD. So my first tip today would be to check into these sorts of details before making plans. In hindsight, it would've been easier to ride the boat back to our own hotel and bus from there. But anyway, back to our day, which was great despite the transportation issues to lunch....
We woke up bright and early (remember, at Disney you'll get more done before noon than you will the entire rest of the day!) and headed to Epcot. Since we'd already covered the West side of the park, today we were covering the East side. Scott ran to pick up fast passes for Test Track and then we headed to Innovations while we waited for our time slot to ride. I hung with Bristol while my mom, Mark, Scott, Jaden and Sienna all enjoyed the activities inside Innovations. There are all sorts of neat inventions inside, but I honestly could not tell you the details of any since I was standing next to this little munchkin the whole time:
No, this mini Snow White wasn't asleep after eating a poisonous apple :) She was absolutely exhausted from all of the fun at Magic Kingdom the day before and due to her typical nap schedule being somewhat disrupted on the trip. She caught a nice morning nap while we were inside Innoventions and woke up while we rode Test Track.
I will say this--if you're traveling with preschoolers or younger, Innoventions will be above their level. They may still enjoy some things, but I think this is much more for the elementary to middle-school aged child. Even Jaden, who begged to explore the attraction, was a little young. Her Daddy though, well you can imagine he loved all of the technology in there!
Once it was time to head over to Test Track, we took the short walk over and Bristol hung with my mom and Mark while the rest of our family got into the line. Like all of the Disney rides, waiting in line for this one meant having a LOT of cool stuff to look at. Each ride is almost like a movie set--tons of props and scenes as you walk through the turnstiles.
Test track made our girls nervous, but it really wasn't that fast or crazy of a ride. Here's our picture taken mid-way through the ride:
Currently, this ride is undergoing some renovations, so it will be fun to see the changes when we go on a future trip to Disney World!
We reunited with my mom, Mark and Bristol, and while mom & Mark rode Test Track and then Mission: Space. In the meantime, our immediate family headed towards Mexico in the World Showcase to see what was going on there and to find a snack.
We were able to grab some munchies at the Cantina (great walk-up dining for lunch or a snack!). Then we walked a little further into the World Showcase to see if we could find Mulan in China. We found China, although we did not see Mulan at that point. Instead, my mom called and said they were done with their rides and ready to give Scott and I a chance to ride Mission: Space.
Tip #2 for today: DO NOT ride the "intense" side of Mission: Space. ESPECIALLY not with children. Scott and I were warned by my mom who said she almost got sick on the ride, but we brushed off that comment thinking she was a wimp and boy was she right on! I too almost got sick and HATED the entire ride. I found out when I looked up the ride at home in a book I'd forgotten to take with us that two people have DIED on Mission: Space! Disney claims both deaths were unrelated to the ride, but that seems awfully ironic to me and had I known that detail, I never would've gotten on board. Yes, it was cool to simulate a real shuttle ride into space, but feeling claustrophobic, sick, dizzy and out of control was not worth it. I'll never ride it again and I don't think I'd ever let my kids do the intense side!
While Scott and I
Next, it was time to leave for lunch. Tip #3--see above at the beginning of this post about figuring out the details of transportation before making plans and reservations outside of the parks :)
We were meeting our friends Natalie and Peter, and their beautiful baby girl, at Raglan Road for lunch. Located in Downtown Disney, Raglan Road is an Irish pub with delicious sandwiches and other Irish fare. I'd definitely recommend it for a lunch or dinner.
We met Natalie and Peter on our cruise two years ago and have been blessed to be able to keep in touch over facebook ever since. We couldn't wait for our babies to meet one another and to have a little time to catch up over lunch! Here we all are after we stuffed our bellies:
Those of you who know my mom will not be surprised, but leave it to her to start doing her own version of an Irish dance and to find a dancing partner in the street outside the restaurant! Ha!
I did not make Downtown Disney a priority when planning our trip--we just happened to go there to meet up with these friends and then for dinner later in the week since Animal Kingdom closes early--but tip #4 would be to DEFINITELY set aside a few hours to spend at DD shopping and looking around. Even if you buy nothing, you will enjoy it. We actually didn't spend a dime (well my mom did--she bought each of the girls a souvenir at World of Disney) and it was still a good time. Around the Lego store are sculpture-size characters made out of legos that we all were amazed by:
The World of Disney store was ENORMOUS. I loved the windows outside with princess dresses made out of Barbie dolls:
I also thought the characters all over the top of the store were cool. Everything at Disney is full of great details!
Here are a few of the views around the rest of the complex:
Every single shop there was filled with interesting and one-of-a-kind gifts, clothing, chocolates and more. One store not pictured that we enjoyed was called Once Upon a Toy where you can fill a box with Disney-themed Mr. Potato Head parts for $20. How fun to be able to make your Mr. Potato Head into Minnie Mouse or Buzz Lightyear!
On this day we'd originally planned to set aside time for naps after lunch, but we got carried away having fun exploring Downtown Disney, so we headed back to Epcot after a quick stop at our hotel to regroup. First stop once we were back inside Epcot was to visit Mulan.
As you can see from these and all of the photos on this day, Jaden and Sienna's Bibbity Bobbity Boutique hairstyles stayed put for two whole days and we took these shorter princess dresses with us for them to wear. How sweet are Mulan, Cinderella-Sienna and Ariel-Jaden?
We walked through the World Showcase, which is so beautiful, and stopped in Germany for our dinner. We had reservations at the Biergarten Buffet. The buffet was filled with delicious German cuisine--different sausages (wursts), chicken, pork, sauerkraut, spatzle, and more. Of course there were also plenty of desserts and a variety of German Beers. I'd recommend this place if you like German cuisine; it is very kid-friendly and the service was wonderful. The only thing I would not recommend is German Wine--leave that to the Italians! Take it from me--I ordered a flight to try and could barely make it through a taste of each one.
Bristol loved eating the German fare, especially the spatzle!
One great perk to eating at the Biergarten was the band and dancing throughout the dinner. The band would perform 7 or 8 songs, then break and come back 20-30 minutes later to do it again. We saw people dancing when we walked in, then had time to eat before it was time to burn off the calories on the dance floor a short while later. My little girls and I broke it down with our bellies full of bratwurst and spatzle!
As dinner finished up, I was excited for Snow White to be greeting families just outside of the restaurant since Bristol was her mini-twin that day. Bristol was all good at first:
Then I tried to hand her to Snow White and that caused a meltdown :(
Once she realized I wasn't going to give her to Snow White she perked up again a little bit. I've said this before, but all of the characters at Disney are SUPER sweet and Snow White was no exception. She didn't like seeing our baby girl upset and was doing everything she could to cheer her up without being too overbearing and further scaring her.
Bristol got a special kiss from the lips "red as blood:"
My fifth and final tip would be to do what we did (if you can) after dinner that night--send the kids back to the hotel with Grammy and have an Epcot date night! The World Showcase is much more appealing to adults than children (aside from the delicious restaurants and all of the characters throughout the countries!) and there are all sorts of ethnic foods and drinks to try. So Scott and I said farewell to the rest of the family and walked around the countries looking in shops, trying Italian wine and English Beer and listening to an English band.
It was a great treat for my mom to give us these few hours out and about; the perfect end to another FULL Disney day!
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