Late night rides

Let's keep this ball rolling with another update from our Feb/March 2011 Walt Disney World trip! You can find all the updates I've done so far HERE


We left off after Soarin' and we were crossing the park to use up our Test Track FastPasses. Now, if you recall, Henry did not really enjoy this ride from our first night-but, I hadn't fully noticed that he had been scared-he just went quiet, which, at the time, I figured was because he was a bit tired. So I didn't think twice of bringing him on this time....and he didn't hesitate jumping into line either-so I thought all was well!


Hidden Mickey!



When we got to our numbered squares, the Cast Member working the queue started to play a game with Henry and the numbered squares - basically quizzing him on his numbers, while we waited. What a very cool Cast Member! I mentioned, in passing, that Test Track was his favorite - and she gave us our FastPasses back so we could ride again! YAY!

Soon it was our turn and we started to zip around the ride.


In the heat room...he always does this! LOL


In the cold room. Brrrrr!



And after the ride, of course, we had to check out the cars!


Safety first!

And the dump shop





After we left the shop we told Henry we could ride again...YAY!

But...he refused.

He completely shut down.

In my notes I wrote, "H was a bit testy and didn't want to ride????? No idea why!"

I was a bit confused and bummed, we tried to convince him a bit, but it was a no go and almost resulted in a melt-down, so we weren't going to force him. (but look at that pic in the car - he was obviously scared!  I hadn't really looked at our picture at the time, just scanned our PhotoPass card and moved on.)

He requested Peter Pan.

HA! Wrong park!

BUT! We had those FastPasses that the Cast Member had given us the previous day while at the Magic Kingdom, and they expired today...and there is a monorail straight to the park...so why not??? Let's GO!

While on the monorail Henry started to get completely nutty and hyper, while I was fading...isn't that how it always works?! Kid is ready and raring to go, while the parents are falling asleep!

Soon we arrived:







Onward to Pan!


One very happy boy about to ride to Neverland!




"Let's fly!"

After we landed, we tried to convince Henry to do Pirates, but he was very fussy about it and adamantly did NOT want Pirates. On our previous trip one of the cannon balls from the ship actually got us a teeeeeeny bit wet and he remembered that...and didn't like it. (and just so you know, later in this trip we bribed him onto Pirates - and he's now obsessed!  But we'll get to that later in the trip...)

So, instead of Pirates we were off to Buzz!

While waiting in line Henry is literally bouncing off the walls. He's completely wired and wild and not obeying...which just made my tired self completely irritated and almost resulted in a Mommy Meltdown, but we survived.







After Buzz he is D-O-N-E. It's like a switch. Wired to tired. I was more than fine with that! I was at the end of myself for the night. We walked back over to Pan and gave away the couple of FastPasses we had left, then headed for the Castle.

As we walked through the Castle on our way out, a door popped open and Ariel stuck her head out!!! There were lots of guests in the little room she was peeking out from. I had no idea what that room was for or what was going on. Since I've been home I found out that little room is where the elevator to go to the Cinderella Suite is! Apparently Ariel was crashing Cindy's pad with her friends for the night! LOL

As we walked out of the Castle the Kiss Goodnight started, so we paused and enjoyed that





Video: Kiss Goodnight (1:15) - it's not great, there were a lot of people around us talking, so you can't hear the audio very well. But you kinda get an idea!

And on Main Street I spotted this


It was the only one with a light on. Pretty clever.

At the buses, the line for the Boardwalk is CRAZY long, but a Yacht Club/Beach Club bus came first, so we got on that. The bus driver was from Minnesota and a hoot. The bus was full, with people standing, so at every turn he'd shout out "Hard left, everyone say 'Whooooooooooooa!'" and everyone complied. It made the very full bus ride a bit more bearable.

At the Beach Club another guest asked about how to get to the Boardwalk, and he decided he'd just take us there since there were quite a few of us! Woot!

We got into our room at 10:55 pm. I was exhausted, I had a blister on my toe and I'm just feeling a bit off... Hopefully a good night's sleep would make for a happy boy and a happy Momma.

Look at all those lazy people on the lazy river!

More from our Feb/March trip to Walt Disney World!  See all posts on this trip HERE

As we left off, we had made a decision to head out of Epcot and back to the Boardwalk for a nap, then to Stormalong Bay for some more pool time.





We opted for the boat back to the Boardwalk - probably because it was there waiting for passengers when we stepped out. Staying at the Boardwalk twice now has made me a BIG fan of Disney boats. They are so relaxing, it's like an attraction in and of itself!




See you soon Stormalong Bay!


See you in August Yacht Club!



We were soon rolling down the hallway and were in our room where we promptly laid Henry down and attempted to rest ourselves.

However, remember that cup of chocolate mousse Henry had? How many grams of sugar do you think are in there?!

Ya...no nap. It wasn't happenin' no matter how much we tried to bribe him. So, off to the pool!

This time we decided to tackle the lazy river and we rented a tube. If I recall correctly, the tubes are $10/day, or $3/hour. We rented for an hour, and the Cast Member told us to just return it whenever.

Joe and Henry went around the river first





And then Henry wanted to dig, so Joe kept floating when Henry and I played in the sand.



After Joe went around a few times, I took a turn in the tube while the boys did the sand. Later, Joe and I took turns swimming laps around the lazy river area since it's 7 feet deep. I really enjoyed that, it's not a huge loop, but enough to provide a good swim a couple times around.

Then...guess what we did next?

If you guessed "Dig in the sand." You are correct!

Dig.

Dig.

Dig!

Joe and I would lay on the edge of the water while Henry dumped buckets of water on us....this was incredibly entertaining for quite some time.

Then we dug in the sand a bit more.

And some more.

We still had the tube, so the boys hit the lazy loop again, I decided to really be lazy and hit the lounger for a short NAP.

Yes, this was another good day at Stormalong Bay! We left the area around 5:30 due to growling stomachs and....I was growing antsy. I needed to get more Epcot!

We peeled Henry away from the sand and before we even left the pool area he was sound asleep.

Back in our room we slowly prettied ourselves up and then wheeled to Epoct. Henry must have woken up in the room, because by the time we got to Epcot he was raring to go!


He received a Woody sticker at the gates


A quick PhotoPass on the bridge

We had Soarin' FastPasses that were burning a hole in my pocket, so the logical place to eat was



Sunshine Seasons was a big hit with Henry back in September, so we were hoping for a repeat of a good meal.


Despite the beauties seen here, there really is only one choice for this family...


Mine - Ginger Mongolian Beef with veggies and noodles


Joe's - Spicy Cashew Chicken with rice and noodles

We must have been really hungry because usually we just have Henry share off our plates, but this time he got his own!


Henry's - Kids Sweet & Sour Chicken with noodles. He actually requested broccoli. :-O However, I knew he'd eat one or two piece and waste the rest, while he would gobble the noodles, so I shared my veggies with him instead. It was a Proud Mommy Moment when my 3 year old requested vegetables!

And now for the glorious, wonderful...


Drool. I love, love, love this dessert.

When we were done eating all our plates and garbage were pushed to the center of the table where Henry spotted a Hidden Mickey


It's a bit of a gross picture with all the trash, but...I was still proud! Look at that Mickey with the plates!

And soon it was time to



Henry was SO EXCITED to soar! And he got a little red card necklace dealy-do, which made him even more excited!






Let's fly!

After this ride I think I discovered my favorite Disney sound. The click of the seat belts coming off after this ride. It's funny-they do the announcement of how to get out of the seat belt while everyone is pushing, pushing, pushing on the red button and then suddenly BOOM! we are released and the clicking fills the room. It's the end sound of an awesome ride. I have no idea, but it just strikes me as a fun noise. I'm weird like that. :-P

As we walked out I snagged a geek shot


Kinda cool.

And now...it was time to use those Test Track FastPasses...how would Henry do???

Duffy the Disney Bear. On a Stick.

Continuing on with our Feb/March 2011 trip to Disney World...

See all previous entries for this trip HERE

After our adventures in the Seas were over, our stomachs were starting to rumble a bit. It was nearing lunch time. But first, we must stop at the Land to grab Soarin' FastPasses!


I cannot help myself but to take pictures like this every trip. I seriously have an obsession with palm trees! (among other things found at Disney World...)


Squirt was guiding the way over to the Land



I believe I hung out with Henry outside while Joe went to obtain the goods



Where to eat?

Let's go this way:


The other side of the butterfly tent



The World Showcase sure looks inviting...through Canada, the UK and onto





France. Your bakery is my husband's siren call.





I have heard from fellow Disney fans that the ham sandwich found here was good stuff.  I had been longing to try it after their descriptions. Joe had absolutely ZERO problem with eating lunch at a bakery - especially this one!


Ham and cheese sandwiches for all of us.  You can either get them cold straight from the case, or the Cast Members will heat them for you.  We chose to have ours heated.


Chocolate Mousse - Henry's pick.


Eclair - Joe's pick.


Apple Tart - mine.

I was a bit nervous about this meal. I am not a huge fan of cheese (I know, I know, but just wait until you read the NEXT paragraph), so I wasn't sure I'd like the cheese on the sandwich - but I did! The entire sandwich was delicious and not a crumb was left behind! 

As you can see in the pictures above, I chose the apple tart as my dessert, but I will admit, I steered Henry in the direction of the Chocolate Mousse so I could try it! I've heard so many good things about it, I just wanted a taste. I am not a huge fan of chocolate either (see! worse than cheese, right?), I have to be in the mood for it, and it can't be too rich - but with all the rave reviews, I had to try that mousse! Sadly, I was correct with this one - it was too chocolatey for me. Henry, on the other hand, ate that cup CLEAN!



Despite our simple meal of a sandwich and desserts, the bill was almost $30--without drinks! This is not a great deal out of pocket, but could be pretty decent on the Disney Dining Plan.

After we were done eating I took Henry over to the KidCot stop so he could color a Duffy on a stick.  The KidCot stops are little booths, just for the kids, in each of the World Showcase countries.  The kids can color a picture of Duffy, the Disney Bear, on a stick and then get their stick stamped from each country.  It's completely free and it makes kids really enjoy the World Showcase a bit more.  Another idea, that is similar, is either buying or creating a "passport" for your child to do this with.  I figured we'd be here for just a couple minutes to color Duffy while Joe threw away the garbage and we each took a turn browsing the shop/coloring with Henry.


Serious artist at work.

It was about 3 minutes into it, I decided to make a run to the bathroom. I consulted my iPhone map and saw there was one just over the bridge, near the International Gateway.

Easy.

Well, turns out this bathroom is OUTSIDE the gates. It wasn't close at all! Morocco is much closer! All well, lesson learned. I hurried back knowing Joe and Henry would be more than ready and waiting for me...

but...I found Henry was still hard at work on his Duffy! Joe said he had not come up from coloring since he had started!

So, I took pictures and waited.







And eventually, the masterpiece was complete!



I was a very proud Mommy. I'm certain that Duffy would go for millions!

We finally emerged from France





We started to wander just a bit, completely without an agenda



In seconds we were in Morocco - near the bathroom. LOL



It was getting late in the day - and Joe was itchin' for some Stormalong Bay (the pool in case you forgot). A decision was made, we turned around and headed back out toward the Boardwalk - first a nap, then swimming!

Happy birthday Walt Disney!

Thank you for everything you have done...and continue to do beyond the grave.  With your vision and determination you have changed a world and inspired millions.  You are truly a legend.