Yay! Yes, they had an amazing time! It's still all they talk about now!All caught up! Sounds like the kids had a great time for their first visits! Yippee for you high score!
Thanks! Yes, apparently she'll eat like leftover pizza if it's not heated up. She's a pretty funny kid!
Yes, they run boats from Hollywood to Epcot. They make stops at the Epcot area resorts, like the Swan and Dolphin and the Boardwalk, on the way. The dock is located outside the park entrance at HS, but at Epcot it's outside the World Showcase in between France and the UK. So you need a park hopper if you're going from Hollywood to Epcot, but not if you go from Epcot to Hollywood. Toy Story Mania is the same as Buzz in the fact that you shoot at things for points, but the similarities pretty much stop there. In TSM the guns have a string you pull instead of a button you push, your car moves around to different screens that have scenes in 3D that you shoot at, and it's just all around more advanced. In my opinion TSM is a lot more fun because I feel like it takes more skill!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for reading! I'm still writing as often as I can!
It really is tons of fun! It is more complicated, but there are some tricks you can use. You can look up videos on the internet if you want! And obviously you'll get better with practice.
I don't comment very often but I am reading along and loving your trip report ThanksWhen I left off we had just gotten on a boat from Hollywood Studios to Epcot! The boats that run from park to park are different than the boats you might take to Magic Kingdom or Downtown Disney. They're fairly large, but they do go kind of slow. We stopped at the Swan and Dolphin first, then after that the boat would make stops at the Boardwalk, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club, then finally Epcot. Because the boat seemed to be going super slow already, and we knew that making all those stops would take time, we decided to just get off at the Boardwalk and walk to Epcot from there!
It was a nice 10-15 minute walk, and it was a beautiful day out, so we didn't mind at all. The view was great, too!
We made it to the International Gateway and entered the park. The gateway is located in between France and the UK, so you can get some really different and pretty views of France from there.
We were meeting Lindsey and her family at Figment, so we headed straight over to Future World! We made it over there, but they weren't there yet, so we sat on a bench and waited. Naturally, I took some photos.
We were waiting for them for probably about 15 minutes, but we didn't mind. When they finally showed up, it was a little after 5:00, and we were so happy to see each other! Jack and Max were very excited to tell us all about their day so far and what they had done. Jack had ridden Test Track and he loved it! He said going fast was his favorite. After catching each other up on our days so far, we headed inside to ride Figment. The said 5 minutes, and it was practically a walk on. I rode with Jack, Max, and Mom, and we had a great ride!
They had already ridden once that day, so Jack and Max made sure to warn us about the stinky skunk part!
After the ride we spent some time playing in Imageworks with the kids. They had a lot of fun playing with the music sensors and on the musical jumping pads. Emma was excited to be able to get down and run around with her brothers!
Once we were done playing it was a little after 5:30, so we decided to go get dinner. We went over to the Electric Umbrella because it was close. We had brought sandwiches to eat, so we ate those while Lindsey and Adam got some restaurant food. We had a great time eating together, but eating with kids always takes longer, so it was around 6:15 bu the time we were done. While we ate we discussed what our plans were for after dinner. Lindsey and Adam had FP's for Test Track, and they offered to let me and Travis use them so we could ride with Jack! So after dinner we headed over there. Mom, Dad, Amy, and Jack waited out in the dump shop area with Max and Emma while Lindsey, Adam, and Sam rode single rider. The FastPass line still took about 20 minutes for us, but it wasn't too bad. Jack had a fun time designing the car.
We made it on the ride at about 6:45, and Jack was totally ready.
We had a really great ride, and Jack had a ton of fun. He was screaming "woohoo!" pretty much the whole time, and he had the biggest grin on his face.
(Shout out to the adorable couple in the back seat trying to make a heart.)
After Test Track we made a stop at the bathroom, which took forever for some reason. Adam ended up getting lost, then the people who went to the bathroom couldn't find the people who hadn't gone, and for some reason it just took a really long time for us to all get together again, even though we all had phones. We were all reunited eventually, though, and once we were we headed into World Showcase! We just kind of strolled around for a while, keeping an eye out for spots that might be good for Illuminations. We didn't stop in too many countries, but we did make a stop in America so Lindsey and Adam could get some funnel cake. We hung out there for a while while they ate it.
Funny story about this picture: I took a couple of different ones, but people kept walking by and sneaking into the photos. At one point while I was trying to get a good shot, this couple of guy walked by and one of them shouted, "It's okay, I would be taking pictures of me, too. I know I'm fabulous!"
He just kept walking, so I never really responded or anything, but it was just the funniest thing. I was sitting next to Sam at the time, and we both just looked at each other and laughed.
After that we moved on to the next country. I didn't see them, but Mom said she had seen a bride and groom walking around while were in America, which was really cool! I think it would be so special to get to go to Disney for/after your wedding.
The next country we stopped in was France. We went inside the bakery to see if there was anything we wanted, but nobody saw anything, so we moved on. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I have a thing for fountains. I just think they're so beautiful, and I love the sound they make. So, before we left I snapped a picture of the France fountain, which is one of my favorites.
It was a little after 8:00 at this point, so we started getting serious about staking out a spot for Illuminations. We ended up picking a spot in between Canada and the UK, which ended up having a pretty good view. We were about 45 minutes early, so we got comfortable. We took turns getting up to go get treats. Mom, Dad, and Travis went to get ice cream, then when they got back Amy and Jack went and got some too.
Once they were back, Sam and I went to go get something. We decided to make the walk over to Norway to get something from the bakery there. Once we got there it didn't take us long to decide that we both wanted school bread. So, we ordered two school breads from the guy behind the counter. Now here's where things get interesting. I'm going to tell you this story, and you probably won't laugh because it was really one of those "you had to be there" kind of things, but I'm going to tell you anyway because it was so darn funny when it happened.
So, we order from the guy, he says okay, no problem, and goes to get the pastry from the case. Then all of a sudden he just gets really quite and he has this odd look on his face. Then he starts talking to the two girls behind the counter with him in Norwegian. They are all just looking down at the guys feet, then the girls start laughing. Sam and I are just kind of standing there looking at each other like, what the heck is going on? What is so funny?
They talk some more in Norwegian, then the guy finally looks at us, with that funny look still on his face. Then what he says just makes everything make total sense.
"I'm so sorry," he says, "but I seem to have dropped all the school bread we have on the floor."
As he's saying this, he looks like he can't tell whether he wants to laugh or to jump in a hole. At first I'm sure we looked really surprised, but then we were like, no, it's okay, don't worry about, etc. He said for the inconvenience he would like to offer us some lefse free of charge, which was super nice. (Lefse is pretty much like a tortilla type thing rolled up with cinnamon sugar.) So, we took the lefse, said thank you, he apologized again, and we were on our way.
It wasn't until we were out the door and walking away that Sam and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing. We literally just could not stop laughing about it. I'm sure people were looking at us like we were crazy, but it didn't matter. We just kept thinking about the poor guy who probably had school bread all over his pants and shoes and laughing more. We also just kept repeating "I'm sorry, but I seem to have dropped all the school bread we have on the floor" and cracking up all over again.
Since we had gotten the lefse thing for free, we decided to still get some ice cream too. So, we stopped and got two soft-serve cones before we headed back to the group. Once we got back we tried to tell them our story, but like I said, it's really one of those "you had to be there" kind of things. Sam and I ate our ice cream cones and we all shared some of the lefse. It was okay, but there wasn't anything special about it. Like I said, it's pretty much just like a tortilla with cinnamon sugar.
There wasn't too much time now until the fireworks would start, which was good because the kids were getting tired and cranky. Once the fireworks began they got a little better, but Illuminations isn't exactly the most exciting fireworks show. There's that part where the globe lights up with the pictures on it, which they thought was boring. They did like it overall, however, even though Jack covered his ears most of the time.
Once the show was over we headed straight for the park exit. We made it out okay through the crowds, and we all split up to go our separate ways. Everyone ended up making it back home safe and sound, and we all went to bed as soon as we got back to the RV!
Everyone had a great day today - Nathan and Ginger had spent the day at Universal, Scott at Hollywood Studios, and Lindsey at Epcot. We had a lot of fun spending time with both Lindsey and Scott, and we would be seeing them both the next day at Animal Kingdom!
Thanks so much for reading!
Thank you! Yes, it totally was one of those moments!
Haha, thank you!It takes talent to walk backward and take a picture
Haha, thank you! I don't know if we're really experts, we just have a lot of experience. I would totally recommend visiting AK! Even if you only go to ride the safari or the Festival of the Lion King. Those things are totally worth it!
Yes, it truly is amazing!
Yeah, it's a ton of fun! There were a handful of CM's that we became close with by the end of the trip, and more that were just acquaintances!
It is totally worth it to get up early for the welcome show! It's so amazing.
It's been going very well! That's part of the reason it's been a while since I updated. We've actually found a place, so we've been going through the whole process of actually buying the house, which is quite lengthy.
