Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[Pinkocto]

Easter brunch looks amazing!!! So many wonderful yummies!

The Ariel egg is so pretty.

 

[dizneeat]

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to you and your family too!

 

[dizneeat]

Easter brunch looks amazing!!! So many wonderful yummies!

The Ariel egg is so pretty.

It was so awesome! And we were VERY happy that we had just had a small breakfast, so we could try a lot of the yummy things.

They had a lot of eggs, like the Ariel one, all over the resorts. It was so fun to see all the decorations.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 3

We finally reached bag check and the turn styles and soon we were inside the Magic Kingdom. It was packed, but we had not been here in a bit and it felt so nice to be back.

We strolled through some of the shops and then decided to head outside and find a spot in which to wait for the Easter Parade, which was running twice that day and we wanted to catch the first one, which was about to start in half an hour. The shady side of Main Street was packed with people, and even though it was hot, but we decided to rather have a front row spot in the sun than standing in the third row in the shade. And so we stood there, baking in the sun waiting for the parade.
But it was SO worth it.
Right on time at noon the first part of the Easter Parade arrived at where we were standing.

Next Mr and Mrs Easter Bunny slowly drive by,

followed by the Southern Belles.

It was awesome seeing them in their wide swaying frocks, but I did not want to think about how hot these dresses actually must have been that day.

Next up were the Grand Marshalls of the parade and again, Tom pointed out the tires of the car and the Mickey pattern on it.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 4

Next up were the Grand Marshalls of the parade and again, Tom pointed out the tires of the car and the Mickey pattern on it.

And then it was time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, which we had not seen beforehand,

so we were in awe with the new floats and the array of characters in the parade.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 5
​

We were in awe with the new floats and the array of characters in the parade. ​

Needless to say a gazillion photos were taken.

To be continued ..........
​

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 6

Needless to say a gazillion photos were taken.​

​

And once the parade was over and Main Street was open again we knew we needed to get out of the sun. So over to Tomorrowland we went.

And when we passed Tomorrowland Terrace we were surprised to see it open, but I guess there were enough crowds that day to open even this eatery. We knew where we wanted to head, the Peoplemover. There is never a line, or is there. Yes, there was and what a line it was. They even had a CM out with a pole so everyone knew where the end of the line was.

It took us a minute to recover from the shock of the Peoplemover having a line, but then we hopped in and soon we were on our way up the escalator. The line snaked around upstairs as well, but soon we were directed to our compartment and off we went. We were still feeling hot, but it was nice to just sit there and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the park from our bird’s eye perspective.

All too soon we had to get off again and after a peek at the wait times for all the rides we decided that it was better to slowly head back to the Contemporary and then move on to our hotel for the night. We very slowly walked down Main Street,

walked through the Emporium

and then left the park

and walked up to the Resort Monorail. Thankfully one was just coming into the station when we walked up the ramp and we were able to squeeze in and off we went back to the Contemporary. They had more Easter eggs on display when we got to the hotel, so we stayed and had a look around,

but finally we decided to make a move on

and head over to the Beach Club to check in. Check in was actually pretty easy, we had parked the car in the self parking lot, walked over to check in and with no one in line ahead of us it did not take long.

To be continued ..........​

​

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! Sad to say good bye to the ship, but it was nice you still had a day at Disney.

What a sweet Easter parade! I love those costumes on the Southern Belles. I bet they were hot, like you said.

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin! Sad to say good bye to the ship, but it was nice you still had a day at Disney.

Thankfully we never had to go back home right after a cruise. It always helps to have something to look forward to if you have to get off of a DCL ship.

What a sweet Easter parade! I love those costumes on the Southern Belles. I bet they were hot, like you said.

It was a great parade. I loved the Easter touches and Southern Belles. And the regular parade was so fun as well, especially since we had never seen it before. We were very happy and a bit sunburned from standing there and not applying sunscreen.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 7

Check in was actually pretty easy, we had parked the car in the self parking lot, walked over to check in and with no one in line ahead of us it did not take long. Magic Band in hand to open our room door we headed up to our place for the night. We had quite a way to walk, but then we had found our room. We noticed it was a handicapped room before we opened the door and while I do not want to take one away from someone who needs it, we were fine with it for the night. The room was really nice.

The bathroom was huge and the room looked really nice.

I was still taking photos of the room when Tom called me to the balcony. It was large and the view was just incredible.

We loved it up there, and we were only staying for one night. So not fair. But there was nothing we could do about it, so we just walked down to the car park and got our stuff and hauled it up to our room. We freshened up a bit and then we were heading right out again, there was something else we wanted to explore, the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. So we walked over to Epcot,

scanned our tickets and entered Epcot. It was pretty packed, but we were happy to be there. We picked up a Flower and Garden passport and headed towards England.

There were several topiaries and we snapped a few photos while walking along.

And we were sure to taste a few of the new offering at the Food Booths.

So we first stopped at the Pineapple Promenade

and picked up a

Pineapple Dog – Spicy Hot Dog with Pineapple Chutney and Sriracha Mayo and a glass of the

Sparkling Pineapple Wine. There were benches nearby and we sat down and tried our goodies. The wine was a bit too sweet for my liking, even though I usually love everything pineapple. The Hot Dog was yummy and VERY spicy. It was good to have something to wash it down with, even if it was sweet wine. And then we marched on.

To be continued ..........​

 

[jenseib]

Loving the pictures of the parade! That is my favorite one right now. So neat to see all the Easter stuff.

And the cruise...well I am still having depression from being off the ship from Oct. LOL

 

[dizneeat]

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 8

And then we marched on.

We had a FP for Soarin, so we quickly made our way over and while there was a really long standby line we made good progress and just had to stop around the corner from where they check fast passes before the line divides. We were told to take the line on the right and it did not move at first, but then they started organizing people and we moved further down. It really looked like we would have to wait for one more flight when a cast member asked if there were any parties of two. Well, we volunteered and were so lucky as they had two seats in the top row. Yippie. After the ride we walked around a bit more, exploring more areas with topiaries,

strolling through shops and finally we made it to our destination, Mission Space.

Again, we had a fast pass and were quickly organized in teams and sent on our mission. Once we returned from our mission to Mars we made our way back to World Showcase.

We walked quite a way and finally stopped at the Florida Fresh kiosk to sample another food item or two. We ordered the

Shrimp and stone ground grits with andouille sausage, sweet corn, tomatoes and cilantro and the

Florida Blueberry and Lemon Curd Tart, Tom got a

Blonde Ale and I opted for a bottle of water. Again, the main course was spicy, but very tasty. Tom enjoyed his beer and I enjoyed the dessert. Once we
were done we moved on a bit but we did not make it very far.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

Loving the pictures of the parade! That is my favorite one right now. So neat to see all the Easter stuff.

It was the perfect day to watch it. Lovely sunny day and such a long and fun parade. There was SO much Easter stuff everywhere. The photos I posted are just a small part of it.

And the cruise...well I am still having depression from being off the ship from Oct. LOL

We were pretty unhappy having to get off then, but I cannot say the same about our Panama Canal Cruise. But I am sure you will read about it pretty soon.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 9, April 5

Happy Easter! - Part 9

Once we were done we moved on a bit but we did not make it very far.

When we walked past Italy we thought about Tutto Gusto, the Italian wine cellar and remembered the nice times we had had in there and at the spur of the moment we decided to have a look if we could get a table. We asked and yes, there was a table available and we soon found ourselves sitting in the air conditioned little room. There was a short discussion if we should just try some of the small plates, but then we decided on sharing tasting plate, the

La Siciliana,

Fior di Latte Mozzarella, hand-crafted, made from cow's milk ,

Cacciatorini, black pepper, wine marinated, beef and pork cured sausages and

Caponata, Sicilian eggplant agrodolce salad. We both had a glass of wine to wash it down, mine being a

Pinot Grigio and Tom’s was a Sauvignon Blanc. We really enjoyed the break in the cool cellar, but it soon was time to leave again. And after a final photo of the Campanile,

we headed further on around World Showcase

and finally after completing the round

we decided that it was time to return to our room. It had been a long day and we had that lovely room to enjoy. The sun had started to go down and it was already getting dark

and we enjoyed the view of the Beach Club with its lights on.

And after a little break we repacked to have everything ready for the next day, when we were to leave. We had quite a few edible Fish Extender gifts,

which we now nibbled on while enjoying the view from the balcony and while watching TV. Around 9pm we headed out again, as there was one last thing that we really missed. And after about half an hour we returned with a fresh, still hot batch of

Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Tom made some coffee and we had a doughnut or two and I had a bit of the

Coconut bar I had bought earlier. Around 11pm we knew, we had had enough and got ready to go to bed.

To be continued ..........​

 

[Pinkocto]

I had no idea they did a special Easter parade, its too cute!

Loved the decorations at the Contemporary. They are so creative!

What a lovely rest of the day. That is a fabulous balcony.

 

[dizneeat]

I had no idea they did a special Easter parade, its too cute!

I had researched it before we went and even though there was never a mention of an "Easter parade" I had seen the photos of the Southern Belles in the parade and one of the photos had Mr. and Mrs. Bunny in it. So we just crossed our fingers and there they were.

Loved the decorations at the Contemporary. They are so creative!

They had so many lovely Easter decorations around the resorts, it was awesome and kind of made up for the crowds.

What a lovely rest of the day. That is a fabulous balcony.

It was a great day with lots of things we had wanted to do and see in a long time. And I could not agree with you more about the balcony. It was HUGE and it was wonderful that it was overlooking the pool.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 10, April 6

Lots of things to still fit in - Part 1

We were up by 7am and had showers, then Tom brewed some coffee

and we had some of the leftover

doughnuts with it, while sitting out on the balcony.

Breakfast done we packed up the rest of our stuff and around 8.30 we called bell services to pick up our luggage and hold it until we needed to make our way to the airport. It took about 20 minutes for someone to come by, but after having gotten rid of most of the luggage we finished packing up our carry-ons and the change of clothes and shortly after 9am we went down to the car,

put everything in it and then headed right over to Epcot. There were literally no people in line for both bag check

and the actual entrance and within a minute or two we were within the park. We enjoyed the leisurely walk through England

and took our time to enjoy and take pictures of some of the topiaries.

It was so interesting to see some of the horticulturists working within the Flowerbeds and soon we had reached Futureworld and our first destination to use up a Fastpass, Spaceship Earth. And we were stunned to see how many people were already in line. There was even a line for the Fastpass.

But it moved very quickly and soon we found ourselves seated and picking a language for the ride. As always it was a nice and fun little ride and once we got off we waited for our photos to fly to their destination, then went to get to our next destination. On the way there we passed through Mouse Gear and had a good look around and even picked up a souvenir or two. And then it was already time for the next Fastpass, Mission Space. We picked up our orange cards then proceeded to get in line and were greeted by a long line for both Fastpasses, but we were pretty happy we weren’t in the standby line as this was already over an hour long. Our line moved slowly, but at least it moved and after about 15 minutes we were divided into teams and off we went on our mission. And after that flight to Mars we had one more Fastpass and we were really looking forward to that ride, as it was going to be refurbed shortly and would not be available for our next visit, still thinking this would be in the summer of 2015. So off we went to ride Soarin.

We had a little time left and thought why not ride Living with the Land before we went on Soarin, but we were shocked to see that Living with the Land had about an hour’s wait. Okay, thank you, but no way will we wait in that line that long and maybe miss the last chance to ride Soarin. So we had a restroom break, then checked out the small little store by Soarin and did a little people watching before it was time to scan our Magicbands. We walked along the path up to the second scan point and pitied the many people who were playing the games and waiting to get on the ride, while we were able to walk up to a few meters before the scan point. And soon it was our turn to scan the bands again and walk to the left to wait to be divided into groups and take off soarin’. Since it was our last ride on there Tom asked if we could go to the top row and we were sent to the next glider and ended up being in the middle of the group and top row. We watched the short video and then we walked into the room and the people in front of me got into their seats, I got into mine and Tom put his backpack in the basket underneath the seat and before he could sit down, someone from the group behind us sat in his seat and fastened the seat belt. He pointed to the seat at the end which was now empty but we and the cast member did not agree with it at all. The cast member opened the seat belts again and we all had a little smile when the whole family got up and moved one seat over, not just the person in the wrong seat. Finally we were all seated and ready to go. Tom tried to take a photo or two as he had is camera sitting in his lap. They did not turn out well, but are still a nice reminder of the “old” Soarin’ movie. Once we had returned from our flight we thought about what to do with the rest of the time we still had, bit seeing the crowds of people in the pavilion we were less than enthusiastic about staying in Epcot and walking around World Showcase. They were just transitioning from breakfast to lunch at Sunshine Season’s so we decided to grab a bite to eat and discuss what to do. Once we had picked up our food we found a seat in a newly opened area and sat down to enjoy the Diet Coke we had gotten and the

Caesar Salad with Oak-fired Chicken and the

Spicy Fish Tacos topped with cabbage slaw and poblano pepper aioli with potato salad. We shared both

and they were just perfect and hit the spot. And while we were sitting there

it became quite clear that we didn’t want to battle the crowds here but would rather battle the crowds at the Magic Kingdom. So once we had finished off
our lunch we strolled towards the exit and up the ramp to the Monorail.

To be continued ..........​

 

[Pinkocto]

Aren't those topiaries fantastic!

Always sad when you know its the last ride ever. Ridiculous that that person took Tom's seat. So rude. Glad the CMs made them move.

 

[dizneeat]

Aren't those topiaries fantastic!

There were so many and they all were just fantastic. The work that goes into them. We loved finding more and more.

Always sad when you know its the last ride ever. Ridiculous that that person took Tom's seat. So rude. Glad the CMs made them move.

Knowing it is going to be your last ride of the trip is a horrible feeling. Only thing that can help getting over it is if you already have another trip planned.
It went so fast that that guest sat down in the wrong seat, that we were kind of speechless at first. Only when they pointed out that there was a seat at the end we were like - no - YOU move.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 10, April 6

Lots of things to still fit in - Part 2

So once we had finished off our lunch we strolled towards the exit

and up the ramp to the Monorail. One had just left, so we picked a gate and waited for the next one. About 10 minutes later we could see it come close, circle the park and then it went into the station. And after a few minutes we were off on our trip to the Magic Kingdom.

It was a really enjoyable ride until we made it to the Magic Kingdom. There was an ever so long line to board both, the Express and the Resort Monorail and there were so many people to get onto the boat. We looked at each other and were not sure we had made the right decision, but then we thought, why not check out the new DVC addition at the Polynesian. So we started to walk over there

and soon the crowds were gone and we enjoyed the leisurely stroll through the grounds

and soon we had made it to the newly built bungalows. We took our time and explored the area,

the bungalows looked fun and after a while we went past the Poly pool and over to the boat deck.

We sat there enjoying the view for a while until a boat came and we got on board and headed over to the Magic Kingdom.

We knew we would be in for huge crowds, but all we wanted to do was walking up Main Street, take a ride on the Peoplemover and then head back to Epcot.

To be continued ..........​