Bah, Humbug! Tales of A Disney Scrooge's Conversion Update 7/21

[Ceryssa]

Haha, kids. The most magical place on earth, but they want the pool. That's pretty universal though. Plus... Disney pools.

Truth. I'm not gonna lie though, I get just as excited about the pool as they do!

Laundry is one thing I have yet to do in Disney. However, it is not on the bucket list.

It's pretty much the only thing I didn't like about our trip. But that's not really Disney's fault

Good thing you captured it on film!!!

Yes! It's important to document at least ONCE during the trip that the kids actually look like they wanna be there!

I have to remember to visit that next trip. That is precious. And much cheaper than buying.

It was so cool! It's a fun way to spend a bit of time. Of course I'm now going to need a picture of you "trying on" princess dresses in your next TR!

 

[UrsulaTime]

Hi! I've been following along. I was debating whether or not to include FoF in my plans, and after seeing your pictures I've decided it's a MUST DO. I also really enjoyed that neat picture of the magic mirror in the World of Disney!

 

[Ceryssa]

Hi! I've been following along. I was debating whether or not to include FoF in my plans, and after seeing your pictures I've decided it's a MUST DO. I also really enjoyed that neat picture of the magic mirror in the World of Disney!

Thanks for reading (and posting)!! Oh, you absolutely must! It's just the most awesomest fantastical amazingest piece of perfection.

That mirror is super cool! We could have spent a ton more time in that store but I think Aaron was getting nervous that I'd spend our entire 401k

 

[Ceryssa]

The next day was back to Epcot! We were all pretty tired, so we didn't rush off this morning. We ate breakfast in the room and took our time getting ready. There was a short wait for the bus, but apparently a lot of other people had the same idea today, because the bus was packed for the first time. Or, maybe that's just what the buses look like when you aren't leaving first thing in the morning! I discovered on the way to bag check that my sunglasses had broken (not an unusual occurence, and it's why I never buy expensive ones--these had lasted about three months and that's about all I usually get out of them before either they break or I lose them), so I bought a pair at the stand that was of course conveniently located right outside the park entrance. We stopped at a couple Photopass photographers on our way in...clearly Alyssa thought this one looked suspicious.

**side note--I've been trying to edit my photos so they aren't so gargantuan, but Photobucket is just really frustrating and I'm not a super patient person, so you guys are stuck with giant size pictures! Sorry. Well, not THAT sorry, I mean we're pretty awesome, who wouldn't want to look at larger-than-life size photos of us?**

We started off in Mexico this time. We'd started the Kidcot projects on our last day, but only made it to two stops, so Alhanna was determined to finish one today. We let them color their Duffys for a few minutes, then went to explore the pyramid.

Aaron thought it was pretty cool

I like the way San Angel looks. I was never really able to picture it before we went inside. There was of course no line for The Three Caballeros, so we hopped on. The girls really liked it and asked to see "The Donald Movie" when we got home. It was pretty warm out, so we stopped at the margarita stand for a frozen margarita (and argued with the kids about whether it would really hurt for them to have some...sorry kids, I'm pretty sure that's on the list of things that could get you thrown out of Disney. I promised them as soon as we saw a slushie we'd get them one.). Somehow, I forgot about La Cava, which I'm still mad at myself about. Next time! I'd planned on munching on Food & Wine snacks for lunch, and it was time to get started! We tried the garlic shrimp, lamb chop and meringue shell with custard and berries from the Australia booth (okay, I probably should've just said "one of everything". The shrimp were okay (if you like shrimp, I don't really), the lamb chop was pretty tough and fatty, but the meringue and custard was a hit--so much so that we got another one, cause the girls ate all the first one.

Next up was Norway! I was particularly looking forward to this one because I've always been fascinated with Scandinavian history; my mom's family is from Sweden.

Alyssa wanted her very own troll. She didn't take the news well when we told her she couldn't take him home. I distracted her with the prospect of food, though--specifically, an obligatory stop at the Kringla Bakeri. We tried the school bread, since I'd heard so much about it, and a chocolate mousse. Surprisingly, the girls liked the school bread better than the mousse--which suited me just fine.

When we got to China I noticed Mulan was out greeting and there were only a few families waiting, so we jumped in.

We looked around the pavilion for a few minutes, and considered waiting for the next showing of the movie, but decided to skip it. (Mindless and education-free vacationing, remember?)

I almost wish we'd bought some of these, they had so much fun with them, but I knew they'd likely end up with the strings tangled and/or broken, never to be played with again, so I resisted the urge. Alhanna decided she needed a fan so she could be a proper Chinese lady like Mulan. The CM wrote her name on it in Chinese, which we thought was very cool. We stopped and bought a ravioli from the Italy booth (or at some point during this time period), which Alyssa snatched and ate most of (you would think I would be super skinny, considering the way these kids steal my food!). About this time we noticed a face painting stand. I asked the girls if they wanted to get their faces painted...well of course they did! They had a nice shaded area with drums for the kids to play on nearby, so they did that while waiting.

As you can see from Alhanna's Smurf-colored lips and teeth, we did eventually find them a slushie (in an Olaf souvenir cup, no less!).

Waiting is SO hard.

Totally worth the wait!!

 

[Ceryssa]

Their face painting turned out really good! Those guys are super talented.

With that, we were ready to move on. While the girls were occupied I'd sneaked over to the Africa booth to grab some bobotie and for once got to finish it all by myself! We perused Germany for a bit and stopped in at Karamel Kuche. This was another place I'd heard was a must-try, and since the Norway bakery didn't disappoint I made sure we checked it out. Alyssa chose a chocolate-caramel covered Rice Krispy treat, Alhanna chose a caramel apple, and Aaron got some sort of chocolate covered caramel candy. Strangely, nothing stood out to me. I'm not really a big caramel fan for some reason. We paid for our treats and found a bench to sit on while enjoying them. I did snag a piece of both girls' snacks (for once the shoe was on the other foot!). We got in line for the boat to take us to the entrance of World Showcase so we could start heading toward Future World, since our Fastpasses were coming up. On our way I noticed someone I knew the girls would love to meet!

He was very flattered to find his picture in the girls' autograph book.

This was a great meet. He is so sweet and cuddly! He had Alyssa roar like a tiger and Alhanna try to fly like a butterfly.

Aaron got a shot of the Coolest Fountain Ever while we were walking by. We had a fastpass for Journey Into Imagination, but since I figured there wouldn't be a line and we were hot, we opted to stop by the Craft Beers booth for some air conditioning and a beer flight. Aaron and I liked the snack mix that came with the drinks but the girls said it was too spicy (more for ME!). We also tried the Spicy Pimento Cheese Dip, which was good. Then it was off to Soarin'!

Alyssa was moderately less terrified this time. Alhanna wanted to ride Test Track again, but Alyssa wasn't having anything to do with that, so I sent her off with Aaron while Alyssa and I went upstairs to check out the Circle of Life movie. She liked it, being a fan of all things Lion King. Then we went over and rode Living With the Land. I'd thought she might be bored with it, but she really enjoyed it!

Meanwhile, Aaron and Alhanna were doing this.

We were on Living With the Land when he texted me they were on the way back, so I told him to just hop on when they got there and we'd wait for them at the exit. Of course the ride was a few minutes longer than I'd anticipated, so we decided to wait in the Sunshine Seasons seating area. When they found us, both girls proclaimed themselves "STARVING" so nothing would do but grab a few snacks. We purchased some grapes and pretzels and munched on our way to Journey to Imagination. We all really enjoyed that one. I think the girls (and Aaron) could've played in the area after the ride for a couple hours. Around then I realized there was a princess we hadn't met yet, and after glancing at the character schedule, hurried them out of there so we could catch her!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

maybe that's just what the buses look like when you aren't leaving first thing in the morning!

I think that's true. A lot of people always left a little later, but now with FP+, the early morning rush for the FP dash is gone now.

I discovered on the way to bag check that my sunglasses had broken (not an unusual occurence, and it's why I never buy expensive ones

ME TOOOOO!!!!!!! Seriously, on one trip I went through three pairs in three days.


I love the Mexican pavilion. I think it's a better visit in the daytime because it becomes instantly nighttime which I find so cool.

Surprisingly, the girls liked the school bread better than the mousse

YAY girls!!! And of course not only on the school bread, but the shirts as well.

As you can see from Alhanna's Smurf-colored lips and teeth, we did eventually find them a slushie (in an Olaf souvenir cup, no less!).

HA, when I saw that photo I thought I somehow missed a slushie pick-up. Thanks for confirming.

These are great!!! I seriously want to do this.


You know it has occurred to me why Epcot is SO BIG. To walk off all the eating. Genius.

 

[ursalita]

clearly Alyssa thought this one looked suspicious.

I discovered on the way to bag check that my sunglasses had broken (not an unusual occurence, and it's why I never buy expensive ones--these had lasted about three months and that's about all I usually get out of them before either they break or I lose them

I was the same way with sunglasses. Oddly enough when I bought an expensive pair I was really careful with them and they lasted a couple of years. Since that one pair I haven't had much luck.

Well, not THAT sorry, I mean we're pretty awesome,

and argued with the kids about whether it would really hurt for them to have some...sorry kids, I'm pretty sure that's on the list of things that could get you thrown out of Disney.

Yeah, they probably frown on way underage drinking.

Alyssa wanted her very own troll. She didn't take the news well when we told her she couldn't take him home.

Did she want the huge troll?

We looked around the pavilion for a few minutes, and considered waiting for the next showing of the movie, but decided to skip it. (Mindless and education-free vacationing, remember?)

We saw the movie. It was only ok so you didn't miss much.

I almost wish we'd bought some of these, they had so much fun with them, but I knew they'd likely end up with the strings tangled and/or broken, never to be played with again, so I resisted the urge.

I think my boys would have had them tangled before we made it out of Epcot.

you would think I would be super skinny, considering the way these kids steal my food!

I'm glad I know you have the same problems. I always think that I wouldn't have to worry about kids stealing my food if I had girls.

Their face painting turned out really good! Those guys are super talented.

I love the face paint.

While the girls were occupied I'd sneaked over to the Africa booth to grab some bobotie and for once got to finish it all by myself!

 

[Chilly]

Great day so far. I'm really looking forward to the F&W festival this year especially as we weren't expecting it to still be on when we went. I have a whole day of eating planned pretty much for me and hubby and Freya can colour.
The face painter was very talented, think Freya will be a bit young still for that though.

 

[Ceryssa]

I think that's true. A lot of people always left a little later, but now with FP+, the early morning rush for the FP dash is gone now.



ME TOOOOO!!!!!!! Seriously, on one trip I went through three pairs in three days.


I love the Mexican pavilion. I think it's a better visit in the daytime because it becomes instantly nighttime which I find so cool.



YAY girls!!! And of course not only on the school bread, but the shirts as well.



HA, when I saw that photo I thought I somehow missed a slushie pick-up. Thanks for confirming.



These are great!!! I seriously want to do this.


You know it has occurred to me why Epcot is SO BIG. To walk off all the eating. Genius.

You know it has occurred to me why Epcot is SO BIG. To walk off all the eating. Genius.[/QUOTE]
Yeah that whole getting up early on vacation thing is hard to wrap your head around.

Vacations are hard on sunglasses! I'd lost a pair in the ocean a couple months before this, so these were my backup pair. Naturally, the ones I bought that day broke and I've been through 2 or 3 pairs since. I'm actually missing mine right now, no idea what happened to them.

Aaron said later he should've had them paint him like a dragon

Right?! Good lord I'd hate to know how much we actually ate this day. I know there's stuff I've forgotten about.

I was the same way with sunglasses. Oddly enough when I bought an expensive pair I was really careful with them and they lasted a couple of years. Since that one pair I haven't had much luck.







Yeah, they probably frown on way underage drinking.



Did she want the huge troll?



We saw the movie. It was only ok so you didn't miss much.


I think my boys would have had them tangled before we made it out of Epcot.



I'm glad I know you have the same problems. I always think that I wouldn't have to worry about kids stealing my food if I had girls.



I love the face paint.

She did want the huge troll! Pretty sure she was dead serious about it, too.

Oh man my kids eat like they've never been fed. Alyssa is semi-picky, so I have a little more understanding for the picky eater dilemma. But Alhanna will eat just about ANYthing. Hers, yours, theirs...doesn't matter.

Great day so far. I'm really looking forward to the F&W festival this year especially as we weren't expecting it to still be on when we went. I have a whole day of eating planned pretty much for me and hubby and Freya can colour.
The face painter was very talented, think Freya will be a bit young still for that though.

Oh you are in for a treat! It's fantastic! You may have noticed I'm a fan of festivals that involve food...

 

[Chilly]

Oh you are in for a treat! It's fantastic! You may have noticed I'm a fan of festivals that involve food...

Oh me too, we have a whole weekend at a beer and sausage festival in July

 

[ariane37]

Dollar store sunglasses all the way I'm lucky if I get 2 months out of a pair lol. Although Hot Topic has some neat Disney ones

And those cute puppets in China? I have a picture of younger DS playing with them from every trip starting when he was 2, he loves them!! I wanted to buy him one when DH and I went alone this past March but DH said no Can't blame him, like you he figured it would end up broken and not played with once the novelty wore off.....I guarantee DS picks one up on our next trip though!

Love the girls' painted faces, they look just adorable especially in the picture with Duffy

 

[Chicago Mo]

clearly Alyssa thought this one looked suspicious.

Kids have a great sense of people! LOL

who wouldn't want to look at larger-than-life size photos of us?**

HA HA HA HA H!!! They are FINE!!! love looking at pictures! I gave up with resizing a long time ago!

Mindless and education-free vacationing, remember?)

I cannot agree more!
It's VACATION!!!

I'm not really a big caramel fan for some reason.

I wish i didn't! LOL


Great update!!! the drums are the best aren't they? i do love the kids face painting! might let Meg do this!! May i ask what the price was?

 

[Ceryssa]

Dollar store sunglasses all the way I'm lucky if I get 2 months out of a pair lol. Although Hot Topic has some neat Disney ones

And those cute puppets in China? I have a picture of younger DS playing with them from every trip starting when he was 2, he loves them!! I wanted to buy him one when DH and I went alone this past March but DH said no Can't blame him, like you he figured it would end up broken and not played with once the novelty wore off.....I guarantee DS picks one up on our next trip though!

Love the girls' painted faces, they look just adorable especially in the picture with Duffy

I'll have to check out their sunglasses! Yeah, 2 months is about my average too. I was griping today about not having any during my kids' swim lessons. I need to go get some.

We have one of those Rubbermaid boxes full of puppets...that never get played with. So it's probably for the best we didn't buy any more lol.

Kids have a great sense of people! LOL



HA HA HA HA H!!! They are FINE!!! love looking at pictures! I gave up with resizing a long time ago!



I cannot agree more!
It's VACATION!!!




I wish i didn't! LOL


Great update!!! the drums are the best aren't they? i do love the kids face painting! might let Meg do this!! May i ask what the price was?

I know, but then I go read someone else's TR and they have all these cute, perfectly sized pictures. Oh well.

Don't get me wrong, I totally make up for it in the amount of chocolate I eat!

I love drums. Like, it's all I can do not to run over and jump in front of the kids to bang on the drums LOL. I could sit and watch drum shows forever (maybe that's why I like Disney so much? Drums, everywhere).

I don't remember for sure, but I think it was around $16 per kid. I think it varies a bit by design as well--not a lot, a dollar or two.

 

[Cando86]

I can't believe how good that face painting looks! Kinda makes me want to get mine done next trip...

I love hearing about your F&W experience! We'll be there in September - can't wait!!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'm really enjoying this report! I love reading about first trips, even if they're just first trips after a trip a really long time ago.

Wow, you planned things so well for your first time! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Ceryssa]

I can't believe how good that face painting looks! Kinda makes me want to get mine done next trip...

I love hearing about your F&W experience! We'll be there in September - can't wait!!

I know! I'm half tempted to do it next trip too

A BIG part of why I wanted to go in the fall was food & wine. I'm sure you'll love it!

I'm really enjoying this report! I love reading about first trips, even if they're just first trips after a trip a really long time ago.

Wow, you planned things so well for your first time! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks so much for reading along and if I haven't said so already. Honestly, with this being my first time planning a trip, and most visits being so long ago it really did feel like my first trip too, in some ways! And of course it was awesome to see it through the kids' eyes.

Haha I tried! I had a looooong time to research and a lot of good advice given to me. There are of course some things I would've done differently, but I imagine everyone feels that way after their first trip!

 

[Ceryssa]

We were last seen hurrying back toward World Showcase, I believe. Once again we blew past Canada and the UK. I gazed longingly at the home of the famous cheddar cheese soup but there was a very important princess we had to get to. I noticed Aurora was out meeting, but we didn't stop for her because not too far away we spotted Belle! The line wasn't very long, and it was only a few minutes before the girls got to meet her!

She was friendly, but I don't remember a lot of what they talked about. I know she complimented the girls on their face paint, and we told her about having dinner with Beast in his castle a few nights before.

Part of why I loved Memory Maker--Disney sneaks in some fun bonus pictures! I found these when I was going through ours:

I thought these were so neat!

Around the time we got done here, Rachel and Miguel found us. We had dinner plans, but nowhere to be immediately, so we decided to take our time making our way over there, enjoying World Showcase. As with so many things, I was just so impressed with how beautiful everything was.

I was really fascinated with this.

We stopped at the Brazil booth and tried the crispy pork belly, which was delicious, a Brazilian cheese bread, which being made of cheese and bread was obviously good stuff, and a Brazilian Coconut Candy for Aaron. I'm not overly fond of coconut, but he loves the stuff. I tried a bite and it was tasty, though not something I'd want a lot of.
Then I went back to taking pictures.

We went back to the Japan store since we hadn't seen everything last time, and spent some time checking out all the stuff in there.

They love their cousin Around this time Alyssa spotted the Japanese sodas. Both girls wanted to try one, so we figured, why not? Alhanna said it was pretty good. Alyssa LOVED hers. I'm not sure what's in those things, but she went NUTS. Like off-the-wall bouncing around, giggling and basically running around in circles for the next half hour. She'd been really tired and dragging most of the afternoon, so it was a pretty massive and sudden change in behavior. She was also obsessed with getting the marble out of the bottle, and I was actually getting worried she was going to attempt to smash the bottle on the concrete to get to it, so Aaron intervened and threw it out. She wasn't happy, but at least there weren't glass fragments everywhere...

We passed the Japan booth and after noticing they had sushi, Aaron had to order some (he's incapable of passing it up). He and Miguel both ordered the Spicy Hand Roll, and we moved on.

It was getting close to dinner time so we started making our way toward Germany. I'd been looking forward to eating at Biergarten for a while. We love German food and the live entertainment and community tables were pretty appealing to us as well. All in all it sounded like a fun place. Before we got to that, though, Alhanna had something she needed to take care of. Alyssa had been talking about getting a Duffy for months, but ended up choosing Giant Stitch instead. Alhanna decided out of the blue after meeting Duffy that she needed one, though, so Aaron took her into the store to look around.

I'm not sure what happened with this picture but she did in fact come back with one. With that, we went and checked in at Biergarten!

 

[Ceryssa]

So, remember how I kept forgetting to put the baby on the reservation? Yeah, it happened again here. Except I apparently forgot his parents this time, too. Yep that's right, I completely forgot to add them to the reservation at all. I'm not really sure how that happened, but somehow in all my planning I forgot to add three whole people to this reservation. In addition to this, I'd gotten the time wrong--I thought I'd made it for 6:00 but it was for 7:00. I'm really not sure how any of this happened--it's not like Disney has it all spelled out for you in MDE or anything! Fortunately the CM at the desk was very understanding and assured me it wouldn't be a problem, but it might be a bit of a wait. This was fine with us, as we'd been eating pretty steadily ALL DAY, so we settled down to hang out for a bit. To our surprise, less than 15 minutes later they called us in. I loved the look of the place inside!

We were seated with a great view of the stage, and before long our server appeared to take our drink orders. Aaron and I both ordered beers, but neither of us were wowed by them. I think he ordered a Schofferhoffer Weizen, and I'm pretty sure I ordered the Oktoberfest one (not even gonna attempt to spell that first word!). I had been looking forward to the community table, thinking we might meet some interesting people, but sadly we got seated with some duds. In their defense, they appeared to all be college students not old enough to drink, and they probably weren't thrilled to be stuck at a table of families with small children. Regardless, they weren't very friendly, but our group was fun enough to make up for it We went to visit the buffet and came back to eat while we waited for the entertainment to start!

These guys were great! It wasn't long before the girls wanted to go join the kids on the floor in front of the stage, so after convincing them they needed to eat at least a couple bites first, we let them go.

They enjoyed it for a few minutes, but after a while the dancing inevitably devolved into running in circles around the dance area, then up the stairs, through the tables, and back down to the floor. At that point we told them to either stay in front of the stage or come sit down. They went back down, promising to stay put but less than 5 minutes later Alyssa was running again so we made her come sit back down which did NOT go over well. I think between the long day, the sugar crash from that crazy Japanese soda and things not going her way, she reached the end of her rope which resulted in a meltdown of epic proportions and one of my most embarrassing moments as a parent. Seriously it was that bad. I mention this only because it directly impacted my enjoyment of this meal (and probably a lot of people's around us). After dealing with that I just wasn't really in the mood to eat, and none of us really enjoyed the food so we were ready to go, but our server had disappeared so it took a while to get out of there. She wasn't actually gone that long I don't think, but it felt like an eternity to me, probably because I just couldn't wait to get out of there. This was our second disappointing meal in Epcot, which I was bummed about having looked forward to it so much, but honestly even if the food had been amazing I don't think it could have saved the meal for me. We might try it again at some point but it's not on our list of places to rush back to.

We exited the restaurant and Rachel and Miguel decided to call it a night. We'd talked about going back to Spice Road Table to watch Illuminations from there, but none of us were even slightly hungry and we didn't want to take up a table and not order anything. They were pretty tired and had seen the show on more than one occasion, so opted to skip it. We said goodbye and then Aaron and I discussed whether to stay for Illuminations. Alyssa wasn't in full tantrum mode anymore, but was still pretty whiny and I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with it any longer. But, it was likely our last night to see Illuminations and I'd enjoyed it so much before that I wanted the chance to see it from a good vantage point. Alhanna really wanted to stay too, so we opted to try. We found a place that seemed like it would have a good view, and the girls and I plopped down right there on the concrete while Aaron went to find a bathroom. I honestly don't even remember where we ended up, but we could see out over the lake and that was all that mattered to me. Aaron got back a few minutes before the show started and we enjoyed just sitting there listening to the music.

Sorry, the quality of these is pretty terrible. But that didn't stop me from taking a bajillion pictures. I love this show. I know most people prefer Wishes, which I totally get, but to me this one is just the best. I love the whole theme of how things came to be and every nation coming together, and that we're all connected, sharing this great big world. I just feel like if people would think about the world this way more often, the world would be a better place, you know? Plus the music is just fantastic. I had tears in my eyes the whole time and I often cry just thinking about it. I had thoroughly enjoyed our last Epcot day, and was sad we wouldn't be coming back this trip, but I was also VERY much looking forward to going to bed and sleeping in the next day. I think we walked about 15 miles when it was all said and done this day, and we were all exhausted. We followed the crowd out of the park, enjoying the way Epcot looked at night all lit up. We crashed pretty shortly after getting back to the room, since we needed our rest for the next day, when we'd be attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh man, what a missed opportunity by miss Belle. I would have thought for a great reference since Alyssa has that Face Paint. A total mini Beast.

We went back to the Japan store since we hadn't seen everything last time,

Haha, that place is so big, I'm not surprised. Seeing that whole store is a full day commitment.

I swear for a second I thought, "Wow, they really do have everything in that store. Even babies!"

Wow, that little girl is getting down.


I am glad you stayed for Illuminations. Something tells me you would have regretted missing it. And to be honest, I love the period before the show and just grabbing a spot and chilling. I always find that time so peaceful and beautiful and watching people go by. Wishes will always be my number 1, but Illuminations is special. And you nailed exactly why.

 

[ursalita]

Around this time Alyssa spotted the Japanese sodas. Both girls wanted to try one, so we figured, why not? Alhanna said it was pretty good. Alyssa LOVED hers. I'm not sure what's in those things, but she went NUTS. Like off-the-wall bouncing around, giggling and basically running around in circles for the next half hour.

What in the world is in that soda?

She was also obsessed with getting the marble out of the bottle, and I was actually getting worried she was going to attempt to smash the bottle on the concrete to get to it, so Aaron intervened and threw it out. She wasn't happy, but at least there weren't glass fragments everywhere...

Every time I read about a soda bottle with a marble in it I get the heebie jeebies. What if you swallow it?

Ohmigosh, my boys would have been the same way.

I'm really not sure how any of this happened--it's not like Disney has it all spelled out for you in MDE or anything!

There's so much to plan that it's easy to make some mistakes.

To our surprise, less than 15 minutes later they called us in. I loved the look of the place inside!

Awesome!

I had been looking forward to the community table, thinking we might meet some interesting people, but sadly we got seated with some duds.

I know how that feels.

Regardless, they weren't very friendly, but our group was fun enough to make up for it

That's a great attitude!

It wasn't long before the girls wanted to go join the kids on the floor in front of the stage, so after convincing them they needed to eat at least a couple bites first, we let them go.

It's great that they got into the fun!

They went back down, promising to stay put but less than 5 minutes later Alyssa was running again so we made her come sit back down which did NOT go over well.

Oh, no. I know how you feel.

I mention this only because it directly impacted my enjoyment of this meal (and probably a lot of people's around us).

I'm sure it impacted your enjoyment but it probably wasn't so bad for the families around you.

I love the whole theme of how things came to be and every nation coming together, and that we're all connected, sharing this great big world. I just feel like if people would think about the world this way more often, the world would be a better place, you know?

That's a great way to describe it.