Today’s pic comes from our last family trip to Disney World in Feb 2014. We stayed at the Beach Club resort on that trip and one day my wife Heather was busy doing some quick shopping at the hotel and I wanted to get the kids out and burn off some energy before we headed into a park.
So thinking about this…Disney wants you to shop and spend all the money but they understand kids well enough to know that sometimes they just have to run. With that in mind all the resorts and to some extent even Downtown Disney have some kind of place where kids can run around while shopping can still happen.
At the Beach Club the lawns on the Boardwalk / International Gateway are part of the ambiance of the area but people are more than welcome to go on them.
On this day I let the kids run themselves crazy while we waited and they enjoyed themselves immensely – I took a major number of pictures that day of them on the grass, on the beach and just generally having fun. It was nice to not be on an agenda or be rushing to get to one ride or the other, they were just able to run and loved it.
That is one of the great things about staying on site at a Disney hotel – you can put aside time for this kind of thing without feeling like you are missing precious park time. In my mind it is also one of the big draws for the hotels in the Boardwalk area – by being able to just walk into Epcot or Hollywood Studios you get that family fun time built into getting to the parks instead of spending a half hour in the vehicle driving, parking and then walking to the entrance of parks. Now there are definitely benefits to being offsite but to me recovering that driving time for family time makes the Boardwalk area more than worth the money.
After quite a long hiatus on this subsite I am going to take a stab at getting back into it. As I am about 27 weeks out from our expected travel day to Disney World for the Disney World Marathon and Goofy Challenge / Dopey Challenge I wanted to kind of help settle my nerves and build some patience as I am pining for Disney World already!
So for Wishing Disney Wednesday for this week I am going to go with something nice and peaceful. Disney World can be quite hectic of course with huge crowds and lots of noise and stress sometimes…but, in Epcot at least, they seem to be able to have peaceful spots where you can just sit back and relax and get some peace.
With that in mind I am going to go with Living with the Land – it is an often overlooked ride especially sitting beside Soarin’ and all the crowds that go there and there doesn’t seem to be much of wait most of the time. The lack of wait alone can help with the whole peaceful thing too…
The ride itself is an easy going boat ride with a story about preserving and of course living with the land but for me the most relaxing part of the ride is where you go through the green house areas on the boat. You get to see many different kinds of plants and different ways of growing them but for me the biggest draw is the sense of peace and quiet I get while on the ride.
My favorite time to ride the ride is during the day when the sun is up, the air is nicely balanced and isn’t too hot or cold, humidity is at a good level. The sunlight coming through the dome is great, there is the sound of water gently lapping against the boat/ride and with the sand base of the plant areas you can almost imagine you are on a nice peaceful beach somewhere. It is fantastic as a place to sit and refocus for the rest of the day.
Snow Man / Sand Man in Living with the Land in Epcot
Today’s pic comes from our first ever family trip to Disney World back in early January 2008. It was just my wife, son and myself as our daughter wasn’t born yet at this point.
Our son was only 17 months old when we took this trip and our flight down coincided nicely with his nap time. He was young enough we didn’t need a seat for him and we held him for the flight. We figured that since his nap time was going to be during the flight this was going to be an easy.
He had different ideas. He wouldn’t sit still the whole trip, he wasn’t loud or crazy and there really wasn’t any crying but he was a major ball of energy for the whole flight. As the flight continued we could see he was very tired, but still wouldn’t settle down. Frankly it was exhausting.
It must have been exhausting for him too as he finally settled down – honestly seconds before the plane touched down. This pic is the frazzled look on my wife’s face and the snuggled in little guy. Ahh kids.
I haven’t had a chance to do one of these posts in a while but now that everything has settled down after the Goofy Challenge in January and our family vacation to Disney World in early February I hope to get a chance to do more…
On our most recent trip to Disney World we had what was probably one of our most memorable nights at the parks. Specifically late at night in Epcot.
We stayed at the Beach Club Resort on this trip and there were late night Magic Hours at Epcot this night but it was a touch cool and the park was pretty much deserted at the end of the night. When I see the pictures of that night I remember the peacefulness of the walk through the park out the World Gateway exit. It really felt like we were alone there exploring and able to take all the time we needed to see what we wanted. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more relaxed in one of the Disney parks.
There were so few people around that we were able to get some great pictures of what the park looks like all lit up at night without a whole crowd of people being in each shot.
The night had a great feeling and this shot really helps me remember it.
The theme of being up earlier than the rest of the family continues. Another quick run in the Boardwalk area this morning. The weather was a bit cooler and there were definitely fewer people out and about so I pushed it a bit faster. It felt good after several days of walking at a constantly changing pace to be able to just get out and move. I regretted not continuing longer after I got back to the room and the kids were still asleep! I could have kept going without feeling guilty. Oh well.
Breakfast in the club room again and then we walked to Hollywood Studios. Even at a nice leisurely pace and we beyond beat the ferry boat. Usually the boat versus walking is close but for some reason the boats were very slow that morning.
We started with a short standby line for Star Tours and then wandered over and I did standby line with T for Rockin’ Rollercoaster (this was a first time for both of us). T loved it.
T waiting for Rockin’ Rollercoaster
We then did our fast pass for Toy Story Midway Mania after a quick pretzel (and beer for me) snack.
We decided to try the Pirates of the Caribbean show and T and K were picked to be the audience members who held up the skeleton key at the start of the show. They enjoyed that and the show was pretty cool.
Then time for lunch at the ABC Commissary before doing a fast pass for Star Tours.
We checked several times during the day to see if we could get K on Tower of Terror but wait times were too long and we were out of fast passes for the day. So we did not get her on the ride but we still did lots of other fun things.
Decided to let T build a double bladed light saber (blue and red) as his treat to match up with K’s new Anna dress and then we walked back to the hotel.
After a quick snack in the Club room and I hung out in the room with the kids while Heather did some laundry while soaking in the hot tub by the quiet pool.
K relaxing
During this I decided we should do a bit of a special supper so I made 8 pm reservations for Akershus Royal Banquet Hall to have dinner with the Disney Princesses. K dressed as Anna from Frozen and was extremely excited to show off the dress to the Princesses.
So T wouldn’t feel too left out we picked him up a foam sword and shield on the way, similar to what I had grabbed as part of my half marathon running costume in January (see http://biggoofyrunner.com for more details on that).
We were greeted by Belle at the entrance and then saw Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (Little Mermaid) and of course Cinderella.
It was late magic hours at Epcot that night so after supper we did test track through the standby line – very close to end of magic hours and park closing at that point.
We started walk toward the Nemo ride but hit the Character Spot on the way to see if Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were still taking pictures – they were and we were the last family of the day. The characters were playing around and in the end the PhotoPass photographers got over 90 pictures with us and the characters – some even with all three characters together with us. That stop alone paid for the Memory Maker + we had pre-purchase. We were certainly glad we had it at that point!
And we still managed to get on Nemo and then walked back to the hotel through a mostly deserted Epcot. I had my DSLR with me and managed to get some cool photos on the way. Some examples are below – I will be adding a gallery on the site with more later as I get some time to process them.
Feb 8th – cool and rainy
We still had some laundry that needed extra drying from the night before so I took it over to the laundry facility early in the morning (while everyone else was sleeping, again). I had some issues with one of the dryers eating my coins which was unusual for Disney. While things were drying I got in a bit of longer run. I ended up having to dry a few things a bit longer and could have run further but the hot tub was right there by the laundry area so I decided that would be more productive instead. I sat in the hot tub for about 20 minutes in a light rain. Very peaceful.
We decided on Animal Kingdom to start the day again and hit the club room for a fast snack and then hit the bus to Animal Kingdom. Fast pass to Everest in the rain – makes for a different experience. There was only a light rain when we got in the cue – but when the ride started it was coming down pretty darned good! Second time in one trip I was getting high speed rain in the face. It was pretty funny. I don’t think the kids liked it by I laughed. Was still fun.
We had fast pass for Nemo musical next but had a wait so we hit Primeval Whirl (T and I) as a walk up, Triceratops Spin (all 4 of us), and then dinosaur dig play area. Then got in line for Nemo – Nemo was a first for all 4 of us – very cool.
Then had fast pass for Dinosaur but a bit of a wait yet – the rain picked up and we got a bit wet as we were waiting. Unfortunately it looks like the standby time clock was way out from what I could tell (said 20 minutes but looked like a walk on). We could have skipped our fast pass and just rode and not got as wet. Oh well – did the ride, had fun and then headed over to Asia for lunch.
Hit the quick serve food place near Yak and Yeti and found a mostly dry spot to eat. Rice seemed like a nice treat after many days of fries.
Then headed to the safari ride and it was basically a walk up as well – lions were very active in the rain – took many pictures – looks like some turned out pretty nice.
Then, back to the hotel for a quick snack and hit the hot tub.
On to Magic Kingdom probably around 6 pm and hopped on the steam train and rode around to the Fantasyland Station and tried to get on Barnstormer but it was not running so we got on Dumbo instead.
After that we wandered over to Tomorrowland and rode the speedway. K and I got a car with busted steering and they let us go a second time while Heather and T waited in the spectator / fan bleachers.
Decided to checked to see about Space Mountain but the line was too long, so we looked at Space Ranger spin, also too long, so we looked at People Mover…and it had a line? I have never seen a line for the People Mover? Very odd – we left Tomorrowland and went to Adventure Land instead.
Did the Jungle Cruise (T and K sat up front by the driver and participated, a lot), then did Tiki Room (saw 3 different families get up and leave during the show – never seen that before).
Next we rode Magic Carpets. The family in front of us wins the award for the worst ride load we have ever seen – they were supposed to go in car 9 but went to 12 instead and yelled at their kids when they tried to go to the right one. They wouldn’t move for the family that were supposed to go in that carpet – Heather let that family know which car was free because of the mix up and they took that one. The mixed up family also loaded with adults on the inside instead of the outside and were on the verge of arguing with the Cast Member who was helping to sort them out. All around pretty rough. And this was NOT a language barrier issue.
After Magic Carpets we went on Pirates as a walk on and got first row (both times through this trip has been front row which is cool).
We then ate at Pecos Bill’s and then went to head over to check out Big Thunder Mountain. As we were leaving the restaurant we saw that Electrical Parade was on and was just passing by the restaurant – we were able to grab a spot right near where the floats go back stage and saw the full parade from there. The kids were happy to see everything and wave at the characters. With the constant waving to the crowd that the Cast Members do K was sure that Alice and Cinderella and others had seen her waving and had waved back to her personally – very cute.
Once the parade was over we headed off to Big Thunder – there was a bit of a wait but not too horrible. T, K and myself were put in one car and we went for the ride while Wishes was going on. It was misty with low lying clouds so couldn’t see most of the fireworks but we could see several that were launched from closer to Cinderella’s Castle, so that was cool.
After that we wandered over toward Barnstormer again and did the Ariel ride and met Ariel in her grotto along the way.
At Barnstormer T got his own seat and I sat with K.
Then we headed into the Speedway again and this time I was with T. We then went and did Space Mountain (only about 15 minutes wait).
After Space Mountain we did Space Ranger spin and started heading for the exit, stopping for a few pics along the way.
There was a bus waiting for us when we got to the cue and we left shortly after getting a seat – bus pulled out at 12:42 am.
Both kids fell asleep on the ride to the hotel (go figure) – K laying against Heather and T sitting up with me hold his head in my hands so he wouldn’t fall over.
Quick wander up to the room and then to bed.
Sunday Feb 9th – last full day and it is a bit warmer and no rain!
At Epcot we did a tour of the countries and all the kidcot stations – we hit all stations but did no rides besides Living with the Land. We had lunch at The Land and during our wandering tour the kids got to test out the new beaker drinks called Doofenslurpers.
They are a blue raspberry slush drink in a large beaker cup with Doofenshmirtz on it. Kids loved them and we brought the cups home with us so I can only imagine what kinds of concoctions we will have to think up to put in them.
Then it was time for a bit of a slight rest at the room and then hit the pool for a while. On the way we were able to roast marshmallows on the beach so the kids had a nice treat. Once we got in the pool I was quite cold and was shivering quickly (the kids and Heather were fine but I think I got more heat on my shaved head that day than I thought and I really felt the sun setting pretty quickly), so I hit the hot tub near the pool and watched the kids play from there.
After a while we went back to the room and got changed before heading out to the Boardwalk to grab a pizza. Coming down the bridge over the canal the Friendship boats use to get to Epcot, K was power skipping at full tilt and tripped. She ended up with a pretty good goose egg and a bit of shiner out of it in the end too. Nothing serious but it obviously hurt and with how tired she was she kept starting to cry again after we would get her calmed down. We got some children’s Advil for her from the store on the Boardwalk and she was back to herself before too long. We also got some ice to put on it when we got our pizza from the pizza window on the Boardwalk which helped as well.
By the time we were done the pizza she was primed and ready to go see the Princesses in Magic Kingdom.
Everything seemed to be ok so we continued on – went through Epcot and saw some of Illuminations on our walk through to the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
Quickly into Magic Kingdom probably around 9:30 pm or so (magic hours to 1 am that night). We decided to go to Town Hall to confirm if we had one more day of tickets for the kids or not in case we wanted to do something in the morning. Plus we wanted to confirm the times for the Disney Princess greeting areas. We got a very cool cast member who confirmed everything and then gave us fast passes to see both pairs of Princesses and one for Space Ranger Spin for T. Very cool.
Wandered over to watch Wishes and after that made our way to see the Princesses. Rapunzel and Snow White first and then Cinderella and Aurora second. Fast Passes for these were awesome – really makes the little princess feel special coming out of a side entrance and walking through to the meet and greet areas while a whole line of people are waiting in the standby line. Almost makes the girl feel like everyone is waiting to see them. It was kinda neat.
After that we tried to pull out Excalibur (which we had never tried before) – it did not work.
We then went on the Carousel before wandering to Tomorrow Land.
Some of the rides still had longer waits in Tomorrow Land so we did our Space Ranger Spin fast pass (which we really did not need as the ride was a walk on and the fast pass cue path was longer than the shortened standby line cue path).
Did our ride and then decided to try one more thing before we left. We decided on Space Mountain which had a 20 minute wait but before we got there we saw a horde of cheer leaders and a bunch of others hit the line so we decided to try something else.
Decided on Laugh Floor – we got seated in the center along an aisle (or at least the kids did) and T ended up getting called on to be talked to by one of the monsters. After a bit K couldn’t contain herself and leaned into the picture and the show took a different turn after that. K wouldn’t speak but just did the craziest monster faces she could, just to see what they would look like on the big screen. Got a bunch of laughs from the crowd and gave the monster a bunch of material to work with like “did she get some evil candy?” and said that he was a bit scared of her. They both thought the whole thing was hilarious and the crowd seemed to enjoy it so that was good.
After that we wandered out to the busses – there was one waiting but we were able to get some seats for T and K (a man popped up quickly to let T sit – very nice) but Heather and I had to stand a bit away. Kids were good but K ended up falling asleep so at the Yacht Club a woman let Heather sit beside her to hold onto her for the remainder of the drive to the Beach Club. K woke up when we got there and we wandered to the club room for a quick snack and then headed to the room. Got off the bus at 12:20 am.
We let the kids watch a show while we did a bunch of packing and organizing and then got them off to sleep and we followed an hour or so later once we were organized.
Monday Feb 10th – check out day
I was up around 7:30 with everyone else sleeping – had a shower and got dressed, etc.
Did a bit of work on the computer and called the resort / airline baggage number to pay for our baggage and about 20 minutes later our luggage tags and boarding passes showed up under our door.
We finished getting ready and took the bags down to the baggage drop off area – quick and smooth.
Then back up to the Club room for a final snack and headed out. Inez (spelling?) had a little care package for Heather (some danishes and muffins).
Wandered downstairs and sat in the lobby for a couple minutes to get the final bit of ambiance and then headed out and sat outside for a few more minutes before the bus came. Bus had one more stop after ours and then we were off to the airport. We did a wander and had a quick lunch before heading through security. Security was quick – only delay was that I forgot to take out my laptop and they had to scan my carryon bag a second time.
Then on to our gate and got on to the plane fairly quickly – a small horde of cheerleaders got on too but they were quite subdued. Nice smooth flight and got off the plane in Minneapolis and grabbed our bags quickly with no hassle – bags were almost already waiting for us since we were in the back end of the plane.
After we got our bags we headed over to the hotel shuttle area and called the hotel. Shuttle was there in around 10 minutes and driver was very courteous and we went straight to the hotel. Once we were checked in we went to TGI Fridays for supper and after moving some stuff around in the van we wandered over to the Mall for some (more) shopping.
A few things were bought at the Disney Store and I picked up a flip phone case for my phone – had to get Best Buy to price match their own website? What the heck is that? Then went back to the hotel to watch some shows before bed.
Kids went to bed and Heather and I made sure everything was good to go and then went to bed too.
Tuesday Feb 11th
Organized a bunch of stuff and got some things out to the van.
Then we went to IHOP for breakfast – finished loading the van and off we went.
Next was a stop in Albertville Premium Outlet mall for some kids clothes and a major cash drop at the Nike store. Both Heather and I got a bunch of stuff and the kids also go some clothes items. Some very deep discounts on shoes – Heather got 2 pair and I got 4 – I also picked up a winter running jacket that retails for $300 in Canada for $105 – awesome!
Then got gas and some snacks and headed on.
There was some heavy blowing snow just around Fargo – we planned to stop there for lunch / early supper but K was asleep so we decided to keep going to Grand Forks instead. K woke up 5 minutes after we passed Fargo but we kept going anyway and the weather cleared up.
In Grand Forks we had supper at Ruby Tuesdays and then did a quick stop at the beer store and a craft store before getting gas and hitting the road. We were at the Canadian border by 9 pm and home around 10.
We let the kids play for a few minutes while we unpacked some stuff and got organized a bit and then got them to bed.
I woke up way earlier than Heather and the kids so I decided to suit up and go for a run on the Boardwalk. It was very foggy and pretty hot and humid already – ended up being a pretty warm day all around. I did 4 laps around the Beach Club / Yacht Club / Boardwalk area – the official running path maps say each lap is 0.8 miles but my running GPS app on my Samsung Galaxy S4 says each lap is a bit longer than that. Took it nice and easy and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
fog at the Beach Club
After everyone else got up we went and had breakfast at Stone Harbour lounge (also known as the Club room or the Concierge lounge) that we had access to being on Club Level. Nice selection of pastries, hard boiled eggs, cereals (hot and cold) and juices, coffees and milk. Not a heavy breakfast but all you need to get a good start on the parks for the day!
We headed off to Epcot to sort out some issues with our tickets – for some reason Heather’s and my annual passes were not linking to the bands properly for the park readers – all the computers said it was ok but the readers would have none of it. We got things sorted out and got into the part about a half hour later than we intended but got complimentary passes for the kids for the day which was nice.
Tried to walk on Soarin’ but wait was too long – so we fast passed it with the app and got a spot about 45 minutes out! That worked!
We went on Living with the Land and Nemo to pass the time until the fast pass came up. We also tried Turtle Talk with Crush but we waited for 10 minutes and they told us it would be another 10 so we headed out and did our fast pass for Soarin’. It was a first ride for Heather and K and a second for T and I.
After that we did Journey into Imagination with Figment, Mission Space, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, skipped Test track because the wait was too long, Space Ship Earth, Club Cool ( this was the kids first time trying any of the drinks – they were not fans of Beverly), Three Caballeros and then tried Maelstrom but it was too long a wait. Hit lots of things!
We then headed back out the World Gateway and walked back to the room.
After a quick lunch / snack in the Club room we had a few hours swim at Storm Along Bay and then hit the snack room for supper.
At this point we decided Magic Kingdom for the evening – hit the bus and then the park about 7 pm.
We managed to do multiple rides here including Pirates of the Caribbean, we looked at Big Thunder but it was too long a wait, Haunted Mansion, watched fireworks near Pinocchio Haus restaurant (fantastic spot – everything lights up and you feel like you are in the middle of everything as it is happening – very cool), Small World, the Carousel, Tea Cups, Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain (first for me, T and K – Heather did not ride), and then finished with Stitches Great Escape (first again for all of 4 us). By this point the park was closed and we wandered out to the buses.
We missed a bus just as we were coming up to the cue but another came very quickly and had a quick ride back to the hotel.
We were able to grab supper from the Market Place at the Beach Club right before it closed at 11 pm and ate outside as it was still very nice out.
Wednesday Feb 5th – hot again!
Once again I was up way earlier than everyone else (bit of a theme here) so I went for a run on the Boardwalk again – it was a bit cooler and less humidity which was very nice as I could actually see the scenery. I forgot my headphones on the run but it was still nice and peaceful despite the leaf blowers.
Beautiful morning at the Beach Club
Once everyone else got moving we had breakfast at the Club room again – and once again it worked well for to get us moving quickly without having to drop a small fortune on a too big of a breakfast.
The forecasts showed this likely to be the hottest day of our trip so we made the call to head to Typhoon Lagoon – we were a touch concerned when we got off the bus and saw hoards of teenage girl tour group folks.
Saw lots of these tour groups through the week – appeared to South American Quinceañera or Quince tours. Later in the week there were several cheerleader crews to contend with. They were all well behaved and not rowdy or crazy, but as they traveled in packs if they got in line before you at a ride, what was a 5 minute wait turned into a half hour very quickly. Basically at Typhoon Lagoon we had to move around the park staying ahead of them – if we saw them coming we would head to a different area of the park and when we saw them stop for lunch we hit as many slides / rides as we could before they came back out.
So we started with the lazy river for a while and then did Humunga Cowabunga with T (his first time). We then tried the storm slides but only got one run before being overrun by the hoard, so went and did the tamest (blue rafts) raft ride and then were overrun again, so we did the family raft and then headed to the main wave pool for a short bit.
Decided on some lunch at this point and we had some confusion on what we ordered but was ok in the end – they missed one kids meal (they hadn’t charged us for is so it not like we were short changed or anything like that but we didn’t want to go through the line again to order one more meal) but still gave us the fries, the grapes and the drink, and bucket – so we got enough food and shared everything around instead of going and paying for another kids meal. We still had plenty of each of us.
We then dodged the hoard and got on Crushin’ Gusher (first for T) – and did several runs of that with either me or Heather with T. Went back to storm slides and got a couple more runs of the slides and the Humunga Cowabunga (T did go one more time too and then Heather went with him for her first time (she had some delays as she built up her courage for it)).
Since K was missing out on several rides since she isn’t tall enough yet we decided to give her some time in the kids play area then headed out and got mini donuts and popcorn for a snack.
We then got back in the wave pool and did some bobbing waves before heading out.
Several firsts today! The kids on the Storm Slides, Heather and T on the Humunga Cowabunga, and T on Crushin’ Gusher. Very cool.
We then got changed and headed out to catch a bus back to the hotel and had about a 25 minute wait for a bus but it went directly back to the hotels on the loop and did not have to hit Downtown Disney first.
After a quick stop in the hotel room and a snack in the Club room we headed to Downtown Disney. We had intended to hit T-Rex for supper but the wait was just too long.
In the end we went to Planet Hollywood which we got into in around 30 minutes or so. We had never eaten there before so it was a first for all 4 of us – enjoyed it. The kids really liked the décor and pointing out things they were seeing on the wall.
Then it was shopping time. K and I built our own droids and T got some Lego figurines.
Then back to the hotel to sleep, sleep, sleep.
Thursday Feb 6th – bit cooler today and some light rain
I did not run this morning – I decided to sleep in a bit later to rest and recover.
Once again we had breakfast in the Club room and then headed straight to Animal Kingdom. K was wearing Anna dress from Frozen and got many compliments from cast members and other little girls. She enjoyed that, a lot.
We had a fast past for Expedition Everest – Heather did not ride but T and K sat together and I was right behind them. In all the trips we have had this was a first for all three of us – granted this is the first year K has been tall enough. K was pumped to do this ride as she wanted to see the yeti. Chants of “Yeti, Yeti, Yeti” proceeded us through the park on our way to the ride. In the end I think T enjoyed it the most but K liked it too and said she would do it again even though she was frightened in the dark areas.
We then wandered over to Kali River Rapids – we had a fast past for a while later but it was a walk up so we did it. It was a first time for all 4 of us and we only got a bit wet. Slowly dried off as we headed towards Kilimanjaro Safari ride but it had a half hour wait and we had a fast pass for later in the day so we decided to do lunch instead.
Rain Forest Café for lunch – only about a 15 minute wait to be seated and lunch went smoothly. No Blue Moon beer though as they are switching away from it. Very disappointed there.
Then back out in the park and went to the Safari ride and it listed a 10 minute wait and our fast pass still was about 15 minutes out so we did the standby line – it was basically a walk on. Animals were very active though which was super cool – hippos were out of the water (one came out just to relieve itself just as the truck went by before going back in the water – gave everyone on the truck a bit of chuckle) , the lions were awake, rhinos were walking around and the giraffes were close to the truck.
After that we went to the bird show which was just starting as we went by – the kids absolutely loved it.
Waiting for the bird show to begin
We then went back to Kali River Rapids as it was still a walk on – since it was raining at this point we figured that if we got wet it was not that big a deal – T got absolutely soaked. K got pretty wet as well (her Anna dress was drenched) but we all got wet. We were able to short cut back through for another ride as there was no wait. Since we were already drenched, why not go again? We ended up with our own family raft for the four of us and we didn’t end up getting too much more wet.
By this point the kids were getting chilled so we found a sweater for K at the Everest store and yeti plushes for the kids. T was still freezing and we still had to find him a sweater. Eventually found something at the main store on Discovery Island that he liked and started getting him warmed up.
We then headed out to the buses and there was one waiting when we got to the bus stop – straight to the Yacht and Beach. Whoohoo – although we apologized to the bus driver for the puddles where we were sitting.
To warm up the kids quickly we put them in a hot bath while Heather and I had an adult beverage from the Club room to warm up after we got changed.
Now we kids dressed warmer and headed into Epcot after a quick supper/snack in the Club room.
We went straight to Test Track and got on in the standby line after 30-40 minutes – rain was causing the ride to shut down occasionally but it went fairly smoothly. I have never done Test Track in the rain – it is a different sensation on the outside portion of the ride with the rain lightly falling and hitting your face at 60 mph. It doesn’t help when I am in the front row my head goes over the windscreen. Some of the interior parts of the ride seemed slower than normal – I suspect that was deliberate as they would have been worried about wet tires on some of the sharp corners. Still fun though.
We also did Spaceship Earth at the request of the kids, not sure why this is one of their favorites but I like that it is. The kids also like to ride this one together so it is one of the few rides Heather and I get to sit together on.
Headed out to the entrance to World Showcase and caught Illuminations (which T directed using the Force) – and got a bit of a reminder about all cultures being different.
There was a man standing on the edge of one of the planters / seating areas filming the show and K got up to stand too close to him and I was afraid she would bump him and cause either or both of them to fall. So I got her to move, seconds later an oriental family came up and planted their kids there and let them go wild while they had an extremely loud discussion about a wheelchair. Not sure what was going on but you could tell the man filming was getting a bit upset as he kept getting bumped and the adults were not supervising the children. Plus T’s view was partially blocked. Maybe it’s my size but I am always conscious of where I am, who is around me and if I am in someone’s way, etc but I am always surprised when I see people who don’t offer the same courtesy to others.
That family left part way through Illuminations and the man’s wife got up beside him to provide a buffer and T had an easier time seeing the rest of the show.
After that was over we headed back to the hotel and stopped to pick up ice cream to eat in the room. Then off to bed.
Hi there – as I was writing up our trip report for our family trip to Disney World, I realized it was going to just be too darned long to fit into one post comfortably. So I will break it up into a few parts and post them as get the pictures and write up ready.
The first part will cover our drive down to Minneapolis, our shopping day there and then our travel day to Disney World and our first evening there. So on with the show…
Saturday Feb 1st:
Alright – travel day and vacation begins! Have to drive from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to Minneapolis. Basically 8-9 hours of driving when you throw in stopping for gas, snacks and potty breaks. I wanted to make sure I would get in some running on this vacation and it seemed like a good idea to do a quick run on the treadmill before loading in the van. I figured it would help wake me up and be a good start for the trip. So I did that and it felt really good to stretch out the legs.
The four of us (my wife Heather, our son T, our daughter K and I) had a good breakfast to get through some of the last of the stuff from the fridge and then loaded up the van and pushed off probably around 9:20 am.
The ride down was pretty uneventful – sun was out and the US border stop was very quick. We then did a quick stop in Fargo for a quick lunch and to check out the running gear situation at Scheels. We figured we would stop again on the way back through so we didn’t pick anything up on the way down. Had a quick gas stop in Fargo and continued on toward Minneapolis – with only one or two potty breaks for the kids.
Got to the hotel around 6 pm or so and checked in easily. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites Bloomington which is right across the street from the Mall of America and has a good and quick shuttle service to the airport. We got a room that was near the elevator but quiet – not sure I ever actually heard it.
After we got set up in the room we wandered over to the attached TGI Fridays for supper and a drink before headed across the street to the Mall of America to do some minor shopping.
At the Disney Store there K got an Anna dress (from Frozen) – good thing we got it there because they didn’t have any at Disney World! Lots of little girls were envious at the parks.
Headed back to the room and had a quick swim and dunk in the hot tub with the kids before heading to bed to finally crash for the night.
Long travel day!
Sunday Feb 2nd:
I got up a bit earlier than everyone else so I went and hit the treadmill at the gym at the hotel. It was actually a pretty solid machine – I was not expecting that. Put in a hard and fast 3 miles in 24 minutes before heading back to the room.
We decided to go to the IHOP attached to the hotel for breakfast. It was quite good with very friendly service.
At this point we still had time before the Mall opened so Heather hit the treadmill at the hotel as well to stretch her legs too.
We then walked over to the Mall and did some more shopping and we had lunch there and wandered all the floors.
Strangely we decided to have supper at IHOP as well – was pretty dead but the service was attentive and the food was decent. The kids ate well and without complaints which was really what we were shooting for here.
The next day we were flying to Orlando so we got the kids in bed and put a show on the tv for them while we repacked and repositioned everything we needed for the plane ride in the morning. Then off to bed.
Monday Feb 3rd:
Got up with our alarm and had breakfast in the snack room at the hotel before going to grab out stuff to get on the hotel shuttle to the airport.
While the kids were finishing up I went to confirm our shuttle time at the front desk and they had us on a shuttle that had just left… They do half hour shuttle departures and we had asked for a 07:45 and they didn’t tell us they couldn’t do that. They got us on the 8:00 instead which actually left a bit early anyway and was still lots of time to get to the airport. Not a big deal but gave a second of panic.
The shuttle ride was quick and easy and airport check in worked well too. Paid our bag check fees, dropped the bags at the bag check, grabbed our boarding passes and headed on towards security.
Security was super quick as we were given priority screening and got through nice and quickly with no hassles! Whoohoo – first security screening in a couple years where I wasn’t “randomly selected” for the body scanner.
We had a bit of extra time with the nice quick security line so we spent a bit of time looking around and then waiting at our gate for the plane. Nicely the plane was on time and loaded with no hassles beyond the ordinary.
Flight itself was pretty good with only a little turbulence part way through that didn’t last long. The kids did well, watching shows and playing games.
As we were getting off the plane and the Captain complimented T and K on their hats and then asked if they would like to see the cockpit. They had a seat and we got a few pictures and out of the plane we went. We then did a quick change and then hit the monorail to terminal B.
T in the cockpitK in the cockpit
We had a quick peek in the Disney store and then headed to Magical Express.
Magical Express book in was quick with almost no wait. We did have a slight glitch though – the man with the computer told us which aisle to head to for the Beach Club and we were escorted by a lady who then told us a different aisle – to be sure we checked with the loading helper and he quickly escorted to the aisle the man with the computer had said originally. No biggee but a bit of a surprise – usually see the guests mess up the bus aisles not the staff.
Magical Express ride was good and quick – a few stops before ours but not too bad.
K on the Magical Express
At the Beach Club the greeter was tied up and she eventually came back to take us up to the Club Level
Check in there was as smooth as always – they brought us a beer and a wine and the kids chewed on some taffy and then we quickly got to our room. Definitely wasn’t the best view we have had from our room at the Beach Club but it was a full balcony though so that was nice.
After dropping some of our stuff in the room and checking it out we headed down and got into Beaches and Cream for supper after a short wait. We were told we would likely end up at the bar but were given a table instead – that works!
After supper we headed back to the room to change into our swim gear and then Storm Along Bay for an hour or so. Awesome!
Shortly before 9 we headed into Epcot to see Illuminations – there were some troubles with our tickets / magic bands but they let us in quickly to see the fireworks and then we headed back to the room for bed.
Illuminations
Another busy travel day but we still got lots of stuff done even with getting to the hotel later in the afternoon.
So Wishing Disney Wednesday for New Years Day 2014 is from the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. Specifically it is of Cinderella’s castle at night glowing a nice blue with some refection in the canal beside the castle. It is a week tomorrow until my wife and I head to Disney World Marathon in Disney World and a month today before we take the kids to Magic Kingdom for a family trip. A good chunk of time will be spent in Magic Kingdom on both trips and the castle will feature prominently in the running races we will be doing besides.
One of my favorite times to be in the Magic Kingdom is night – especially when it is warm and calm without a lot of people around – just a great atmosphere that really speaks to me. We love late night magic hours at the Magic Kingdom when we can hit them – midnight at the Magic Kingdom is fantastic!
Cinderella’s Castle in Magic Kingdom at night – blue
On New Years Eve it seems kind of appropriate to have a picture for today’s post that has a count down. It isn’t directly related to New Years but it does fit the trip theme for the day. This picture was taken at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the tour that is available beyond the main area. The tour takes you to a few places including a spot where you can see where the space shuttles were launched from and also a large building dedicated to the Apollo series of space missions – very cool place.
This photo is taken in the Apollo building during a mock up show of what the control room looked like during the launch of those missions. I set up my camera to not flash and to work well in low light – I also had it on a monopod so that any shake of my hand would be less noticeable. Came out with a very cool shot at 1 second to launch – very cool tour – highly recommended.
For this post I am going to our last family trip to Disney World in January / February 2013. Now it may seem a bit strange but the People Mover (Tomorrow Land Transit Authority) in Tomorrow Land in the Magic Kingdom is actually one of my favorite rides at Disney World.
I am a bit of a people watcher and I like to get out of the crowds now and then and just sit and watch. The People Mover affords a pretty unique opportunity to sit, relax, get out of the crowds and watch the world go by.
You would think the kids would find this exceptionally boring but they enjoy the ride too as it lets them rest their legs and sometimes I get a glimpse of them watching too. This pic is of our daughter in here Aurora dress watching the world go by. How often does that happen? How often do you get a 4 year old girl in a princess dress only a little way from Disney Princesses sitting and just watching and thinking to herself?
It is just another way Disney seems to find a way to cater to all kinds of personalities and personal idiosyncrasies. It also gives a parent a way to see a different side of their kids that they maybe normally don’t get to see.
I look at this picture and I see more depth in her expression than I normally get to see as she is busy destroying her brother and the family room. It gives me hope that she will grow out of her destructive phase…maybe even before she completely destroys the house, although probably not her brother – but it’s ok, he’s resilient.
